The tea set featured in the 1976 World of Islam Festival and was transferred to the Museum from @WhitworthArt in 2013. The popular English Breakfast tea is a blend of black teas grown in India, Sri Lanka and Kenya. Along with China, these are the top four tea producing countries in the world.
Over 120 years old, these tea leaves and flowers were collected by the plant-hunter Augustine Henry and his assistant Old Ho. They showed that tea bushes grew wild in China and had not been introduced from India.
Tea is a labour-intensive crop to produce & there is a darker side to its history. The recent ‘Trading Station’ exhibition @McrArtGallery uses some objects from our collections and explores links between hot drinks, empire & exploitation.