))
The Great Tea Heist: Mission Received (Part 1)
Manage episode 477096169 series 3595588
Content provided by The Produce Industry Network. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by The Produce Industry Network or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://ppacc.player.fm/legal.
The British thirst for tea had become insatiable by the mid-19th century, but there was one problem: nearly all of it came from China. For the East India Company, this dependency was a costly vulnerability. What they needed wasn’t more silver to trade but a way to break China’s monopoly entirely. Enter Robert Fortune: a Scottish botanist with a talent for subterfuge, a taste for adventure, and an uncanny knack for survival.
In this first part of a two-part series, John and Patrick trace the remarkable early life of Fortune - from his humble Scottish beginnings to his acclaimed first expedition in China that put him on the map. With the East India Company desperate to grow its own tea in India, Fortune is entrusted with a daring mission: to steal the secrets of tea production from deep within the Chinese heartland.
Clad in local robes and speaking rough Pidgin, Fortune navigated a dangerous landscape few foreigners ever saw - sneaking through the storied city of Hangzhou and gaining rare access to a green tea factory. But what he found there would shock even him: Chinese producers were secretly poisoning the tea, adding toxic pigments to create a more vibrant hue for foreign buyers.
Join John and Patrick as they trace the first steps of this daring mission, where botany, espionage, and empire collide, and the fate of tea - and indeed, global trade - hangs in the balance.
----------
In Sponsorship with Cornell University: Dyson Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
-----------
Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.
Support us!
- Share this episode with your friends
- Give a 5-star rating
- Write a review
-----------
Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more.
-----------
Instagram, TikTok, Threads:
@historyoffreshproduce
Email: [email protected]
90 episodes
Share
