Tea (22 page)
Authors: Laura Martin
Clipper Ships
The ships of the East India Company in the mid-nineteenth century were called “tea wagons.” Big and solid, they were, literally, slow ships to China. After the company lost their China monopoly in 1834, they sold these ships (described as a cross between a medieval castle and a warehouse) to the merchants who had operated them under the rule of the East India Company, but they quickly became outdated, and sleeker and faster ships were built.
Once the monopoly was broken, all countries were able to trade at Canton. The United States and continental European countries began making the long, arduous but immensely profitable journey to China. Suddenly, speed became everything, for with the craze for tea in Great Britain, the first ships to dock in London, with the first supply of tea for the year, stood to make the highest profits for their goods.
It was clear to everyone that when it came to tea, time meant money, and the faster the ship, the greater the profit. The first tea crop of the year came from the Fujian region, where the major port was Foochow. After the Treaty of Nanking had opened this port up to British ships, it became the port of choice. Tea leaves picked and processed in Fujian in early spring were ready for loading on ships in Foochow in mid-June. The trip to take the tea from the remote tea gardens to the port took several weeks. Shanghai and Canton, which had a later harvest, did not have tea ready to load onto ships until five to six weeks later. This helped to make the first Fujian tea of the year a coveted and expensive commodity.
English tea drinkers grew obsessed with getting new tea from the first picking. It became prestigious to drink the first tea of the seasonâthe “first flush” tea as it was calledâand it was a mark of social status to acquire the freshest tea from the fastest ships. Pekoe from Fujian Province was one of the most expensive black teas to be picked and processed from the first crop in April. Of the first crop of green tea, “gunpowder,” named for the distinctive round shape in which the leaves were rolled and dried, was most expensive. During the 1850s, black tea (such as pekoe) went primarily to England, and green tea was shipped to America.
And so the search was on for faster ships.
Showing the creativity and innovation that would mark them in the next century, Americans had developed fast sailing vessels called clipper ships during the War of 1812. The same speed that made them so successful during the war also made these sleek ships highly valuable for the tea trade. The first American clipper ship to carry tea from China to London was the
Oriental
, which made the journey from China to New York three times faster than the East India Company shipsâin a mere ninety-seven days.
The first British clipper, the
Stornaway
, built in 1850, was patterned after an American ship captured during the War of 1812. A great rivalry grew between the American and British clipper ship builders and crew, although the Americans had to leave the competition when the American Civil War claimed their attention.
In England, however, increasing profits from trade with China took precedence over most other national concerns. Because tea was such a valuable commodity and such an intimate part of social life throughout the country, there was much speculation about the arrival of the first tea of the year from Asia. As use of the clipper ships increased, and it was clear that the ships were becoming faster and faster, gambling on which ship would come into port first, and guessing the exact arrival time, engendered the enthusiasm usually reserved for a horse race. When the ships were due in, crowds gathered at the docks, waiting to see which ship would “win.” The competition was more than sport, however, for the tea from the first ships in port commanded a much higher price per pound than that of later ships.
The glory of the age of the clipper ships hit its peak during the 1860s, and the most famous race was in 1866, when forty ships left China on the same day, and the first three ships arrived in London on the same tide. Two of the ships,
Ariel
and
Taeping
, finished in a dead heat in September 1866.
One of last clipper ships built was the
Cutty Sark
, launched in 1869. It was small and sleek but still carried a million pounds of tea.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the advancement of steamships brought clipper ship races to an end, as steamships held the advantage over even the fastest sailing ships.
Tea in England and the United States
“It has a strange influence over mood, a strange power of changing the look of things, and changing it for the better, so that we can believe and hope and do under the influence of tea what we should otherwise give up in discouragement and despair.”
â
The Lancet
, London,
1863
TEA IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND
Half a globe and inconceivable differences separated the places where tea was grown and where tea was most enjoyed. While workers from Bengal were dying on the tea plantations in India, and coolies in China were struggling to bring three-hundred-pound loads of tea over steep mountain passes, tea was becoming a social phenomenon in England that eventually affected the lives of aristocrats and commoners alike.
Afternoon Tea
The idea of afternoon tea as a meal and a social event is universally attributed to Anna Maria Stanhope, Duchess of Bedford (
1783
â
1857
), wife of the seventh duke. She apparently often experienced what was commonly called “a sinking feeling” between lunch and the evening meal.Thinking that a little sustenance might help, she began drinking tea and nibbling small savory treats in the late afternoon. In the first half of the nineteenth century, luncheon was a small meal taken during the middle of the day, and dinner was often not served until eight o'clock at night. The duchess found that taking tea with a little food in late afternoon was so beneficial and pleasant that she soon began inviting friends to join her at Belvoir Castle for this small afternoon meal, around five o'clock. The menu typically included small cakes, sandwiches of bread and butter, various sweets, and, of course, tea.
This practice had proven so successful and pleasant at her summer residence that when the family returned to London in the fall, Anna continued it, inviting friends for “tea and a walk in the fields” (fields were still plentiful close to London, in her day). The custom caught on with others, and soon many people copied her idea.
It was probably not until the middle of the nineteenth century that late-afternoon tea became an established custom throughout the country, and then, still only among the well-to-do. Queen Victoria loved tea, and her enthusiasm for the afternoon tea party made it even more popular. Afternoon tea receptions were introduced at Buckingham Palace in
1865
.
High and Low Tea
With the growth in popularity of serving tea to friends and family, inevitably, a new set of rules also came into being. “Tea etiquette” became the rage, and new conventions and a new vocabulary quickly evolved.
There were many different kinds of meals and occasions that were called “tea.” Today the terms “low tea” and “high tea” are often used incorrectly in the United States. A formal affair, “low tea” was called this because the tea and food were served on low tables next to armchairs on which the guests were seated. “High tea,” on the other hand, indicatedâand still doesâa less formal, family affair served at
5
:
30
or
6
:
00
, when workers returned from the field and children were home from school. High tea, also sometimes called “meat tea,” was a much more substantial meal served on a kitchen or dining table, and included savory meats, soups, puddings and sweets, and lots of robust tea. High tea, then, referred
not
to “high society” but to the height of the table.
“At home tea” and “tea receptions” were huge social events that often included as many as two hundred guests. People customarily dropped by anytime between four and seven in the evening to enjoy bountiful displays of food and tea.
Tea for Everyone
In
1878
, Samuel Phillips Day wrote in his book
Tea: Its Mystery and History
, of the working class family: “What was first regarded as a luxury, has now become, if not an absolute necessity, at least one of our accustomed daily wants. . . . Consumed by all classes, serving not simply as an article of diet, but as a refreshing, and invigorating beverage, tea cannot be too highly estimated.”
By the time Queen Victoria died in
1901
, tea was the drink for the masses in England. Tea's importance to the lower classes was exemplified by the women in small villages (particularly in Wales) who sometimes banded together to form “tea clubs.” The purpose of these clubs was to get together in the afternoon and share tea, gossip, advice, and the like. When money was scarce, they shared responsibilities as well, one woman bringing the tea, another the biscuits or small breads, another bringing the teapot, and so forth.
Tea was served in the finest manor houses as well as the humblest cottage. Tea was served after lawn tennis, on picnics, after cyclingâjust about anywhere and everywhere that people gathered. Afternoon tea during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century included many of the items that we traditionally associate with modern tea gatheringsâscones or biscuits, éclairs, small cakes or muffins, small sandwiches, short-breads, and larger cakes flavored with almond, ginger, or madeira.
How one drank tea soon became as important as when and with what. Ladies of high fashion thought that a teacup should be held with three fingers, with the pinky extended. This tradition went back to medieval times, when the gentry ate with three fingers, and commoners ate with five. An extended pinkyfinger became a mark of elitism and is still parodied as such today.
One custom that was
not
adopted by the British was the Chinese way of loudly slurping tea. The Chinese drank tea very hot, and it was perfectly acceptable (and even encouraged) to make loud slurping noises while drinking. The British disapproved.
The Temperance movement in England during the mid-nineteenth century provided an added incentive for drinking tea. At meetings throughout the country, tea was served as a replacement for gin or beer and was thought to be much healthier because it did not contain alcohol.
Tea Merchants
Not only international traders benefited from the wild popularity of tea, but domestic merchants as well. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, tea was still sold in bulk, but in
1826
a merchant by the name of John Horniman packaged and sold tea leaves in small boxes or tins. People loved this, particularly since Horniman guaranteed the quality of the product. Throughout the long history of tea in England, grocers who sold bulk tea were often tempted to add the dried leaves of other, less expensive plants to stretch out the costly Chinese tea. Prepackaged tea from a reputable merchant was a more dependable product, and Horniman's company prospered until it was finally bought out by Lyons in
1918
.
As the nineteenth century progressed and tea was being produced in India and other places, several merchants
began to specialize in tea. In England there were four major brands that dominated: Lyons, Brooke Bond, Ty-phoo (which produced just one blend and sold it at a single price, as a digestive aid), and the Co-op Wholesale Society in Manchester. The Co-op was established in
1863
and served as wholesaler to five hundred co-operative societies across Britain.
