{"id":865,"date":"2020-10-08T09:04:32","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T15:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kuchatea.com\/blog\/?p=865"},"modified":"2023-09-13T11:51:52","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T17:51:52","slug":"british-tea-celebrate-john-lennon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kuchatea.com\/blog\/british-tea-celebrate-john-lennon\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate John Lennon\u2019s Birthday With British Tea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Celebrate John Lennon’s Birthday With British Tea<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow is John Lennon\u2019s birthday. He would have turned 80, had Mark David Chapman not shot him to death just two months after John\u2019s 40th birthday. He\u2019s been gone now for nearly as long as he lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will sip tea in John\u2019s honor. He would approve \u2014 John was a big tea drinker. In 2010, around the time of John\u2019s 70th birthday, Yoko Ono even wrote a piece in the New York Times<\/a> about how he prepared tea every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Beatles in general loved their tea. A study of the band\u2019s lyrics determined that based on the volume of references to tea \u2014 12 \u2014 it was the band\u2019s favorite beverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The band especially broadcasted its love of our favorite beverage during a 3-month period in 1967, when they recorded at least four songs with tea references: Lovely Rita<\/em>; A Day in The Life<\/em>; All Together Now<\/em>; and It\u2019s All Too Much<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, from A Day in The Life<\/a><\/em>: \u201cFound my way downstairs and drank a cup.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fab Four\u2019s fondness for brewed Camellia sinensis<\/em> isn\u2019t exactly shocking. Tea figures largely into British culture and society. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"British
Afternoon tea in Britain can be simple or elaborate, like this High Tea.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Brits Love Their Tea<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

British people began tasting tea in the early 17th century, as ships from Britain\u2019s East India Company began bringing it back to England. At the time, tea was expensive in England. Only the wealthy savored it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1717 Thomas Twining opened England\u2019s first tea shop for ladies, and soon after tea shops began opening across Britain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But tea didn\u2019t truly take off until the blossoming of the British Empire in India. Prior to the 18th century, nearly all tea was grown in China and Japan. Once the English were established in India, they began importing increasingly more tea from neighboring China. But then the British found native tea growing in the Assam region of India. And soon after, they started importing tea bushes from China and planting them in India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It didn\u2019t take long for the teas cultivated by the English in India to begin spreading across the globe. The English did run an empire back then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The English preference for black teas promoted and influenced tea consumption worldwide. Consider sold in teabags, most of which is black tea. Ever hear of a company called Lipton? Sir Thomas Lipton, a Scot, began what now is an enormous tea conglomerate that largely revolves around black tea after opening his first tea shop in Glasgow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While coffee shops have blossomed in the United Kingdom, tea remains the No. 1 beverage. About 75 percent of Brits have at least one cuppa a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Brits even have a meal they call tea. During late afternoon and early evening, Brits often brew a pot of tea and nibble on cakes, biscuits, pastries, bread and jam and light sandwiches.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Making
Brits have their own method for making a proper cuppa.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Make A Proper Cuppa<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

They also are particular about how to brew a proper pot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone agrees that loose-leaf, rather than tea bags, is standard. The typical preparation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n