Andrea here, musing today about tea. But first, a bit of backstory—last week MURDER AT THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, my latest Wrexford & Sloane Regency mystery, released and like most authors these days, I was madly busy doing various promos on social media. (The introvert in me confesses that such things aren’t my, well, er . . . cup of tea. I would much rather be sitting quietiy with my nose to the keyboard, pecking away at a new story.
However, one of the fun promos my publisher and I put together is with the marvelous Ripped Bodice Bookstore, the first all romance bookstore in America. They are running s special Instagram giveaway of a signed set of all my Wrexford & Sloane mysteries, as well as a Botanical Garden tea set. (It’s free to enter . . . sorry—U. S. only. Just click here, but be sure to hurry as it ends on Oct. 8th)
Tea and botanical gardens . . . two of my favorite things! Given that my latest book features several scenes at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, I thought I’d dish out a few small random sips of tea’s history. It’s an apt pairing as tea—its scientific name is Camellia sinensis—was first touted as a medicinal drink on its arrival in Britain, and the Royal Botanic Gardens are famous for their research in botanical medicine and dissemination of specimens to help other areas in the world establish gardens with healing plants.
Sir Joseph Banks, the noted botanist/adventurer (and one of my favorite gentlemen from the Georgian/Regency era because of his ebullient curiosity about the world) was instrumental in advising King George III on how to develop the mission of the Royal Botanic Gardens. A longtime President of the Royal Society, one Britain’s leading scientific societies, he was responsible for turning the Gardens into the leading repository of botanical specimens from around the world. It became a center for the study of medicinal plants, and it was also generous in sharing its knowledge—and specimens—with other botanical gardens around the globe.
Tea fits in well to this story! The Royal Botanic Gardens had a variety of specimen tea plants brought back by the East India Company for their collections. And early advocates of tea touted it as a “wonder” medicine capable of “ . . . preserving perfect health until extreme old age.”
Here are a few random facts about tea and its history that caught my fancy . . .
Chinese legend has it that tea was “discovered” in 2737 BC when the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung was sitting under a Camellia sinensis tree while his servant boiled drinking water. A few leaves from the tree fell into the pot, and the Emperor, well known for his knowledge of herbs, decided to try the accidental tincture.
Thomas Garway, who owned a coffee house in Exchange Alley, was one of the first merchants offer tea in London. He is said to have sold both brewed and dry tea in 1657. And in 1660, he published a broadside extolling tea’s power at 'making the body active and lusty', and 'preserving perfect health until extreme old age'.
It was the marriage of the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza to King Charles II in 1662 that really lit the fire for tea‘s popularity in Britain. Catherine loved tea, having acquired a taste for it in her native country, which traded traded extensively with the East. Through her, drinking tea became very fashionable at the royal court and the habit soon spread throughout the drawing rooms of aristocratic society.
Vauxhall, London’s popular (and slightly naughty) pleasure garden started serving tea along with its famous sliced ham and arrack punch the 1720s. Watching the fireworks and then drinking tea in the wee hours of the morning became de rigueur for the fashionable crowd.
The oh-so British custom of afternoon tea is said to have been started by the 7th Duchess of Bedford in the early 1800s. She must have been prone to peckishness, for she wanted a way to fill the void between the midday meal and the evening meal, which was often served later in the evening in aristocratic households.
All the many varieties of traditional tea that we enjoy—white tea, green tea, oolong, black tea—all come from two varieties: Camellia sinensis; variety sinensis and Camellia sinensis; variety assamic.
Now that I’ve filled your cup with some fun facts, what about you? Are you a tea aficionado? (Or perhaps a tea snob?) Do you have a favorite type of tea? And do you use milk and/or sugar . . . or do you consider that a heresy? Please share!
