Tea Consumption

1004 Words5 Pages

Introduction
English people have an average per capita tea supply of 1,9 kg every year, which makes them one of the greatest tea consumers in the world since the eighteenth century. As the consumption of tea is so varied in the United Kingdom, it is very hard to generalize it. Most of the people in the United Kingdom enjoy drinking their tea with milk, but it is also very common to drink it black, green or with lemon. Putting some sugar in the cup as an addition also belongs to the standard. The British term "builder's tea" is a strong type of tea that is served with sugar and milk in a mug, which is also a popular combination to drink the tea today in the UK. The tradition of tea drinking in the United Kingdom is well-known worldwide, which …show more content…

Kind Charles II enacted several acts that forbade the selling of tea in private places. In doing so, the king believed by these acts he will counter sedition, however, the popularity of tea rose with time (Whitehead, 2015). Examples of the laws he enforced were the tax act that needed the coffee houses to get an operating license (UK Tea & Infusions Association n.d). With the increasing prices of tea and the popularity it had gained, people started to smuggle it to lower the prices. Ships from Holland and Portugal would smuggle it to fishermen who propagated it inwards (Wikipedia n.d). Tea gained popularity from the 1670 and it sold in over 500 houses in 1700. By 1750, tea was being consumed by both Britain in the lower and upper classes. Despite the legal restrictions, tea had gained the popularity that it could be difficult to stop among the Britain. In 1785, the commutation act was introduced by William Britt dropping the taxes to 12.5% from 119% (UK Tea & Infusions Association n.d). With the well-established companies like East India company gave a monopoly on the importation and trade of tea, the beverage was well spread. With tea readily available tea customs started to develop with the most common being the afternoon tea developed by the 7th Duchess of Bedford. Tea gardens like the prestigious Ranelagh and Vauxhall started serving tea at 5 pm (Wikipedia n.d). In the late 18th-century tea shops and pottery were well established as good

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