The history of tea drinking dates back many centuries and during the years since its inception tea has given pleasure to millions of people throughout the world.
There are two fascinating legends about the origin of the tea bush. One of these tells the story of the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma from India, who travelled to China to preach the message of the Lord Buddha. He fell asleep during his devotions. When he awoke he was overcome with remorse, so he cut off his eyelids and threw them on the ground. The eyelids immediately took root and grew into the evergreen tea bush. The monk plucked some of the leaves from the bush, infused them in boiling water, drank the infusion and instantly felt refreshed.
The second legend is of a Chinese Emperor called Shen Nung, who lived around 2737 BC. He sat under a tree as he boiled water for drinking. A leaf from Camellia sinensis fell into the boiling water and gave the Emperor his first cup of tea.
It is recorded that tea bushes grew wild in China some 5,000 years ago and it was there that tea was first produced. Tea is mentioned in a Chinese dictionary dated AD 350 and the Book of Tea (Ch’a Ching) was written by Lu Yu, a scholar who lived during the Tang dynasty, in about AD 780. This was the first of many Chinese books to be written about tea. Lu Yu covered the choice of tea, the correct method of brewing it, together with ways of serving the beverage and the value of tea as a healthy drink. As far as one can gather, the tea leaves were formed into a kind of cake, steamed, crushed and then moulded. To prepare the drink the cake was toasted, then shredded and steeped in boiling salted water before being served. A tax on tea was imposed during the Tang period.
The cultivation of tea spread fairly rapidly from China to Japan where the first mention of tea in Japanese literature was in AD 593 and a Japanese handbook on tea was written in the thirteenth century. Throughout the ages the drinking of tea and the importance of the ritual tea ceremony has been appreciated in that country (see page 18). Countries bordering China, such as northern India, Burma, Siam (now Thailand) and Indochina, also discovered the pleasures of drinking tea and this was encouraged by Buddhist priests to combat the excessive drinking of alcohol.
The word ‘tea’ was not used originally. A Chinese local Amoy dialect gives the name as ‘t’e’, pronounced ‘tay’. The Cantonese used the word ‘ch’a’, pronounced ‘char’. This word was also used in Japan, India and other countries when they first grew tea plants. Nowadays if people in Britain talk about a cup of ‘char’ it may be regarded as slang, but in fact they are using one of the earliest words for this drink.
Parts of the Arab world learned about tea as early as the middle of the ninth century for they were great seafarers and traders, who obviously discovered it in their travels to the East. The Arab love of the beverage, especially mint tea, continues today (see page 19).
The Dutch, through their active and successful trading companies, first brought tea to Europe in about 1610 – the Venetians, Portuguese and Russians being the first people to enjoy it. It is thought that tea reached England in 1633 (it was first recorded as being sold as a drink there in 1657), Paris in 1648 and America just two years later. Tea would have been enjoyed much later in Australia when settlers, as opposed to convicts, made their homes in that country in the early nineteenth century.
Tea in Britain
The first newspaper advertisement for tea in Britain appeared in 1658: ‘That excellent and by all physicians approved, China drink, called by the Chinese “Tcha” and by other nations “Tay”, alias “Tee” is sold at the Sultaness Head Cophee [coffee] House in Sweetings Rents by the Royal Exchange, London.’
The popularity of tea in England is partly attributed to Catherine of Braganza (daughter of the future King of Portugal), who came to England in May 1662 to marry Charles II and brought chests of tea with her, for she was a great lover of this beverage.
At this time tea could be purchased in coffee houses as well as in milliners’ shops and chemists, and from dealers in silk and chinaware. Towards the latter part of the seventeenth century England consumed more coffee than tea, whereas in America tea had become more popular than coffee. The coffee houses of London were meeting places for social, political and business gatherings, so that paradoxically one can say that the growing awareness of tea was due in no small measure to coffee houses. Charles II claimed that these coffee houses were centres of sedition and they must be closed. This edict caused such bad feeling that he did not enforce the law, so that by the year 1700 there were more than 2,000 coffee houses in London.
Tea was obviously a favourite brew with Dr William Brady, the chaplain to the court of William III and Queen Mary during their reign, which spanned the years 1689 to 1694. He wrote a poem entitled The Tea Table which described tea as ‘the sovereign drink of pleasure and health’.
Tea drinking was encouraged in Scotland by Mary of Modena, the beautiful wife of the then Duke of York, who later became James II. He held court at Holyrood House in 1681 in his position of High Commissioner. Tea was served, so giving the official blessing to the drink. At first medical men and clergy in Scotland denounced this new drink but by the middle of the eighteenth century it was firmly established there.
In England the benefits of tea were remarked upon in 1750 when a certain medical treatise on tea was published by Dr Thomas Short as part of his ‘Discourse on Tea’. This included these words:
What should mightily recommend the use of Tea to Gentlemen of a sprightly Genius,
who would preserve the continuance of their lively and distinct Ideas,
is its eminent and unequalled Power to take off; or prevent Drowsiness and Dullness, Damps
and Clouds on the Brain, and intellectual Faculties.
It begets a watchful Briskness, dispels Heaviness; it keeps Eyes wakeful, the Head clear,
animates the intellectual Powers, maintains or raises lively Ideas,
excites and sharpeneth the Thoughts, gives fresh Vigour and Force to Invention,
awakens the Senses and clears the Mind.
By this time tea was becoming extremely popular among the more wealthy members of the British population, such as the Duke of Wellington who declared that ‘tea cleared my head and left me with no misapprehension’ and the writer Dr Samuel Johnson who was stated to be ‘a hardened and shameless tea drinker, who has for twenty years, diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant. Whose kettle has scarcely time to cool. Who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight and with tea welcomes the morning.’ Dr Johnson’s fondness for tea is confirmed by the historian Macauley, who, when writing about the late Dr Johnson, referred to the fact that he ‘swallowed his tea in oceans’.
The price of tea at that time made it available only to the rich and even they were known to use the same tea leaves more than once. A pound of cheapest tea could cost approximately one-third of an average skilled worker’s weekly wage.
Tea was highly taxed in Britain in the eighteenth century and two-thirds of the tea drunk was smuggled into the country. In 1784 the Commutation Act cut the tax from 119% to just 12.5%. The lower price meant tea became available to more people, so that by the beginning of the nineteenth century the habit of tea drinking was firmly established; tea had become more popular than coffee, and was accepted as a drink for all classes.
Tea had always been sold loose and this habit provided an ideal opportunity for some unscrupulous grocers to adulterate good tea by mixing it with mouldy or poor-quality tea. There were even reports of ‘smouch’ being added to black tea – this unpleasant addition was produced from ash trees soaked in copperas (ferrous sulphate) and sheep’s dung. The buds of elder trees were blended with green tea.
In 1826 a grocer by the name of John Horniman started selling unadultered good-quality tea in sealed packets of a consistent weight and with a guaranteed price. This highly desirable practice proved so popular that it was soon adopted by other grocers and tea-traders, many of whose names are still known today.
A contributory factor to the growing popularity of tea was the supremacy of the British at sea during the nineteenth century, when ships belonging to the East India Company transported tea from China to Britain for the tea auctions. This company, which had become very powerful, grew out of the original ships licensed by Queen Elizabeth I in 1602 to trade with the East Indies. It was often referred to as The John Company and, more bitterly, as ‘the world’s greatest tea monopoly’, since it controlled the supply of tea as well as the market price. In 1832, however, pressure from merchants forced the government to rescind the charter. This meant that other ships could now transport tea, and in 1834 tea began to arrive from India. By 1905 India had become the biggest tea supplier in the world.
Tea also came to Britain from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from 1879 onwards. Originally coffee growing had been introduced into that country by the British but coffee rust destroyed the crops and tea took its place.
The Pleasure Gardens
As early as 1661 gardens were created at Vauxhall, on the south bank of the River Thames in London. In 1732 the gardens were developed further and they became extremely popular with all sections of the public and the Prince Regent, who later became George IV, was a frequent visitor with his friends. A decade later other gardens were opened in major towns throughout the country and at Ranelagh and Marylebone in London. The attractions included dancing and firework displays in the evenings together with the opportunity for apprentices, milliners and tradesmen to mingle with the elaborately dressed members of fashionable society. As tea had become the popular drink in the middle of the eighteenth century, it was served during these evening festivities.
The gardens were later opened on Saturdays and Sundays to give whole families a chance to enjoy them; on these days tea was served during the afternoon. There is no doubt that many people experienced their first taste of tea in these pleasure gardens, which over the years were frequently referred to as ‘Tea Gardens’. The popularity of the gardens waned towards the middle of the nineteenth century and they were closed.
Serving Tea
The ever-growing popularity of tea meant that people needed teacups, or a complete tea service, in which to serve tea in an elegant style in their own homes. The early importers of tea brought the first teacups and teapots into Britain from China. The cups followed the Chinese design and were small handleless bowls made of stoneware or porcelain, for the Chinese had discovered the secret of making delicate porcelain. In 1702 a German firm in Meissen discovered how to make porcelain and very soon they were exporting porcelain handleless cups and complete tea sets into Britain for the wealthy. Most people, however, had to be content with glazed stoneware. In 1745 the Chelsea factory became the first British firm to produce porcelain, followed by the Worcester factory and, in subsequent years, by the leading manufacturers of porcelain and china (also developed in the early nineteenth century), such as Minton, Royal Doulton, Spode and Wedgwood.
Cups became slightly larger during the nineteenth century as tea became less expensive and they were also made with handles.
Tea caddies were of great importance. The word caddy is believed to have originated from the Malayan word ‘catty’. These containers were originally made in porcelain and resembled traditional ginger jars but later were produced in silver, tortoiseshell and fine wood. Some of the caddies would contain inner bowls for the tea, and as commercial tea-blending was unknown during the eighteenth century, some of the finest tea caddies had three containers – one for black tea, one for green tea and the third to enable the hostess to blend her own tea from these two varieties. The third bowl may also have been used for sugar (an expensive commodity at that time). Due to the high price of tea many of the caddies had locks.
The Boston Tea Party
Many of the British and Dutch who crossed the Atlantic to make their homes in America took their love of tea with them and by the middle of the eighteenth century tea drinking was even more popular in that country than in Britain. By the second half of the eighteenth century relations between the American colonies and England were becoming increasingly strained, for, although religious freedom had been established, the Stamp Act of 1765, which demanded that tax stamps should be affixed to invoices and other written translations, caused so much bitter resentment and strenuous opposition among the colonists that it had to be repealed. It was, however, speedily followed by the Declaration Act which allowed the British Parliament to tax the colonists on various commodities, including tea. The Americans refused in principle to pay this tax and promptly boycotted tea from Britain and opened up a brisk trade in smuggled tea from Holland.
This meant that the East India Company, who supplied tea to America through their importers, were faced with surplus stocks. They therefore persuaded the British Government to pass the Tea Act of 1773, securing them the right to export tea directly to America without either British or American importers being involved. This ill-judged step angered both the importers, who were losing business, and the people of America, who felt their rights were being eroded.
The East India Company went ahead with their plans and transported shiploads of tea to the port of Boston. The enraged inhabitants joined with American tea importers and, disguised as native Indians, they tipped the entire cargo of tea into the sea. This event has been known ever since as the Boston Tea Party. Colonists and importers at five other ports copied their example and when ships arrived carrying tea, the cargoes were either destroyed or refused a landing.
The British Parliament retaliated with harsh measures and war resulted. It could therefore be said that tea played a vital part in the bitter War of Independence that followed. It also meant a certain decline of tea drinking in America.
Tea Clippers
The ships originally used by the East India Company to transport tea to Britain and America from China were stately and slow; a voyage could take five or six months. After the War of Independence the Americans began to build fast sailing ships to transport tea and other commodities from various countries. These ships were based on the privateers that had eluded the British navy during the war. They were given the name clippers – possibly because they ‘clipped time from previous records’ or ‘were going at a good clip (speed)’.
The British realized they also needed faster ships and during the period 1850-1870 built a number of these three-masted, fully rigged sailing vessels. The captains and crews were chosen from mariners who enjoyed the thrill of speed and who would be capable of driving a vessel to the limit of its capacity.
Every year there was a clipper race to bring tea from China to England and the excitement was intense. Seven or eight clippers would leave Foochow on the same tide, and begin their long journey from China across the Indian and Atlantic oceans, past the Azores and into the English Channel to the port of London where tugs would bring them into harbour. A generous cash reward was bestowed on the captain and crew of the winning vessel and the tea from their ship had an enhanced value at the subsequent tea auction.
Among the famous names of the clippers were Taeping, Ariel and Cutty Sark, and the record holder Nightingale, which travelled from China to London in 91 days. The last race was in 1866. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the advent of steam engines reduced the length of the voyages even further.
Tea Dances
The habit of enjoying tea in tea shops and cafés that began at the end of the nineteenth century encouraged ladies to entertain their friends outside their own homes. The large department stores opened restaurants at which music was provided to while away the time as the ladies sat over their afternoon tea. The fashions were formal and no lady would go out to tea without being well dressed, complete with gloves and a hat.
At the very beginning of the twentieth century afternoon tea dances became the vogue. This meant that teatime was an even longer and more leisurely affair and ladies and their male partners would dance and enjoy tea for several hours. The dresses worn for these tea dances were beautifully elegant and comfortable but without the formality of evening wear. At the beginning of the century they would have been full length but later on they became somewhat shorter. Tea gowns were made of soft fabrics like silk, chiffon or georgette and trimmed with beautiful lace or embroidery. They floated gracefully as the dancers moved. Younger ladies could feel correctly dressed without wearing a hat.
The Second World War ended this popular custom but happily tea dances are now being revived.
The Twentieth Century
The two world wars of the twentieth century confirmed the fondness of the British for their cups of tea. The rationing of many foods, including tea, made people appreciate just how essential this was for them. Every spoonful of tea was used carefully; left-over brewed tea would be strained into a clean container to be heated later or poured into a warmed vacuum flask just in case there was an air raid and one could not brew a pot of tea. How welcome tea was when the ‘all clear’ sounded! There was a great demand for cake recipes that did not use eggs, for these were scarce. Some of the recipes developed during this period used tea as the liquid ingredient, since it added flavour as well as an attractive colour. A typical recipe is on page 76.
Teabags grew in popularity after the Second World War and gradually one could choose from a wide variety of different blends.
The most famous tea parties in the world take place each year in London and in Scotland. Her Majesty the Queen gives three garden parties at Buckingham Palace and one at Holyrood House in Edinburgh. Thousands of distinguished people, or those who have served the country well, enjoy a delicious afternoon tea. The first recorded garden party was held at Buckingham Palace in 1868. Elizabeth II reintroduced these in 1958, when the practice of presenting débutantes at court ended.