“Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors.” Alice Walker
Alice Walker, born February 9, 1944, is an American author, poet and activist best known for her critically acclaimed novel, “The Color Purple.” It is not unusual for Americans to consider tea an English drink. In fact, Great Britain had a great deal to do with the spread of tea throughout the globe via international trade. But for the Portuguese, the British may never have been introduced to the exotic brew. The year was 1662 when Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King Juan IV of Portugal and soon to be wife of King Charles II, sailed into Portsmouth harbour. Hidden in her dowry, was a chest of tea. Catherine was a tea addict. It wouldn’t be long before all of England would share her obsession. Tea was first served at court to ripple across fashionable society before finally trickling down to the middle classes. And then came the taxes but that is another story…
Lady Budd 
Thank goodness for Catherine! Have just had my early morning cuppa, don’t know where I would be without it and that will be just the first of many, many that I drink today. Interestingly, it seems that tea was one of the main reasons why the British stayed “relatively” healthy during certain periods of our past. We boiled all that water to drink our tea, thereby killing off alot of the germs in the water that we would otherwise have drunk.
Hooray for a cuppa tea!!
With love
Corinne
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I agree – “Hooray for a cuppa tea!!” Excellent point on the healthy side affects of drinking tea – boiling water. Such a simple idea, but it wouldn’t not have “caught on” had it not been for tea.
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