Tea time for Lockerbie and District Rotary Club members

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The speaker at the latest meeting of Lockerbie and District Rotary Club was member Alan Hanlin who gave an enlightening talk on tea, as well as treating all to a complimentary teabag!In his own inimitable way, he took members through the history of the tea trade, the British East India Company, the establishment of tea plantations in Assam and Darjeeling in the foothills of the Himalayas, the establishment of tea plantations in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, and the many Scots involved.He explained this pre-eminence of Scots was due to the Scottish enlightenment of the 18th century and Scots were prominent in many fields throughout the British Empire, especially in medicine.Tea was popular in 17th century England, known as the “China drink”, but by the 19th century, British merchants were looking at sources, other than China, for their tea.

The British East India Company’s monopoly of the China tea trade ended in 1833, hitting business hard. Robert Bruce was a Scottish trader who knew northeast India well and knew that the natives had a tea like plant and that if a tea planting industry could be developed in Assam it could rival that of China.

Bruce’s part in obtaining access to the plant and to the area was crucial. Despite his early death, his brother continued his mission.Another Scot, Robert Fortune from Berwickshire, was responsible for getting Chinese tea plants into India.

He was a botanist tasked by the East India Company to go to China and find out as much about tea plants, seeds and machinery as he could.