Silver Tea Caddies and the history of Tea.
It was in the early 1650’s that three new beverages had huge social impact across Europe. Chocolate (cocoa), coffee and tea were to develop social functions above the mere drinking of a new beverage. The greatest of these changes was the development of the coffee house which became the centre of local gossip and tittle tattle business and scandal.
Tea and tea drinking were to become the centre of a new way of life in Britain. It developed new habits and mysteries on how to make brew and drink tea which have evolved and developed into customs some of which we still use today.
Tea.
The precise history of the development of tea is often disputed. In Chinese mythology credit has been given to the Sage Darma who lived in circa AD 519. The story goes that being and austere and devout holy man he resolved to deny himself all rest, sleep, and relation to devote himself without intermission to God. Unfortunately it could not last and he dropped off to sleep. Upon waking and in his anger he punished himself for breaking his sacred vow and cut off both his eyebrows as the instrument that had failed his holy vow. These were thrown to the floor and upon his return the same place the following day they had miraculously changed and grown into two beautiful tea plants! How I love a good story.
Botanically the tree plant is a shrub from the Camilla family and is first reported as popular for drinking during the T’ang Dynasty in AD 618 – 906. Reference has been found from the Chinese scholar Lu Pu who recorded recipes for tea making “to make tea as a drink, roast the cake until reddish in colour, pound it in tiny pieces, put them in a chinaware pot, pour boiling water over them and add onion, ginger, and orange”
In 1559 there is a record of a meeting in Venice with a Persian merchant where the words Char Katai were used in the context of tea as a medicinal beverage.
When first introduced into England tea was thought to have great medicinal value for “gout, gravel and the kidneys” and was said to be good for a variety of ailments particularly indigestion.
The phrase a cup of “char” is thought to derive from the words Char kati and referred to the leaves of the tea plant from the province of Kaingnon. The English were not the only tea importers and the Dutch together with the French traded with Japan and China for the best tea.
Tea was a luxury only for the wealthy in the mid 1650’s costing £3 a pound which was a huge sum at that time.
Sugar was soon added as an accompaniment to add to the “bitter but pleasant taste of the leaf”. However little reference to milk being added regularly is found until the mid 1700’s.
The enthusiasm with which the English embraced the tea leaf led to a whole new array of containers and vessels to hold and dispense the beverage. From its wealthy beginnings it was natural for the rich to commission pieces in silver which invariably were boxed or secured with locks to avoid staff pilfering. As the price of tea reduced so it became available to the new affluent middle classes and as such the need for plainer and cheaper dispensers became the driving force behind tea sets, tea caddies ,caddy spoons ,mote spoons and a variety of other paraphernalia.
Tea caddies remain sought after by collectors today.
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