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The Mazawattee Tea Company, founded by the Densham family, was one of the most important and most advertised tea firms in England during the late 19th century. Traditionally the origin of tea-drinking lies in China and the famous Tea Clipper ships raced across the seas to bring tea to London. In the 18th century, tea had become an important drink in Britain especially for the wealthy, but it was not until the 1850s (by which time tea plantations had been successfully established in India, especially in Assam, and in Ceylon) that a real expansion occurred. The Densham family were at the forefront of this period of growth. Originally from Plymouth, they moved to London and managed to amass a fortune from the business in quite a short time. The Denshams later owned fine properties in both Purley and Croydon and one of the founder’s sons, Edward, became a well-known figure in Purley. ==The growth of tea drinking and the rise of the Densham family== In Britain in the early days, tea drinking was very much a social occasion; tea was widely drunk in tea gardens in London, perhaps best exemplified by a contemporary short ditty: :Bon Ton’s the space ’twixt Saturday and Monday, :’Tis riding in a one horse chair on Sunday, :’Tis drinking tea on summer afternoons :At Bagnigge Wells with china and gilt spoons. Tea imports to Britain rose from 30 million pounds a year in the 1830s to 80 million pounds in the 1860s and 200 million pounds in the 1890s. Companies such as Twinings grew apace and new firms such as Hornimans began to trade around 1840. It was not long before John Boon Densham came to London. He had been a chemist and druggist in Plymouth when such shops also blended and sold teas. Tea was widely advocated by the Temperance movement to counteract alcohol consumption and Densham, being a strict Baptist, was probably influenced by this aspect. He set up as a wholesaler in 1865 and then moved to London in his 50s and started trading exclusively in wholesale tea. The first name of the firm was Lees & Densham but by 1873 it became Densham & Sons, owned by Densham (then aged nearly 60) and his three eldest sons, Edward, Alfred, and Benjamin who were then in their late 20s or early 30s. Edward later took over the main role. The firm grew without major changes but things altered when the youngest son, John Lane Densham, then in his late 20s, joined as an employee in 1881. He had not been able to devote himself to daily labour previously owing to poor health but once he joined he soon became the leading light; he was an indefatigable traveller for the firm and his brothers were soon able to rely on his efforts. A simple innovation that would later change the whole retail tea industry had been introduced in 1826 by John Horniman, who hit on the idea of packaging tea so that customers could buy a reliable and known brand with confidence and not have to rely on what the grocer selected from his tea-chests. A simple machine was soon devised to carry out the process more speedily and efficiently. Although packet tea took time to become popular, the Denshams realised that this was the way ahead for retail sales and offered their first packets of Ceylon tea in 1884. By then, other firms such as the Co-operative Wholesale Society (1863), Brooke Bond (1869) and Liptons (1888) had entered the field, although it was not until the early 20th century that packet tea sales outstripped those of loose tea. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mazawattee Tea Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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