The best two chapters of Roy Moxham’s book are the first and the last, where he talks of his personal experience as a young tea estate manager in 1960’s Malawi (Africa). ˝ I knew nothing about tea, but I could learn˝.
He writes of an awareness both of himself and the politics ˝˝I had already absorbed many of the colonial values of the planters and was opposed to African rule in the near future.˝ There were some tense times, and he took to carrying a Beretta pistol, but there were also plenty of parties!
The bulk of the book, sketches the history of tea, first dealing with Chinese-British trading, then Victorian enterprises in India and Ceylon.
There are tales of pirates, swift ships (that could carry a million pounds of tea!), slow elephants, and swift lashes to tea pickers.
In these histories, Moxham understands the colonialism impacts, such as selling Opium to the Chinese and treatment of the growers.
This is a rich history!
(Amazon.com)