THE flowers of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, are relatively plain, especially when compared to some of their flamboyant relations. Yet the tree that bears them has probably done as much to change human history as any plant on the planet.
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Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) growing on the muddy banks of the Nile in 3000BC gave us paper. Cinchona (C. ledgeriana) bark yielded quinine, the first drug to beat malaria and still used in severe cases. Rubber (Hovea brasiliensis) keeps our cars on the road.
But tea was the cause - in a roundabout way - of the establishment of NSW as a British colony. Without tea I wouldn't be sitting here writing this story, even though I only drink it at breakfast.
Tea is native to mountain regions of northern India, Myanmar and western China. It is a large tree, reaching 15 metres in the wild, but tea is brewed from the leaf tips so plants are kept pruned to a convenient height for harvesting by hand.
According to legend, the Chinese were the first to pour boiling water over dried tea leaves to make a hot drink, in about 2700BC. The west discovered it in the 17th century and it quickly became hugely popular in Britain and Europe and also the American Colonies.
The British East India Company acquired a monopoly on the importation of tea from China to Britain, where they sold it for local consumption, as well as to British firms for export to the 13 American colonies, who by law were required to import their beloved "cha" from the homeland.
However, despite the monopoly, tea was financially disastrous for the East India Company. The Chinese had a voracious home market for green tea and were disinterested in developing overseas trade. They charged exorbitant duties and insisted on payment in silver, causing a huge trade imbalance with Britain.
Eventually, in desperation, the British government tried to tax the tea sold to the American colonies.
The colonists objected: although British, they weren't allowed to elect their own members of Parliament, and howls of "No taxation without representation" arose.
Arguments continued and tea stockpiled in Britain but the colonies wouldn't give way. All refused to accept tea except Massachusetts, where the Governor convinced the importers, two of whom were his sons, to unload the tea and pay the tax.
Then, in 1773, 2000 chests carrying 270,000 kilos of tea arrived in Boston and massive public demonstrations led to the entire consignment being dumped in Boston Harbor. The episode became known as the Boston Tea Party and was one of several actions that led to the American War of Independence, culminating in 1783 in Britain's defeat.
The loss of its American colonies was serious in more ways than one for the British government, as it had long used them as a convenient dumping ground for its convicts.
They looked for an alternative location. The rest you know.
The high price the Chinese forced Britain to pay for tea sadly ended in doing them more harm than good, as after losing its attempts to tax tea exports to America, Britain tackled its trade deficit by selling Indian opium to China - another way in which the tea plant indirectly changed the course of history.
If you'd like to grow your own tea, Camellia sinensis needs well drained, acid soil with plenty of water and good drainage. It is frost hardy. Tea is made from the three terminal leaves of the shoots.
Gardens in Mount Wilson are open the weekend of April 5 and 6 for Open Gardens Australia.
Visit www.opengarden.org.au
