On a really hot day in 1904, Richard Blechynden was having great difficulty in attracting customers to the stand where he was serving Tea, at the St Louis World´s Fair. He had the brilliant idea of adding ice cubes to his Tea, which was an immediate success.

And this is the story of how Iced Tea was born!

Happy Tea Break,

Mariana!

Today you can get a Teabag everywhere. Teabags are used all over the world, mainly by the westerners. The Teabag was invented in the beginning of the 20th century.

Thomas Sullivan, an American Tea merchant, had the idea of making little hand-sewn silk bags, when he decided to send out samples of his Teas to his costumers. The idea was for the loose-leaf Tea to be removed from the bags. But some costumers assumed these were to be used as tea infusers and started using the bags to brew the Tea. Tea bags quickly became very popular in the USA, as it was an efficient and functional way of brewing Tea. During the 1920s, Teabags were being commercialised, however, not in silk material, but in gauze and then paper. At this time, Teabags came in two sizes – a smaller one for the cup and a bigger one for the pot.

It was not until the 1950s that Teabags started to be used in Britain. In 1953, Tetley popularised the use of Teabags, which currently occupies 96% of the British Tea market.

Today, we can find Teabags made of different shapes and materials. You can also find better quality Teas in bags, with, for example, loose-leaf Teas being sold in muslin bags.

Although I much rather drink loose-leaf Tea, I must admit that Teabags are quite practical!

Happy Tea Time,

Mariana!

Lipton is currently a worldwide Tea brand owned by Unilever. However, like most things, it started with an idea and a lot of hard work!

Sir Thomas Lipton, born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1850, became a wealthy business man after starting his business as a grocer. By 1890, Sir Thomas decided to explore the world’s finest teas. He bought a cheap coffee plantation and transformed it into a Tea plantation in the Uva region, Sri Lanka, establishing a Tea brand that is still very well known all over the world. Sir Thomas started by selling his Teas in Europe and then in the USA, where he had previously lived for 5 years, learned and developed a lot of his commercial/advertising skills, helping him to relaunch what was a quite expensive drink at the time.

Sir Thomas became a world famous Tea merchant. His success involved the privilege of supplying Tea to many well known personalities, like the Queen Victoria and other European royal families. Sir Thomas was also able to reduce the costs of his Tea production, making Tea available to the middle classes.

Lipton Teas are more popular than ever. Nowadays there are many and many varieties of Lipton Teas. You can find them available in over 150 countries. Lipton is most fashionable in Europe, North America, Middle East, parts of Asia, Australia and New Zeeland.

Mariana!

I imagine you may not know that it was a Portuguese Princess that popularised Tea in England. But it is true and, as I am Portuguese, I am very proud of this!!!! Her name was Catherine of Braganza, and she married your King Charles II in 1662.

When Charles II became King, he inherited a big financial debt. Marrying Princess Catherine of Portugal was one of the solutions found to help solve this crisis, as it was agreed she would give him a wealthy dowry. For example, the city of Mumbai, in India, was part of the dowry.

Princess Catherine used to drink Tea in the Portuguese Royal Court, as the Portuguese traders were already importing Tea to Europe. This continued once she moved to England. Naturally this meant that, in a short period of time, the taste for Tea spread around the English Royal Court and among the wealthier population.

Due to the expensive importation and taxation of Tea, it was not accessible to most of the remaining population. This meant that smuggling was the way for these people to access Tea. This activity grew so quickly and was in such demand that, it is thought that by the end of the 18th century there was more Tea being smuggled then actually being legally brought to the Country.

In 1785 Prime Minister William Pitt drastically cut taxation on Tea, which ended the need for smuggling. Tea became more affordable.

Did you know that your morning cup of Tea is one of the 165,000,000 cups drunk in Britain each day! If only Princess Catherine knew of the legacy she left… Well done Portugal!!

Mariana!