Tea is more than those dried leaves you enjoy to drink in the morning. In fact, historically, tea molded the drinking preferences of two countries, as what they are known today.
How do British people usually begin their day? It's like this.
After waking up,
the first thing that a typical Briton would usually do is to get up and fill a cup with warm tea, whether drinking it as is or mixing it with milk or lemon or both. If you ask me, a cup that is just the right size and provides a good grip is preferable, that's because the cup that you use will sometimes determine the extent of enjoyment you get from your tea time.
It is extensively accepted that the British community are for tea, and on the other hand, the American citizens are for coffee. The specific inclinations of both nation have a little bit of history – a history that has led to 165 million cups of tea and 336 million cups of coffee being enjoyed every day in our current generation.
Just how did this develop?
Let's go back in the 15th century. By this time, the British were roaming other nations and found its way to China. After going along for a period with the Chinese, the British noticed their hosts value cleanliness above other things. The Chinese have habits like taking of shoes before going inside a home and taking a bath every single day. One practice worth mentioning is that they also drink their tea only in specially designed delicate ceramic.
The method of boiling water also caught their attention. This was a great way to eliminate germs and bacteria in their water system of unhygienic European cities like London. As a result, British rapidly grew to become addicted to tea, and China became an integral exchanging companion along with the British.
The British then extended into North America, and for a long period, tea was certainly very in demand with the colonial inhabitants. Regrettably, the British tried to command the marketplace exploit the craving for tea.
All of this finally led to the Boston Tea Party of 1773. Neighborhood vendors who sold tea and were endangered to lose their business for the reason of heavy taxes ransacked British ships transporting tea and then threw as much tea as they possibly could on the waters of Boston Harbour. Consequently, this sparked a an independent cause that has produced the America we identify right now.
What made a difference
As the British made tea a pricey product, the Americans resorted to coffee and claimed it as their own.
The British love affair with tea also had a big influence on other industries. For instance tea in China was drunk from a cup with no handle. But when tea became popular in Britain there would be a serious requirement for excellent mugs with handles to suit British practices which brought forth the mugs that we knew today.
This called for dramatic growth in the pottery and porcelain industry, as well as the affluence of corporations like Wedgewood which equally had a great impact on parts such as Stoke-on-Trent supplying available employment for thousands at most.
We are living in an ever-changing world. Will the British relationship with tea and the American obsession with coffee actually be altered?
Well, only time will tell.
