Everything you ever wanted to know about tea - Horniman Museum and Gardens

Everything you ever wanted to know about tea - Horniman Museum and Gardens
Skip to content
Keyboard controls
up
down
left
right
- / _
zoom out
= / +
zoom in
ESC
close viewport
Exhibitions
Tea
Tea is an everyday and normal part of many of our lives, but there is so much more to know about this incredible and historic drink.
Why do we drink tea?
People drink tea for all sorts of reasons. For some, it wakes them up at the start of the day, for others it comforts them at a tough time. It revitalises, hydrates, comforts and pleases. There are many different ways to drink tea and the way it’s consumed can be really personal and special.
What are the types of tea?
There are many different types of tea. To truly be tea the leaves have to come from the Camellia sinensis plant. Black tea is the most popular tea in the UK.
Did you know?
Green tea, white tea, black tea, oolong and pu’er tea all come from the Camellia sinensis plant. The difference is how they are processed and how long they are processed for.
Why is it called a cup of char?
There are a few different schools of thought as to the origin of the phrase ‘a cup of char’.
One is that ‘char’ is the anglicisation of the Bengali ‘cha’. Another is that it is an anglicisation of the Mandarin ‘tcha’. The ‘ar’ sound comes from the way the ‘a’ sound is said in British English.
Why is it called tea?
‘茶’ is widely accepted as the Chinese hàn zì (character) for tea. Its pronunciation differs across the richly diverse peoples, cultures and language groups of China.
In Cantonese and Mandarin, it is generally pronounced ‘Chá’; while across Wu Chinese dialects it can be ‘Zo’ or ‘Dzo’, and in Min Chinese, ‘Te’, ‘Tey’ or ‘Tê’.
Sellers and buyers from places using the Silk Road and Mongol trade routes adopted the northern Chá, while European maritime traders used the southern pronunciation, Tê.
茶 can be broken into three parts (or ‘radicals’). The top section means grass, the middle part, people, and the bottom, tree. Together, these speak of the relationship between people, land and nature that is central to the cultivation of tea.
Together these speak of the relationship between people, land and nature that results in the tea that we drink.
Navjot Mangat, 茶, चाय, Tea (Chá, Chai, Tea) curator
Where did chai tea originate?
In the West we might think of ‘chai tea’ as different to ‘a cup of tea’ but ‘chai’ literally translates to ‘tea’ in Hindi – so it doesn’t really make sense to say ‘chai tea’ at all.
In India, chai is drunk everywhere and anywhere and can be bought from vendors on the street, in shops and on trains. Chai is the standard way of preparing tea.
What’s in chai tea?
For the most part, chai is made up of black tea, whole milk, and a selection of spices including cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, star anise and cloves. It is sweetened with or jaggery (unrefined cane sugar) or white sugar. To make chai these ingredients are slowly added to boiling water, before being strained.
How valuable is tea?
In 2022 the global tea market was valued at 220.7 billion US dollars.
When tea was introduced to Great Britain in the mid-17th century it was a novelty, and mostly for the wealthy and upper classes. It was kept in locked tea chests to stop it from being stolen and domestic servants like maids were given a tea allowance as part of their wages. At this time, more tea was smuggled into the UK yearly than was legally imported.
In the 18th Century, the import tax on tea was lowered from 119% to 12.5%.
This meant that the East India Company didn’t have the monopoly on the tea industry that they had once had, as tea was now affordable. Smuggling became less and less necessary – tea was accessible to everyone in Britain.
Tea bricks were used as a form of currency in China, Mongolia, Tibet, Russia and other central Asian nations until the early 1900s.
The indentations helped the owner to break off portions to either use as currency, eat, or brew. You can see tea bricks with various patterns on in the 茶, चाय, Tea (Chá, Chai, Tea) exhibition.
Related stories
Tea drinking along the Silk Road
By Helen Saberi, 21 September 2015
Helen Saberi explores tea drinking along the ancient trade route - the silk road, travelling from China to the Mediterranean and on to Britain.
All about tea: Camellia sinensis
By Sian Brett, 24 October 2023
Tea is the second most popular drink in the world after water. But what actually is tea, and where does it come from?
Tea’s alternative uses: Reading tea leaves
By Alice Feilden, 23 November 2023
Have you ever wanted to tell your fortune or see the future? We're created an introduction to tea leaf reading so you can have a go the next time you brew a cuppa.
About the Horniman
The Horniman connects us all with global cultures and the natural environment, encouraging us to shape a positive future for the world we all share.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. If you accept "Essential Cookies only" some elements, like videos and maps by third parties, may not work. You can visit Customise Your Preferences to customise your cookie consent. Read our
Cookie Policy
Customise your preferences
Accept Essential Cookies
Accept all Cookies
Manage consent
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorised as essential are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyse and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. For example, maps may not appear and videos may not play, as these rely on 3rd party cookies from Google and YouTube.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Duration
Description
__cfduid
1 month
The cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information.
__RequestVerificationToken
session
This cookie is set by web application built in ASP.NET MVC Technologies. This is an anti-forgery cookie used for preventing cross site request forgery attacks.
_GRECAPTCHA
6 months
Google Recaptcha service sets this cookie to identify bots to protect the website against malicious spam attacks.
.ASPXANONYMOUS
2 months 8 days 11 hours
This cookies is set by ASP.NET and is used to track users within a ticket booking session without requiring the user to log in.
ASP.NET_SessionId
session
Issued by Microsoft's ASP.NET Application, this cookie stores session data during a user's website visit.
AWSALBCORS
7 days
Amazon Web Services set this cookie for load balancing.
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
1 year
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent
1 year
CookieYes sets this cookie to record the default button state of the corresponding category and the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
incap_ses_*
session
This is an Incapsula DDoS Protection and Web Application Firewall cookie that is used to relate HTTP requests to a certain session.
JSESSIONID
session
New Relic uses this cookie to store a session identifier so that New Relic can monitor session counts for an application.
nlbi_*
session
This cookie is set to improve security and provide load-balancing to ensure that a client's requests are sent to the same origin server.
reese84
1 month
This is a security cookie used by Imperva Incapsula web firewall and bot protection service. This cookie generates a unique fingerprint for each user to identify and block bots.
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
visid_incap_*
1 year
Incapsula sets this cookie to provide cloud-based website security services.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.
Duration
Description
__cf_bm
30 minutes
This cookie is set by CloudFare. The cookie is used to support Cloudfare Bot Management.
_donations_session
1 year
Used by Donorbox to collect anonymous information to process your donation.
sp_landing
1 day
The sp_landing is set by Spotify to implement audio content from Spotify on the website and also registers information on user interaction related to the audio content.
sp_t
1 year
The sp_t cookie is set by Spotify to implement audio content from Spotify on the website and also registers information on user interaction related to the audio content.
yt-player-bandwidth
never
The yt-player-bandwidth cookie is used to store the user's video player preferences and settings, particularly related to bandwidth and streaming quality on YouTube.
yt-player-headers-readable
never
The yt-player-headers-readable cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences related to video playback and interface, enhancing the user's viewing experience.
yt-remote-cast-available
session
The yt-remote-cast-available cookie is used to store the user's preferences regarding whether casting is available on their YouTube video player.
yt-remote-cast-installed
session
The yt-remote-cast-installed cookie is used to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-connected-devices
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.
yt-remote-device-id
never
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's video preferences using embedded YouTube videos.
yt-remote-fast-check-period
session
The yt-remote-fast-check-period cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences for embedded YouTube videos.
yt-remote-session-app
session
The yt-remote-session-app cookie is used by YouTube to store user preferences and information about the interface of the embedded YouTube video player.
yt-remote-session-name
session
The yt-remote-session-name cookie is used by YouTube to store the user's video player preferences using embedded YouTube video.
ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY
never
Used by YouTube to store the last search result entry that was clicked by the user. This information is used to improve the user experience by providing more relevant search results in the future.
Performance
performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyse the key performance indexes of the website, which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Duration
Description
AWSALB
7 days
AWSALB is an application load balancer cookie set by Amazon Web Services to map the session to the target.
TNEW
session
This cookie is used on our ticketing site to allow you to sign in and purchase tickets.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
5 months 27 days
This cookie is set by Youtube. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website.
Analytics
analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, pages visited on site, traffic source, etc.
Duration
Description
___utmvc
less than a minute
The cookie is installed by Google Analytics to gather data on the user's site usage. This data is then used to compile reports and improve the site.
_fbp
3 months
Facebook sets this cookie to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting the website.
_ga
1 year 1 month 4 days
Google Analytics sets this cookie to calculate visitor, session and campaign data and track site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise unique visitors.
_ga_*
1 year 1 month 4 days
Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views.
_gat_UA-*
1 minute
Google Analytics sets this cookie for user behaviour tracking.
_gcl_au
3 months
Google Tag Manager sets the cookie to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gid
1 day
Google Analytics sets this cookie to store information on how visitors use a website while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the collected data includes the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
ajs_anonymous_id
never
This cookie is set by Segment to count the number of people who visit a certain site by tracking if they have visited before.
ajs_group_id
never
This cookie is set by Segment to track visitor usage and events within the website.
ajs_user_id
never
This cookie is set by Segment to help track visitor usage, events, target marketing, and also measure application performance and stability.
vuid
2 years
This domain of this cookie is owned by Vimeo. This cookie is used by vimeo to collect tracking information. It sets a unique ID to embed videos to the website.
YSC
session
This cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos.
Advertisement
advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customised ads.
Duration
Description
IDE
1 year 24 days
Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
NID
6 months
This cookie is used to a profile based on user's interest and display personalized ads to the users.
PREF
8 months
PREF cookie is set by Youtube to store user preferences like language, format of search results and other customizations for YouTube Videos embedded in different sites.
test_cookie
15 minutes
This cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA
6 months
YouTube sets this cookie to store the user's cookie consent state for the current domain.
yt.innertube::nextId
never
YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requests
never
YouTube sets this cookie to register a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
Others
others
Other uncategorised cookies are those that are being analysed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
Duration
Description
__cflb
1 hour
This cookie is used by Cloudflare for load balancing.
_cfuvid
session
Cloudflare uses this cookie to distinguish between users from the same IP address.
cf_clearance
1 year
A clearance cookie that stores the proof that a Javascript or Captcha challenge has been passed.
debug
never
Pending
hmt_id
1 month
This cookie is used to distinguish between humans and bots.
loglevel
never
A persistent cookie that collects data on user interaction with our video-content.
2 years
This Stripe cookie determines the device used to access the website. This allows the website to be formatted accordingly.
Trinity-Session-collage_public-web
session
Pending
Save & Accept