Rise+of+British+Tea+Consumption

__The Rise of British Tea Consumption__  //Tea became fashionable in England after the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II and Catherine of Braganza (of Portugal). //

//**Like all new  and exotic products, tea was initially hugely expensive, and so consumption was confined to the wealthiest classes (around $100 per pound). As its price lowered and supply increased it became more widely drunk, and soon replaced beer as the national drink.

Tea soon became cheaper than home-produced beer. It has been viewed as a democratic drink ever since – providing fuel and mild stimulation for manual workers and poor households, as well as serving as a symbol of the upper class when sipped at "tea time".** //  Sir Frederick Eden's survey of the poor in the 1790s revealed the universal attachment of labouring people to sweet tea. In Middlesex and Surrey, he found, at meal times: **. . . in poor families, tea is not only the usual beverage in the morning and evening, but is generally drank in large quantities even at dinner**.

  //British tea consumption reached 2 pounds per person per year in 1797, and 10 pounds per year in 1897.

In 1840, Anna, the Duchess of Bedford, began serving tea in the afternoon, creating a fashionable British custom.// 