Tea - An Interesting History

June 3, 2009 - PRLog -- The history of tea drinking in the UK starts somewhat later - in the seventeenth century, when tea, coffee and chocolate were exotic new commodities. The first reports of tea drinking in Europe come from missionaries and traders who had penetrated into China in the sixteenth century. In 1559 Ramusio, a Venetian traveller described it as having medicinal properties, good for headaches, stomach ache and pains in the joints.

Tea may have first arrived in Britain at the very beginning of the 1600’s with the increase of imports from Holland, with the Dutch East India Company setting up relationships with China, ahead of its English rival.

From the very beginning of its British history, tea was a high class drink; taken in the houses of the aristocracy from fine china cups and the best tea services. It was popularised by Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese wife of Charles II and was quickly adopted by her courtiers. Even Samuel Pepys notes in his famous diary: “I did send for a cup of tee (a China drink) of which I never had drank before.”

By the end of the seventeenth century, the popularity of tea had reached the coffee houses. It became popular with the middle classes, as much for its taste and health giving properties as a statement of revolt against the extravagancies and immoralities of the aristocracy and the court.

Thus tea was instrumental in shaping a more civilised Europe in the 1600’s with better dietary habits, table manners and social rituals. By 1700 tea imports had reached a sizable 90,000 lb a year and the tea trade was here to stay.

In 1784, Prime Minister William Pitt recognised the need to slash tax on tea imports – tea drinking had permeated through to the lower as well as middle classes and provided a healthy and more readily available alternative to malt liquor. By 1791, the East India Company was importing 15,000,000 lbs of tea into Britain.

Tea taxes continued to play an important role in consumption and the raising of taxes for war chests in the first half of the nineteenth century had a deep impact on the tea import industry. After 1866 there is a re-growth in the industry with prices lowered and tea viewed more as a necessity than a luxury. It is at this point that Britain starts to import leaves not only from China but also India and Ceylon.

The importance of tea as ‘the National drink” is highlighted in Britain during and after the First World War, with food and drink prices rising, the government went to the unusual step of capping the price – recognising its consumption as an essential.

In between World wars, there was a large scale price war between producing countries which resulted in the International Tea Agreement in 1933, which reduced production to 85% of highest output of the proceeding three years.

The Second World War had a much higher impact on tea producing countries and also on the ability of Britain to import food and drink. This resulted in a rationing that lasted well after the war ended and resulted in a reduction in the consumption of tea into the 1950s. In the 1960s, the drinks market became saturated with coffee, soft drinks and wine drinks taking over a large share of the market; tea went into a 30 year decline.

This trend has now been reversed and in the 21st century we are seeing the consumption of tea gaining momentum see Tea Prices Rise as Demand Exceeds Supplies (http://www.newtodrinksvending.com/2009/04/tea-price-rises...). Whether this is down to taste, variety or the healthy benefits is not clear but we do know that for the British, nothing beats a cup of tea.

To find more about the different types of tea available take a look at the FLAVIA® tea page (http://www.myflavia.co.uk/drinks/tea/).