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The Spy Sent to Steal a Secret He Had Already Proven
In 1848 the East India Company sent a disguised botanist into the same Wuyi cliffs this site calls home, hoping to break China's grip on tea. He had already spent years proving green tea and black tea come from one plant; what Wuyi's closed factories still held was the plants and the method, and he shipped cuttings toward the Himalayan gardens meant to rival Wuyi itself, though the plant behind India's biggest tea region was never his to take.
Jul 14, 2026 →