Tea : A History of Britain's Greatest Love Affair

The ubiquitous cup of tea is as much a part of British life as indifferent weather, the BBC or the queue at the post office. Tea, since its arrival here in the seventeenth century, has shaped our lives, our history, our work, our culture and even our bodies. Not surprisingly for a drink that we take throughout the day, every day, there is a fascinating story to tell about its origins and how it took Britain by storm to become our second most popular beverage after tap water.

Tea is synonymous with Britain: look at the facts. On average we each drink 3½ cups of tea every day, or 130,000 tons in a year. We Britons drink 165 million cups per day or 62 billion cups per year; 70 per cent of the population (over age 10) drank tea yesterday; over 25 per cent of milk consumed in the UK goes into your cup of tea.

This book begins with the early history of tea and goes on to chart its development as something quintessentially British when it slowly but surely insinuated itself into our culture, language and society: afternoon tea, tea gardens, tea dances, Lyons tea houses, tea time, tea breaks, storms in teacups and builders’ tea are all described and explored. Our loss of the American colonies, the Opium Wars, female emancipation and victory in the Second World War all owe something to a nice cup of tea. Other chapters cover the innovative advertising and marketing, packaging (bagged, loose and tinned), different types of tea (black, green, Russian) and a dazzling number of tea facts and figures that attend our tea.

The story of our intimate relationship with tea is in effect the social history of Britain, reflecting aspects of the nation’s trade, manners, fashion, art, drinking habits, industrial legislation, foreign policy, and its health. Tea: A Very British Beverage tells that amazing story, describing how tea has defined us and informed our way of life over the last 500 years. Like Samuel Johnson, we just can’t get enough of it: ‘You cannot make tea so fast as I can gulp it down.’ So, put the kettle on, and read on…