While studying abroad in London, an Illinois Wesleyan professor served as the director and taught a course called The Bloody History of Afternoon Tea. This connected Asian studies and English history, history and Asian studies being Professor Lutze’s area of study. We had the option to take the course at a 200 or 300 level, and to aid in starting to complete my three 300 level history course requirements for graduation, I took the 300 level course. This meant writing a fifteen page independent research paper on tea history and anything that related to the course to have completed at the end of the semester.
In class and on tea related trips it was mentioned that Catherine of Braganza, the queen consort of King Charles II (who is also known as “The Merry Monarch” and ruled over Restoration England), was the person who introduced tea drinking to court and thus started the popularization of the drink in England. If it were not for her, England may have been known for drinking coffee or hot chocolate and would not have the automatic mockery from other nations for the obsession and essential part of British culture. However, in class and on our museum visits and tours, those who said Catherine of Braganza started tea-drinking could not historically back it up. This all lead to my research question: is there any truth in the credit historians give Catherine of Braganza for the popularization of tea drinking in Great Britain?
Below you will find a PDF version of my thirteen page research paper and the PowerPoint I used to present my research for my final in the Bloody History of Afternoon course while I studied abroad in London.