Tea was first introduced into the upper echelons of society, (during the mid seventeenth century), as an exotic luxury. Elaborate tea ceremonies evolved in elegant drawing rooms involving fine porcelain cups, saucers, teapots and caddies that were a far cry from today’s limp bags dunked into  mas-produced mugs.  As supply increased, and the price fell, tea was adopted by the general populace.  Originally,  tea was imported from China, where the indigenous drinkers appreciated its bitter flavor. Not so the unsophisticated Brits, who adulterated it with milk and heaps of sugar. We’ve noted tea’s importance during the Second World War, and it is also claimed that tea stoked the Industrial Revolution. As it became less feasible for agricultural workers to support their families, (when they would have drunk weak beer to protect themselves from dubious water supplies), they moved to the mills and factories in urban settings. Their diets were meagre, but supplemented with gallons of hot, sweet tea. Boiled water helped them avoid diseases rife in crowded, unsanitary conditions, and the sugar, though lacking in nutrients, provided energy for their arduous days.

As we understand more about the exploitation brought about by empire, it’s unsurprising that tea drinking came at enormous human cost. Trade with China became complicated, the East India Company, by devious means, exchanged opium for tea to avoid paying the Chinese in  large quantities of silver. Inequities in these arrangements led to two opium wars with China. Since the Chinese tea supply was fraught with such difficulties, Britain sought to establish tea plantations in India, perhaps stealing and exporting Chinese plants, only to find that India had its own varietals in remote Assam and Darjeeling.  As the plantations  expanded and  became established, Britain was assured a plentiful supply of inexpensive tea.  Inexpensive as Britain controlled every aspect of production including exploiting workers under the harsh terms of indentured servitude.

As I write this, my mug of once steaming hot tea cools at my side. I take it with milk but no sugar, and I drink two to three mugs most days.  A British doctor I heard on the radio, suggested it’s safe to drink up to nine cups a day, since the caffeine level is less than in coffee!  I suspect he’s biased and not necessarily relying on scientific data. Despite his attempt to boost the trade, I guess the British tea drinking habit is diminishing.  Britain is a plural society, people with South Asian heritage drink chai, Chinese tea is prevalent in  the “Chinatowns” of major cities – and then here’s the threat of coffee.  At “uni” as we called college in my younger days, unappreciative of the superiority of tea, I drank inexpensive instant, (repulsive) coffee.  Now, there’s a “Starbucks” on every corner. What’s that they serve – oat macchiato?  Surely not!

I’ll stick with a good cup of tea.

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End Notes

Reading

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Ne pleure pas Jeannette
Kevin Fowley

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One Day
Netflix

Poetry

Gardens
Deryn Rees Jones