tea
"Better a man to fast for three days without food
than to go for one day without tea."
Chinese Proverb
a brief history of tea
Tea was, apparently, discovered by a Chinese emperor. His servant was boiling water, and a leaf fell into it. He shrugged his shoulders and drank it anyway, and then decided that he liked it. The tea tree was discovered, and took its first step towards the worldwide fame it enjoys today.
Tea used to come in solid, baked bricks. Part of the brick would be broken off, and ground down before you could make a brew. Later, someone decided that this was too much effort, and loose leaf tea was launched. Later still, a merchant decided to sell tea in stitched silk pouches, instead of tins - he was probably being cheap, but someone buying them thought it was a brewing invention. So the teabag was born, and teapots everywhere started gathering a little layer of dust.
tea tests
There are so many tea brands, blends, infusions and flavours in shops
it's sometimes hard to know what to choose.
> click to read the tea reviews
taxonomy of tea
White tea. Herbal tea. Infusions. Single estate.
Blends.
We get easily confused and we thought you might too.
> brief description of teas
Ray's rules
Ray's dad (a chef and a Royal Marine) passed on to his son the rules for how to brew a perfect cuppa.
> how to brew the perfect cuppa
tea fact t's
Did you know, tea replaced Gin as the drink of the masses in Eighteenth century England?
> find tea facts here
celebritea
Want to know celebs take their tea?
Journalists don't seem to ask this question much,
clearly an oversight on their part...
> how the famous take their tea
tea leaf reading
Time to tie a hankie around your head - our guide by Miss Fay King to reading tea leaves...
> read your tea leaves
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