Interesting article, but with a few comments seem in order.
Tea is really a type of camellia bush (a broad-leafed evergreen), which
grows as part of the undergrowth of southern temperate and sub-tropical
broad-leaf evergreen forests across S. Asia. Hence, the great tea cultures
of China, SE Asia,
The Great British Tea Heist
Botanist Robert Fortune traveled to China and stole
trade secrets of the tea industry, discovering a
fraud in the process
By Sarah Rose
Smithsonian.com
March 09, 2010
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Great-British-Tea-Heist.html
[This is an excerpt