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Exactly 358 years ago, the first advert for tea in England appeared in a publication describing it simply as a “China Drink.”
A couple of years later, the diarist Samuel Pepys wrote about drinking tea in his diary entry from September 1660. "I did send for a cup of tee, (a China drink) of which I had never had drunk before".
Europeans were reportedly drinking Chinese tea as early as the 16th Century thanks to the maritime exploits of led by Dutch and Portuguese traders.
It was being sold in British coffee shops in the 17th Century but it was mainly the wealthy who enjoyed a nice cuppa as it was still considered expensive.
By the mid 18th century, however, tea became Britain's most popular beverage, replacing ale and gin as the drink of the masses.
Before long, the East India Company was using fast ships called tea clippers to bring back leaves from India and China. One such ship was the Cutty Sark, which is the only surviving clipper of its kind and can still be visited in Greenwich after being damaged by a fire in 2007.
Since then, some popular teas are barely recognisable from the leaves that first landed in the UK. From a maple bacon pancake brew to kombucha, a fermented, slightly effervescent black or green tea drink, Britain is experiencing new love affair with tea.
The real storm in a teacup is how do you make yours? Liam says I do it wrong every time (I've never had a cup of tea fyi) To make his it's Tea bag in the cup, sugar, milk, water, brew, tea bag out done. But I'm told I'm wrong!
It is a debate that has ranged since the leaves first landed in Britain - how to best drink a cuppa. It is estimated that 98% of people take their tea with milk, but only 30 per cent take sugar in tea.
In 2003, scientists said they had found the secret to the perfect brew - put the milk in first. The reason is that when milk is exposed to high temperatures, such as being poured into a cup of piping hot tea, its proteins tend to degrade, or "denature", producing a slightly stale taste.
So go on, celebrate Tea with fellow DS3 tea aficionados! Post your pics of your tea cup/mug, tell us how you make yours, tea bag, loose leaf, builders tea, herbal tee, is it a brew, a cup of Rosie Lee, which biscuits are best, to dunk or not to dunk, PG Tips, Yorkshire Tea...........
I'll just sit back with my coffee
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