All About Tea and Teatime.

A nice cup of tea.

ea of course, needs a teapot.  The teapot needs a creamer (to hold milk - not cream!) and a sugar bowl. 

We are, of course, talking about 'proper' tea.  The loose stuff!  Not the tea bag varieties, which one professional tea-taster once described as 'mostly tea dust'.  Whether or not that is true, is a moot point and best left up to the personal preferences of the tea drinker.  It cannot be argued, however, that the ubiquitous tea bag has found favour, if not flavour, with millions of people, for its convenience and the fact that it is equally at home in teapot, or cup. We shall first discuss afternoon tea.

Contained in the fourteen pages, in the left column, you will find a fascinating and comprehensive discourse on tea.  This was taken, verbatim, from the 1911 version of The Encyclopaedia Britannica; now in the Public Domain.  Preceeding and following this, is a brief, but more up-to-date version, to give a contrasting, yet strangely similar, version. 

One of the most beloved English teapots and one which makes a great 'cuppa', is the 'Brown Betty'. The genuine version today, retains its high quality, thanks in part to the red clay of Stoke-on-Trent, where the Brown Betty Teapot originated in the 17th century.

This teapot, among others, may be found in the 'BBC America Shop'.  Yes, an off-shoot of the 'British Broadcasting Corporation' - 'The Beeb'.  A veritable treasure trove of things British.  They even sell a Christmas pudding, with a genuine silver sixpence! But I digress.

This is the famous Brown Betty teapot, creamer and sugar bowl:

  

 Click here, for further details: Brown Betty Cream And Sugar Set  

"Traditional, loose tea comes in many flavours and fragrances such as, Earl Grey, English Breakfast, etc. 
Being organically grown, these special teas, give a hint of how early teas tasted, before the days of pollution." 

These people have an excellent selection of many teas, loose, or as tea bags, such as:
Organic Loose Leaf Tea - Earl Grey, 2 lbs, or Green Earl Grey Tea - 1 lbs

History of tea.

Tea in England was initially served in coffee houses. Due to high taxation it was expensive, and only affordable by the elite the time.  Later, after the lowering of the price, tea drinking became widely popular, and tea sellers such as Thomas Twiningstarted selling dry tea, so that ladies who could not frequent the coffee houses could enjoy it.

Tea was initially, very valuable and was kept by the ladyof the houserather than in the care of the housekeeper. 
The lady of the house also served the tea, in imitation of the Japanese tea ceremony.

Anna, 7th Duchess of Bedfordhad the idea of asking her butlerto bring tea, bread and butter to her chambers at 5 o'clock, as she found herself hungry before dinner, and soon started inviting her friends to join her in her sitting room for this new social event.

Eventually, the beverage tea became generally affordable and the growing middle classimitated the rich and found that the meal tea was a very economical way of entertaining several friends without having to spend too much money, and afternoon tea quickly became the norm.

Read on and enjoy.

Cheers,

Ray Cunningham