Robert Fortune was a Scottish botanist and adventurer who is credited with the
introduction of tea to India, whose subsequent mass production of tea produced great
wealth for the British Empire. Truly, Fortune changed the fortunes of the British Empire.
According to Rose’s research and surviving documents authored by Fortune and his
contemporaries, in 1843, Fortune journeyed to China under the employ of the Royal
Horticultural Society. While on this trip, he discovered that green and black teas were
derived from the same plant, which caused quite a stir in botanical circles. Upon his
return from Far East Asia, he was recognized by many as an expert on teas.
At that time, the United Kingdom had enjoyed a love affair with tea that extended
back over 200 years. China was the sole source of tea and costs were high. After all,
despite the relatively cheap purchase price from the producers, distributors had to contend
with transportation costs, insurance, handling fees, tariffs, and other costs to bring the tea
to the demanding European market. If there was a better way of doing business, the British
were interested in finding it.
Fortune’s reports from Asia spurred interest by the British East India Company. With the
British firmly ensconced in India, executives of the company saw an opportunity to supplant
the Chinese as the world’s primary producer of tea. Blessed with an amiable climate, plenty
of land, and an inexpensive labor pool, all the company executives needed were tea plants and
the appropriate procedures needed to convert the leaves into the valuable product.
Naturally, the Chinese were loathe to share their monopoly. Moreover, the tea
region and how they processed the tea were considered state secrets. There was no legal
mechanism to export tea plants for cultivation in potential competing markets and no
plans to change. Faced with such a dilemma yet encouraged by prospects of success, the
company decided the risks were worth contracting an agent to do their bidding.
Robert Fortune filled the bill. His experience in the region, his botanical skills, and
his familiarity with the tea plants made him an ideal candidate. According to Rose,3
tasking was simple: return to India sufficient quantity and quality of tea plants to serve as
nursery stocks that would launch the Indian-based tea plantations and learn the process
for manufacturing tea.
Fortune made his way to China, where he enlisted the help of a local man named
Wang, who served as his guide and translator. Wang helped Fortune, who allegedly wore
a disguise so that he would not be recognized as a European, gain admission to tea
manufacturing facilities where he discovered and carefully documented the process for
converting freshly picked leaves into the cured product coveted by millions.
Interestingly, while he was observing the cultivation and processing of tea leaves,
Fortune noted that some of the workers handling the leaves had blue marks stained into
their hands. In another area, he observed gypsum being added to the tea leaves. With the
help of Wang, he soon deduced that the Chinese, believing that their British clients
expected their green tea to actually look green, were adding iron ferrocyanide (which
has a color sometimes known as Prussian blue) and gypsum (a yellowish color) to pro-
duce a green tint to the tea. Normally, their tea was produced naturally and safely yet
they were responding to what they thought the demand was from the Europeans.
Unfortunately, such a tonic ingested in sufficient amounts is toxic.