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on 26 Sep 2003 •

Ladies and gentlemen - this is an historic occasion: the precise moment when an English adult drank his first cup of tea - frankly I'm a little touched by it. In importance, it ranks right up there with the day when some prehistoric traders landed their boats in Scotland and said to the natives "We've got this brown-coloured drink - we call it 'whisky' maybe you Scots will get a taste for it?"

But at this time, the English didn't really know how to serve tea. It was brewed up in big barrels and allowed to cool down, then drawn off (like beer) and warmed up - which sounds vile.

Just out of interest, does anyone know how many tons of the stuff we drink nowadays and the average consumption? All I know is that we still drink much more tea than coffee.