why are the Brits so obsessed with tea let's find out hi I'm Kate and this is angenia now one of the first things you'll be asked by most Brits is would you like a cup of tea yes we're rather fond of a proper Brew which is what we call a nice cup of tea and it's our go-to solution for almost any scenario want an excuse to gossip with your friends invite them over for a cup of tea do you have a builder doing some work on your house it would be offensive not to offer him
a copper going through a personal drama yep you guessed it a cup of tea will make everyone feel better it's hardly surprising then that the UK race through a whopping 165 Million Cups of Tea every day seriously that is a lot of cup lifting but it's how we stay in such great shape but how have we become one of the biggest tea drinking Nations per capita in the world here are a few interesting moments in history that helped make tea a quintessentially British affair [Music] our love of tea goes back to the mid 1600s when
the British East India Company dominated the tea imported to Britain we had a constant and growing supply of tea which was convenient as we had been excluded from the coffee exporting Mediterranean during our Wars with France and Spain at the time whilst our surrounding countries remained hooked on coffee Britain became a tea drinking Nation tea hasn't always been the innocent drink we know and love today during the 1700s increasing tea prices saw arise in both tea smuggling and fake teas which were often used tea leaves mixed with other leaves and then died these lower pric
teas were sold to the working classes which meant that tea even if it wasn't the best quality were no longer just for the rich afternoon tea also known as low tea due to the low tables it was served on came about in around 1841 thanks to the very hungry tummy of one woman Anna The Duchess of Bedford who took social convention into her own hands and began enjoying a pot of tea and a light snack to satisfy that sinking feeling in the late afternoon before long afternoon tea became quite the social event Queen Victoria a
friend of the duchess's formalized afternoon tea with her Buckingham Palace tea receptions I think my invite may have gotten lost in the post today afternoon tea is enjoyed at around 4:00 in the afternoon and is made up of a selection of finger sandwiches scon pastries and homemade cakes cream tea is a simpler version with scon clotted cream jam and of course a pot of tea and it's my personal favorite not to be mistaken for afternoon tea high tea also known as meat tea was in fact a hot meal of meat pies vegetables and bread eaten
at the end of the day with a cup of tea by Factory workers during the Industrial Revolution it was called he te due to the high tables it was served on but these were just regular siiz tables today in many parts of the UK the evening meal is often referred to as tea which can be a tad confusing If You're Expecting sandwiches and a slice of cake in the 1880s t- rooms became fashionable with women as respectable places they could go to meet their friends for a discreet chat and even discuss politics eventually t- rooms
became an integral part of the women's Liberation movement tea was also used as a morale booster to soldiers during the second world war with the Prime Minister Winston Churchill stating the tea is more important than bullets here here interestingly 96% of tea consumed in Britain comes in the form of a tea bag which just so happens to be an American invention during the early 1900s Tea Merchant Thomas Sullivan sent out tea samples to his customers in silk and sachet Americans were naturally enthusiastic about these new fangled super convenient tea bags but they didn't catch on
in Britain until the 1950s but boy do we love them now so there you are just a few examples of how tea has become part of British culture and Society now with all this talk of tea I bet you're wondering how to make a proper cup of tea well you're in luck in the next episode you're formally invited to tea with angenia as we show you how to make a nice copper the British way in the meantime subscribe for more episodes and remember you can tweet us @ anglophenia and follow us on Facebook by liking
our page thanks for watching my tea leaves predict you'll enjoy this one oh you'll Total Tea love that one that one is quality
