Life in a Cuppa: : Chai Conversations

Bodhidharma brought tea to China, monks spread it to Tibet, Japan, and South Asia. Singphos harvested tea on elephants in Arunachal. Robert Bruce started tea cultivation in India, breaking Chinese monopoly. Indian tea led to Boston Tea Party and US independence. "Life in a Cuppa" book by Kakoli G delves into India''s tea history.

Bodhidharma from Tamil Nadu is among those who are credited with discovering tea in far away China, where he traveled 2,500 years ago. It is Buddhist monks who taught people the benefits of tea and took it to Tibet, Japan and other South Asian cultures. The Singphos of Arunachal harvested tea from tree tops on elephant-back many centuries ago. Robert Bruce wrote all about tea in a book in the 1830s and began the first commercial cultivation of tea in India with the help of Diwan Maniram. It is Indian tea that helped the English break the Chinese monopoly on tea. It is the same Indian tea that caused a tax revolt in Boston harbour, leading to an independent USA. In the book, Life in a Cuppa, curated by Kakoli G, a connoisseur herself, experts like Sanjeev Kapoor, Sanjay Khosla, Piyush Pandey, Chandrajit Banerjee ...tell us the tea story of India and how special it is through tales of twining, tasting and trade.