Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Who knew that the drink enjoyed by millions has such a rich and storied past? Anything that makes people money will lend itself to turmoil and troubles. This book takes a look at the journey from an errant leaf that darkened the emperor's cup, to the drink that is a staple all over the world.

I enjoyed this read, but it was a little dry at times. You have to be a lover of history to get through those sections. A more lyrical style would have helped it hold the interest of people who aren't as into the dates and facts and years of history. I did enjoy the journey of tea, and definitely learned a lot of new information. The stories were interesting, and this book truly shows the history of a cash crop and how that impacts the world.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of the book, and the chance to write this review.

Promises to dishy and revealing, but I don't feel like the book lives up to it. At least not in the first couple of chapters, and if I'm not hooked by now, I doubt I will be later. Some bits were interesting, like how tea became integrated with political and economic power, but for the most part I just felt like I was getting an info dump of background information.

A fascinating look at the history of tea. Tea didn't just start as a random leaf blown into the cup of a Chinese emperor and end up as the most popular drink in the world ... there is a long tale that accompanies its journey and some of it is quite dark. A well-written and fascinating book.

I RECEIVED A COMPLIMENTARY ADVANCED READER COPY OF THIS BOOK THROUGH NETGALLEY. OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS REVIEW ARE COMPLETELY MY OWN.)

I’ve always been interested in the history of tea and tea drinking, so was very keen to delve into A Dark History of Tea. Charting tea’s origins from China to its pride of place in English tradition, Seren Charrington-Hollins explores everything from the Opium Wars and slavery to British tea auctions and tea-drinking etiquette.

While I enjoyed learning more about my favourite beverage, I did find some of the writing a bit repetitive. Though interesting, the content was not always engaging. Nonetheless, this is worth the read if you, like me, want to understand how and why tea became such an important cultural commodity.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher, Pen and Sword History, for an e-arc of this book in exchange for a review.

I started reading this book and initially liked it but after a while I lost interest in it and could not stay invested in the actual story. I liked the blub and the overview of what it was about, but sadly is just was not for me even though I know plenty of others enjoyed reading this book and the history of tea.

A Dark History of Tea looks at our long relationship with the humble cup of tea. Food historian Seren Charrington-Hollins traces tea's origins from its accidental discovery in China to its rise to the tables of the high and mighty.

‘A Dark History of Tea’ – as the name suggests – is not a happy history lesson and indeed focuses on every dark aspect of Tea’s history. This book starts with the discovery of tea in China. The bulk of the book is concerned with the rise of tea in China and the tea trade by EIC, smuggling, and adulteration. The Opium Wars between China and England, how tea was planted in India, the tea auctions in Britain, and the life of the workers on these tea plantations formed the rest of the book. The book also discusses how the British developed etiquette, traditions, superstitions related to tea drinking, and even witchcraft, and readings of tea leaves find a mention. All in all, the book tries to cover, as many interesting facts related to tea as it can.

The best thing about the book is that it does not try to whitewash the horrors that have been committed in the name of the tea trade; from colonization, Opium Wars to Slavery. It even talks about Victorian England’s addiction to opium and gin and the resulting impact on the masses.

The book was interesting but at times, there was a lot of repetition (about adulteration or drug use in England) and the order of events kept going back and forth at times. This book is primarily about Britain's dark history with tea and the East India Company’s trade with China/India. It mostly ignored the rise of tea’s popularity in the rest of the world. I also found the chapters on drug use, witchcraft, and the readings of tea leaves, not totally related to the topic.

Overall, this was an interesting book, and a quick read on tea’s history as a popular drink in modern times. If you are looking to read an alternative (but real) take on the history of tea, this is the book you should read.

Many thanks to the publishers Pen & Sword and Netgalley for the ARC.

The Dark History of Tea by Seren Charrington-Hollins
Genre: History, Non-Fiction
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
Publish Date: 30 May 2020

Star Rating 5 Stars out of Five

Reading this book has had me in the same mind frame as when I was watching Netflix’s Tiger King. Which is a big compliment trust me because with Tiger King, I went into it as naive and thinking I knew what I was getting, but then the series took mad turns, with drama, conspiracy, and corruption that led to countless meme’s and a world obsessed for that month it aired. The Dark History of Tea is similar, it took me down a dark rabbit hole with each chapter bringing in new element of drama. Aren’t tigers supposed to be cute and tea supposed to be a comforting drink?

The history of tea is dark, filled with opium, profit hungry governments, racism, addiction, sex: assault and seduction and adulteration. Charrinton-Hollins is a great story teller, her passion for the topic certainly comes across which is enhanced by her profession as a food historian. The book is filled with anecdotes which are enjoyable and I particular enjoy her final chapter that went into the supernatural traditions of tea and gives a guide into how to read my own tea leaves. If I must give a criticism for the book it would be that some anecdotes may offend some audiences, (so if you don’t enjoy dark histories this is not for you!) and that there are some instances that the author unnecessarily repeats herself, but this doesn’t take away from the finished product.

If you like tea and the underbelly of histories I highly recommend this book. I really enjoyed it and got a lot more in turn of scandals and drama that I would have expected glazing over at my favourite cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Pen and Sword History, for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a great book if you love history and tea. It has a bunch of random factoids that I didn't know before! The writing kept my interest. Thanks for the ARC.

I love tea. This was an interesting, informative, and thorough. I really enjoyed learning the history.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Make a cup of your favorite tea and sit back to enjoy this marvelous history of tea.
This is exemplary body of work of the history of tea, its origins and the history that framed tea . I appreciate that the author gave the reader a history of tea in china, its import to other areas and how it is grown and farmed. This truly gives the reader insight as to the intricacies of growing different types of tea. He also speaks to the beliefs behind tea and its qualities to heal and transform.
I enjoyed the British history here with extensive information on the tea trade, how it framed wars and became a staple of English life that it is today. I was raised on tea as my Mother was English/Scottish and tea remains of utmost importance in my life . When one has a true appreciation for tea this is the book to read to learn its origins. Very well done . I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to the publisher and to the author for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own. This is a exceptional body of work .

Review: A Dark History Of Tea by Serena Charrington Hollins.
A Dark History of Tea looks at our long relationship with this most revered of hot beverages. Renowned food historian Seren Charrington-Hollins digs into the history of one of the world’s oldest beverages, tracing tea's significance on the tables of the high and mighty as well as providing relief for workers who had to contend with the ardours of manual labour.

As a big fan of this drink, when I saw this book appear on NetGalley recently, I was intrigued. You hear about events such as the Boston Tea Party but that’s kind of it and really there is so much more to tea than that, and the author in this book truly spills the tea on this drink’s roots. Covering a range of periods and areas, even ones I didn’t expect! For example witchcraft this book focuses on China in the beginning and then of course the links between tea and colonialism in the British Empire.

Though dense in moments, which sometimes put me off a little, this book does deliver in a short read a lot of fascinating and intriguing information and if you are interested by the area this is perfect for you, but if you are looking for citations then there are only a few, so I would recommend a more thorough book.

An insight into the English perspective of tea and its history with colonialism and war, A Dark History Of Tea certainly makes clear that what we drink today and is considered deeply British, is just another thing we took when we took over countries.

(I received this book from Netgalley for honest review).

I enjoy drinking tea and was intrigued to learn more about the history of tea.

It's certainly a history with darkness. In particular, the author discusses the role of tea in the Opium Wars between Britain and China, and in the gruesome history of smuggling.. The early adulteration of tea is pretty grim too.

The author does sometimes go into great detail on matters that barely touch the history of tea. The goings on at a certain Coffee House for example, or baby farming.

The book doesn't always flow as well as it might, as the author jumps in time as they move between themes, but the rich choice of subject matter makes up for any deficiencies. There are plenty of good illustrations. too.

It is a rather Anglo-centric history, albeit beginning with the history of tea in China. Though Britain has surely played a pivotal role in the more recent history of tea.

I love tea and I love history, so this is the perfect book for me! This history of tea from food historian Seren Charrington-Hollins was well-researched and very readable. I appreciated the illustrations which were well-chosen and interesting. There were many interesting stories and I learned a lot. For example, the section on the adulteration of tea was fascinating and horrifying.

I can highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys tea and/or history.

Wow! I will never take my humble teabag for granted again. I read each chapter of this book with growing fascination and in some instances horror. Would love to see a tea brick. Particularly intrigues by the chapter about witchcraft, scrying and sorcery with tea and tea leaves. Who knew there was so much in the history of something I use every day without a second thought. Overall a very interesting read which greatly added to my knowledge of history and tradition.

A copy of this book was provided by Netgalley and Pen & Sword in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Content warnings: Racism, drug addiction, sexual assault, slavery, murder.

My rating: 4 books out of 5

Highlights:
From tree to mug the story of tea is anything but boring.
I find it fascinating how one thing can have such a profound effect on the politics and history of a nation.
Life might be hard but at least there’s not dung in our tea any more.
People used to plan historical uprisings in coffee houses so we haven’t changed that much to be honest.
If only people had protested racism and sexism with the same vehemence they protested the King trying to shut said coffee houses. Again, haven't changed that much.
There’s a list of tea spells at the back!

Tea enjoyment is seen as one of life’s most basic and natural pleasures, but the rise of tea consumption in Europe and Britain is stained with tears and corruption.

A cup of tea. For me, there’s little more peaceful and comforting than a cuppa and a book. I’m drinking tea as I write this, I drank an awful lot of it while I read this book. Despite my liking for a cup of coffee on a Monday morning, or a night time hot chocolate, it’s tea I fall back on in times of stress or sadness.

And there’s been rather a lot of that going around lately, hasn’t there?

While there’s little more quintessentially British than a cup of tea and a chat, the plant isn’t native to our little island. It’s not even native to our continent. A drink so old its discovery predates any written history beyond myth and legend, tea is fundamentally Chinese in origin. Of course, once European travellers discovered it, things changed. Two wars and a revolution later, here I am drinking my cuppa from a mug with a fairytale landscape on it. And thank goodness it doesn’t contain floor sweepings, poison or animal waste.

At least I really hope it doesn’t, it’s my favourite type. I’d hate to have to change.

This book was absolutely fascinating, both for the history of tea itself and for the illuminating glimpse into the history of the country I call home. I took an AS level in history - I still to this day cannot escape Gladstone and Disraeli (no really I bought hot chocolate and the receipt had a Gladstone quote at the bottom) - and the way colonialism affected our modern views of literature was a topic I covered at university (spoiler alert: if it wasn’t by a white dude it rarely made it big), so while I’m hardly an expert I did recognise a few names and events mentioned. However, a lot of this stuff was entirely new to me. And pretty much all of it was horrifying.

History is in many ways cyclical, but it was chilling to see the sort of rhetoric spread about Chinese immigrants over a hundred years ago, especially when you hold it up to the sort spread about immigrants in general nowadays. It’s almost identical. There has always been political power in getting voters to unite in hating the same people.

So while I knew the history of the humble tea leaf wouldn’t be idyllic, this was a JOURNEY of war, racism, drug addiction, shady business dealings, murder and witchcraft.

Yup, it really does have everything.

The main thing I had against this book going through was that the narrative of it wasn’t entirely linear. It followed a mostly chronological setup in terms of time passing, but had a tendency to bounce about a bit when further discussing certain topics - like the opium trade or the nasty state of many a Victorian larder - and as someone for whom dates do not come naturally, I found myself getting a little confused from time to time. There was a lot of ‘wait didn’t we already cover that bit? Isn’t it the 1800s now? Okay no...okay back to the 1800s’ but let’s all remember there’s a high chance that this is for two reasons:

I am an idiot
I read this in lockdown and my brain was slowly turning to mush. I couldn’t even remember the current date. Still can’t tbh, it’s just somewhere between January and inevitable death.

So if you’re a historically minded person you may not find that this is an issue. Just be aware going in that there are callbacks to earlier dates throughout.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. Despite the slight confusion from the non-linear dates I took away a great deal from the reading experience that I won’t be forgetting in a hurry. Even something as simple as a cup of tea with breakfast has a dark and storied history that might just change the way you look at it.

interesting history of Tea and how it became Britain's drink of choice. From its earliest beginnings in China to the inception of Indian tea growing. How tea was first introduced into England and gradually over time became the preferred drink of the poor. The very fact that tea itself became a currency gives some idea of its importance from those who grew it, traded it, and enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed this book! It is full of a dark and rich history that most of never even think twice about. Where does your tea come from? How did tea become such popular drink in Europe and the US when it comes from so very far away. All this and more is explained in detailed and sometimes amusing accounts and stories of the dark history of tea.

What an educational and phenomenal read! Anyone who is a lover of tea knows at least some of the specifics of this favored beverage. Tea itself is not without its own history, but the leaves that make the tea also are profoundly mesmerizing. For example: the different types of tea per the leaves used the make it (black, white, green, herbal, rooibos, etc), the temperature at which to brew the specific type of tea leaves, how the region from whence it was produced can alter the flavor profile, etc.

The amount of history alone that can be told just from the simple act of brewing a cup of tea is astonishing. I knew I had to read this when I saw it, and any tea lover/history buff will feel the same. I have long been fascinated with tea and its origins after learning something about tea that has become one of my favorite tea-related "fun facts." I learned this in my early teens and have always somewhat enjoyed things of a macabre variety so, once I had learned it, I had committed it to memory and enjoyed learning more about tea and its dark past. This tea fact is that the act of dried leaves becoming saturated with the water and unfurling is known as "the agony of the leaves." This book opened my eyes to a history I knew little of but was eager to know more about. Any don't forget to drink a cup of tea while you ponder the pages within the book, it will only further immerse you in its tale.

Brilliant and fascinating, this book the dark history behind the nation's favourite drink. I really enjoyed the exploration of the folklore surrounding tea.