Some say the British Empire was founded on tea. Nearly every major culture in the world has a particular ceremony and style of tea-drinking. Tea, in many ways, has shaped the history of regions around the earth, and was an original catalyst of globalization and the interdependence of nations. It was a symbol of protest against English imperialism and a defining sign of geopolitical influence. Tea drinking culture is continually evolving, and will continue to play a role in global economic interaction.
Perhaps the most compelling story comes on the production side. China is the top producer and exporter of tea, followed by India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.
Sri Lanka's long history focuses little on cash crops like tea and coffee. But more than 400 years of Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonization transformed agriculture throughout the country heavily influencing work practices and culture. The British held power from 1815 to 1948, and colonial settlement during that time sowed divisions whose effects are still felt today, and tea played an important role. Tea plants were introduced during the late 1860s after an island-wide epidemic of rust fungus destroyed nearly the entire coffee crop. From 1880 to 1890, tea production rose from 81.3 to 22,899 tons, almost all derived from colonial farms employing Tamils who had emigrated from India.
The consolidation of Tamil communities of farm laborers highlighted their segregation and marginalization from the majority Sinhalese population. Deep rifts stemming from a seemingly arbitrary employment history exploded in 1983 after decades of post-independence governmental transition. The resulting conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and government forces lasted until 2009: 26 years had passed since the start of the war, and almost 100,000 dead. Today, tea production accounts for about 15% of Sri Lanka's GDP, or $700mm per year, and directly or indirectly employs approximately 5% of the country's workforce.
Tea consumption patterns over the last 100 years have been markers of individual countries' cultures and patterns of development. In tea on sees the juxtaposition of the traditional with the revolutionary, informing modern-day modern-day economics with the background of long cultural history. Bangladesh has exported tea for over 150 years, but just this month its government announced that it is now a net importer of tea, reflecting massive population density growth and a shift from agriculture to industrial textiles.
In the United States, loose leaf tea was incredibly popular among early colonials, largely imported by Dutch traders. In the early twentieth century, iced tea, as well as tea bags emerged, going on to define modern American tea culture. WWII brought tea bags to the forefront as easily transportable single-cup alternative to loose-leaf teas. Since then, Americans' consumption has turned heavily to iced tea, which now accounts for roughly 80% of the market. But loose leaf tea has recently been making a massive comeback, marking a transition for tea producers everywhere, and ready-to-drink products are hitting the shelves at record pace.
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It is hard to predict how rapidly changing consumer trends will affect the politics and well-being of Sri Lanka, rural China, India, Vietnam,or Kenya, but tea is a
compelling indicator of larger trends is these areas.
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