WI: No Tea?

Without the caffeine keeping them Alert I can see the British failing at several points where they encounter people with stimulants that are useful in combat. I mean, Cocaine is a pretty harsh drug, but it DOES work in the fields.

So what your saying is that the American Revolution will be transformed into The Great American Coke Uprising? Scarface will happen 2 centuries earlier, and instead of Cuban immigrants it will be jittery and aggressive English settlers rioting because the East India Company was late with their next fix.

I want to see this timeline.
 

archaeogeek

Banned
So what your saying is that the American Revolution will be transformed into The Great American Coke Uprising? Scarface will happen 2 centuries earlier, and instead of Cuban immigrants it will be jittery and aggressive English settlers rioting because the East India Company was late with their next fix.

I want to see this timeline.

I spilled tea on that line. But I don't think they refined coca to that extent at the time.
Also thought: what about a much livelier cocoa industry!

One of the interesting butterflies which nobody seems to have brushed on as much: what, then, could become the attraction for trade with China? Sure the country is super wealthy, but silk: the europeans and ottomans do it; porcelain? It's a technique which was eventually picked up in the west as well. And there's tea, which here doesn't exist... So how would it affect European-Chinese trade there? Maybe other colonial powers still try to do it by introducing their own goods? But the problem is one of "exchanging them for what" although it's true for a long while chinese porcelain and silk was probably perceived more as the real deal and spices in the area are still important. Introducing the chinese to chocolate, coffee and tobacco might be welcomed a lot better than opium, especially as the three are stimulants :p
 
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Thande

Donor
No British Empire? :p I mean, it's no coincidence that our rise came with the Portuguese introduction of tea in the late 17th century...
 
No tea?

Arthur Dent has a perpetually bad life, not in the least ameliorated by sporadic breaks for a certain drink.
 
MATE! MATE! MATE!

Seriously it tastes good, has a different form of caffeine and there are no jitters. Maybe British Argentina would make this happen with Brit-Argentine Union that persists to the modern day? :)
 

archaeogeek

Banned
MATE! MATE! MATE!

Seriously it tastes good, has a different form of caffeine and there are no jitters. Maybe British Argentina would make this happen with Brit-Argentine Union that persists to the modern day? :)

Yes because as we all know Canada is still part of the United King... wait what?
 
Yes because as we all know Canada is still part of the United King... wait what?

Well since the POD is the total extinction of an entire species of plant at some point in the distant past. I would imagine that British Argentina might just be in the butterfly cards.
 
Well since the POD is the total extinction of an entire species of plant at some point in the distant past. I would imagine that British Argentina might just be in the butterfly cards.

I'd go further than that.

A Hunnic Rhineland.
Celtic Newfoundland.
Japanese California.
And Byzantine West Africa.

They all make about as much sense as anything else in this horrible, tea-less world!
 
Cruelty...

... Yerba Mate does sound the best idea. Petete123123, where are you?

But Britain was rather fond of the honey-based alcoholic drink metheglin, flavoured with meadowsweet.

Maybe a malted grain infusion instead? Non-alcoholic, 'cos I'm medically allergic to alcohol.:mad:... Ruins the weddings...

But I'm partial to an infusion of dried lavender and Darjeeling tea (I have the recipe and it's good). Maybe an infusion of dried and fermented blackthorn (sloe) leaves?

But I agree with Thande - I loathe coffee and Coca Cola. Dandelion coffee's not bad, though.
 
I'm not sure the Chinese civilization could exist without tea. Tea drinking started thousands of years ago. The boiling of water to serve tea is probably a major reason China had such a large population.
 
The European production and consumption of khat would be brilliant. Imagine salons where people talk twice as fast and become anorexic because of them.
 
Other species of Camellia contain caffeine and can be used to make tea. Unless you're talking about the extinction of an entire genus, someone somewhere east of the Himalayas is going to find a decent substitute. Preventing tea or a tea-like substance from being used is going to require a major change in the way traditional medicine is practiced in the area.


MATE! MATE! MATE!

Seriously it tastes good, has a different form of caffeine and there are no jitters. Maybe British Argentina would make this happen with Brit-Argentine Union that persists to the modern day? :)
There is only one form of caffeine. Other chemicals in mate account for the somewhat different effect. So does individual body chemistry.
 
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