A packet of TEA
Identities of social groups and cultures are often observed in their daily beverages. Tea is commonly seen as a popular daily ritual of the British. This page contains an analysis of a packet of tea to develop vocabulary and a video to develop Paper 2 Listening skills on why Americans often prefer coffee. Which do you prefer, coffee or tea?
The world in a packet of tea
The English famously love tea.
This Anglophone cultural stereotype has its roots in some truth. Below is an analysis of a packet of tea.
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.
See also the companion page Tea history, which explains the 19thC history of how tea came to be important in British society, and opens the opportunity to consider how everyday objects can tell us about the nature of any culture - in this case, Anglophone culture.
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 handouts below are printable for use in class.
Handouts
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).
Coffee or Tea
Often we learn about a culture from an outsider's perspective. Laurence Brown has created a series of videos on YouTube called Lost in the Pond that comically describe his insights in American culture from his British perspective. This video discusses why Americans tend to prefer coffee and British prefer tea.
After watching the video answer the questions below.
Choose the five true statements based on the video.
Correct Answers:
The speaker says that Americans generally drink coffee more often than British people.
According to the video, tea remained the preferred hot drink among early settlers in America.
The video explains that tea came to be seen as unpatriotic in America after the Boston Tea Party.
After World War II, per capita coffee consumption in the United States began to decline.
The speaker says that Nordic countries consume more coffee per person than the United States.