Earl Grey is a name that has been synonymous with tea drinking for over a century. It ranks at the top of the list of the five most recognized teas in western society. It is, after all, the favorite flavored tea in the world, and its derivatives are legion - Lady Grey, Earl Grey Lavender,…
Blending Teas for Yale’s Center for British Art
Tea Maestro Bruce Richardson designed signature tea blends based upon art work found in the Yale Center for British Art. Read the story and see the photos of this creative endeavor.
British Tea: A Necessary Luxury
Is there a scene more typical of English life than that of a tea set? Charlotte Bronte captured that archetypal tableau in her 1853 novel Vilette when she describes an English tea and suggests the complex negotiation of social identity that revolved around the ritual of the tea table. “How pleasant it was in its…
Norwood Pratt and Bruce Richardson Revive The Romance of Tea
2017 Edition of The Romance of TeaIt’s difficult to remember a time when authoritative books on tea were as rare as a good cup of Darjeeling. But that was the scenario in America throughout much of the 20th century — until publisher Alfred Knopf published William H. Ukers’ The Romance of Tea in 1936. Few books…
Tea in a Time of War
Cafe owner pours tea in a London street.As German bombs fell on London in September 1939, the British tea industry faced a dilemma they had feared for some time. How would they protect the commodity that fueled an empire? That fuel was tea.Lord Woolton, Minister of Food, recounted the tumultuous time: “When London was being persistently…
The Traditional British Cup of Tea Is Changing
The UK needs to nurture younger tea drinkers.The traditional English cup of tea, once considered a necessary luxury, is undergoing its biggest change since tea was first advertised for sale in London in 1657. British tea consumption has fallen from 2.5 ounces per person per week to less than an ounce. That means Britons are drinking…
The Oldest Tea in Britain
300-year-old green tea from China.British researchers have found what they believe to be the oldest tea in Britain, and to the surprise of contemporary British tea drinkers, the tea is green!The unassuming box of Chinese tea was acquired around 1700 by a ship’s surgeon James Cuninghame. Cunninghame subsequently gave it as a gift to the…
How the British love their tea!
British foods at Rose Tree Cottage, PasadenaA box of tea bags is the food item most likely to be found stashed inside the suitcases of British travelers going abroad. I found this fascinating bit of gourmet triva while reading the Daily Mail at breakfast in London a few weeks back. A survey of shoppers discovered that…
Everything Stops for Tea
The song “Everything Stops For Tea” was first performed by Scotsman Jack Buchanan and featured in the 1935 musical film Come Out Of The Pantry, which was set in New York. In Great Britain, everything did stop for tea throughout the first half of the 1900s as British workers took their tea break. By 1900,…
Lipton Tea and British Social Classes
Thomas Lipton was always the master of marketing, especially when it came to touting the fact that he indeed owned the Ceylon gardens wherein his teas were grown. "Direct from the Grower" was one of his favorite slogans. Why then pay the extortionate prices that are being charged by the Trade when you can buy…