8 interesting historical facts about British tea

[Compiled and published by New Sancai] The popularity of tea in Britain coincided with the Enlightenment period of knowledge and thought. By the mid-18th century, tea had replaced ale and gin as people's favorite drink. Here are 10 interesting facts about the history of tea in Britain.

△ In 1657, tea was first served in a coffeehouse in London, England: opposite the Cornhill Royal Exchange, there was an alley leading to the "Change Alley". London business people would meet to discuss business in the café in that alley. Next to the merchant, there is also a rare thing for sale: tea. In addition, there is an "Ollivanders Wand Shop" in "Diagon Alley". The owner of the shop also produced a brochure and advertisement to explain that this new drink is another A form of health drink: "This excellent Chinese drink, approved by all doctors, is called "tea" (pronounced Tcha) by the Chinese and "Tee" (pronounced "butterfly" in Hokkien) in other countries. It is reported that with the introduction of tea, London has become the most powerful city in the world in 200 years, and has become one of the most influential cities in the world like New York.

△ Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) once wrote about drinking tea in 1660: "I did send for a cup of tea (a Chinese drink), which I had never drunk before." Pepys was a British member of parliament and naval officer best known for his ten-year diary of his youth. He served as Chief Secretary to the Admiralty and worked to position the Royal Navy as the world's most powerful navy in the coming years.

△ A Portuguese princess made tea popular in England: Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705) was the queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1662 to 1685, and the wife of King Charles II. Catherine, a Portuguese princess, did not actually introduce tea to England, but she regarded tea as a palace drink rather than a medicinal drink. This made tea play an important role in fashion and also affected its popularity in the literary world. It is reported that the Queens borough of New York City is a borough named after her.

△ Tea may have played an important role in the British Enlightenment: On a summer afternoon in 1665 AD, Sir Isaac Newton was drinking apple trees in the family garden of Woolsthorpe Manor in Lincolnshire, England. Drink tea. An apple fell vertically from a branch and hit him on the head, triggering his "epiphany" of the "law of gravity." Whatever the truth, is it a coincidence that the flowering of British intellectual thinking coincided with tea becoming a wildly popular drink in Britain? It is reported that by 1720, black tea was more popular than green tea and was usually drunk with milk and sugar. Could this magical drink be Newton's brain stimulant?

△Tea Powered the British Industrial Revolution: Tea not only powered some of the great ideas of some thinkers and is believed to have played a key role in the British Industrial Revolution. The stimulants in the tea, combined with the energy from sugar and milk, gave workers the same boost as today's energy drinks—helping them stay on the job longer. In addition, because making tea requires boiling water, water-borne diseases such as dysentery, cholera, and typhoid were eliminated.

△ The Chelsea porcelain factory produced the first British tea sets: Pictured above, left, are small porcelain tea bowls used by fashionable tea drinkers in the 17th century. These tea bowls were sometimes shipped with the tea. The Chelsea Porcelain Factory was founded in 1743 and successfully produced the first equipment for making porcelain, which was quickly copied by its peers. It is reported that in the 1770s and 1780s, tea lovers sometimes drank tea from saucers. The saucer was deeper than today's tea bowls and resembled 17th century Chinese bowls. The practice is thought to have come from Russia, where samovars were used to keep tea hot and strong. Pouring from a cup to a saucer is the quickest way to cool tea.

△Victorian tearooms helped women win the right to vote: In the Victorian era, tearooms may have been successful in helping women win the suffrage movement. At the time, tea rooms were a popular and fashionable social gathering place, especially for women. British historian Sir Roger Fulford believes that tea rooms provided an independent public space that could help women formulate political campaign strategies.

△ Tea break – this is a legal requirement: British workers are legally entitled to at least a 20-minute break during a six-hour shift. Official guidelines describe this as "a tea or lunch break," sometimes called "elevenses" because 11 a.m. is a good time to take a break, just before the traditional lunch break. It's 1pm and there are still 2 hours left. It is reported that in the UK, biscuits are usually provided where there is tea, both of which are indispensable. In addition, soaking biscuits in a "cuppa" is a British custom exported to all over the world. The three most popular biscuits in the UK are: McVitie's biscuits, McVitie's chocolate digestives, and Rich tea and Hobnobs.

(Author: britainandbritishness website)

(Compiled by: Bai Ding)

(Editor: Jiang Qiming)

(Source of the article: Compiled and published by New Sancai)