Category:Tea

From Frikipedia

It is a sign of the Human Condition that something so seemingly small and insignificant has played a major role in history, economics, and politics.

A Brief History of Tea

Whenever there's nothing else to argue about, no other products to monopolize or natural resources to steal, there's always tea. An Asian import monopolized by the British East India Company, originally the Chinese would trade only for bullion, leading to a weakened Pound. In an attempt to grow the product outside of Chinese control, the colonization and enslavement of other Asian populations occurred. To make the product cheaper, efforts to trade drugs for tea led to the Opium Wars. Attempts to tax the product led to the Boston Tea Party and helped ignite the American Revolution; similar taxation led to illegal smuggling operations in Britain.

Conclusion

Like a disease that wreaks havoc upon a previously unexposed population, Tea is perhaps best described as an invasive species, a product of the East that did nothing but cause trouble for the West. Ultimately, it is ironic that Tea is more frequently associated with Britain than it's country of origin.

It's just too damn bad that I'm addicted to it.