Trade & Tariffs

When a Brick of Tea Bought a Horse

For close to two centuries, a compressed slab of tea was legal tender across Siberia, Mongolia, and Tibet, priced against horses and sheep, in places where gold and silver were not accepted. What actually ended it was a canal, a railway, and, in Tibet, a government buy-up, not a rival currency.

Who Pays the Tea Tax?

Kenya, Sri Lanka, and India have each taxed a kilogram of tea leaving the country, at different rates, for different reasons, with different results. Here is what each levy actually does, and who really carries it.