A Storm in a Teacup: Fragility and Resilience of The Dutch Tea Industry

This paper explores how the Dutch tea industry, shaped by colonial ambition, wartime scarcity, and domestic ritual offers a unique cultural lens for examining crisis and resilience. From the exploitative structures of the Dutch East India Company to the quiet strength of tea rituals during the Hunger Winter of 1944–45, tea serves as both a historical commodity and a symbolic thread running through Dutch cultural memory. At the heart of this exploration is the idea of honouring imperfection: embr