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Since the 18th century, the United Kingdom is one of the world's greatest tea consumers per capita, with an average per capita tea supply of 1.9 kg (4.18 Ibs) per year.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://faostat3.fao.org/home/index.html#DOWNLOAD )〕 The popularity of tea occasioned the furtive export of slips, a small shoot for planting or twig for grafting to tea plants, from China to British India and its commercial culture there, beginning in 1840; British interests controlled tea production in the subcontinent. Tea, which was an upper-class drink in Europe, became the infusion of every class in Great Britain in the course of the 18th century and has remained so. In Britain, the drinking of tea is so varied that it is quite hard to generalise. While it is usually served with milk, it is not uncommon to drink it black or with lemon, with sugar being a popular addition to any of the above. Strong tea served with milk (and usually one or two teaspoons of sugar) in a mug is commonly referred to as ''builder's tea''. == History == The first record of tea written in English came from English merchants abroad. In 1615, Richard Wickham who ran an East India Company office in Japan, wrote in a letter to merchants in Macao requesting that they bring him "a pot of the best sort of chaw". Peter Mundy, a traveller and merchant who came across tea in Fujian, China in 1637, wrote, "''chaa'' — only water with a kind of herb boyled in it ". Green Tea exported from China was first introduced in the coffeehouses of London shortly before the Stuart Restoration (1660); in 1657, tea was offered as an item in a London coffeehouse in Exchange Alley, London. The owner Thomas Garraway had to explain the new beverage in pamphlet and an advertisement in ''Mercurius Politicus'' for 30 September 1658 offered "That Excellent, and by all Physicians approved, ''China'' drink, called by the ''Chinese'', ''Tcha'', by other nations ''Tay alias Tee'', ...sold at the Sultaness-head, ye ''Cophee-house'' in Sweetings-Rents, by the Royal Exchange, ''London''". 〔 In London "Coffee, chocolate and a kind of drink called ''tee''" were "sold in almost every street in 1659", according to Thomas Rugge's ''Diurnall''.〔 Tea was mainly consumed by upper and mercantile classes: Samuel Pepys, curious for every novelty, tasted the new drink in 1660 and recorded the experience in his diary: (September ) "I did send for a cup of tee, (a China drink) of which I had never had drunk before". That same year, two pounds, two ounces of tea bought from Portugal were formally presented to Charles II by the British East India Company.〔 Some years later, in 1667, Pepys noted that his wife was taking tea on medical advice – "a drink which Mr Pelling the Pottecary tells her is good for her colds and defluxions". The Royal College of Physicians debated whether any of the exotic new hot drinks would "agree with the Constitutions of our ''English'' bodies". In 1662 princess Catherine of Braganza of Portugal married Charles II and brought with her the preference for tea, which had already become common in Europe. As tea was her temperance drink of choice, it gained social acceptance among the aristocracy. Catherine of Braganza's choice of tea was also instrumental in the popularization of tea in Britain. Because tea was introduced primarily through male frequented coffee houses, there would have been far less social acceptability for women to drink this beverage had it not been for her example. Catherine of Braganza's use of tea as a court beverage, rather than a medicinal drink, influenced its popularity in literary circles around 1685.〔 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; "The directions for the tea are: a quart of spring water just boiled, to which put a spoonful of tea, and sweeten to the palate with candy sugar. As soon as the tea and sugar are in, the steam must be kept in as much as may be, and let it lie half or quarter of an hour in the heat of the fire but not boil. The little cups must be held over the steam before the liquid be put in."〔Smith, W. J., ed., ''Herbert Correspondence'', University of Wales (1963), pp. 204-5 no. 353, John Read to Richard Herbert of Oakly Park, Ludlow, 29 June 1672.〕 Black tea overtook green tea in popularity in the 1720s when sugar and milk were added to tea, a practice that was not done in China. The growth in the import of tea parallels that of sugar in the 18th century. Between 1720 and 1750 the imports of tea to Britain through the British East India Company more than quadrupled.〔 Fernand Braudel queried, "is it true to say the new drink replaced gin in England?"〔 By 1766, exports from Canton stood at 6 million pounds on British boats, compared with 4.5 on Dutch ships, 2.4 on Swedish, 2.1 on French.〔 Veritable "tea fleets" grew up. Tea was particularly interesting to the Atlantic world not only because it was easy to cultivate but also because of how easy it was to prepare and its ability to revive the spirits and cure mild colds:〔 "Home, and there find my wife making of tea", Pepys recorded under 28 June 1667, "a drink which Mr. Pelling the Pottecary tells her is good for her colds and defluxions". The earliest English equipages for making tea date to the 1660s. Small porcelain tea bowls were used by the fashionable; they were occasionally shipped with the tea itself. Tea-drinking spurred the search for a European imitation of Chinese porcelain, first successfully produced in England at the Chelsea porcelain manufactory, established around 1743-45 and quickly imitated. Between 1872 and 1884 the supply of tea to the British Empire increased with the expansion of the railway to the east. The demand however was not proportional, which caused the prices to rise. Nevertheless, from 1884 onward due to new innovation in tea preparation the price of tea dropped and remained relatively low throughout the first half of the 20th century. Soon afterwards London became the centre of the international tea trade.〔 With high tea imports also came a large increase in the demand for porcelain. The demand for tea cups, pots and dishes increased to go along with this popular new drink.〔 Now, people in Britain drink tea multiple times a day. As the years passed it became a drink less associated with high society as people of all classes drink tea today which can be enjoyed in many different flavours and ways. 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「Tea in the United Kingdom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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