Thirteen Things about Tea and the English.

For my Thirteen Thursday, I thought I'd share some history about the "English cuppa'

1. English drink on average six cups of tea per person/day
2. English rival the Chinese as the world's heaviest consumers of tea
3. British Poet William Cowper (1731-1800) wrote: ' the cup that cheers but does not inebriate."
4. "Today I had 'Tee' a China drinke I have not tried before' Diarist Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) wrote in 1660, but not how he liked it.
5. Lexicographer,Dr. Samuel Johnson(1709-1784) reputed to be the biggest consumer of tea, had a 2 litre tea pot. Attending an afternoon tea party he is reputed to have drunk 32 cups of tea. On being told he drank too much tea he said to his hostess "Madam, you are insolent."
6. The English custom of 'afternoon tea' began in the C19 by Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford.
7. Tea is not only a beverage but a meal taken between 3 -4 p.m. Incorporating, tea, sandwiches and cake. In the north it includes lamb chops and fried potatoes, in Yorkshire the speciality for afternoon tea is smoked fish and soft boiled eggs.
8. There are only 3 main types of tea - Black (eg Assam), Red (eg Oolong) and Green (eg Gunpowder). Others are infusions/tisanes ( eg Ginseng, Camomile) and flavored varieties and blends (eg Earl Grey).
9. First tea in Britain came from China as leaf tea imported by Thomas Carraway. Mincing Lane is the tea market in London City.
10. There were no 'tea houses' in C18 London, only coffee houses. Thomas Twining opened a coffee house in 1706 that also served tea.
11. There are few things about making the perfect a pot of tea that the english agree on apart from the fact that the tea pot should be warmed before but dry on the inside, and the water must be boiling as you pour it over the tea leaves.
12. Tea drinking was divided by class and became obvious in WWII - Commissioned Officers took their tea in china cups poured from a small tea pot. NCO had a mug of tea that had been brewed in a bucket, or urn.
13. There is an old British superstition that 'to drink strong tea with grilled steak, or slices of Sunday roast, the tea will tan the meat and turn it to leather.'