Of course, tea from the colonies had one advantage: compared to tea shipped from the Far East and India, it was far cheaper—cheap as cabbages, one might say.
There were three main reasons for this. First, cost. Tea grown in the Austrian Empire's colonies had very low labor and land costs, while transportation costs were only 15% of those for Far Eastern tea.
Second, yield. Austrian Empire tea had been hybridized from the very beginning. At this time, the Austrian Empire's Ministry of Agriculture valued output far more than quality, and under that guiding philosophy, tea with astonishingly high yields and atrocious flavor had come into being.
Third, market recognition. Austrian Empire tea had virtually no recognition on the world market, and even the tea sold domestically was marketed under the banner of Far Eastern tea.
It might fool the common folk, but for nobles accustomed to fine food and drink, this stuff was only fit for rinsing horses' mouths.
"Deputy Director Ketteler! Stop drinking! If you keep drinking, you'll poison yourself!"
Lord Rute spoke as he wiped the beads of sweat from his brow. To him, whether his family could rise again depended on whether he could secure the director's seat. To that end, he had even planned to sell off his family property to complete this mission.
"Lord Rute, don't be so anxious. You can't drink hot tea in a hurry."
"Not anxious? Do you know what our mission is this time? The Emperor has gone mad! Even if I sent everyone out, even if I sold my property and took out loans, I still couldn't compile those statistics!"
Lord Rute complained, while Ketteler's expression turned serious.
"My lord, aren't you afraid that walls have ears, speaking of His Majesty the Emperor like that?"
Lord Rute immediately hunched