2015年8月31日 星期一

每年3萬噸進口茶流向追擊


前言:今年四月連鎖茶飲茶葉農藥殘留,引燃茶安風暴,也讓台灣好茶形...
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前言:今年四月連鎖茶飲茶葉農藥殘留,引燃茶安風暴,也讓台灣好茶形象受損,更掀起進口茶早已多過台灣茶黑幕,而茶商透過「併堆」讓進口茶搖身一變成台灣茶,更讓台灣好茶,早已悄悄走味。
國內茶葉年產量僅一萬四千多噸,但市場需求超過四萬噸,近三萬噸茶葉仰賴進口,其中以越南茶為大宗,占了兩萬兩千公噸,但消費市場幾乎不曾見過越南等進口茶,消失的三萬噸進口茶去了哪裡?
英國藍毒茶 揭開大黑幕
今年四月 「英國藍」茶葉殘留農藥引發的茶安風暴,解開了這個謎題。陸續有茶飲店的茶葉被驗出除草劑、殺蟲劑等殘留,追蹤源頭都和越南茶有關。混茶造成農藥殘留問題,重創本土茶農生機。
高市茶商業同業公會理事長黃天勇說,茶安風暴後,高雄茶葉銷售額減少二成,不少老茶行撐不下去,原本一○七名會員才三個月已少了十多人,「以往沒見過這麼蕭條景象」。
茶業重鎮南投,整體茶葉銷量較去年同期估計銳減超過三成,名間鄉茶產量占全縣六成,製茶廠開工率銳減三成以上。縣議員許素霞說;買氣能不能回溫,要等今年冬茶採收後才知道。
混充台灣茶 茶廠賺價差
南投縣副縣長陳正昇直言,茶商用廉價進口茶混充台灣茶已經是「公開的祕密」。進口茶價格比台灣茶便宜七成以上,有些茶廠大賺價差,這也是為什麼進口茶的數量年年增長,市場卻從不曾見過越南等進口茶的原因。
一名茶商說,進口茶有紅茶、綠茶和台式烏龍茶,經過「併堆(俗稱混茶)」後, 紅茶和綠茶主要作為罐裝茶飲、連鎖茶飲店的原料,烏龍茶則以台灣品牌茶葉銷售。
民國八十年,台灣流行喝高山茶,同時因應工商化社會,袋泡茶(茶包)、罐裝飲料和泡沫紅茶店興起,廉價進口茶需求量也大增,且數量逐年攀升。
南投縣府調查名間鄉十家進口茶商,有七家是進口散裝茶,但混茶後,台茶、進口茶難辨,混茶獲利高達五成甚至更高。雖然茶農呼籲落實茶葉原料或產地標示,但反對力量不小,產地標示始終是口號。
過去進口茶 僅5趴抽驗
茶農們表示,以越南政府為例,雖有農藥使用規範,但實際使用狀況仍舊是由農民自決,政府約束力有限,杜絕農藥茶進口,要靠政府強化邊境把關。
「說來很諷刺,進口茶抽驗率只有百分之五,反而是本地茶園每批茶都得送檢」,名間鄉茶農余金炘抱怨「根本就是本末倒置、搞錯方向」。
進口茶的農藥檢測率低、價格低廉,利之所在,茶商當然樂於進口,難怪數量越來越多,如果不是手搖茶飲被驗出農藥殘留,政府全面檢驗,消費者永遠不會注意到,消失的三萬噸的進口茶,原來是被自己喝下肚。

2015年8月30日 星期日

林義正 :〈記深坑百年茶園〉

〈記深坑百年茶園〉
百年茶山
何處尋
深坑炮仔崙
八十老翁茅屋蹲
隱忍風霜
世守家園存
山中白毛猴茶怎孤獨
一片片青葉沾清露
含日月精華
古道旁
只是步伐漸稀疏
飲了這杯茶
可曾記起
臺灣茶葉史百年初






2015年8月29日 星期六

咖啡與健康那些事兒 Questions About Coffee and Health: We Have Some Answers

Questions About Coffee and Health: We Have Some Answers

Q. and A.August 28, 2015
In an article on Monday, I reviewed the evidence behind coffee consumption and health in an effort to put to rest the idea that coffee is a “vice” or something we all need to cut back on.
We received many comments and questions from readers. In fact, we received so many that we thought it might be useful to respond to some of the most frequently discussed ones.
Are the same beneficial relationships seen with decaffeinated coffee?
Most studies did not include data on decaffeinated coffee, either because too few people drank it or because data were not available. The few studies that did, though, had differing results. With respect to cardiovascular disease, decaffeinated coffee did not seem to have the same protective effects as regular coffee. With respect to the one stroke meta-analysis, it seemed to be just as protective as regular coffee. In two breast canceranalyses, decaffeinated had the same nonrelationship as regular coffee. Decaffeinated coffee was also protective against lung cancer, not as protective against Parkinson’s disease, and protective against diabetes and overall mortality, but perhaps to a lesser extent than regular coffee.
But for most studies, there just aren’t data available. The conclusion to take away: There’s less evidence overall for a potential benefit, but still, there’s no evidence of harmful associations.
What constitutes a cup of coffee?
Pretty much all studies defined a cup of coffee as an 8-ounce serving. That’s smaller than what I imagine most people drink. A grande-size coffee at Starbucks (what is called simply “large” at most other coffee houses) is 16 ounces.
Are the same benefits seen with tea?
The literature on tea is about the same size as that for coffee, and reviewing it thoroughly would take more time than is appropriate for this column. However, a number of studies I reviewed did include tea in analyses, and those I can present here. People who drank more tea had a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease and of cognitive decline. Black tea had a potential protective effect against diabetes, but it was not statistically significant. Green tea had no relationship to the development of diabetes.
If we think there’s enough interest in tea, though, we could devote a future column to the evidence on that beverage.
Is the benefit from caffeine or from some other element in coffee?
It’s not known. I also don’t think it’s necessarily the same protective effect in each disease. I think that for many of the neurological issues, it could be caffeine acting as a stimulant in the brain. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that decaffeinated coffee doesn’t seem to be as protective, yet tea is. In some of the other diseases, though, the same benefits aren’t seen from other caffeine-containing beverages. No one is arguing that diet soda consumption is associated with less of a chance of getting cancer. Additionally, some protective effects are seen with decaffeinated coffee as well. It’s likely, therefore, that something else could be at work. We don’t know what, though.
What about high blood pressure or cholesterol?
2005 meta-analysis found that in randomized controlled trials caffeine was associated with an increase in blood pressure. When that caffeine was from coffee, however, the blood pressure effect was small. A 2011 study found that caffeine intake could raise blood pressure for at least three hours. Again, though, there wasn’t a significant relationship between long-term coffee consumption and higher blood pressure. A 2012 meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials and five cohort studies could find no significant effect of coffee consumption on blood pressure or hypertension.
And, as has been reported in The New York Timestwo studies have shown that drinking unfiltered coffee, like Turkish coffee, can lead to increases in serum cholesterol and triglycerides. But coffee that’s been through a paper filter seems to have had the cholesterol-raising agent, known as cafestol, removed.
High blood pressure and high cholesterol would be of concern because they can lead to heart disease or death. Drinking coffee is associated with better outcomes in those areas, and that’s what really matters.
Some readers were upset that I neglected to mention some of the deleterious effects of caffeine. What about jitteriness and mood changes?
I want to reiterate that the point of the piece was not to tell people to drink coffee. As I said in my recent article on food recommendations, I don’t think there is much value in preaching or judging what others eat or drink. Moreover, this evidence is epidemiologic, that is, based on observations of patterns. I don’t want to fall prey to the mistake of recommending we change our eating behavior without evidence from randomized controlled trials.
The point of the article was to show that there’s no evidence that coffee is bad for the average person. Data do not support the idea that we are drinking “too much.” Coffee does not appear to be associated with poor health outcomes — the opposite is true. In light of this, we should stop telling everyone to avoid it, or judging others for drinking it. We should also stop feeling guilty or feel we need to consume less.
That is, unless it’s not making you feel well. As I also said before, individual trial and error is likely necessary when it comes to nutrition. Some people need to avoid caffeine for medical reasons, and they should. If coffee makes you feel bad, or makes it hard for you to sleep, or renders you a less likable person — then by all means feel free to cut back or stop.
But if you like it, then by all means enjoy it.


咖啡與健康那些事兒

新知2015年8月28日
使用Chemex沖煮法(Chemex pour-over method)製作咖啡。
Heather Walsh for The New York Times
使用Chemex沖煮法(Chemex pour-over method)製作咖啡。
有人認為喝咖啡是一種「壞習慣」,需要努力改正。在周一的一篇文章中,我綜述了有關喝咖啡與健康的證據,以期澄清這些誤解。
對此,讀者們發表了很多評論,也提出了不少問題。於是,我們決定從中挑出一些最有代表性的問題作答,或許能對大家有所助益。
飲用無咖啡因咖啡對健康也同樣有益么?
大多數研究都沒有納入無咖啡因咖啡的數據,這或許是因為喝這種咖啡的人太少,也可能是因為拿不到相關的數據。僅有少數研究納入了此類咖啡的數據,但並沒有得出一致的結果。無咖啡因咖啡似乎不像普通咖啡那樣可以預防心血管疾病。一項關於中風的薈萃分析則表明,無咖啡因咖啡與普通咖啡一樣具有預防效果。兩項針對乳腺的分析顯示,無咖啡因咖啡與普通咖啡均無甚作用。無咖啡因咖啡也能預防肺癌,但對帕金森氏症沒什麼效果;在預防糖尿病並降低整體死亡率方面,無咖啡因咖啡有一定的作用,但或許比正常咖啡稍弱。
但大多數的研究都缺乏相關數據。我們的結論是:總體而言,能證明無咖啡因咖啡潛在效益的證據較少,不過,也沒有證據表明它有害。
一杯咖啡指的是多大容量?
幾乎所有的研究都將一杯咖啡定義為8盎司(約合227克)的一份。我想這大概比大多數人平時喝的一杯要少些。星巴克(Starbucks)里的大杯(grande-size)咖啡是16盎司(約合454克)。
喝茶也像喝咖啡同樣有益么?
有關茶的文獻與關於咖啡的同樣多,要將它們徹底查閱一番需要耗費很多時間,就本專欄而言似乎無需如此大費周章。不過,在我之前綜述的研究中有一些確實也將茶納入了分析,下面我就簡單地介紹一下。喝茶較多的人患帕金森氏症以及認知功能減退的風險均較低。紅茶或可預防糖尿病,但其不具備統計學顯著性意義。綠茶與糖尿病的發生無相關性。
然而,如果有很多人都對茶感興趣的話,我們可以在未來的某一期專欄里討論關於該飲料的科學證據。
喝咖啡有益健康,是因為咖啡因還是咖啡中含有的其它成分的緣故?
目前還不清楚。我認為,對不同疾病起預防作用的成分未必相同。比如,對於神經系統上的許多問題,可能是咖啡因在發揮大腦興奮劑的作用。我的這個假設是有事實依據的:咖啡和茶都可以預防這些問題,而無咖啡因咖啡卻無此功效。但是,對於別的一些疾病,飲用其它含咖啡因的飲料卻未顯示出同樣的效益。從沒有人提出飲用無糖汽水與患癌症的幾率減少相關。此外,無咖啡因咖啡也同樣可以預防某些疾病。因此,很可能還有別的東西在起作用,只不過我們還沒有明確那具體是什麼。
那麼,喝咖啡對高血壓或膽固醇有什麼影響么?
2005年的一項薈萃分析發現,在隨機對照試驗中,咖啡因與血壓升高相關。但是,當咖啡因來源於咖啡時,對血壓的影響卻很小。2011年的一項研究發現,攝入咖啡因的升血壓效果至少可持續三個小時。但長期飲用咖啡與較高的血壓之間依舊沒有顯著相關性。2012年的一項薈萃分析納入了10項隨機對照試驗和五項隊列研究,結果發現飲用咖啡對血壓或高血壓並無顯著影響。
但是,正如《紐約時報》雜誌(The New York Times)曾經報道的,有兩項研究表明,飲用未過濾咖啡(如土耳其咖啡)可導致血清膽固醇和甘油三酯增加。但是,用濾紙過濾咖啡似乎可以去除掉升膽固醇的物質——咖啡醇。
高血壓和高膽固醇會引起人們的重視,是因為它們會導致心臟病甚至死亡。而喝咖啡對這些問題都有益處,這才是問題的關鍵所在。
我忘了提及咖啡因的有害影響,這讓一部分讀者感到不滿。那麼,喝咖啡與神經過敏和情緒變化之間有什麼樣的關係?
我想重申的是,本文的論點並非是要勸告大家都去喝咖啡。正如我在最近的一篇關於飲食建議的文章中所說,我認為對別人的食物和飲料指指點點說教評判沒什麼意義。而且,以上提出的都是流行病學證據,也就是說,它們都是從觀測研究中發現的模式。在獲得來自隨機對照試驗的證據之前,我可不想輕易建議大家改變當前的飲食行為,因為這種建議有可能是錯誤的。
本文只是想要指出,尚無證據表明咖啡對普通人有害。有人覺得我們喝咖啡「過多」,但現有數據並不支持這一觀點。咖啡與損害健康無相關性——事實上,恰恰相反。有鑒於此,我們不應該再阻止大家喝咖啡,或者對喝咖啡的人指手畫腳,也無需再因為自己愛喝咖啡而感到羞愧或者認為自己應該克制。
當然,要是喝咖啡會讓你感覺不舒服就另當別論了。我之前也說過,在涉及到營養問題時,可能有必要根據個人的具體情況來一番試錯。有些人因為醫學上的原因不能攝入咖啡因,那麼他們就不應該喝咖啡。如果喝咖啡會讓你感覺不舒服,令你難以入睡,或者會讓你變成一個不太討人喜歡的人,那麼,你也盡可以少喝或者不喝咖啡。
但是,如果你喜歡咖啡,那就隨心所欲地享用吧。
本文最初發表於2015年5月13日。
翻譯:任扶搖

2015年8月24日 星期一

A Beijing Tea House by Kengo Kuma and Associates

Our ‪#‎ProjectOfTheDay‬ is the Beijing Tea House by Kengo Kuma and Associates: http://arc.ht/1JxAITz

Kengo Kuma and Associates renovated a Siheyuan-style building located exactly in front of the East Gate of the Forbidden Palace (at the heart of Beijing), us...
ARC.HT

2015年8月23日 星期日

坪林的茶葉;假如那天大雨落在北勢溪 (劉克襄)




■■假如那天大雨落在北勢溪
不知道是否要感謝蘇迪勒,帶給我們的生活啟示。
八月七日凌晨起,南勢溪落了一千三百公釐的驚人雨量,導致土石崩塌,溪水濁度飆高,影響大台北好幾日的飲水。同一時段,我翻查了中央氣象局各地鄉鎮的雨量排行表。坪林一帶的雨量,並不及烏來的一半。因而當南勢溪水域混濁一片時,北勢溪安然無恙。
但幾位關心環境的友人最近都聊到,假如那天,或者未來某一天,同樣的雨量落在翡翠水庫集水區,不知會帶來什麼樣的後果。翡翠水庫是否跟石門水庫一樣混濁,我們將有一整個月,無法喝到乾淨的自來水?
以前這兩條溪都是我經常攀爬的地方,地理環境還有些認識。雖說北勢溪土質堅實,雨水不容易沖刷,但自己走踏的經驗裡,北勢溪的拓墾其實比南勢溪嚴重,面積亦來得廣泛,沿著河岸不少台地幾乎都有拓墾。
攤開現今的地圖檢視也清楚顯示。相較於中央山脈的諸多山區,南勢溪一帶算是保護較為允當的森林。遭到詬病的地點,主要集中在烏來一帶,近半世紀的密集開發。北勢溪從小格頭以上到坪林,百年來不少地方都是茶園栽種的環境。一塊塊山坡地,常年形成黃澄禿裸。前幾年,搭直昇機空拍翡翠水庫,空照圖即清楚顯示這一狀態。
坪林的茶葉相對於石碇、深坑,因為海拔緯度高,天氣冷涼,茶葉生長緩慢。揉捻後,愈發清香。若論茶葉品質,在北台灣當屬翹楚。唯現今到坪林一帶,最觸目驚心的,還是山坡地陡斜的環境,仍有大片茶園栽作。而這樣的山坡地,常常就緊鄰北勢溪河畔。
不過,好些茶農已經轉向有機栽作,盡量不除草,又不噴灑農藥。採用此一友善耕作,對山坡地的保護效果自是較好,也減少對集水區水源的污染。相較於慣行農法的茶園,現今慈心認證的有機茶園愈來愈增加,幾所大學亦參與了產銷合作。比例上,慣行和有機已達三比一的面積,顯見這幾年的努力值得稱許。
但北勢溪上游集水區,不只是傳統產業的問題,還包括未來我們是否還要有其它開發和交通建設。南勢溪因山高險阻,不利於開發,森林保育遂能展開長治久安的縝密規劃。北勢溪上游環境多為淺山,彷彿遠離集水區,因而屢被視為台北取捷徑到東部的地方。日後恐不宜,再心存此類節省時間的盤算。
森林長時滂沱大雨,勢必夾帶泥沙而下,水質就可能混濁。未來氣候變遷勢更加劇烈,經過此一颱風的教訓,面對北勢溪的水源,我們更該審慎。除了繼續維護水源保護區,恐怕還得積極輔導茶農,在提高農民收益下,走向水土保持優先的農耕方式。
(刊於2015.8.24「自由共和國」:http://talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/909335

2015年8月22日 星期六

2015年8月21日 星期五

會安小茶館


中越會安古鎮。嘻遊世界遺產@ 布萊恩:觀景窗看世界。美麗 ...

hrylin.pixnet.net/.../32314453-中越會安古鎮。嘻遊...
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我們在會安古鎮,除了那天晚上走了兩個多小時外,另外這天的白天,可是也札札實實的走了一整個下午,是說,真的越走越有趣。 在古鎮上,除了參觀那些古蹟之,

這篇登台北畫刊571 pp.15-17
轉登作者網站. 我只轉文字,另有5張?不錯的照片:
http://thebeher.blogspot.tw/2015/08/blog-post_12.html

台北市松山區富錦街354號1樓 Email:thebeher@gmail.comTel :02-27652646


寂靜之聲:會安小茶館

來自越南會安,Binh偕妻子Quyen[1]在故鄉孕育了一間小茶館—ReachingOut Teahouse。沈靜的百年老屋裡,聽語障礙的侍茶師煮水拈茶,在熙攘街道旁邀請旅人前來沏一杯寧靜。

為什麼想要在會安開一間茶藝館呢?
出生於60年代越戰期間,當時會安仍是寧靜的小鎮,在地年輕人為了工作機會,必須離鄉背井1999年被聯合國教科文組織列入世界遺產,會安的母親河—秋盆河(Thu Bon river)河岸風景從漁家撒網,改變為熙攘餐廳與酒吧,影響始終如一把雙刃刀:以越南家常的茶為例,現在一杯綠茶的價格,往日可以買到十五杯。我是一名輪椅使用者,深感身心障礙人士教育與就業機會的不足,希望以小茶館創造身心障礙者的多元職涯:聽語障礙的侍茶師;使用的織品、器皿與茶具,都是在地身障藝術家[2]的作品;飲品與茶點則來自對人與土地都友善的原料。

為什麼會培養聽語障礙人士成為侍茶師呢?
外界往往認為身心障礙等同於能力的喪失(The Disabled),我的經驗卻是:擺放在對的位置,每個人都各有所長(The Other Abled)。聽力障礙和言語障礙人士的嗅覺、味覺、視覺都比普通人還要敏銳,少去外界的干擾,帶來對食物、環境與人的細微觀察,正是一名出色的侍茶師所具備的特質在這裡,沈靜的品嘗一杯溫暖的茶湯,不僅撫慰旅人的身心,更期待茶客能與侍茶師的無聲世界有所連結。

小茶館頗受歡迎,卻十分寧靜,是如何做到的呢?
小茶館的氛圍,從這間逾兩百年的木造老房子,開始醞釀:邀請建築師參與整修,並搭配相應的老傢具,溫和的燈光,希望呈現道地的會安—得名自「與平安相會」之意。接著,以人為本的設計,店內提供無聲的溝通媒介:餐桌上擺有一盒積木標示常見的服務需求,並以鉛筆、便條紙取代電子呼叫器,以避免閃爍或震動提示干擾。此外,考量到聽語障礙的侍茶師不易察覺工作中所製造的聲響,從合適的鞋與走路方式開始,到杯盤遞送和桌邊服務的細緻規劃,以無聲勝有聲,帶來一份靜謐且安定心神的飲食體驗。

除了品茗,小茶館也有咖啡飄香和自製的茶點,它們背後有什麼故事呢?
店內自培的咖啡豆,來自越南保祿市,親戚採小規模種植的有機農場。烘培茶點所需的茶粉,和品茗所用的茶葉,都來自信任的越南有機供應商,而店內受歡迎的越南烤椰片,為了口感和新鮮度,則是在地農夫當日採摘的青嫩椰子。小茶館的食物不僅帶來安心的在地連結,旅人也得以細細品味茶與咖啡的原味色澤香氣,與古鎮的悠悠歲月。

你曾經到訪台北嗎?最想品嘗什麼食物?
目前還沒有去過台灣,若有一天能造訪這個以製茶著名的美麗國家,將是我的榮幸呢!期待品嘗具台灣特色的茶, 並更多認識在地的動人故事與無名英雄。

2015年8月19日 星期三

梨山"茶王"張新燈被控違反水保法起訴

Jul 25, 2011 - 在台中大梨山地區擁有5大茶區、年產能高達6萬斤高山茶的梨山實業董事長張新燈堪稱是梨山地區最具規模的茶園經營者;不僅如此,張新燈也是 ...

梨山茶王張新燈被控違反水保法起訴| 社會| 即時| 聯合新聞網

udn.com › 即時 › 社會
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6 hours ago - 被稱為梨山茶王的梨山實業公司董事長張新燈,被控從民

2015年8月13日 星期四

土耳其紅茶

土耳其人喝起茶來,就像全民運動,一天喝下十幾二十杯紅茶,不算誇張,紅茶似乎已經成為土耳其文化不可或缺的一環……
想到土耳其,最先浮現眼前的,就是那一杯杯的土耳其紅茶。...
STORM.MG

2015年8月11日 星期二

How Tea + Sugar Reshaped The British Empire


Tea Tuesdays: How Tea + Sugar Reshaped The British Empire
APRIL 07, 2015 6:45 PM ET
MARIA GODOY


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A Hindu servant serves tea to a European colonial woman in the early 20th century. The British habit of adding tea to sugar wasn't merely a matter of taste: It also helped steer the course of history.Underwood & Underwood/Corbis

Coffee and tea both landed in the British isles in the 1600s. In fact, java even got a head start of about a decade. And yet, a century later, tea was well on its way to becoming a daily habit for millions of Britons — which it remains to this day.

So how did tea emerge as Britain's hot beverage of choice?

The short answer: Tea met sugar, forming a power couple that altered the course of history. It was a marriage shaped by fashion, health fads and global economics. And the growing taste for sweetened tea also helped fuel one of the worst blights on human history: the slave trade.

The Princess And The Tea
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Catherine of Braganza was an early celebrity endorser of tea. After she wed Charles II, the fad for tea took off among the British nobility.Kitty Shannon/Corbis/Lebrecht Music & Arts

Tea was practically unknown in Europe until the mid-1600s. But in England, it got an early PR boost from Catherine of Braganza, a celebrity who became its ambassador: The Portuguese royal favored the infusion, and when she married England's Charles II in 1662, tea became the "it" drink among the British upper classes. But it might have faded as a passing fad if not for another favorite nibble of the nobility: sugar.

In the 1500s and 1600s, sugar was the "object of a sustained vogue in northern Europe," historian Woodruff Smith wrotein a 1992 paper.

Sugar was expensive and relatively rare, making it a perfect object of conspicuous consumption for status-chasing elites. Shaped into elaborate sculptures, mixed into wines, sprinkled on tarts and on glazed roasted meats — sugar was a much noted feature of upper-class life, says Smith, a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Boston who has studied the history of consumption. Cookbooks of the late 16th and early 17th century even treated sugar as a sort of drug to help balance the "humors" — energies that were believed to affect health and mood.

Then came the backlash: In the late 1600s, doctors started warning about the perils of sugar — it was blamed (correctly) for rotting teeth and (incorrectly) causing gout, among other ills — and it began to fall out of style among the rich and fabulous, Smith tells The Salt. Suddenly, sugar was the demon du jour. By around 1700, the word on sugar was no longer ostentation but moderation.

Clean Eating, Circa Late-1600s
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The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt, 1632. Here, Tulp explains musculature matters. Elsewhere, the good doctor was promoting the health virtues of tea.Rembrandt/Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile, lots of people were writing about the health benefits of tea, Smith says — including Nicholaes Tulp, a famed, well-connected Dutch physician immortalized in Rembrandt's painting The Anatomy Lesson. (Perhaps not coincidentally, Smith notes, Tulp "probably served on the board of directors of the Dutch East India Company" — which was, of course, importing tea.) Some enthusiasts suggested tea could induce the "constant sluicing of the body by drinking tens or hundreds of cups daily," Woodruff writes. Tea detox, anyone?

It turns out that self-help books were popular back then, too, and one of the most influential practitioners of the form was an English writer named Thomas Tryon, who had lots of theories on nutrition. (His followers included a young Benjamin Franklin.)

Tryon had a love-hate relationship with sugar. He'd been to plantations in the West Indies and was horrified by the system of slavery under which sugar cane was grown. But he also believed that anything that made people feel as good as sugar does must have some intrinsic health value. A dollop of sugar in a nonalcoholic, herbal infusion was a good way to get a hit of sweetness without going overboard, he thought. While Tryon didn't specify which infusion to use for this healthful concoction, "tea was the most obvious one," Smith says.

Such health notions, Smith says, help explain why, by the 1720s and 1730s, the custom of taking tea with sugar had taken hold among the British upper and middle classes.

The Birth Of A Global Economy

Interestingly, Smith notes, there's evidence that much of the same health claims about tea — that it cleared the head and improved spirits, without the debauchery of alcohol — were also being made about coffee around the turn of the 18th century. But coffee came from countries like Yemen and Eritrea — "places beyond European control and with little capacity to expand production," Smith writes. So when demand for coffee rose, prices did, too.

Tea, on the other hand, came from China — which had in place a sophisticated commerce system that could respond quickly to rising demand, Smith says. That demand was coming from the British and Dutch East India companies, which were already in China buying spices, silks and other goods for trade. As interest in tea grew back home, Smith says, the companies were in good position to ship large, reliable quantities at affordable prices "and therefore make tea a popular fad — and beyond a fad."

"What you're seeing is the global economy being constructed," Smith says. "It's these two companies as the vanguard of modern capitalism."

As Lord Beckett, the villainous, tea-and-sugar-sipping agent of the British East India Company in the Pirates of Caribbean movies might have put it, "it's just good business." (Such good business, of course, that, in the 19th century, the company went on to steal the secrets of tea production from China to establish a tea empire in India.)


Fuel For The Industrial Revolution

Tea and sugar proved good for business in another sense: as a cheap source of calories for the working classes.

Beer and cider had long been the drink of choice for the working poor, notes food historian Rachel Laudan. With good reason: The drinks were calorific, and the alcohol was mildly analgesic — both necessary when your days were filled with grinding labor. "Of course, that came at the cost of alertness," Laudan says.

But as the Industrial Revolution got underway beginning in the mid-1700s, the working classes gave up the plow and headed to the factory, where showing up tipsy wasn't exactly a way to get ahead.

Tea sweetened with a strong dose of sugar was an affordable luxury: It gave workers a hit of caffeine to get through a long slog of a day, it provided plentiful calories, and it offered the comfort of warmth during a meal that otherwise often consisted only of bread.

Paying For Empire In Tea And Sugar

The rise of tea and sugar as a power duo was a boon for British government coffers. By the mid-1700s, tea imports accounted for one-tenth of overall tax income, says Laudan, a visiting professor at the University of Texas, Austin.
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The Warley, a ship belonging to the British East India Company at the turn of the 19th centuryRobert Salmon/Wikimedia

As for sugar? According to one analysis, Laudan notes, in the 1760s, the annual duties on sugar imports were "enough to pay to maintain all ships in the navy." A great deal of that sugar, historians say, was being stirred into tea.

Those tea-and-sugar monies helped supply the British navy with better foodstuffs, Laudan says, including vegetables when available. And that navy was key to spreading British might across the globe.

"It's this dominance of the British navy that allows Britain to become the major colonial power in 19th century," Laudan tells The Salt.

But all this growth came at a terrible human price.

As Smith notes, the fad for tea came in just as sugar was under attack and had started to fall out of favor. By creating a new and lasting use for this sweetener, tea helped buoy demand for sugar from the West Indies. "And indeed, it continued to support the expansion of slavery there," Smith says.

So the next time you finding yourself sipping a nice warm cup, consider how something as simple as a drink can shape events half a world away. Even today, our edibles aren't just about appetite — the palatable is political.

How Percy Shelley Stirred His Politics Into His Teacup


How Percy Shelley Stirred His Politics Into His Teacup
AUGUST 04, 2015 3:43 PM ET



Joseph Severn's portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley. The radical 19th century poet practiced the politics of the plate. For Shelley and other liberals of his day, keeping sugar out of tea was a political statement against slavery.Joseph Severn/Wikimedia

Born 223 years ago on Aug. 4, the great Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley is celebrated for such works as his sublime odes to the skylark and West Wind. But he was also a radical thinker — and his revolutionary politics stormed in his teacup.

Slender of build and Spartan in habit, the tall, fair-haired poet had no taste for rich foods or wine. A vegetarian who shuddered at animal slaughter — though there were lapses into muttonchops and bacon — Shelley was an indifferent eater. He would absently spoon congealed food down his throat while his bright blue eyes devoured Aeschylus or Plutarch, whose essays on vegetarianism he translated.

But the one beverage to which he was addicted was tea.

His appetite for tea was limitless. Presumably, Shelley would have loved to load his cup with sugar — he had a strong sweet tooth. Except that in his lifetime, sugar came to epitomize the evils of slavery. In the liberal circles Shelley moved in, eating sugar was about as acceptable as displaying tusks of ivory in one's living room is today.

In 1791, the year before Shelley was born, the abolitionist William Fox published hisanti-sugar pamphlet, which called for a boycott of sugar grown by slaves working in inhuman conditions in the British-governed West Indies. "In every pound of sugar used, we may be considered as consuming two ounces of human flesh," wrote Fox. So powerful was his appeal that close to 400,000 Britons gave up sugar.



Anti-Saccharrites, a caricature by James Gillray from 1792, depicts King George III of England and his wife, Charlotte, drinking tea without sugar and urging their daughters to do the same. At one point, close to 400,000 Britons gave up sugar as part of the anti-slavery boycott.James Gillray/Wikimedia

The sugar boycott squarely affected that most beloved of English rituals: afternoon tea. As The Salt has reported, sugar was an integral reason why tea became an engrained habit of the British in the 1700s. But with the sugar boycott, offering or not offering sugar with tea became a highly political act.


THE SALT
Tea Tuesdays: How Tea + Sugar Reshaped The British Empire

Soon, grocers stopped selling West Indies sugar and began to sell "East Indies sugar" from India. Those who bought this sugar were careful to broadcast their virtue by serving it in bowls imprinted with the words "not made by slave labor," in much the same way that coffee today is advertised as fair-trade, or eggs as free-range.

Leading the boycott were the Romantic poets Coleridge and Shelley's early hero,Robert Southey, who described tea as a "blood-sweeten'd beverage" produced under the "mangling scourge" of the trader's whip. Shelley used these very words in his first long poem, Queen Mab, to evoke plantation slaves toiling "to the sound of the flesh-mangling scourge" to produce "all-polluting luxury and wealth."

Both Shelley and his second wife, Mary, abstained from sugar and drank green tea instead. According to Mary Shelley's biographer Miranda Seymour, the lonely and misunderstood monster in Mary's 1818 masterpiece, Frankenstein, is based on the African slaves she saw being worked at the quays in Bristol, a major slave port at the time. Mary's father, William Godwin — a radical socialist philosopher at the forefront of the antislavery movement, and Shelley's mentor — enjoyed a strong smoky green tea known as Gunpowder.

Still, even Shelley's high-minded avoidance of sugar had its limits. This, after all, was a man who liked to lick honey straight from the honeycomb. As his friend, Thomas Jefferson Hogg, wrote, Shelley "would greedily eat cakes, gingerbread, and sugar." And at Oxford, at least, Shelley took his tea with sugar.

For the most part, though, the poet seems to have maneuvered around the need for the sweet stuff in his cup by drinking only the best, most expensive green tea. Though barely a step ahead of the debt collector, he insisted on having the finest tea shipped to Italy when he and Mary moved there for the last four years of his life. It was, Mary explained, a necessity, as "Townley tea" — a common brand — "was tried and found wanting."

What else would one expect of Shelley? He was, after all, born an aristocrat. His radical politics caused his estrangement from his wealthy family, but they did not strip him of his taste for good tea. Indeed, the man who got kicked out of Oxford for writing a pamphlet on "The Necessity of Atheism" liked to joke that he was actually a "théist" — by which he meant, a devotee of tea.

That devotion never wavered. Though doctors of the age cautioned against excessive drinking of stimulants like tea and coffee, Shelley — in his usual rebel manner — sneered at their counsel. A couple of years before his death, he wrote:


"The liquor doctors rail at—and which I
Will quaff in spite of them—and when we die
We'll toss up who died first of drinking tea,
And cry out,—'Heads or tails?' where'er we be."

Afternoon tea didn't kill Shelley — an afternoon storm did. A month before his 30th birthday, Shelley drowned off the coast of Italy.

Why Letting Women Take Tea Breaks Was Once Considered Dangerous


Why Letting Women Take Tea Breaks Was Once Considered Dangerous
AUGUST 11, 201512:35 PM ET






Tea a dangerous habit? Women have long made a ritual of drinking the brew, but in 19th century Ireland, moral reformers tried to talk them out of it.iStockphoto

A version of this story was published Dec. 5, 2012.

Given tea's rap today as both a popular pick-me-up and a health elixir, it's hard to imagine that sipping tea was once thought of as a reckless, suspicious act, linked to revolutionary feminism.

Huh? Well, the feminist complaints came from 19th century, upper class Irish critics who argued that peasant women shouldn't be wasting their time — and limited resources — on tea. If women had time to sit down and enjoy a tea break, this must mean they were ignoring their domestic duties and instead, perhaps, opening the door to political engagement or even rebellion.

"Drinking tea was thought to threaten traditional ways," explains researcher Helen O'Connell of Durham University in the UK. In the 1800s, tea was an affront to the virtues of frugality and restraint, which underpinned rural Irish culture.

In a paper published in the journal Literature and History, O'Connell explores the angst about tea by combing through popular pamphlets — or short works of fiction — published in the 1800s. The pamphlets were published by reformers who were trying to weave tales of morality and clean-living into story form.


THE SALT
How Percy Shelley Stirred His Politics Into His Teacup

In one pamphlet, Cottage Dialogues, written by the Irish Quaker author and reformer Mary Leadbeater, a dialogue between two women makes it clear that tea-drinking was considered a lavish, irresponsible behavior that could be habit-forming. Though the characters don't know the language of addiction, they use the phrase "hankering after it" — as if to suggest that once you'd had your first cup of tea, it would be impossible to stop or control your longings. Adding to this suggestion is the fact that tea was sold at liquor stores.


THE SALT
How Tea + Sugar Reshaped The British Empire

The reformers' campaign against tea took on another moral outrage: slavery. Since tea was typically sweetened with sugar at the time, reformers in Ireland tried to convince people that tea drinking was akin to drinking the blood of slaves, who were forced to work the plantations where sugar was produced.(Many prominent British intellectuals of the 19th century, including the Romantic British poet Percy Shelley, also boycotted sugar in their tea for this reason.)

O'Connell says clearly, in the end, the campaign against tea was not successful. Consumption of tea continued to grow steadily during this period.

To us, the campaign against tea, particularly the suggestion that it may lead to revolutionary feminism, may seem crazy.

But in some ways, O'Connell says, "contemporary culture has all of these ideas about food which might appear ludicrous in time to come."

Any examples come to mind? "Maybe organic food, I don't know," O'Connell says. Or maybe the way we obsess over gluten. "Working on this project has made me a bit more critical of food discourse," she says. "Our passions and beliefs sometimes take over."