Introduction: consumer revolutions -- The English commercial empire expands -- The rise of a "tea-fac'd generation …" -- Politicizing American consumption -- The global dimensions of the American tea crisis -- Repatriating tea in revolutionary America … -- Chinese tea and American commercial independence -- Conclusion …

"The Tale of Tea is the saga of globalisation. Tea gave birth to paper money, the Opium Wars and Hong Kong, triggered … China and moulded Chinese art and culture. Whilst black tea dominates the global market today, such tea is a recent … invention. No tea plantations existed in the world's largest black tea producing countries, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka, when the …

"What is the place of quality in contemporary capitalism? How is a product as ordinary as a bag of tea valued for its … taste and value mass-market black tea, one of the world's most recognized commodities. Pairing rich historical data with … ethnographic research among agronomists, professional tea tasters and traders, and tea plantation workers, Besky shows how the …