The Plant the Company's Own Scientists Called Savage

When the East India Company sent three scientists to certify the wild Assam plant as real tea, two of them said no. One called it savage and demanded Chinese seed instead. The plant he doubted is what grows in Assam's gardens today.

The Tea That Failed Three Inspections Before Anyone Believed It

Assam tea was rejected in writing at least three separate times, by three different men, over eight years, before the Company's own botanist agreed it was real. The paper trail survives, names included.