Local author PAUL CHRYSTAL takes a look at the history of tea in York

The ubiquitous cup of tea is as much a part of York life as indifferent weather, traffic jams or the queue at Bettys. Tea, since its arrival on our shores in the 17th century, has shaped our lives, our history, our work, our culture; it has even shaped our bodies.

On average we each drink 3 ½ cups of tea every day, or 130,000 tonnes in a year, 96 per cent of which are from tea bags. Seventy per cent of the population (over age ten) drank tea yesterday; more than 25 per cent of all the milk consumed in the UK goes into your cup of tea. Some 70 million cups have been made today so far, by 11am.

Tea arrived in Britain as part of the dowry (along with Bombay and Tangier) of Catherine of Braganza, Charles II’s Portuguese bride, in 1662.

By 1818, as one of twenty-five York tea dealers in 1818 and importers of tea, coffee and chocolate, the Tukes were the exclusive holders in the north of England of a licence which permitted the processing of coffee beans and the sale of roasted coffee, tea and chocolate in the north.

Between 1841 and 1863 the annual consumption of tea in Britain doubled, so, therefore, did imports and the number of outlets. York tea dealers competed with 11 confectioners, seven fruiterers, 46 grocers (who would also have sold tea), 16 liquor merchants and 184 inns. Tea had become a part of the stock in trade of the high street grocer; tea was high on the ‘shopping list’ of his customers.

The nine types of tea in a typical grocer’s-cum-tea-dealer-cum-fruiterer such as T Johnson in Colliergate competed with 135 other global lines, from coffee and sugar to snuff and soap, from Carolina rice, Turkey figs and cloves to mace and Barcelona nuts.

Joseph Rowntree’s grocery shop in Pavement was but one of 49 grocer’s-cum-tea dealers in the city in 1851.

In 1862 Henry Rowntree purchased the Tuke’s tea, coffee, cocoa and chicory business; this marked the start of the Rowntree chocolate business. Tuke then moved the tea dealership to London - Tukes & Co in Fenchurch Street.

Tea in York is, of course, synonymous with Bettys tea rooms. Throughout the Second World War, Bettys defiantly stayed open: Bettys Bar in York was especially popular with Canadian pilots stationed around the city.

The famous and poignant Bettys Mirror can still be seen today on the basement floor. Around 500 of the ‘Bomber Boys’ engraved their signatures on the mirror, some reputedly using a waitress’s diamond ring. Some have returned to see their handiwork; many others did not survive the war.

• Paul Chrystal is the author of Tea: A Very British Beverage, which is published by Amberley Publishing, priced £9.99.