Time for a cuppa?

It is used excessively throughout Australasia—for has it not been shown that our four million people use more of this beverage than the millions who inhabit Continental Europe, if Russia be excepted? This fact is much to be deplored, for when taken in excess it causes severe functional derangement of the digestive organs, and prejudicially affects the nervous system. The gentler sex are greatly given to extravagant tea-drinking, exceeding all bounds of moderation in this respect.

Muskett, Philip The Art of Living in Australia, 1893 CHAPTER VI. DIET

By the 1890s, Australians were consuming around 8lbs (3.6kg) of tea per person annually, which was a good fifty percent more than the British and five times as much as the Americans. These were statistics which worried medical practitioner and health reformer, Philip E. Muskett.

He called for a more restrained approach to the drinking of tea. Nowadays we consume around a quarter of the 1890s amount, and it seems every magazine I pick up heralds the anti-oxidant health benefits of tea drinking, particularly the drinking of green tea.

Of particular concern to Muskett was women’s timing of their cups of tea.

“Their favourite time for a chat and the consumption of tea is at any period between ten o’clock in the morning and three in the afternoon. Now, if there is anything of which I am certain, it is that tea in the middle of the day, say from ten o’clock to three, is a deadly destructive fluid.”

I’ve often had a cuppa in the middle of the day, with nary a thought about the deadly destructiveness of my habit. Perhaps it is something about the way the tea was made back then? There is a big difference between a cup of tea made with a quick dangle of a teabag in some hot water, and a pot of tea made with precision in the age-old tradition.

I consulted Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1861) to ensure I was making tea in the same way as those extravagant tea-drinking women who attracted Mr Muskett’s disapproval. The italicised instructions under each photo are Mrs Beeton’s.

Warm the teapot with boiling water; let it remain for two or three minutes for the vessel to become thoroughly hot, then pour it away.

The old-fashioned plan of allowing a teaspoonful to each person, and one over, is still practised.

The tea will be quite spoiled unless made with water that is actually ‘boiling’, as the leaves will not open, and the flavour not be extracted from them; the beverage will consequently be colourless and tasteless,—in fact, nothing but tepid water. Pour in from 1/2 to 3/4 pint of boiling water, close the lid, and let it stand for the tea to draw from 5 to 10 minutes; then fill up the pot with water.

The end result? A lovely strong cup of tea. I added the milk after I poured the tea into my cup. I know it is an issue of some contention, but Mrs Beeton didn’t have anything to say about that matter.

I consumed my cup over a chat in the middle of the day. So far I haven’t noticed any ill-effects, but I shall report back if I do.

How do you like to make your tea?