Robert Fortune

Guest Robert Fortune, a Scottish botanist, stole tea production secrets from China, impacting global tea industry.Considers tea's importance to Britain, Opium Wars, travel restrictions in China, Fortune's disguise and exploration, Indian tea industry success, and Fortune's legacy.

British tea enthusiast and explorer, Robert Fortune, embarked on a secret trip to Taiwan in 1854 to learn the secrets of tea production. Despite spending only a day on the island, he made fascinating botanical discoveries and documented pre-treaty port Qing era Taiwan. This episode explores the British obsession with tea and their attempts to grow it in India. It also delves into Fortune's perilous journey to Taiwan, the endemic Fomosa Lily, the poverty in a Taiwanese town, and the subsequent boom of Taiwan's tea industry.