EVESHAM-born author Roy Moxham has drawn on his experience as a plantation manager to lift the lid on Britain's favourite beverage.

Following the success of his first book The Great Hedge of India - an expos of one the British Empire's least-known enterprises - Mr Moxham has revealed the often-shocking history of Tea. Under the title of Tea: Addiction, Exploitation and Empire, the book explores the impact of tea on four centuries of British and World history.

Mr Moxham's association with the tea business began in 1960 when he placed an advertisement in the personal column of The Times:

TOBACCO or Tea Estate; young man (21), good A levels (Science), now fruit farming, seeks position, view management. - Write Box Y.1901. The Times, E.C.4.

The advert was answered and the young Mr Moxham left the orchards of the Vale of Evesham and headed to the tea estates of Nyasaland, now Malawi.

He said that at the time it seemed quite natural for him to progress from plum picker to manager of 500 workers. "I had been brought up in an era of empire and inculcated with the idea that for the British to go out and run colonies and tropical enterprises was perfectly normal," he said. "Looking back now it seems extraordinary."

Realising with hindsight how remarkable his sudden elevation had been Mr Moxham decided to look more closely at the role tea played in the Empire.

He uncovers that the British desire for tea - and lots of it - lay behind the forced migration of millions of people, the deaths of untold numbers of workers and the outbreak of the Opium Wars with China.

"Our whole attitude towards China was disgraceful," he said. "Originally all tea came from China and the trade involved a huge amount of money. The Chinese had no interest in any of our products to exchange, they just wanted silver - but we didn't have enough.

"The only way we could pay for the amount of tea we wanted was to step up the production of opium in India and ship it to China. This trade had a disastrous effect on the Chinese population and when they tried to stop it we went to war against them saying they were stopping free trade."

The book also explores our own attitude to the beverage that would eventually become our national drink. "Most people think tea was in this country since the year dot.

"But it's quite a recent arrival, it first came here in the 17th Century and then only in quantity in the 18th. There was quite a lot of aggravation to begin with because people thought it would turn the beer-drinking British into a nation of softies."

Mr Moxham's skills as an historical researcher were honed in his first book about the Great Hedge of India, which described the creation of a giant barrier through the middle of India to prevent the smuggling of salt, which was highly taxed despite being essential to life.

Mr Moxham, pictured left, has already started on his next book, Malabar Dreams, while continuing his work as senior book conservator at the University of London.

The book will go further back to the very beginnings of empire - but will also look forward to a happier relationship between Britain and India.

Tea: Addiction, Exploitation and Empire is published in paperback by Robinson on September 9, priced £7.99.