We had a blast today at Afternoon Tea at the beautiful Shakespeare Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon. Today was twice as exciting because we were joined by a photographer and a radio journalist from the BBC. The Shakespeare Hotel arranged for the local BBC radio to interview us about our "Shakespeare's England" trip and our tea segment. So, we had a little audience that would be learning about the history of tea from us.

Our tea experience began in London at the Bramah Tea Museum, not too far from our hotel. The owner, Mr. Bramah, spent quite some time telling Sarah about the tea trade and how tea became so important to the English.

As Sarah shared what she had learned from Mr. Bramah with us, I was really impressed by how much the culture of England created the need for tea, and how much tea ended up influencing English culture. Tea drinking began around the time of the Plague. The popularity of tea led to the creation of new jobs manufacturing lots of tea accessories: teakettles, teacups, teaspoons, and more.

While Sarah and Jackie lived every little girl's dream of a fancy tea party, Jenny and I got to snack on a buffet of desserts. After Sarah told us about the history of tea, we all sat to shared a cup. The entire film segment was funny. We were all a bit tired and Sarah kept forgetting what she was supposed to say. But Sarah is a real pro and eventually explained everything perfectly for the camera.

Who knew a tea party could be so much fun!

Fancy a cuppa?

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