The Commoditization of Tea in Britain

In Britain, tea is a drink usually taken with milk and sugar added. However, of the four ingredients that create a good cup of tea – water, sugar, milk and tealeaves – only milk and water were to be found in any quantity in Britain until the 17th century. By the 1650s in Britain, the nobility and wealthy became inveterate consumers of sugar. Yet by 1800, sugar had become necessitated in the diet of the British, and by 1900 it was supplying nearly one-fifth the calories in their diet. Sugar’s high-end status fuelled its desirability. More importantly, sugar in combination with tea (whose bitter edge it softened and mildly addictive caffeine it complemented) together with milk (to counter the drink’s astringency) formed a beverage that pervaded British culture.

The teaspoon illustrated this pervasion. Between 1710 and 1720, a teaspoon (exhibit one) was forged and engraved in England out of silver, with an upturned stem but otherwise rather unadorned. Britain began to import tea in the early 17th century, however it was hesitantly embraced by British culture until it was made fashionable by coffee houses in the late 1600s. Tea was originally drunk in the Chinese manner (weak and without milk) but by the early 18th century milk and sugar were added, and small spoons became necessary. This particular spoon, like others of its time, were crafted by specialist goldsmiths, and often supplied as part of a tea service. Teaspoons were part of the ritual of the tea table: Until 1760, the end of the stem would curve upwards in the same direction of the bowl, however from 1760 onwards the stem began to curve down, and the spoon was laid face up on the table surface. The spoon could be used to signal the hostess when the guest had drunk th...

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...ionally devised – because tea is made by infusing dried tealeaves in boiling water, the handle was often in this time made of wood to reduce the temperature of the area in contact. Dresser created utilitarian objects for the general public, and made full use of the latest techniques of mass production in the late 1800s. He frequently designed symmetrical, rectilinear shapes and undecorated surfaces, using modern manufacturing techniques and inexpensive materials to design objects that were both functional and beautiful.

Tea’s commoditization in Britain marks the beginning of today’s global interdependency and commodity exchange. The enduring integration of tea into British life is a microcosmic depiction of the political, economic and social transformations within the 18th and 19th centuries, shaped by its four constituents – water, sugar, milk and tealeaves.