The world in a packet of tea

The English famously love tea.

This anglophone cultural stereotype was picked up by an intelligent, acute student called Jutta, who turned up for a practice Individual Interview carrying a packet of tea. I still have the recording somewhere, and if I eventually find it, I'll reproduce it here - but for now, here's a reconstruction of what she had to say.

The front of the packet

1. The royal crest  ... This tradition began in the early nineteenth century when tradesmen who supplied goods to the monarchy would beg, as a supreme favour, the right to show that they were the official supplier of such goods to Royalty. This would give the company immense reputation, and of course increased sales. That the tradition continues now indicates that the Monarchy is still perceived as impressive and significant ... but maybe it's also simply to do with the English love of tradition (below).

2. 'Classic'  ... The use of the word 'classic' evokes 'high quality proved by having been the same over many years'. Anything that is classic is old, respected and valuable - tradition is Good.

3. 'Twinings of London'  ...  The 's' on the end of shop names very often suggests high reputation because it actually indicates an apsotrophe 's'. Look at the royal crest reproduced above - the company's name is really 'R.Twining & Co'. The 's' indicates intimacy - "Yes, we bought it from Twining's", and you don't have to add 'tea-shop', because of course everyone knows about Twining's. And 'of London' again shows fame - you don't have to say where in London since, again, everyone knows! 

4. 'Earl Grey'  ...  Anything bought by an aristocrat has to be good - and if it's personally recommended (see the back of the packet, below), all the better. The class system and social snobbery still echoes in meritocratic modern England, perhaps ...?

5. 'scented'  ...  Not specifically 'English' perhaps, but the language has been carefully chosen - 'smelling of' really wouldn't have the same effect, and as for 'stinking of' ...!

The blurb on the back

1. 'my family tea'  ...  "Well, of course one has one's family tea specially made, doesn't one ..." - and especially if your family has been around so long that the present Earl is the sixth of the line.

2. 'China'  ... An echo here of the days when aristocratic families naturally dealt with envoys who travelled around doing the business of Empire with fabulous countries like China ? This is, of course, a "legend", not just an ordinary boring 'story'.

3. 'the world's finest tea experience'  ...  The phrase "tea experience" seems like a slight lapse of good taste - a proper English person would speak simply of 'a nice cup of tea' - but coupled with Twinings 300 years of experience (different meaning of the word), there is a pleasing sense that English tea is the best possible, in the best of all possible (English) worlds.

4. 'thousands of miles'  ...  The English have always respected serious travelling, and especially if it involves 'exotic' locations in oriental regions - such a contrast with "England's green and (merely?) pleasant land" (William Blake).

Observing culture

These are my comments on a packet of this tea I discovered, surprisingly, here in Barcelona. The student, Jutta, didn't cover all of these ideas in depth, but she referred to most - and above all, had had the smart idea (unprompted) of looking closely at what she observed about the English, and then thinking it out (with some research) in depth.

The development of cultural awareness in an English B programme will be of most use if it is seen, and taught, as a means of trying to understand why other people behave differently. This follows from two key propositions :-

• Culture forms customs, traditions, habits - and values and prejudices.
• If you want to speak a language well, you need to understand something of the mind-set of the people who use that language - and that involves cultural awareness.

Teaching 'tea'

This material could form the basis of a lesson about this idea of researching what everyday customs can tell us about a culture.  You could...

either give them the original, non-annotated version of the packet, and ask them to see if they can pick out references to English culture in the text  (use the handout 'Twinings Tea, original')

or talk them through what is shown on the packet - by projecting the images in the page above, or by giving out the annotated version of the packet (handout 'Twinings Tea, annotated')

or as development, ask them (in groups) to carry out google searches to see what they can find about the general headings suggested by the annotations.