International Tea Day

Here at Brent Museum and Archives we get through rather a lot of tea – especially as the weeks have become colder and the days darker. It will be no surprise to some (given our minor caffeine addiction) that we are quite excited that today is International Tea Day. The first was held on 15 December 2005 and it is celebrated in many tea producing countries across the globe – we thought we would use it as an excuse to enjoy another cuppa, and also to look at what our collections can tell us about tea drinking in Brent.

We have a range of tea related items in our collections, which further attest that tea drinking in the borough is not a new habit. Some readers may recognise this Lipton Tea Caddy – a souvenir from the British Empire Exhibition (1998.129.1), which featured in our recent exhibition ‘The Lion Roars; The World in Wembley’.

However, one of our quirkiest finds was this colourful booklet (1997.23.47a-b) from the 1920s– ‘Fortune in the Tea Cup’- advertising Edglets Tea which was a brand under the Brooke Bond Company. The company was founded in Manchester in 1869 by Arthur Brooke, and by the 1870s the firm had expanded into the wholesale market. The company’s most famous brand – PG tips –began being marketing in the 1930s.

The booklet in our collection gives an illustrated account of how you might go about reading your fortune from tea leaves. Shapes to look out for are anchors, birds, bushes, ‘small creeping animals’ and many more. The medicinal advantages of tea drinking are also considered under the heading ‘A Famous Doctor’s Opinion of Tea’ and we are told that tea is a “true stimulant which makes it possible you do hard intellectual work at a high speed, and of the best quality of which your brain is capable.”

Time to put the kettle on again then…