Upon inspecting our All Things Tea logo, it isn't hard to spy the mighty and proud ship forging through open waters. Nice, isn't it?! But....ummm....what does that have to do with tea?! Well, we chose our logo carefully; you see, this isn't just any ol' ship. It's a clipper ship. The end. Just kidding - that would be a little too brief of a history lesson.
The tea trade is actually what led to the rise of clipper ships - people were looking for a faster way to transport tea from China. Before clipper ships, cargos of tea would make the long journey around the Cape of Good Hope (the southern tip of Africa - the only route from China to Britain before the Suez canal). However, as 'mystery' around first flush tea (which is the most recently-picked tea) grew among the Brits, financial interest in faster ships grew, as well. Amazing what people can create when you dangle that proverbial carrot, right? The East India Trading Company (which was the only game in town at that point) didn't much care about speed (again, 'cause they had such a monopoly on the tea trade). They'd take a couple of years (yes, I said YEARS) to make the trip in huge, heavy boats. Enter year 1814. The East India Trading Company lost its monopoly on India tea trade, and then on China tea trade in 1834; this opened the market up to the Americans, who consequently developed the fastest sailboats of the time in order to get the tea first and make the most profit. Crafty capitalists! For close to two decades, these 'tea clippers' ruled the wide blue seas. In fact, it is at this time that the clipper race was born: the race to see who would make it first to Britain from China. It is said that the first American clipper ship to carry tea from China to London made the trek in 97 days. That's fast! That's THREE times the speed of the lethargic ships of yore.
It wasn't until the Suez Canal opened in Egypt (1867) that the age of the clippers ended. The races forged on, but over the following years, steamships became the more efficient mode of transportation. The last great tea clipper was the Cutty Sark (which still reminds me of my father's liquor cabinet), which set sail in 1869. Anyway, we couldn't think of a cooler logo than a clipper ship....see....tea has had a serious influence on history (wait 'til my post about the Boston Tea Party). Thanks for reading!
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