Tea and Britain

      Britons(英国人) are well known for drinking tea. On average, a person in the UK drinks around 1.9kg of tea every year. That’s around 876 cups of tea. Tea is drunk by all levels of society. But tea plants are hardly grown in Britain. Most tea grows in India and China. So, how did it become an important part of British culture?

      Tea arrived in London in the 1600s. At that time British ships were exploring the world and came across tea in China. It was not long before green tea could be bought from the market. However, it was only for the rich people.

      At the beginning of the 1700s, the amount (数量) of tea arriving in Britain increased rapidly.

      Black tea arrived at that time. At first this kind of tea was served exactly as it was in China. They soon discovered that it mixed really well with a little milk and sugar, giving the drink a special British colour.

      In the 1800s, tea was still a product enjoyed only by the rich. At that time they began to have "afternoon tea". They drank tea with a snack around 4 p.m. to avoid feeling hungry between lunch and dinner. It is a tradition that is still going today but has become less popular in recent years.