First British Tea Company

Much like cream before jam or god forbid the other way around when preparing scones pouring the milk first when doing a tea round is another perpetual point of division for british people.

First british tea company.

The british east india company made its first order for the importation of tea in 1667 to their agent in bantam and two canisters of tea weighing 143 lbs 8 oz arrived from bantam in 1669. In 1672 a servant of baron herbert in london sent his instructions for tea making and warming the delicate cups to shropshire. Tregothnan the tea grown in england. Finally in 1791 the east india company the premier merchant company of the british empire ceased importing chinese porcelain.

On the indian coasts english traders set up outposts which would eventually become the cities of bombay madras and calcutta. The uk market is dominated by five brands pg tips owned by unilever tetley owned by tata tea limited typhoo owned by the indian conglomerate apeejay surrendra group twinings owned by associated british foods and yorkshire tea owned by bettys and taylors of harrogate tetley leads the market with 27 share followed by pg tips with about 24 share. Although the custom of drinking tea dates back to the third millennium bc in china it was not until the mid 17th century that the beverage first appeared in england. It was an expensive product and one only for the rich and often kept under lock and key.

Tea was first brought to britain in the early 17th century by the east india company. The east india company began to focus on importing from india. Tea that most quintessential of english drinks is a relative latecomer to british shores. Catherine of braganza wife of charles ii introduced the ritual of drinking teas to the english royal court and the habit adopted by the aristocracy.

15 years later and up to 20 000 tea bushes are planted every year in new english tea garden areas across the wider estate in cornwall. The use of tea spread slowly from its. The british east india company gradually took over most of india by threat intimidation bribery or outright war. The east india company was the first company to record the chinese usage of orange flavoured tea which led to the development of earl grey tea.

The first tea gardens in the uk yielded britain s first home grown english tea in 2005 creating the ultimate britishness in every cup.