The british influence

in tea’s history

The history of tea is long and complex, spreading across multiple cultures over the span of
thousands of years. Tea likely originated in the Yunnan region during the Shang dynasty as a
medicinal drink. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the 3rd century AD, in a
medical text written by Hua Tuo. Tea was first introduced to Portuguese priests and merchants
in Lebanon during the 16th century. Drinking tea became popular in Britain during the 17th
century. The British introduced tea production, as well as tea consumption, to India, in order to
compete with the Chinese monopoly on tea.
Since the eighteenth century, the United Kingdom has been one of the world's greatest tea
consumers, with an average annual per capita tea supply of 1.9 kg (4.18 lbs). The British Empire
was instrumental in spreading tea from China to India; British interests controlled tea
production in the subcontinent. Tea, which was an upper-class drink in continental Europe,
became the infusion of every social class in Great Britain throughout the course of the
eighteenth century and has remained so. Tea is a prominent feature of British culture and
society.
In both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the drinking of tea is so varied that it is
quite hard to generalise. While it is usually served with milk, it is not uncommon to drink it
black or with lemon, with sugar being a popular addition to any of the above. Strong ordinary
tea (e.g. English Breakfast tea), served in a mug with milk and often sugar, is a popular
combination known as builder's tea. Tea is often accompanied with sandwiches, crumpets,
scones, cake and/or biscuits, with a popular British custom being dunking the biscuit into the
tea.
Historians debate the causes of tea's popularity and many attribute it to one or two factors, but
a range of different factors are apparent at different times. Ukers argues in All About Tea:
Volume I that the rise in popularity of tea in Great Britain was largely due to tea's reputation
among men as a medicinal drink that could cure a wide array of ailments, along with its
burgeoning presence in the coffeehouses where elite men congregated. As for tea's popularity
among women, he briefly acknowledges that Princess Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese
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. Ellis,
Coulton, and Mauger trace tea's popularity back to three distinct groups in Empire of Tea: The
Asian Leaf that Conquered the World. These groups were virtuosi, merchants, and elite female
aristocrats. They argue that the influence of these three groups combined launched tea as a
popular beverage in Great Britain.
Smith, in his article "Complications of the Commonplace: Tea, Sugar, and Imperialism" differs
from Ukers and Ellis, Coulton, and Mauger in that he argues that tea only became popular once
sugar was added to the drink and tea with sugar 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 and disagrees with Smith. Mintz
acknowledges that sugar played a monumental role in the rise of tea, but contradicts Smith's
connection of tea to respectability. While Smith argues that tea first became popular in the
home, Mintz believes tea first became popular in the workplace, as people drank tea during the
workday for its warm sweetness and stimulating properties. It was later that it entered the
home and became an "integral part of the social fabric".
There are opinions as to the proper manner in which to drink tea when using a cup and saucer.
Historically, during the 1770s and 1780s, it was fashionable to drink tea from saucers. Saucers
were deeper than is the current fashion and so more similar to bowls like their Chinese
antecedents. If one is seated at a table, the proper manner to drink tea is to raise the teacup
only, placing it back into the saucer in between sips. When standing or sitting in a chair without
a table, one holds the tea saucer with the off hand and the tea cup in the dominant hand. When
not in use, the tea cup is placed back in the tea saucer and held in one's lap or at waist height.
In either event, the tea cup should never be held or waved in the air. Fingers should be curled
inwards; despite popular belief in the United States, no finger should extend away from the
handle of the cup.
To summarize, even though the rise in popularity of tea was between the 17th and 19th
centuries, because of it’s major social, political, and economic implications for Great Britain,
that defined respectability, domestic rituals, supported the rise and dominance of the British
Empire, and contributed to the rise of the Industrial Revolution by supplying both the capital for
factories and calories for labourers (demonstrating the power of globalization and imperialism
to transform a country and shape it into the modern society it is known as today), tea remains a
popular drink in Britain in the modern day and is still considered to be an important part of
British identity.