Literally, tea has been an issue in almost every major expansionist issue having to do with Great Britain. From Spain, to America, to China, trading opium for tea? TEA? I mean, I can almost understand spice wars, because of food and market trading, however...tea? Can anyone elaborate as to why Britian has always been such assholes over tea in different times of history?
(Mainly from 1600-late 1800s for specified time period I guess)
I discussed the relationship between opium and tea (somewhat tangentially) in this old post
If you’re asking specifically why the British people had such strong demands for it as a commodity, I can’t really elaborate.
From the economic perspective it was an explosive demand by the populace of an already cash strapped British government. The post I linked to discusses how the British reacted to the demand for tea, but not why it existed in the first place.
Maybe a moderator could flag someone for British history ? I got drawn in because of the China connection.