Book Launch : Green With Milk and Sugar : When Japan Filled America’s Tea Cups

Presenter : Rebert Hellyer

Associate Professor of History, Wake Forest University.

Today, Americans are some of the world’s biggest consumers of black teas. In Japan, green tea, especially Sencha, is preferred. Through an examination of the history of the Japan-US.tea trade, this presentation will show how these national partialities are deeply entwined. It will focus on the forgotten American penchant for Japanese green tea- often consumed hot with milk and sugar- and how it came to shape Japanese tastes. Highlighting stories of the people involved in the Japan-U.S. trade- including samurai turned tea farmers- the presentation offers not only a social and commodity history of tea in the United States and Japan but also new insights into how national customs have profound if often hidden international dimensions.

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