It is difficult to believe but the British, the nation notorious for its love to tea, were the last to learn about tea in Europe. This happened because Oliver Cromwell started war with Holland - the leader of sea shipment at the time - and it cut England off from goods coming from the East. And only after Karl II had acceded to the throne in 1658 tea started to quickly gain popularity on the British Isles. For the next ten years the British still bought tea from the Dutch before they managed to arrange direct shipments from the East.

Nevertheless the British managed to catch up very successfully after a decade's delay and today nobody would dare to doubt the leading role of the British as consumers of tea in Europe (it is also worth mentioning that UK holds the first place in the world in terms of per capita consumption).

Five o'clock tea and tea with milk are among the greatest contributions of the British to tea culture. The famous "five o'clock tea" was invented at the begining of XIХ century by the Seventh Duchess of Bedford, Anna Maria and became an answer to the objective need of satisfying hunger that often arose among the members of high society due to the fashion of late dinners.

One hundred years before the invention of this famous tradition dinner was gradually put off from noon to 7 or even 8 o'clock in the evening. The long break between breakfast and dinner was as a rule filled with a light luncheon. However, it was not enough and tea at five o'clock came as a good solution - it was drunk not in the dining room but in the boudoir of the hostess. This was because tea as well as tea sets made of Chinese porcelain were very expensive and the servants were not trusted with the preparation of the drink - even the cups and sauces were stored in the private chambers of the hostess.

By the way, the tradition to drink tea with milk is also said to be linked to porcelain prices as people believed that hot tea might damage thin and fragile cups. One of the most notorious disputes concerning preparation of English tea with milk concerns the sequence of pouring the liquids into the cup. The row between advocates of "tea into milk" and "milk into tea" has been going on for several centuries. Up until now, the issue is still unresolved. In this respect, it seems appropriate to quote the words of George Orwell who wrote a whole essay about tea:

One should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

Ideally, milk is mixed with tea at the ratio of 1 to 2 which allows to prepare tea that is refreshing, nourishing and not very hot. Many of those who like English tea with milk do not recommend to add sugar to it saying that it spoils the flavour.

With or without sugar each Briton drinks several cups of strong, refreshing tea every day thus supporting the tradition started over 350 years ago.