How Britain Stole Tea

Richard Tilney-Bassett is a documentary filmmaker and photographer based in London.

By the 1800s Britain was deeply in love with the humble cup of tea… not to mention the significant tax profits its import provided. But Britain’s East India Company was less enamoured with being subject to the whims and closed trading practices of its sole supplier - China. So they devised a plan to secure their own tea production operation, which involved enlisting the talents of Robert Fortune - a plant hunter - to steal his way into China’s interior to procure the necessary secrets.

Music
Valiant - Luar
Intro - Luar

Memories - Ryan Taubert
Vague - Amaranth Cove
A Place Beyond Belief - SLPSTRM

Sources
For all the Tea in China - Sarah Rose
Darjeeling - Jeff Koehler
A Journey to the Tea Countries of China - Robert Fortune
Wellcome Collection (CC by 4.0)
Library of Congress (CC by 4.0)
David Rumsey Map Collection

[GeePeeGee]

This is sensational, mate. Spent 16 years in full-time state education in the UK, and this video contains more history on this subject & the British Empire than received during that entire period.

[sumimaind]

What did the British not steal from other countries? I would like to know...

[mrugennaik]

Wait. What??? They stole tea too? Damn! 😂

[luckyduckydrivingschool]

Great documentary. Nice graphics, well written narrative, and just the right length to enjoy a cup of chai!

[dyutibasu]

Just another tidbit I gathered recently. The reason tea became popular is because the slave plantations in the Caribbean and North America produced sugar which was added to tea making it a more popular drink. And tea in India was cultivated in plantations with indentured labourers whose circumstances were barely better than slaves.

[ac-jnwz]

Very good narrative and well told. Did you know the term "Chai" in India actually means tea? Chai is the Chinese pronunciation meaning Tea.

[organenthusiast]

This was excellent man. You deserve more reconition. I'm subbed.

[sanketpatil]

Great piece dude. Your style reminds me of Johnny Harris. Being an Indian this story hit me in the feels.

[Hatsepari]

mate this is good, short, but dense in quality, in the tea term speaking, your video is a high class, very well put!

[anaisgarvanian]

Such an excellently made and informative video. Thank you!

[Leeroywantsrx]

Britain also caused alot of the border dispute between countries lol

[斯卡蕾特芙兰朵露-xi]

It's not that Indian tea is cheap, but Indian tea growers are slaves and don't have to pay wages. Those who were tricked by the British to grow tea in Darjeeling were Buddhist monks from Fujian Province, China.

[AAful]

Wonderful piece!
Add to this tale, all the sea faring merchant ship companies, middlemen, stockholders, wholesale and retail merchants, et al, who too made a fortune by dipping their feet into this Great Steal.

[thedude]

Awesome, we’ll done Brit’s I’m gonna have a cuppa right away.

[ollieandsebastian]

One of the best videos I've seen on YouTube! I just said to Ollie I wish we could steal your filmmaking powers - Sebastian

[joelcrawford]

Fantastic doco as I sit in my own tea house shrine drinking a wonderful pot of Twinings Earl Grey tea! And appreciate tea even more from this well put together program 😊.

[daytodayvibes]

How did you make image appear and wipes gradualy in your editing..im mew to editing want go learn

[deneshbhaskar]

Drinking tea after watching this is awesome .

[Quirkykitty]

This video alone made me subscribe to you. You need way more than just under 300 subscribers.

[OnlyOneHunnids]

The quality of this video is amazing. The audio could use some work but still great video.