Tuesday, August 9, 2011

How our cuppa wouldn't exist if an amazing Victorian hadn't stolen the secret from China's warlords







Now, in the likely event that you are at this very moment drinking tea - likely because, as a nation, we pour 150 million cupfuls down our throats every day - you might care to give a nod to the memory of a tall and lean Scotsman by the name of Robert Fortune, a forgotten hero for the millions of us who swear by the amber nectar, the 'liquid jade', the cuppa, a brew, char.

Fortune was a seeker of the exotic, an explorer and a student of plants, just like his Victorian contemporary and fellow botanist, Charles Darwin, who is much discussed at present on the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work On The Origin Of Species.

But where Darwin discovered the key to life, it was the little-known Fortune we can thank for making it infinitely more pleasurable and relaxing.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1159458/The-great-tea-robbery-How-cuppa-wouldnt-exist-amazing-Victorian-hadnt-stolen-secret-Chinas-warlords.html#ixzz1URZeYyZy

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