Tea

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"This tea was brought to me from India by a ship, then, up from the harbor to a factory, where it was packaged and ferried by carriage to my door, unpacked in the larder and brought upstairs to me."

―Crawford Starrick expounding on tea, 1868.

A cup of tea

Tea or chai is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to East Asia. Famous for its stimulating effect, tea was also used for recreational purposes, leading to the establishment of teahouses where individuals could meet while drinking tea.

History

Middle Ages

With the establishment of the Silk Road, tea was diffused by merchants from the Far East to the Middle East. In 870 CE, the Hidden One Basim Ibn Ishaq introduced the beverage to his Frankish brethren Oisel and Matthias when they met in Antioch.

Colonial era

During the Colonial era, tea circulated through European countries and their American colonies. The East India Company became one of the world's leading tea exporters, transporting the beverage from Asia to Great Britain and the British colonies. As a result, tea quickly became an integral part of British culture.

Edward Kenway being served tea

When the British Assassin Edward Kenway visited Macau in 1725 during his search for Pieces of Eden in Asia, he was offered black tea by the Qing merchant Madam Lee during a meeting at her estate, the Mandarin's House. Edward disliked the tea's bitter taste and suggested adding sugar or milk to the beverage, only for Lee to respond that "boorish Westerners" like him did not know the first thing about tea.

During the 18th century, tea consumption began to be rivaled by coffee. In 1768, the merchant Bouché had difficulty selling tea in New Orleans and resolved to slander his business rival Philippe de Grandpré, who sold coffee.

In 1773, the British Parliament approved the Tea Act, allowing the East India Company to ship tea to the American colonies directly from India. This made tea cheaper, increasing the company's profits and hopefully preventing the colonists from trying to smuggle expensive Dutch tea. However, the colonists objected, believing the Act was a trick to make them pay taxes despite their lack of representation in Parliament. Philadelphia and New York City turned away the East India Company's ships, but Massachusetts' Governor Thomas Hutchinson allowed the ships to stay in Boston Harbor.

Stephane Chapheau and Connor throwing tea crates during the Boston Tea Party

The Colonial Templar William Johnson smuggled tea from the ships of the East India Company to finance the purchasing of the Iroquois lands for the Order. On 16 December 1773, the Colonial Assassin Connor, alongside Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and William Molineux from the Sons of Liberty, boarded the East India Company's ships and threw the tea cargo in the Boston Harbor, foiling Johnson's plan. The event would be remembered as the Boston Tea Party and was one of the first steps to the American Revolutionary War.

The Colonial Assassins later organized similar Tea Parties in New Jersey and Maryland to continue defying British rule in the Colonies. Back at the Davenport Homestead, Connor produced tea with the help of the innkeepers Oliver and Corrine using honey and rosemary, and sold large quantities of it across the North American East Coast and the Caribbean Sea.

Victorian era

Crawford Starrick drinking a cup of tea

Tea remained a part of British culture through to the modern age, serving as a beverage during social events or on a more individual level. During the Victorian era, the Templar entrepreneur Crawford Starrick entered the tea trade as head of Starrick Industries. The company's reach in the market was vast, with every step along the tea supply chain—from the shipping crew in India to the London delivery man—staffed by many of Starrick's employees.

Modern times

In 2020, the Assassin Rebecca Crane asked her husband Shaun Hastings to pick up some mint tea for her during his supply run near Concord, New York, while they supervised Layla Hassan as she relived the memories of the Raven Clan Viking Eivor Varinsdottir. Shaun bought some, but protested that the flavor was artificially infused instead of being properly steeped with leaves.

Appearence

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• Assassin's Creed III (first appearance)
  • The Tyranny of King Washington
• Assassin's Creed: Brahman
• Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
• Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed: Unity (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Unity novel (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed comic
• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate
• Assassin's Creed: Gold
• Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: The Silk Road (mentioned only, as "chai")
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows
• Assassin's Creed: Jade