History By Catherine Rose
Time for Tea! Tea has been enjoyed all over the world for more than a millennium but the English only adopted it as their own around four hundred years ago. Believed to have originated in Southern China, tea drinking dates back to around 3000 BC. However, it didn’t become popular in England until the 17th century, when it was made fashionable by King Charles II and his Portuguese wife Catherine de Braganza, who brought it over to the Royal court from her native country. Coffee houses had recently been established in London and were popular haunts of middle class gentlemen who went there to relax or conduct business. The custom of tea drinking was quickly introduced. Samuel Pepys referred to it in his diary of 1660: ‘…I did send for a cup of tee (a China drink) of which I never had drank before’. Tea would be brewed in the coffee houses early in the morning and kept in barrels. Cups of it would then be re-heated and served over the course of
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the day. The coffee houses also sold loose leaf tea so that women, who did not frequent them, could enjoy it at home. It soon became popular for wives to host tea parties with their friends where tea was brewed and drunk black, often with sugar or honey added. Tea was very much the privilege of the wealthy. It was expensive to import and seen as a valuable commodity. It would be kept locked inside ornate caddies. Matching teapots, cups and saucers were prized possessions to be flaunted and cherished and there were many different designs manufactured in bone china during this time. The London Tea Auction was a hub of international tea trade. It was set up in 1706 and continued until as late as 1998 (with a break during the Second World War). Because tea was so expensive, the tea smuggling trade flourished and it wasn’t uncommon for tea leaves to be adulterated with all sorts of unpleasant
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