Britain’s cup of tea

Britain’s cup of tea

　The British first discovered tea when sailors¹ visited China in the 1600s.

　The first tea to arrive in Britain was green tea. Black tea arrived in the 1700s, but only rich people drank these kinds of tea.

　British people started to mix black tea and milk together. This is still how most Britons prefer their tea. Many people also add sugar.

　In the 1800s, the price of tea became cheaper as a lot more arrived on ships. So, many more people began to drink tea.

　At the end of the 19th century, tea shops also became popular. These are places where people can both buy and drink tea.

　People also started to have afternoon tea. This means having tea and snacks around four o’clock in the afternoon. However, afternoon tea is not very popular now.

　After the 1930s, British people could make tea easily in their homes. They started to use kettles to boil the water².

　Now, a normal Briton drinks around 1.9 kilograms of tea every year. That’s around 876 cups of tea! So, Britain is famous for tea though it is no even grown there.

Notes:

1. sailor n. 水手 2. 意为：用水壶烧开水