Tea Culture in UK 【PART III】

Now, people in Britain drink tea multiple times a day. As the years passed it became a drink less associated with high society as people of all classes drink tea today which can be enjoyed in many different flavors and ways. What really challenge tea is soda drink because it’s convinces and thirst-quenching. The average soda drink spending is going up and up. However, the average tea spending is reducing day by day. The importance of tea in Britain can also be shown in British language. Along with the increasing demand of tea and the formation of tea culture, it seems that there are considerable tea-related expressions in English. Compared with Chinese tea ceremony, British tea ceremony is less remarkable. 

However, no one can deny that lady like Victoria afternoon tea. Tea drinks and the English tea set make a great contribution to the world tea culture. To enjoy black tea is to experience British unique culture tradition and her hospitality. Exports to New England also declined from 291,899 pounds in 1768 to 151,184 pounds in 1772. When Parliament repealed the Townsend Duties in 1770, it retained the tax on tea as a symbol of the right and power of Parliament to tax the colonies. 

What’s more, there are many phrases which are related to “tea” in English, such as tea cup, teapot, tea cake etc. Over several hundred years, drinking tea becomes a kind of habit and a custom after tea was introduced into Europe and Britain.   Parliament anticipated that the Tea Act would lower tea prices in America and increase profits for the East India Company. British colonists, however, interpreted the Tea Act as an attempt by the British government to force them to accept Parliament's right to tax them.

Tea Culture in UK 【PART II】

The popularity of tea occasioned the furtive export of slips to tea plants from China to British India and its commercial culture there, beginning in 1840. British interests controlled tea production in the subcontinent. Tea, which was an upper-class drink in Europe, became the infusion of every class in Great Britain in the course of the 18th century and has remained. Victoria afternoon tea is an art, simple but not stinginess, flowery but not vulgar. Traditionally, hostesses must use the best room to treat their guests. Actually, the British afternoon tea is particularly paid attention to. First of all, the time for tea is 4:00 pm. 

In the next place, a tuxedo for the gentlemen and a formal dress for ladies were considered very important in Victorian days. Thirdly, ordinarily, the hostess should wear formal dress and serve the guests in person at the tea party, showing her respect to the visitors. In the past, British people will drink tea at home or go out. Nowadays, people drink tea at home and drink soft drink when going out. Tea bag is wildly used in daily life. This might reduce the spending on leaf tea. Tea bag is very convenient and the customers do love it. The sales of tea bag are booming and in the late 1990s, 80% of tea sells in tea bag rather than leaf tea. 

The tea trade became a major point of contention between Britain and American colonies in 1767. When tea was listed among the Townsend Duties, The no importation movement, which arose in response to the new duties, significantly reduced the quantity of tea entering the colonies. In New York and Philadelphia, the amount of tea imported from England fell from 494,096 pounds in 1768 to just 658 pounds in 1772.

Tea Culture in UK 【PART I】

The popular pleasure gardens of Ranelagh and Vauxhall in London began serving tea around 1730. An evening of dancing and watching fireworks would be capped by tea. The concept caught on, and soon Tea Gardens opened all over Britain. Usually the gardens were opened on Saturday and Sunday, and an afternoon of entertainment and dancing would be highlighted by serving tea. With high tea imports became a large increase in the demand for porcelain. The demand for tea cup, pots and dishes increased to go along with this popular new drink. 

In the mid-eighteen century, between the time of lunch and supper, some women began to eat dessert, drink tea together, which was described as examples among other people. From upper class to civilian society, tea became more and more popular and formed the feature of British tea culture. Unlike Chinese people, British like to drink tea regularly and timely. After working and studying for a long time, they usually stop to rest for 15 to 20 minutes, drink a cup of tea, and eat some dessert. This is Britain’s unchangeable tea break. The British government raised revenue through high import duties and heavy excise taxes on tea. 

Because of extensive smuggling, especially between 1723 and 1745 when taxes were at their highest, there is no way to measure accurately the amount of tea imported by the North American colonies. The illegal trade in tea, much of it from Holland, must have been sizeable, given that almost every ship the British seized or examined for smuggling included tea in its cargo. In 1773, attempts to bring tea into the colonies resulted in a series of "tea parties" in Annapolis, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. The efforts of revolutionaries to halt the tea trade never fully succeeded, however. In 1775, the British exported 739,569 pounds of tea to the colonies. 

Tea Trade in UK 【Part II 】

The UK tea market has a very history and now it’s well-developed and mature market.  In the past, the spread of the tea drinking in British and It notices that the drink of tea first became a fashion in upper society and then spread to other sections. The new habit of tea drinking soon touched a controversy over the merits and shortcomings of the tea drinking in British society. A notable characteristic of UK tea market is that the market directly link production with marketing. 

Big tea company producing tea and make it into packaging including some tea import from other countries. Big company such as Unilever, Best foods, Premier Foods, Tetley Tea and Twinings share the British tea market fully. UK import leaf tea mostly from Kenya, India and Indonesia. In 2002, the largest supplier is Kenya and second one is India and the third one is Indonesia. Kenya supply 45% of the tea in UK. India supply 14% of the tea in UK and Indonesia supply 10%. The reason why British people like Kenya tea is that the tea produced in Kenya smell good and taste fits British people. In the early 21st century, the tea import is not as prosperous as before. In 1978, the total amount of tea import is just 150,000 ton. This amount is less than the amount during the World War II. 

After that, the total amount of tea import haven’t reach 200,000 ton and it’s just floating around 150,000 ton. The average tea spending is just 2.33 kg. It’s a symbol that the tea spending power is reducing day by day. There are three main reasons why the tea spending is reducing day by day. Firstly is that the competition from coffee and the soft drink. With the development of coffee in Europe, tea becomes less popular. Latter instant coffee is wildly accept by customers because its convenience.

Tea Trade in UK 【Part I】

UK is the world largest country of tea import and tea spending. This country import 200,000 ton tea from other country and it take 25% of world Total trade amount. British people have 300 years history of drinking tea. In 19 century, UK becomes the world largest tea spending country and the main tea trader all around the world. Tea auction market in London is the heart of tea trade all over the world and the price of in auction market is a very important index to the World tea price. 

India and Sri Lanka are the main countries that UK imports tea from. From 1970s, East Africa is booming its tea trade to UK. There are three ways trading tea in UK. The first one is that producing country sells the tea to UK. After that London Tea Auction sell the tea at auction. Secondly, tea dealer purchase tea from tea producing country. The third one is to purchase tea from tea garden globally. Four largest tea blenders monopolized 80% of the market. In London or Liverpool tea are being packed and sell to the world or to domestic market in UK. During the tea trade business there two very important organizations have to mention. These organizations are helping tea business running smoothly. The first one is UKTA（United Kingdom Tea Association）and the committee was constitute by tea blender, buyer, producer and broker. The function of UKTA is to dealing with the sources of tea and promoting tea and offer legal or technical help to members. The second one is The Tae Council and this organization was set up in 1996. 

The members of the council are some alliance of producing country and some tea blender in UK. Members of producing counties include Sri Lanka, India, and Kenya and so on. The function of this organization is to advertise the benefit of drinking tea and develop tea market in United Kingdom. This council is very important and has positive effect in developing tea market though only two staff working full time in this organization. The Tae Council and UKTA might have overlapped responsibility but two organizations working perfectly together.

Afternoon Tea in England

Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford (1788-1861) is thought to have introduced Afternoon Tea to England. Her main meals of breakfast and dinner and a very light luncheon at midday left her a little hungry in the afternoons. She developed the habit of taking an additional meal at 5pm in her rooms at Belvoir Castle.

The Duchess invited her friends to share her afternoon enjoyment of sandwiches, small cakes, tarts and biscuits, all to be partaken with a drink of tea. Afternoon tea began to be served in the same way in all the houses. A first pot of tea was brought from the kitchen to the lady of the house and a second pot left to warm in the lady's room. The hostess would serve the tea to her guests, usually all ladies, and her eldest daughter or a close friend would pass the food amongst the guests.

Soon, the growing middle classes were to imitate the rich and found that tea was an economical way of entertaining several friends. Afternoon tea quickly became the norm.In the early 19 th century, the tea dance became popular and continued to be so until the mid 20 th century. The tea dance normally consisted of a friends and acquaintances coming together to dance, whilst tea and snacks were served at tables around the dance floor. By the late 1880s top hotels in England began to offer afternoon tea in tearooms and tea courts. Served in the late afternoon, Victorian ladies would meet for tea and conversation.

At the beginning of the 1900s, hotels began to host afternoon tea dances.
Afternoon tea is still enjoyed today, although much less frequently. It now comprises a selection of dainty sandwiches, cakes, pastries and scones with jam and cream, all served on a tiered cake stand. Tea is poured from silver teapots into china cups. It is also customary for the scene to be set with good linen, flowers and soft music playing in the background.

Tea Culture in China 【PART III】

The Chinese tea ceremony, also called the Chinese Way of Tea, is a Chinese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of tea leaf. The manner in which it is performed or the art of its performance is shown in the tea ceremony. Taoism has also been an influence in the development of the tea ceremony. At this time in tea's history, the nature of the beverage and style of tea preparation were quite different from the way we experience tea today. Tea leaves were processed into compressed cakes form. The dried teacake, generally called brick tea was ground in a stone mortar.

Hot water was added to the powdered teacake, or the powdered teacake was boiled in earthenware kettles then consumed as a hot beverage. A YiXing clay teapot Main article: Gongfu tea ceremonyIt makes use of small Yixing teawares teapot of about 100 – 150 ml to enhance the aesthetics, and more importantly "round out" the taste of the tea being brewed. Yixing teapot brewing sides towards the formal, and is used for private enjoyment of the tea as well as for welcoming guests. The following steps are one popular way to brew tea in a form considered to be a kind of art. Depending on the region of China the steps may differ, as will the tools used in the making of tea. 

The ceramic complex at Jingdezhen was managed by able directors during the 18th century and enjoyed court patronage, notably that of the Emperor Qianlng (1736-95). This produced the fine white porcelain, left unpainted with a milky glaze, that came to be known as 'blanc de Chine' in the West and was very popular in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Imperial wares of the 19th and early 20th century have recently begun to enjoy increased favors.