Tea In The United Kingdom

Since the 18th century, the United Kingdom has been one of the world's largest tea consumers, with an average annual per capita supply of . Originally an upper-class drink in Europe, tea gradually spread through all classes, eventually becoming a common drink. It is still considered an important part of the British identityWoodruff D. Smith, "Complications of the Commonplace: Tea, Sugar, and Imperialism". ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History'' (Autumn 1992), 259–277. and is a prominent feature of British culture and society.

In both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, tea-drinking blends and preferences vary. Although typically served with milk, it is also common to drink certain varieties black or with lemon. Sugar is a popular addition to any variety. Everyday tea, such as English breakfast tea, served in a mug with milk and sugar is a popular combination. Sandwiches, crumpets, scones, cake, or biscuits often accompany tea, which gave rise to the prominent British custom of dunking a biscuit into tea.

History

The rise in popularity of tea between the 17th and 19th centuries had major social, political, and economic implications for the Kingdom of Great Britain. Tea defined respectability and domestic rituals, supported the rise of the British Empire, and contributed to the rise of the Industrial Revolution by supplying both the capital for factories and calories for labourers. It also demonstrated the power of globalisation and its ability to transform a country and reshape its society.

Historiography

Ukers argues in ''All About Tea: Volume I'' that tea gained popularity in Great Britain due to its reputation as a medicinal drink and its burgeoning presence in coffeehouses where elite men congregated. As for the popularity of tea among women, he briefly acknowledges that Princess Catherine of Braganza, the future queen consort of England, made tea fashionable among aristocratic women, but largely attributes its popularity to its ubiquity in the medical discourse of the 17th century. In ''Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World'', authors Ellis, Coulton and Mauger trace tea's popularity back to three distinct groups: virtuosi, merchants, and elite female aristocrats. They argue that the influence of these three groups combined launched tea as a popular beverage in Britain.

Smith, in his article "Complications of the Commonplace: Tea, Sugar, and Imperialism", differs from the beliefs of the previous writers. He argues that tea only became popular once sugar was added to the drink and that the combination became associated with a domestic ritual that indicated respectability. Mintz, in both "The Changing Roles of Food in the Story of Consumption" and ''Sweetness and Power'', agrees to an extent with Smith, acknowledging that sugar played a monumental role in the rise of tea, but he contradicts Smith's connection of tea to respectability. While Smith argues that tea first became popular in the home, Mintz claims that tea was drunk during the workday for its warm sweetness and stimulating properties, elaborating that it was later that tea entered the home and became an "integral part of the social fabric".

17th century and earlier

Early mentions

The history of European interactions with tea dates back to the mid-16th century. The earliest mention of tea in European literature was by Giambattista Ramusio, a Venetian explorer, as Chai Catai, or "Tea of China", in 1559. Tea was mentioned several more times in various European countries afterwards, but Jan Hugo van Linschooten, a Dutch navigator, was the first to write a printed reference of tea in English in 1598 in his ''Voyages and Travels''.

However, it was several years later, in 1615, that the earliest known reference to tea by an Englishman took place. In a letter, Mr. R. Wickham, an agent for the East India Company stationed at Japan, asked a Mr. Eaton, who was stationed in then-Portuguese Macao, China, to send him "a pot of the best sort of chaw", phonetically an approximation of , the local Cantonese dialect word for tea. Another early reference to tea appears in the writings of trader Samuel Purchas in 1625.Samuel Purchas, ''Purchas His Pilgrimes'', Vol. III, London, 1625, in Purchas described how the Chinese consumed tea as "the powder of a certaine herbe called chia of which they put as much as a walnut shell may contain, into a dish of Porcelane, and drink it with hot water". In 1637, Peter Mundy, a traveller and merchant who came across tea in Fujian, China, wrote, "''chaa'' – only water with a kind of herb boyled in it".

Sale of tea begins

Though there were a number of early mentions, it was several more years before tea was actually sold in England. Green tea exported from China was first introduced in the coffeehouses of London shortly before the 1660 Stuart Restoration.

Thomas Garway, a tobacconist and coffee house owner, was the first person in England to sell tea as a leaf and beverage at his London coffeehouse in Exchange Alley in 1657. He had to explain the new beverage in a pamphlet. Immediately after Garway began selling it, the Sultaness Head Coffee House began selling tea as a beverage and posted the first newspaper advertisement for tea in ''Mercurius Politicus'' on 30 September 1658. The announcement proclaimed, "That Excellent, and by all Physicians approved, ''China'' drink, called by the ''Chinese'', ''Tcha'', by other nations ''Tay alias Tee'', ...sold at the Sultaness-head, ye ''Cophee-house'' in Sweetings-Rents, by the Royal Exchange, ''London''".

In London, " ffee, chocolate and a kind of drink called ''tee''" were "sold in almost every street in 1659", according to Thomas Rugge's ''Diurnall''. However, tea was still mainly consumed by upper and mercantile classes. Samuel Pepys, curious for every novelty, tasted the new drink on 25 September 1660 and recorded the experience in his diary, writing, "I did send for a cup of tee, (a China drink) of which I had never had drunk before".

The East India Company made its first order for the importation of tea in 1667 to their agent in Bantam, who then sent two canisters of tea weighing in 1669. In 1672, a servant of Baron Herbert in London sent his instructions for tea making, and warming the delicate cups, to Shropshire:

The directions for the tea are: a quart of spring water just boiled, to which put a spoonful of tea, and sweeten to the palate with candy sugar. As soon as the tea and sugar are in, the steam must be kept in as much as may be, and let it lie half or quarter of an hour in the heat of the fire but not boil. The little cups must be held over the steam before the liquid be put in.

The earliest English equipage