“Just” a cup of tea
God’s beautiful creation is both good…and utterly corrupted by sin. I am daily reminded of this paradox when I consider the violent history behind my beloved beverage.
My love of tea is no secret. No matter the time of day, no matter the occasion, you will most likely find me happily sipping a cuppa. A steaming mug of fresh tea invigorates the senses and warms the soul. There are eight different types of tea, with a myriad of subcategories. Six of these types derive from the same tea plant, the camellia sinensis.[1] When the tightly rolled and twisted leaves slowly unfurl in the steeping process, this one little tea plant produces a delightfully endless variety of flavors, colors, and aromas. Personally, my favorite type is green tea. It cures my headaches, alleviates any stress or tension I feel throughout the day, and evokes the sensory experience of a lush, verdant garden.
Clearly, I have no problem singing the praises of tea. But I am not alone.
Tea has been lauded and prized around the world for thousands of years. It has long been at the center of ancient sacred ceremonies and rituals, at the table for international treaties and alliances, and in the homes of both peasants and royalty. The first tea plants originated in the remote Yunnan region of China, an ethereal and rugged terrain of high mountain peaks coated in a blanket of lush, tropical forest. Becca Stevens in her reflective and faith-inspired book, The Way of Tea and Justice, notes that some of these ancient tea plants in this region are over a thousand years old and over sixty feet tall. From the roots of these ancient tea plants sprang forth a global tea culture. She writes, “These plants in the forest of China are the Eve in the mother line of tea plants, and they have witnessed the spinning of the earth around the sun hundreds of times over.”
The story of tea is of the beauty and majesty of God’s creation. Tea’s extensive history attests to the expansive interconnectedness of humanity and nature itself. In the Book of Genesis, the story of the Garden of Eden weaves an ancient myth of the original unity of man and woman in nature, a unity in which our proper place was in right relationship with nature, specifically in tending and caring for God’s green earth. Growers and tenders of tea bear witness to a natural gift of God that has been protected and cultivated for thousands and thousands of years. Tea itself is so old that no one really knows when or how the first ever tea leaves were infused with water.[2] Even so, tea masters have long studied the ways of tea, passing down their wisdom over the centuries. Tea has long inspired the human spirit and helped to instruct us in the delicate balance of that original unity between human beings and creation itself.
Nevertheless, if tea leaves steep too long, their sweet taste turns overly astringent and bitter. After all, sin lurks even in Paradise. In the story of the Garden of Eden, human capacity for sin prevailed. God’s creation is at once beautiful… and broken. So, the story of tea is also one of corrupted power, violence, and greed. For over two thousand years tea was safeguarded and securely protected as a highly valued commodity in the East, until its riches and secrets were plundered and exploited in the West.
In the 18th century, in order to satiate Western thirst for tea (particularly in Britain and the colonies), the East India Trading Company smuggled opium into China in exchange for the gold and silver required to purchase highly valued Chinese goods, such as silk and tea. In his article, Trading Tea for Opium, James Norwood Pratt states: “The tea being drunk in the West — at Methodist and antislavery meetings, in fine drawing rooms and poor cottages — nearly all of it was bought with opium.”[3] This illegal drug trade eventually led to the infamous Opium Wars. Subsequent British victory over China led to newly negotiated peace treaties which opened ports and new opportunities for Britain to smuggle tea plants and tea processing secrets. [4] [5]
In an episode on the East India Trading Company, the podcast, “Stuff You Missed in History Class,” recalls the fascinating story of Robert Fortune. Fortune was hired to enter China and steal the secrets of tea, so that Britain no longer had to rely on China for their tea fix at all. After Robert Fortune’s work and research was complete, the East India Trading Company now had a monopoly on the trade and distribution of tea to the West. This, of course, leads us to the sad history of the working conditions on tea estates funded by the company. Becca Stevens writes, “The growing of tea requires cheap labor, and the colonization of India and countries in Africa provided it through exploited labor.” The poorest of the poor, especially women and children, were abused and worked to death on these tea farms. Even today, attaining safe and ethical working conditions for tea workers still remains an issue in certain places. We tea lovers have a responsibility to research and investigate the companies from which we buy our tea. This is an area in which I too am learning and striving to do better.
All that being said, tea is a profound example of the creative ingenuity of human hands. Deriving from those original tea plants in the Yunnan region of China, a cup of tea is a symbol of relationships, of human interconnectedness across the globe. Yet, tea also serves as a powerful reminder of the deep, systemic evils of sin and the brokenness of our world. Just as we inherit the sins of Adam and Eve, so too do we inherit the violent history of tea in every cup. For tea first came to us, particularly those of us in the West, through war, exploitation, and by the blood and sweat of the poor and most vulnerable.
Yet there is always hope. Though our world may be broken, abundant beauty prevails. John Calvin speaks of all of creation as a theater for God’s glory. As the stewards of this creation, we are called to love and to serve in God’s glorious theater. In the simplest and seemingly smallest of things — just a cup of tea — God reminds us of our unique and humble calling in this world: to tend to the earth and its creatures, and to take care of one another. Despite our trespasses and shortcomings, God graciously forgives and lovingly ushers us back into divine arms again and again — invites us to have another cup of tea — and calls us to keep trying.
Tea is the harbinger of truth
whose handpicked leaves
teach us how injustice is fed
on the bosom of poverty — -
Her haloed cup is a sanctuary
for our thirst that longs
to love tenderly
with revived hearts.
(Excerpt from “The Way of Tea” by Becca Stevens)
[1] “Types of Tea,” TeaSource, accessed 9 July 2019, https://www.teasource.com/pages/types-of-tea.
[2] “The East India Trading Company’s Theft of China’s Tea Secrets,” Stuff You Missed in History Class, Podcast, aired 2 April 2018.
[3] James Norwood Pratt, “Trading Tea for Opium,” Teamuse, 1 May 2001, https://www.teamuse.com/article_010502.html
[4] Becca Stevens, The Way of Tea and Justice: Rescuing the World’s Favorite Beverage from its Violent History (New York, Jericho Books: 2014), p. 49.
[5] “How 156 Years of British Rule Shaped Hong Kong,” Vox Borders, Vox, published 18 July 2018.
