For all the tea in China : how England stole the world's favorite drink and changed history / Sarah Rose

Originally published: London : Hutchinson, 2009, with title For all the tea in China : espionage, empire, and the secret formula for the world's favourite drink.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [249]-252) and index.

Prologue -- Min River, China, 1845 -- East India House, City of London, January 12, 1848 -- Chelsea Physic Garden, May 7, 1848 -- Shanghai to Hangzhou, September 1848 -- Zhejiang Province near Hangzhou, October 1848 -- A green tea factory, Yangtze River, October 1848 -- House of Wang, Anhui Province, November 1848 -- Shanghai at the Lunar New Year, January 1849 -- Calcutta Botanic Garden, March 1849 -- Saharanpur, North-West Provinces, June 1849 -- Ningbo to Bohea, the Great Tea Road, May and June 1849 -- Bohea, July 1849 -- Pucheng, September 1849 -- Shanghai, Autumn 1849 -- Shanghai, February 1851 -- Himalayan Mountains, May 1851 -- Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield Lock, 1852 -- Tea for the Victorians -- Fortune's story.

Rose's remarkable account follows the journey of Robert Fortune, a Scottish gardener, who was deployed by the British East India Company to steal China's tea secrets in 1848. This thrilling narrative combines history, geography, and old-fashioned adventure.