The story of tea began a long time ago in China. According to legend, the leaves of a certain wild plant accidentally fell into a pot of water, and after tasting it, Shennong declared that the drink "can bring vitality to the body and make people feel happy" and recommended it to his courtiers. This wild plant is the "wild tea tree". Since then, with the change of dynasties in China, the habit of drinking tea has gradually developed.
By the 8th century AD, tea began to spread eastward to Japan, where elegant tea ceremonies were conceived. Tea also began to spread along ancient trade routes to Tibet, Burma, Central Asia and beyond in China. Tea was introduced to Europe much later, and it was not until the 17th century that tea was brought to Europe by Portuguese and Dutch merchants, becoming a luxury like silk and spices. Later, the habit of drinking tea spread from Europe to the United States, India and other parts of the world.
From duchess belvedere's first secret tea party to the Eskimos' afternoon tea party, afternoon tea culture and refreshment recipes spanning 200 years and 33 countries and regions are combined in one book. Helen Sabe is a British food historian who, in Time to Give Yourself a Cup of Tea: A Brief History of Global Afternoon Tea, she salvages the world's interesting afternoon tea culture from the depths of history, telling many stories related to tea.
The following is an excerpt from "Give Yourself a Cup of Tea: A Brief History of Global Afternoon Tea", subtitled by the editors, not original. It has been authorized by the publishing house to publish. The images used in this article are from the book.
"Give Yourself a Cup of Tea Time: A Brief History of Global Afternoon Tea", by Helen Sabe, translated by Xiao Xiao, Reading Culture 丨 Hundred Flowers Literary and Art Publishing House, August 2021 edition.
Tea shaped the Way of Life for the British
In the 1650s, tea was brought to England by Dutch traders and quickly became popular with the British high-society wealthy. By the 1750s, the price of tea had dropped dramatically, and it was no longer exclusive to the wealthy, but had become the drink of choice for all classes in Britain. Tea has not only become an integral part of British society, but has also shaped the Way of Life for the British. From fashion to art deco, tea is almost everywhere in British life. We can even argue that tea became an iconic symbol of Britain.
The famous British essay critic Thomas De Quincey once summed up the joy of drinking tea this way:
On a cold winter day, everyone realizes the blissful enjoyment of sitting around the fire: the candle fire at four o'clock, the warm carpet in front of the stove, the tea, the delicate tea utensils, the shutters that are pulled up, the curtains that hang on the floor like blooming flowers, when the whistling wind and rain are blocked out of the window.
Novelist Herbert P. Herbert) wrote a song in 1937, a song composed by Henry Sullivan that later became very popular. Regarding the importance of "a good cup of tea" for the British, the lyrics read:
I loved a good cup of tea in the early morning
Start the day you see
At half past eleven
My thoughts on heaven
It was a good cup of tea
I like to have a cup of tea at dinner
I love having a cup of tea at tea time
When the time comes to fall asleep
I often say
Come with a good cup of tea
Along with tea drinking comes the tradition of English afternoon tea and evening tea. Today, finding a hotel or tea room for afternoon tea has become an important stop for travellers who want to experience British culture.
The first advertisement for tea in English newspapers was in 1658:
The excellent Chinese drink, which is recognized by all doctors, Chinese called "Tcha" and other countries call it "Tay or Tee," is currently available at the Sultaness Head Coffee House next to London's Sweetings Rents.
Of the three exotic drinks of the 17th century, cocoa, tea and coffee, coffee was first preferred by the British, and coffee houses rose in Britain. These newly emerging coffee houses also introduced tea to the public. After that, tea quickly became the national drink of the United Kingdom. Agnes Repplier in her book Think Of Tea! (To Think of Tea!) reads:
Tea came as a redeemer to this land that was in dire need of salvation. It's full of beef and malt, and there are chewing and drunken people everywhere; there are gray skies and bitter winds, and there are nervous, stubborn, slow-thinking men and women.
What's more, it's a land with a warm fire and a haven of shelter. The fire is looking forward to the steaming kettles and fragrant tea leaves.
The famous diarist Samuel Pepys was one of the early fans of tea. He wrote in 1660: "I drank tea from China for the first time. Seven years later, on June 28, 1967, he recorded returning home that day and seeing his wife making tea because "the pharmacist, Mr. Palin, said it was good for her cold and runny nose".
In 1662, Princess Catherine of the Portuguese braganza royal family married Charles II of England, who was also one of the fans of tea, and her dowry even included a box of Chinese tea leaves. It is said that the first thing she asked for after landing on the coast of England was to present her with a cup of tea.
Queen Catherine laid the stage for the fashion of drinking tea. In 1663, the poet and statesman Edmund Waller praised the queen and her "best herbs" in a poem celebrating her birthday:
The purple weed of the goddess Venus, the laurel of the god Apollo,
In her eyes, tea is beyond the dignity of the two,
She is the best queen,
Tea is the best herb,
We should pay tribute to this brave country, where the sun rises,
We are grateful for the richness it brings,
Muse's companion,
Tea is indeed our wonderful helper,
Dispel those who are in the air,
Bring us the serenity of the palace of the soul
Hats off to the Queen's birthday
In the early days, these green teas from China were expensive and could only be used as drinks for the rich, and not everyone knew what to do with this ingredient from a distant country. It is said that the widow of the Duke of Monmouth (executed in 1685) once sent her relatives in Scotland a pound of tea, but did not tell her how to make tea. So the chef boiled the tea leaves, filtered out the tea, and brought it to the table as a spinach-like vegetable.
Tea has been wildly popular among the royal families of England and Scotland
The vessel for drinking tea is a small, sessile bowl, while the teapot for tea is coarse pottery or porcelain. The most common are glazed porcelain with blue and white motifs, which are often referred to as "Chinaware," a name that reminds everyone where they come from. When tea was shipped to Europe along with other luxuries, porcelain such as teapots and tea bowls was placed on the bilge, while tea leaves were placed above. This is because the wooden hull will inevitably leak, the teapot and tea bowl will be soaked, but not damaged by the seawater, and the precious tea leaves must be kept in a dry environment above. Queen Catherine was probably also served with tea in Chinese porcelain or thick porcelain teapots, which later became silver. The earliest known silver teapot in England was produced in 1670 as a gift from George Berkeley to the East India Company Council.
Nearly 100 years after tea was introduced to Europe, the secrets of ceramic production were discovered by the German company Meissen. The Meissen Company produced the first porcelain in 1710 and began exporting to England. By the mid-18th century, ceramic production techniques had spread across the European continent. In 1745, Chelsea, Britain's first ceramics factory, was built, followed by Worcester, Minton Spode and Wedgwood, all of which produced exquisite porcelain tea sets.
Tea has been wildly popular among the royal families of England and Scotland. Mary of Modena, the second wife of King James II of England, introduced the habit of tea to the Scottish royal family in 1681, and the habit quickly became popular in Scotland. James II, his first wife's daughter Mary, and Queen Anne, who ascended the throne in 1702, also maintained the habit of drinking tea. During queen Anne's time, tea drinking developed as a social activity, and as a result, there was a demand for small moving tables and chairs and porcelain cabinets displaying expensive tea sets. The earliest concept of tea sets originated during her reign.
Ever since Queen Anne accepted her pilgrimage to the new coffee table, fashionable women across England have followed her lead in sipping Chinese tea from tiny ceramic cups. Queen Anne was almost avid for tea drinking, and she didn't even use small Chinese teapots in favor of larger bell-shaped teapots, which could brew more tea at once.
The silver teapot is inscribed with the inscription "This silver teapot was presented by George Berkeley to the Council of the East India Company, an honorable and valuable organization, 1670"
Oil on canvas, The English Family Drinking Tea, by Joseph Van Aken, 1727. Created around 1727, this oil painting depicts a fashionable family sitting around a coffee table drinking tea. The figures in the painting are not only richly dressed, but also use exquisite tea sets, showing the wealth and social status of the family. They gracefully hold small Chinese porcelain tea bowls on which are lined with a full set of silver tea sets, including sugar plates, sugar tongs, hot water cans, boat-shaped teaspoon holders and teaspoons, water bowls, teapots and alcohol lamps placed underneath them for insulation, and teapots. Because of their high price and rarity, tea leaves are always kept in Jars of Chinese style called tea cans or cans of cans (the weight unit of Malaya, equivalent to 600 grams), placed in boudoirs or living rooms.
A teaspoon is a tea set used to measure the number of tea leaves stored in a tea jar. When tea leaves are boxed and imported into Britain, a scallop shell is always placed in the box to scoop the tea leaves out of the tea pot, which is the original way to take the teaspoon. Later teaspoons generally have a large spoon bucket, and the spoon handle is shorter. Take teaspoons in a variety of materials: animal bones, pearls, tortoiseshells and silver. The shape and decoration of the spoon bucket range from bland to imaginative designs – leafy, shell-shaped, shovel-shaped and even knight's hat-shaped.
Take a teaspoon
The impurity spoon, also known as the slag filter, dates back to 1697. At that time, the miscellaneous spoon was generally silver, with small holes in the spoon bucket, and the spoon handle was slender and pointed at the end. The early Chinese tea that arrived in England by ship was usually of no grade, and the large and small tea leaves were mixed together, causing the tea leaves to float on the surface of the tea when brewing tea, and even blocking the mouth of the teapot. To avoid this, the hostess would use a juggle spoon to remove the tea leaves that were blocking the mouth of the teapot. It wasn't until 1790 and 1805, when a strainer was applied to the bottom of the spout, that the teaspoon finally replaced the sundries spoon.
Before the middle of the 18th century, tea was served in small bowls without handles, so people would say "drink bowl tea" at that time. It wasn't until 1750 that a man named Robert Adams designed handles on teacups. Although teacups with handles cost more than tea bowls and required more space for long-distance transport, this innovation was welcomed by British tea drinkers at the time. Compared to the tea bowl, the teacup is more convenient to use, and there is no need to worry about the fingers being burned.
Adams designed the teacup with a slightly higher base and a tea dish, and some people like to pour hot tea into the plate first, let the tea cool before drinking. This habit was later called "drinking a plate of tea." The role of the boiling water teapot is to refill the teapot that makes the tea, and the boiling water teapot is placed on the oil lamp or stove to keep the water boiling all the time, and the common fuel is camphor wood, because it is not expensive and has no smell. Tea sets that accompany the silver boiled water teapot include a silver teapot, milk jar and sugar jar. Charcoal-heated teapots appeared in the 1760s, replacing teapots heated by alcohol, and Sheffield flat teapots were not first introduced until 1785.
After the tea is brewed, it is placed on the coffee table. The coffee table appeared at the end of the 17th century, and in 1700, Britain imported about 6,000 lacquered coffee tables; by the mid-18th century, furniture manufacturers in London had produced luxury coffee tables that catered to the high-end market. Some people also use a small three-legged table with two compartments on the table top to store tea leaves, and two carved glass bowls to mix dried tea leaves together. This object is not only practical, but also shows the taste of the hostess's choice of furniture in the hostess's tea and laughter.
Rosewood coffee table, carved wooden base, collection at Philbrig Manor in Norfolk, 1820.
Although the servants will prepare everything and assist from the side, it is still the hostess's job to make and pour tea for the guests. Both green and black teas were quite popular, and at that time, people sometimes added sugar to tea (which was also an expensive imported product at the time), but adding milk to tea was quite rare. Men always drink tea in noisy, smoky cafes and chat about gossip or politics; ladies chat over tea in more elegant settings.
Tea replaced ale for breakfast and gin for other times
Of course, not everyone loves tea. For example, the Founder of the Methodist Movement, Pastor John Wesley, advised the population to abstain from tea completely in 1748 because he believed that "drinking tea can lead to countless diseases, especially neurological diseases." In 1757, the English traveler Jonas Hanway wrote in an article that tea was "detrimental to health, hindered industrial progress, and plunged the country into poverty." Dr. Johnson, author of the first English Dictionary (1755). Johnson) is perhaps the most prestigious of all tea lovers, and is said to drink 25 cups of tea a day. He once stood up to defend tea, writing, "Just let me be a stubborn and shameless tea drinker." For so many years, only tea, a charming drink, could accompany me. My teapot is steaming almost forever. Tea brings me the joy of the evening, the soothing of the night, and accompanies me to welcome the arrival of every dawn. ”
Dr Johnson is a regular visitor to London's famous coffee houses. During the day, gentlemen talk about politics and business in the coffee house, and their cigarettes and rhetoric make the place forever smoky and bustling. Women are not allowed in the coffee house, but conversely, no lady wants to set foot here, and the place where they are accustomed to drinking tea is at home. Some coffee houses sell loose teas for guests to brew at home. Thomas Twining knew all too well that female guests would not risk drinking tea in a coffee house. In 1706, Twining opened a Tom's Coffee House on Riverbank Street, and by 1717 the shop was renamed The Golden Lyon and began to specialize in a wide variety of high-quality teas and coffees.
Court Tea Party, painted by Kitty Shannon, 1926.
Golden Lyon was The First Tea Shop in London, and ladies could enter the shop generously without hassle-free. Jane Austen also buys tea at a tea shop in Ninh. In a letter to her sister Cassandra in 1814, she said: "I regret to hear that the price of tea has risen again, and I intend to pay for Quinning later today and buy new tea at that time." "If Jane Austen had gone to the Twinings Tea Shop on Riverbank Street, the door she had walked through was almost exactly the same as it is today, and nothing had changed. Tea was heavily taxed until 1784, so tea drinking was mostly a pastime for the wealthy. Therefore, tea smuggling is prevalent, and adulteration is not uncommon. The profit margins of law-abiding tea merchants were greatly compressed by smugglers, so they began to pressure the government to cut taxes, and then Prime Minister William Pittthe Younger suddenly reduced the tea tax rate from 119% to 12.5%. Since then, tea has ceased to be a luxury and smuggling has disappeared almost overnight.
After the price of tea fell, the middle class also gradually developed the habit of drinking tea, and tea replaced the ale for breakfast and the gin drunk at other times, becoming the most popular drink in the UK. Men no longer even enjoyed drinking coffee in the coffee house and began to sit and drink tea with their families in the garden (often called the tea party garden). The large tea party garden is planted with shrubs and flowers of all kinds, and is built with pools, fountains and statues.
People can sit in the shade of the trees and drink tea while eating bread dipped in butter. Tea party gardens first appeared in Vauxhall on the south bank of the River Thames in 1661. By 1732, the gardens had been expanded and gradually became a landscape. George IV visited the area frequently when he was regent, Horace Walpole, Henry Fielding, Dr. Johnson. Johnson) and their literati friends also lingered here. Later, other teahouse gardens appeared in London, notables such as Ranelagh, Marylebone, Cuper's, and the lesser-known St. Helena Gardens in The Rosserheed and Ruth Mary Gardens in Islington. In addition to London, tea party gardens have also begun to appear in other parts of the UK.
Every year from April to September, the Tea Party Garden provides outdoor entertainment for people of all walks of life, in addition to tea and desserts, there are music, magic, acrobatics, fireworks, horse riding, bowling and other entertainment activities. Leopold Mozart (father of the famous composer Mozart) documented his visit to the Lanerach Gardens: "Everyone only needs to pay half a pound for admission to the garden and can enjoy any butter bread, coffee and tea. "It is a little regrettable that with the rapid development of London and the arrival of carnivalism, the tea party garden gradually closed, after which the tea drinking event returned to the home.
Author 丨 [English] Helen Sabe
Excerpt 丨An also
Edited by 丨 青青子
Introduction Proofreading 丨 Liu Jun