"Tea has been one of the most popular commodities in the world. Over centuries, profits from its growth and sales funded wars and fueled colonization, and its cultivation brought about massive changes--in land use, labor systems, market practices, and social hierarchies--the eff…
"This book is not about drug addiction, the preparation of gourmet beverages, psychology, religion, social classes, international trade, or love, art, or beauty. But, in telling the story of the natural and cultural history of caffeine, it necessarily encompasses all of these to…
Tea has a rich and well-documented past. The beverage originated in Asia long before making its way to seventeenth-century London, where it became an exotic, highly sought after commodity. Over the subsequent two centuries, tea's powerful psychoactive properties seduced British …
In a natural, cultural, and artistic history of our favorite mood enhancer, the authors show how caffeine was discovered, its early uses, and the unexpected parts it has played in medicine, religion, painting, poetry, learning, and love. 50 halftones & line drawings.