Tea Blog - Learn All About Tea — British

The British Navy, after defeating (or, perhaps, nature's defeat) the Spanish Armada, was in prime position, and the Queen sanctioned the development of a private trading company. Supported by contributions from private investors, which – though she could not have known it – impacted the following centuries in ways arguably more devastating and important than any other similar group. Raw silk from China and Japan, saltpeter (for gunpowder) from India and China, indigo dye from the Persian coastline, cotton from the hotter eastern regions, and of course: tea. Though largely untasted in England when the company was formed, tea would...

The American revolution was not the only war fought over tea.  Britain also fought two separate wars with China in the 19th century, over trade disputes about obtaining tea.  The first Opium war lasted from 1839-1842. China was reluctant to trade with Britain, having seen what  happens to most of the other nations which opened themselves up to trade, which is to say, imperialism, colonialism, and general exploitation.  Their economy was pretty self-sufficient, and they frankly didn’t need what the English offered.  However, the Chinese did open themselves up to a limited amount of trade, only to the British, only...

The moment I started drinking tea, my mother immediately began calling me “the British child.”  I am of the opinion that, if you’re going to attach cultural stereotypes to things, you might as well do it correctly.  The first thing to know about British tea is that, if you’re drinking tea with biscuits in the afternoon, regardless of how fancy it is, it is not called high tea.  High tea was a meal which originated in the working class, when labor laws didn’t exist, and lunch breaks were therefore a luxury which most people did not have access to.  It...

Books and tea go together like peanut butter and jelly, or warm afternoons and sleeping outside in the grass.  As such, we’ve decided to run a quick series on famous authors, and the types of tea which they likely drank, starting first and foremost with the queen of the books and tea trope- Jane Austen. Austen lived from 1775- 1817, in England.  She was an extremely important figure in 19th century literature, and a contemporary of the Bröntes.  Because of where and when she lived, we can also assume a great deal about what she drank, and how she drank...