Lunchtime Talk: The Terrors of Tea

Since its arrival in England, tea has been seen as a luxury, an everyday essential, a benefit and a threat to health, a stimulant: good, a stimulant: bad, a source of taxation and cause of smuggling, an instigator of wars and the collapse of the moral order, the cause of male decadence, an aid to polite and genteel behaviours, an innovator of new shipping designs, an initiator of rituals, the foundation of scandal and gossip and, of course, the harbinger of a vast array of new manufacturers and merchandise. 

Tea has been such a part of our national life; it is difficult to imagine a crisis or celebration which isn’t accompanied by a kettle.  

Image: Jean-Etienne Liotard, Still Life: Tea Set, c1781-3 

Host or Publisher Museums Sheffield