Bewitch’d With Indian Poyson

01Jul07

It’s safe to say that not everyone was thrilled with the increasing popularity of tea during most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In Britain, a slew of commentators were pointing out the evils of this newly discovered beverage. This particularly poignant passage bemoans the effect of tea on the British national psyche. It appeared […]

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Arson Aboard The Cutty Sark

21May07

On February 16, 1870 the Cutty Sark left on its maiden voyage – bound for Shanghai and loaded with “wine, spirits and beer”. She returned to London on October 13, with a precious cargo of 1,450 tons of tea.[via]. She may not have been the fastest vessel on the seas, but there’s no doubt that […]

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A Japanese Teaware Exhibit

10May07

If you find yourself in the vicinity of Smith College in Northampton, MA between now and May 27, a new exhibit at their Museum of Art looks rather interesting. Fashioning Tradition: Japanese Tea Wares from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries features objects associated with the tea ceremony, which has become a metaphor for Japanese culture […]

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Darjeeling And Its Discontents

07May07

In 1929, Sigmund Freud argued that civilization “obtains mastery over the individual’s dangerous desire for aggression by weakening and disarming it and by setting up an agency within him to watch over it, like a garrison in a conquered city.” [link] A recent article by Satis Shroff – Drinking Tea in Darjeeling – seems to […]

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Transformation

17Apr07

A year after India’s independence, Time magazine reported: …for instance, in Hyderabad railway stations, there are separate refreshment rooms labeled “Moslem Tea Room” and “Hindu Tea Room. In Hyderabad imported food supplies have dwindled and the price of potatoes has soared to $1 a pound. The airline that connected Hyderabad with Indian cities is suspended. […]

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