How did the British become the most tea loving foreigner?

In the 17th century, the international development of Portugal and China in Macao was already in full swing, and a large number of Chinese specialties were transported to Europe through the Maritime Silk Road. At that time, the upper class aristocrats of Portugal had already drunk a special drink called black tea, including Catherine. The Portuguese princess was very fond of tea, and was worried that she would not be able to drink tea after marrying far away from England, so she put a full two hundred pounds of fine black tea in her dowry, and several sets of exquisite Chinese tea sets.

In Europe at that time, black tea was as valuable as gold and silver, and only princes and nobles could have such a large amount of money. There is an interesting rumor that the box used by Catherine to transport the tea was labeled Transporte de Ervas Aromaticas, which was later abbreviated to Tea.

Some people once speculated whether this was the English word tea (tea)**, but later etymologists investigated it and thought it was just an accidental coincidence, and the original origin of the word tea was still Chinese characters.

The English in the early 17th century did not fall in love with tea, for whom the dark brown drink with the aroma of grass leaves was just a medicine to protect the spleen. However, with the arrival of Catherine, when it was discovered that the young queen drank several large cups of black tea every day, the trend of drinking tea gradually spread and became an indispensable drink for social gatherings. <>

After Catherine married Charlie, everything about her became the center of attention, and people talked all the time about the clothes she wore today, the fan she waved, the silver bowl she ate with, and, of course, her eating and drinking. Sarah Beth Wadkins, the author of a biography of Catherine, said, "The ladies began to follow her example and drink tea in order to enter the queen's social circles." ”

Edmund Waller, one of the most popular poets in England at the time, wrote a birthday poem for Catherine, and some of the lines in the poem are as follows: The wisest queen, the most amazing plant, the brave country, the beautiful place bathed in the sun, the rich gifts it gives us, we praise it with a grateful heart.

If you dismiss Waller's poem as a mere sycophancy, you may be biased against the poet. Because, he himself is also an authentic tea lover. According to historical records, Waller had been drinking tea as early as 1657, exactly six years before Catherine's arrival.

This was not common at the time, because tea was quite expensive, and a pound of tea was equivalent to a whole year's income of a working class. There are three main reasons why tea is so expensive: first, there was no direct exchange between Britain and China at that time; second, Indian tea has not yet reached Britain; The third is that the Dutch imported a small amount of tea, so the price is very high.

However, with the arrival of Catherine, the trend of drinking tea began to spread among the British aristocracy, and later the rise and decline of tea imports accelerated this trend. Not only the tea itself, but also the tea utensils used by Catherine have become the object of imitation. "Porcelain is expensive, but very delicate and beautiful, and one of the reasons why tea is popular is that you can use these beautiful tea sets, just like owning the most ** iPhone.

Ellis, a professor at Queen Mary University of London, said he was one of the authors of the book "Tea Empires: Asian Leaves That Conquered the World".

In addition to the Chinese, the British are probably the most tea-loving people in the world. Wake up for a strong morning tea, and in the afternoon have a hearty afternoon tea with a variety of salty and sweet snacks. It has been said that the only way to judge whether a person is truly British is whether he has a stiff upper lip that is tightly pursed and has an almost fanatical love for black tea.

And how exactly did the British fall in love with black tea? It all started with a Portuguese woman.

In 1622, Princess Catherine, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, married King Charles II of England. As one of the great powers of the time, the Portuguese princess's dowry was extravagant, including a lot of money, treasures, spices, and two busy ports, one in Tangier, Morocco and one in Mumbai, India.

The British are "fond of tea as life", first of all, because of the demonstration of the aristocracy. Secondly, tea is increasingly becoming close to the people. In addition, the fact that the British like to drink tea has something to do with the climate diet.

At first, they liked to drink coffee, and then with the inflow of tea, they slowly liked to drink tea, and found that tea is not only delicious, but also can replace coffee and play a refreshing role, and is very healthy.

The British are very fond of tea, and they drink at least four to five cups of tea a day. At first, they didn't like to drink tea, mainly coffee, but then they gradually liked to drink tea due to a series of things.

First of all, because of the exemplary leading role of the aristocracy. Princess Catherine, a Portuguese nobleman, liked to drink tea very much, she brought the habit of drinking tea into England, and after he married to England, he built a tea room in the palace, invited noble ladies to drink tea, and gave expensive tea to the royal family and nobles at home and abroad. At that time, there was a tea drinking craze in the British aristocratic circle, and many people followed Catherine's example to show their nobility.

Because tea was relatively scarce at that time, drinking tea became a symbol of status and status.

Secondly, tea is increasingly becoming close to the people. At that time, tea could bring a lot of commercial profits, and British merchants took the opportunity to grow tea. They found a place where they could grow tea trees, increase yields, and reduce costs.

As a result, the British began to take control of the Indian peninsula and planted tea trees there, and not only that, but they also planted tea plants in Sri Lanka and opened up a new black tea production area. Since then, not only aristocrats can drink tea, but ordinary people can also drink tea, and the atmosphere of drinking tea has slowly swept the whole of England.

In addition, the fact that the British like to drink tea has something to do with the climate diet. Although they liked to drink coffee at first, they later discovered that tea can also be used as a substitute for coffee to refresh their minds. Because the UK has a temperate maritime climate, the precipitation is relatively heavy and the air humidity is also very high, in this environment, drinking tea can warm the stomach and at the same time can enhance the body's immunity.

Moreover, most of the British diet is based on dairy products, which is not light enough on the whole, and will be heavier in oil and meat, and drinking tea can clean up the intestines, so the British like to drink tea.

The above is the reason why the British are so fond of drinking tea.

Because coffee just entered the United Kingdom, the taste is more bitter, and ** is also more expensive, in the Ming Dynasty tea has entered Europe, the Wang nobles at that time especially like to drink tea, and later promoted the sales of tea, there are many Wang nobles will add tea to the afternoon tea.

Because we often eat afternoon tea, afternoon tea is basically all desserts, which are relatively greasy, so we will drink tea to relieve greasyness, and then it becomes popular. They also like to drink coffee.

The British drink tea, add sugar, add milk, and soak tea bags in hot water. breakfast tea, afternoon tea...When I drink tea, I will have cookies or snacks.

British tea culture is relatively deep. The British began importing tea in the 1660s. At that time, Catherine of Braganza, the princess of Portugal, was married to King Charles II of England, and she brought her love of tea to the English court banquets.

The British began to import tea from the Netherlands, and in 1689 (the 28th year of Kangxi), the British East India Company imported tea directly from Xiamen, China, for the first time and shipped it back to London. By the 1750s, tea had become the national drink of the British.

In the UK and Ireland, the word "tea" refers not only to the name of the drink, but also to a light afternoon meal, known as English afternoon tea. The British drink more black tea, including English breakfast tea and Earl Grey, jasmine tea imported from China, and green tea imported from Japan, which have also become a standard part of British tea. As soon as the British drink tea, they are quite obsessed with tea and very ceremonious, as soon as they wake up in the morning, they will drink bed tea on an empty stomach, and they will drink morning tea again at 11 o'clock in the morning, and they will drink afternoon tea again after lunch, and they will drink evening tea once after dinner.

That is to say, regular, at least 4 meals a day. The British make tea is to make tea powder, put it in a hot water cup with the bag, not to make tea with water, but to dip the tea bag into hot water, a small bag of tea only brews a cup of water, and discards it after drinking. When drinking at home, because the tea leaves are very broken, there is usually a filter cup in the teapot or pin, which is washed down with boiling water, filtered out, and then added with sugar, milk or lemon to drink.

However, important changes took place in England in the 18th century, which led to the fact that drinking raw water directly could be very harmful. The 18th century was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, when London began to have the title of "Fog Capital", which was actually caused by industrial pollution. Not only air pollution, but also water pollution was an inevitable consequence of early industry.

Moreover, as the Industrial Revolution led to the concentration of a large number of people living in cities, the pollution of drinking water in cities became a serious problem. As a result, we see that the stage of rapid growth of tea consumption in the UK coincides with the time of the Industrial Revolution. Therefore, I think that the main reason why Britain loves to drink tea is the by-product of the pollution of the industrial revolution, because the British have found that the habit of drinking tea with boiled water can partially cope with water pollution and reduce the occurrence of gastrointestinal diseases.

There have been many large-scale epidemics in European history, such as the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death. After the Industrial Revolution, epidemics in Britain became more severe, for example, cholera, tuberculosis, etc. I once wrote an article pointing out that the first laws against spitting in Europe were the result of a tuberculosis epidemic.

At that time, there was no drug for tuberculosis, but epidemiological studies confirmed that tuberculosis could be transmitted through the air, and spitting became a channel for spreading tuberculosis. Therefore, Europe at that time had to.

Use the law to prohibit spitting.

Similarly, the large-scale epidemic of tea drinking habits also has an important relationship with epidemics.

In the 19th century, cholera became a frequent epidemic in foul and filthy London. At the beginning, it was thought that the spread of cholera was also through the air, when London.

The rancid River Thames and its sewers.

Thought to be the source of cholera. As a result, the British spent a lot of money on the huge London sewer project, which is still in force today. However, cholera was still endemic after the London sewers were completed, and epidemiologists finally confirmed that cholera was transmitted through water.

This conclusion has led to the habit of drinking tea with hot water, which has become an important means of maintaining health at all levels of society. Although it is possible to drink boiled water without tea, however, the absence of tea will definitely affect the compulsion to drink hot water.

Through this example, we can once again see how certain Chinese traditions can play an important and good role in modern society. Moreover, with the changes brought about by industrial society, the importance of certain traditions has not decreased, but has become more important. It is only in modern times that developed countries such as the United States have set high hygiene standards for tap water, requiring tap water to be drunk directly, and the habit of drinking tea seems to have decreased in public life, and it has become more of a fashion for elegant people.

However, the benefits of tea are still irreplaceable.

Every country has its own culture, for example, China also drinks green tea and black tea, Tieguanyin, and the United States likes to drink coffee, and the history and culture of each country are accumulated over time. So this is normal.

When it comes to drinking tea, you will definitely think of China, which has a profound culture for thousands of years, and there is another country that likes to drink tea, that is, the United Kingdom, whether men or women, old or young, a cup of tea is indispensable on the table. The most popular thing in the UK is black tea, and they will take a sip whenever they have time in the busy day.

Both the middle class and the upper class aristocrats served a cup of tea at lunch, and tea became the main drink of the British. Then there is a cup of afternoon tea around 3:30 to 4 p.m., which they call as a spiritual remedy in the process of work. In the UK, tea is always accompanied by cakes and cakes, sandwiches and other snacks.

The average housewife is very good at making these kinds of pastries, and tea is indispensable for formal dinners.

Because tea is called English tea, English is from England...

The British also drink coffee, and the Europeans are not suitable for tea, and tea is not suitable for them to grow.