Tea and British Empire

Introduction

We'll never know exactly when humans began drinking tea, but it's likely that not long after, they began flavoring it with herbs, fruits, flowers and spices. Tea is an integral part of the British drinks. This first appeared in the middle of the 17th Century in England. Slowly the tea consumption spread from its Asian homeland and reached Europe in about 1560 (Macfarlane, p 32).

Discussion

Tea first arrived in England in the mid-17 century. The English East India Trading Company presented it as a gift to King Charles II in 1664. While the tea was indeed a royal ...