It seems that 80% of Britons can no longer brew a good cuppa. The Independent tells the story of tea being first advertised in England in September 1658 as a 'China Drink'. It gained a strong following when Charles II's Portuguese bride Catherine of Braganza brought her love of tea to England in 1664, leading the nation to fall in love with this royal beverage. The 358 year anniversary of Britain's love at first taste with tea was recently honoured with a Google Doodle. According to Twinings, 2½ to 3 minutes brewing time for teabags is fine but tea leaves steeped for under 7 minutes will not infuse long enough to release depth and flavour. It's mostly because we're too impatient and prefer the ubiquitous High Street coffee shop that we don't give tea the time of day any more. Consumption of black tea has fallen from 68 weekly grams of tea per person in 1974 to 25 grams in 2014. Today's health-conscious younger generations tend to steer away from tea with its inevitable slice of cake, a fact borne out by an increase in the sale of energy drinks by more than 60% between 2008 and 2014. Tea is seen as boring and only ever drunk by parents and grandparents. Admittedly, the long raging argument about milk or tea first does seem rather quaint, doesn't it?
The heart in clover teacup and saucer shown above is available to buy here in red or blue. It's a very pretty and clever design of a clover shape changing to a heart shape as you drink. If you want a tea to revive your senses, try this masala chai.