How Tea Came to Britain

Today, tea is the national drink of Britain. People drink it in the morning, at work, with friends and after dinner. But tea is not a British plant. It came from very far away.

For thousands of years, people in China drank tea. In the 1600s, Dutch and Portuguese ships brought the first tea to Europe. It was very expensive, so only rich people could buy it.

Then, in 1662, King Charles II of England married a Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza. She loved tea and drank it every day. Soon, everybody at the palace wanted to drink tea too.

In the 1700s and 1800s, tea became cheaper, and ordinary people started to drink it. Factory workers drank hot tea with milk and sugar because it gave them energy. In the 1840s, a duchess invented "afternoon tea": tea, sandwiches and cake at four o'clock.

Today, the British drink about 100 million cups of tea every day. Tea is drunk at every important moment: when a friend visits, when there is bad news, when the weather is cold. Have you ever had a cup of tea in Britain? If you haven't, try one with a little milk. That is the British way.