Tea was considered necessary, not only because of its soothing effects but perhaps more importantly, because tea necessitated boiling water, thus helping to ward off many of the intestinal diseases that had plagued armies for centuries.
Much has been written about the role tea played during the two world wars, not only as necessary refreshment for the troop but also as an item of trade. During the first two wars of World War I, from 1914 to 1916, tea as enjoyed by the British as it had been before the war began.
When German submarines began sinking British ships, however supplies became less available and the price of tea rose dramatically. In response to the scarcity of tea, the government classified it as a luxury and began rationing it to civilians. The public uproar that resulted soon made it clear that tea would have to be reclassified as a basic necessity, essential for keeping up national morale.
The government then took over all tea imports, fixed process and controlled sales. By 1918, all the tea available in Britain was owned and meted out by the government at the rate of two ounces of tea per week per person.
In 1919, after the war ended, normally auctions resumed and consumption rose to three ounces of tea a head weekly by 1931. While both wars did have an impact on the world’s consumption of tea, some things never change, and the British continued to import at an astronomic rate.
Primarily through the efforts of the British owned plantations, 470 million pounds of India tea were plucked in 1945, in spite of the turmoil in India during World War II. This was the largest tea crop ever from India, and British profits in tea increased by 200 percent.
History of tea and War
