Tea-rant

Tony Blair had a good moan on US radio about the inability of ‘people overseas’ to make a good cup of tea. I’m afraid that when he is relieved of office and becomes ordinary again, he’s in for a shock: you can’t get a good cup of tea in this country either.

With a Costa or Starbucks on every corner, coffee-lovers can take their choice. Even in other cafes, they’re able to choose between latte, espresso and anything in-between. But ask for tea and you get a mug of hot water with a tea-bag dangling in it, accompanied by a pot of UHT milk and a straw of sugar.

How has this happened? Brits are renowned for tea-drinking. In an emergency no one ever says, ‘What you need is a nice hot, sweet cup of coffee.’ But it wasn’t always thus.

It was actually in a coffee house in London in 1657 that tea went on sale for the first time. Thomas Garway, the merchant selling it, claimed it was “wholesome, preserving perfect health until extreme old age, good for clearing the sight.” He also said that it cured “gripping of the guts, cold, dropsies, scurveys” as well as helping to “make the body active and lusty”.
A lot of people must have believed him because by the end of the seventeenth century, tea was being sold in more than 500 coffee houses in London.

However, for a long time, it was only men, who frequented the coffee houses, or the rich who could enjoy this expensive luxury: tea was considered so precious that it was often stored in a locked caddy with the only key being kept by the lady of the house.

But then in 1864 the manageress of a bread shop began to serve refreshments. Soon people were flocking into her shop to buy the tea she was dispensing. From here the teashop grew in popularity, but somewhere on the way to the twenty-first century, it disappeared from our major cities.

So come on, Tony, do something for which we can remember you fondly: crusade for proper tea!

INTERESTING TEA FACTS
The winner of the Top Tea Place 2007 award is Peacocks Tearoom in Ely, Cambridgeshire, with the Dorchester winning the Top London Tea award.
In an on-line Pet-Lovers Tea-Drinkers' Survey, when asked who they would invite to their dream tea party, most people chose Rolf Harris, followed by Johnny Depp, then The Queen.

Experts have found clear evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day can cut the chances of having a heart attack and that, contrary to popular belief, tea is not dehydrating.