This is the historical romantic view of tea for opium and the
establishment of tea in India. Britain wanted silver from China to
finance its wars in Europe. The attempt by Fortune to transplant
Chinese cultivars circa 1850 were a failure. In the meantime Arthur
Campbell a Doctor bought some Chinese seeds from an outpost in India
and established tea in Darjeeling in the 1840s. Robert and Charles
Bruce discovered tea in Assam. The Assam Company was established in
1839 by the British East India Trading company. Its tea was considered
inferior to Chinese. The British invented new mechanical processes
for black tea production which made Indian tea affordable.

Jim

On Mar 30, 12:13 am, Mack A. Damia > wrote:
>
> "The task required a plant hunter, a gardener, a thief, a spy. The man
> Britain needed was Robert Fortune," Rose writes. Fortune was the agent
> sent to sneak out of China the plants and secrets of tea production.
>
> Before Fortune, England engaged in trade with China, sending opium in
> exchange for tea.