How did tea become Britain’s national drink? Its story begins in China, where it was first popularised during the Han and Tang dynasties - but it first made its mark in London’s coffee houses on 30th September, 1658, when it was advertised to the public in a ‘newsbook’, marketing the exotic beverage as "an excellent and by all physicians approved China drink".
However, British tea importers faced stiff competition from the beer industry, which wasn’t thrilled about losing customers to this new sector. Breweries even spread rumours that tea was bad for your health in a bid to retain their market share. Yet, once Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza married Charles II in 1662, the Royal family’s much-publicised fondness for a cuppa brought it out of the coffeehouses and into homes, where it became a genteel, domestic drink.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly trace the history of England’s infatuation with tea, from Pitt The Younger’s association with the ‘tea tax’, to shops like Twinings springing up across the country, cementing the drink’s place in British society…
Further Reading:
• ‘Tea’ (The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge): https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-our-collection/highlights/context/stories-and-histories/tea
• ‘The history of tea’ (The National Trust): https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/history/the-history-of-tea
• ‘Tea: Helen & Olly's Great British Questions’ (Answer Me This!, 2010): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8tGlGvn3N0
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Today In History with The Retrospectors