Tea used to be an extremely expensive household commodity. It was kept locked in chests, which later became known as tea caddies. The lady of the house kept the key to the tea caddy and prepared and served tea for only very important visitors.

About 40% of people in Britain will have a cup of tea at some point today

Tea contains about half the amount of caffeine as coffee

The habit of pouring the milk in the cup before the tea is due to the fact that when china cups replaced pewter, people thought it would be too delicate to handle a boiling beverage . They would pour milk in first thus allowing the liquid to cool down.

Tap water is not necessarily the best thing to use for making tea as it normally contains chlorine. The same is true for hard water containing a high level of minerals It is always better to use filtered water.

For black tea, water should be brought to a temperature between 95 ° and 98 °C (a few seconds before boiling). Stokes Green Gunpowder & Japanese Cherry blends should be prepared with water brought to a temperature of about 90 °C.