It’s Tea Time: Pirates, Polyphenols, and a Proper Cuppa

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Food, History, Arts

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2017

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Gastropod tells the story of two countries and their shared obsession with a plant: Camellia sinensis, otherwise known as the tea bush. The Chinese domesticated tea over thousands of years, but they lost their near monopoly on international trade when a Scottish botanist, disguised as a Chinese nobleman, smuggled it out of China in the 1800s, in order to secure Britain’s favorite beverage and prop up its empire for another century. The story involves pirates, ponytails, and hard drugs—and, to help tell the tale, Cynthia and Nicky visit Britain’s one and only commercial tea plantation, tucked away in a secret garden on an aristocratic estate on the Cornish coast. While harvesting and processing tea leaves, we learn the difference between green and black tea, as well as which is better for your health. Put the kettle on, and settle in for the science and history of tea! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Lisa Ling, a journalist and host.
0:07.2	And I'm Hoon Lee, but you may know me as Chao on the Max original series War Year, based
0:11.7	on the writings of Bruce Lee.
0:13.4	After every new episode, join us here Hoon and I, and a series of special guests are
0:18.6	going to discuss how the show is made.
0:21.0	So, stream War Year season 3, starting June 29 only on Max, and join us here or wherever
0:26.6	you listen to podcast.
0:31.0	On July 21, the cinematic experience of the summer arrives.
0:37.0	Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is an epic thriller about the
0:40.8	man who risked destroying the world for the one chance to save it.
0:45.0	Featuring an incredible cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Emily Bluntz, Oscar Winner's
0:48.9	Matt Damon and Kenneth Brandock, Oscar nominee Florence Pugh, and Killing Murphy at J.
0:54.0	Robert Oppenheimer.
0:56.0	From theaters to live 21st, rated R.
0:58.0	Here's the brand new tea plantation.
1:03.0	And it's quite exciting because the backdrop couldn't be any more English, we see we've
1:14.6	got literally a quintessential English village right behind it.
1:21.0	Yes, you heard that correctly, a tea plantation in England.
1:26.0	I know shocking, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.
1:29.6	But Nikki and I actually got a chance to visit Britain's one and only commercial tea plantation
1:34.4	last month.
1:35.4	It's in Cornwall, a beautiful peninsula that's the southwestern most corner of England.
	...

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