Posted: May 05, 2000 at 07:21:01: by pabbott
I think any of your conjectures could be correct. Certainly tea could have been imported into the Shire from the south and east, passing through many middlemen along the way. That is the way spices like pepper got to Europe during medieval times. I believe the markup from point of production to point of sale was something in the order of 20,000 percent. The whole question of the economy of middle-earth seems to be overlooked. There must have been enough inter-societal commerce to keep the inn at Bree going. The roads weren't in great shape, but they still existed. On the other hand Frodo could have been drinking some form of herbal tea. In the absence of any authoritative statements by Tolkien we can never really know.
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