The great tea robbery

For All the Tea in China, by Robert Fortune.

THIS tale of British colonialism, espionage, botany, culture and economics sheds light on the 19th century measure of ‘all the tea in China’.

Indeed, the title of the book is symbolic of the lengths to which Scottish botanist Robert Fortune went to access the forbidden tea plantations in the heart of the Chinese mainland, revealing the secret to the perfect brew for a thirsty British society.