The history of tea in Britain

The history of tea in Britain

The history of tea in Britain

P. Good morning. Today on Worldly Wise, my guest is Harry Perkins, a tea expert. Two hundred million cups are drunk every day in Britain – that’s a lot of gallons of tea, isn’t it?

HP. Yes it is. British people are world-famous for drinking tea but it’s only been here for about 350 years. In other countries, in Asia, it’s been drunk for 4000 years.

P. Where did it come from originally?

HP. China. The story is that more than 4000 years ago, a Chinese servant was boiling some water and some leaves fell in it. His boss drank the new drink, liked it and tea was born.

P. So that was 4000 years ago. How did it get to Europe?

HP. We’re not sure – some people say that it was the Arabs and others think it was brought here by the Dutch or the Portuguese in the 16th century. We know that it was drunk in Britain in the 17th century.

P. Was it immediately popular?

HP. People liked it but it was very expensive. Only very rich people could buy it: it took about a year to ship a cargo of tea from Asia to Europe, there was a very high tax on it – more than 100%. In the early 18th century, a half kilo of tea cost about three weeks’ wages for an ordinary person.

P. Three weeks wages for some tea! That’s a lot of money!

HP. Yes, it is. The rich people who could afford to buy tea kept it locked in special silver or wood boxes so the servants couldn’t steal it.

P. And now we can all buy it.

HP. Yes, 70% of people in Britain drink tea regularly – and the average is three cups a day.

Послушайте диалог. Выберите правильный вариант ответа.

1. Harry Perkins … tea.

a. likes drinking

b. knows a lot about

c .wants some

2. Tea has been drunk in Britain for …years.

a.200,000,000

b. 350

c.4,000

 

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