British Tea Culture: How Tea Became Britain's Drink (and Where Earl Grey Comes From)

Britain has never grown much tea, yet few countries are so closely tied to it. A strong cup with milk is how many British people start the day, end a meal and get through a hard moment. That habit took about two centuries to build, and it changed the history of China, India and America along the way.

This article is part of our series on the history of tea.

Tea Arrives in London

Tea reached Europe in the early 1600s on Portuguese and Dutch ships, but England came late. The first tea sold in England was offered in London coffeehouses in the late 1650s. In September 1658, a London newspaper carried the first known English advertisement for tea, calling it a China drink "approved by all physicians." At the time, it cost a small fortune and was sold mainly as a health tonic.

A Queen Makes It Fashionable

Tea's big break came in 1662, when King Charles II married Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess. Portugal had been trading with Asia for more than a century, and Catherine already loved tea. She drank it at court as an everyday pleasure rather than a medicine, and wealthy society followed her lead. Tea was soon a symbol of refinement, served in delicate porcelain cups also imported from China.

The East India Company and the Tea Trade

The British East India Company held the official monopoly on importing tea, and it shipped more and more of it from China every year. By the early 1700s, shops in London were selling dry tea for people to brew at home, and imports had grown to around a million pounds a year.

The government taxed tea heavily, at times well over 100 percent. That created a huge smuggling trade, with tea slipped ashore along the coast and sold cheaply. Some sellers even stretched real tea with other dried leaves. In 1784, the government finally cut the tax sharply. Smuggling collapsed almost overnight, legal tea became affordable, and tea truly became the drink of the whole country, rich and poor.

Tea taxes caused trouble across the Atlantic too. British tea rules were the target of the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Read that side of the story in A History of Tea in America.

Milk, Sugar and Afternoon Tea

The British made tea their own. They mostly preferred black tea, which kept well on long voyages, and they took it with milk and sugar. Sugar from Britain's Caribbean colonies made the habit even more popular.

Afternoon tea arrived in the 1840s. It is usually credited to Anna, Duchess of Bedford, who found the long gap between lunch and a late dinner hard to bear and began taking tea with bread, butter and cake in the afternoon. She invited friends, and the custom spread through high society. A full afternoon tea still means small sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, and cakes, with plenty of tea.

For working families, "tea" came to mean something else: a hearty early evening meal with a big pot of strong tea. In many parts of Britain, people still call dinner "tea."

From Chinese Tea to Indian Tea

For a long time, every cup of British tea came from China. In the 1800s, Britain set out to change that, smuggling tea plants and expertise out of China and building plantations in India and Ceylon. The story is told in Where Does Chai Tea Come From? By the end of the century, the strong, malty black teas of Assam and Ceylon had replaced Chinese tea in most British teapots. Today, much of the tea in British blends comes from Kenya as well.

Where Does Earl Grey Come From?

Earl Grey is black tea flavored with oil of bergamot, a fragrant citrus fruit grown mainly in southern Italy. It is named after Charles Grey, the 2nd Earl Grey, who was British Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834. The most famous story says a grateful Chinese official gave him the recipe after one of his men saved the official's son from drowning. Another says it was blended to suit the water at his family home.

The evidence tells a messier story. Researchers for the Oxford English Dictionary found a reference to bergamot-flavored tea from 1824, before Grey was Prime Minister, and it was used then to make cheap tea taste better. "Grey's tea" shows up in advertisements in the 1850s, and the name "Earl Grey's Mixture" first appears in London newspaper advertisements in the 1880s, decades after the Earl died. Nobody knows for sure how the Earl's name got attached to it. What is certain is that it became one of the most popular flavored teas in the world.

Lady Grey is a more modern relative, usually lighter and more floral, with extra citrus.

Where Does English Breakfast Tea Come From?

English Breakfast is a strong black tea blend made to stand up to milk and a big morning meal. Its origins are disputed. One account, from an old American trade journal, says an English immigrant named Richard Davies sold a blend called "English Breakfast Tea" in New York in 1843. Another credits an Edinburgh tea master named Robert Drysdale, who sold a "Breakfast Tea" in 1892. So one of England's most famous teas may have been named in America or Scotland. Early versions used Chinese black tea. Modern blends lean on Assam, Ceylon and Kenyan teas.

A British-Style Cup in Portland

Portland's weather has a lot in common with Britain's: gray skies, steady drizzle and a long cool season. A proper pot of tea suits it well. To brew it the British way:

1. Warm the teapot with a little hot water and pour it out.
2. Add 1 teaspoon of loose leaf black tea per cup.
3. Pour on water just off the boil and steep for 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Add milk and sugar to taste. Strong tea and a splash of milk is the classic.

Our 20 oz ceramic teapot and infuser brews about two big mugs.

Our Teas for the British Tea Table

Organic English Breakfast Tea

100 percent organic black tea. Bold, malty and earthy with a clean finish. Steep at 212°F for 3 to 5 minutes and add milk.

Lux Lady Grey

Black tea and jasmine green tea with orange pieces, rose petals, lemongrass, cornflower petals, oil of bergamot and lemon oil. Floral and bright.

Earl Grey Cream Pu'erh

Our twist on Earl Grey: earthy pu'erh with cornflowers and a smooth bergamot cream flavor. Add a splash of milk for an Earl Grey latte.

Citrus Blend Tea

Black tea with oil of bergamot, tangerine, orange, lemongrass, hibiscus and more. Think of it as Earl Grey's brighter, fruitier cousin. Excellent iced, too.

Hold the Coffee

For a strong morning cup with a difference: roasted mate and black tea with chocolate, cinnamon and vanilla.

Shop Organic English Breakfast Tea

Steep intentionally. Sip with intention.

Related Reading

Go back to the full History of Tea, or keep exploring with Where Does Chai Tea Come From?, A History of Tea in America and Rise and Steep: The Best Teas to Start Your Morning.