China was the first exporter of tea, which came overland via the silk route to Europe and on to England. Both in China and originally in England, tea was a drink of the wealthy upper classes. Because of the vast distance it travelled, it was initially very costly. Eventually the British smuggled tea plants out of China and set up their own plantations in India reducing the cost of importing it and over time it became available to a wider group of consumers.
There were coffee houses and inns where men could gather to talk and for refreshment, but nothing similar was available for respectable women. This changed when The Aerated Bread Company Ltd (The ABC) opened a chain of tea rooms, later followed by the opening of the the Lyons Corner Houses, giving women socially acceptable places to meet outside the home and partake of tea and cakes. Russell Bowes also mentioned the 'Nippies' who waited on tables in the Lyons Corner Houses, so called, because they were paid so little, that they relied heavily on tips, so nipped about pretty quickly to serve as many customers as possible!
He also mentioned the different sorts of tea and told us that the reason the English added milk and sugar, when originally tea was drunk with nothing added, was that the cheaper blends were literally the 'sweepings' and tasted so awful, that only by added milk and sugar could they be made palatable! A really interesting and informative talk!
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As we're still in the grips of winter, I thought you might like these seasonal photos of mistletoe-covered trees in our local area.