The Tea Trade: A Historical Perspective  

Introduction:

We are generally interested in all things tea, including its rich and fascinating history.  We hope that you find htis brief overview of the tea trade to be as interesting as we do!

The Transport Of Tea:

Until the l840s, when the tea clipper ships were first constructed, it often took between fourteen and twenty months to sail the stocks of tea from China and Java back to London. The “Great Clipper Tea Ship Races” of the era attracted massive publicity and added tremendous excitement and color to an otherwise somewhat bland product. Today, tea is transported from tea plantations to the tea drinking consumer in monstrously large sea-bearing vessels that are filled in the tea producing countries exporting their wares. However, occasionally, the tea is loaded at the tea estates but this practice is somewhat inefficient and quite rare.

Exceptionally careful handling and bone-dry storage of the teas are still very important during the transport of bulk tea. Interestingly enough, improvements are constantly being implemented at all levels of the transportation industry from the tea estate and the tea factories to bulk shipping and tea warehousing corporations. In years gone by, all tea was sold to merchant tea shippers who sailed the tea home and then auctioned it to the highest bidders. Tea transportation certainly has come a long way since its early beginnings!

How Tea is Sold At Autction - Then and Now:

The first recorded tea sale in England occurred in London on March l, 1679. However, by the 1750’s, regular auctions of fine Chinese tea were being held. Several years later, the first Indian tea auctions were held in Calcutta and since then, multiple tea auction centers have been opened in most countries of origin.

Offshore tea auctions were developed in l982 in an effort to assist solving the ongoing problem involved in the landed tea auctions, involving long delays in transferring money from the tea buyer and tea broker. Interestingly enough, today approximately 75 - 85 percent of the World’s annual tea output is sold through public tea auction. Of note is the fact that Chinese teas are not sold through this means.

Before being brought to the tea auction, a small hole is bored in each tea chest or tea sack to be submitted for sale. Carefully controlled tea samples are then forwarded to many of the world's most influential tea buyers. If a tea buyer likes the tea sample that she / he has tasted, he often will bid for it at the tea auction. (Amazingly, sometimes, as many as 50,000 chests (or five million pounds) of tea can be sold in just 24 hours in this manner. The highest bidder then either ships the tea that she / he has purchased to a central depot or he sends tea samples to the leading tea importers around the globe. Eventually, the tea shipments travel from the country of origin to the importing countries. Modern changes in the tea trade unquestionably will lead to the introduction of electronic on-screen tea auctions whereby tea buyers will be able to "attend" tea actions from their offices all around the globe, rather than being forced to be personally present in the tea auction room….ahhh…the marvels of modern tea technology!

Phyllis and Greg Sprout began their company, epicureanfoods.com, in July 1993.  They specialize in supplying hard-to-find gourmet foods, fine wines, gift baskets and other non-food gourmet items to discriminating customers across North America.  Their combined 50+ years in the fine food and fine wine businesses uniquely enable them to assess the wide variety of gourmet & specialty foods, fine wines and non-food gourmet items available on the market today.  They offer only those items that they deem to be superior to comparable competitive products and that represent superb value to the consumer.   They also have a thriving wholesale division of their company which services gourmet shops, gift shops and gift basket companies across North America.  They can be reached at phyllisandgreg@epicureanfoods.com.