FOOD TRIVIA: About Tea

1) About 165 million cups of tea are drunk daily in the United Kingdom.

2) Britain is the second largest tea consuming nation per capita; Ireland is the first.

3) 98% of British tea drinkers take their tea with milk; only 35% use sugar.

4) Milk was added to tea because early tea cups were made from delicate China and would crack if hot tea was added. Milk was added first, to cool the tea as it was poured into the cup, to prevent this from happening.

5) The British East India Company brought commercial tea production to India in the early 1800's, planting tea in the area of India called Darjeeling.

6) The tea flavored with the rind of the Bergamot orange was named after the British Primer Minister, Earl Grey (1830-1834).

7) During the Battle of Britain, stocks of tea were hidden in secret locations all over Britain to save them from German bombing.

8) While the country which is easily the largest CONSUMER of tea is China, on a  PER PERSON basis, the picture is quite different. The top ten list of tea drinking countries on a PER PERSON basis follows:

1 Turkey
2 Ireland
3 United Kingdom
4 Russia
5 Morocco
6 New Zealand
7 Egypt
8 Poland
9 Japan
10 Saudi Arabia