Why did the British go apeshit over tea while the rest of Europe prefers coffee?

Why did the British go apeshit over tea while the rest of Europe prefers coffee?

We like tea

Right I just think its weird how not only is Britain the only European nation that I know of that prefers tea, but it really went balls to the wall with it.

Not making a judgment call, just curious why that is, from a historical/humanities perspective.

some neurochemical imbalance due to anglo genetics

Why did the Chinese go apeshit over opium while it was legal in the rest of the world (at the time)? Why did they violate property rights and the nonaggression principle over the sale of a plant?

Chinks are too honorable and pure for this world (just like the French)

northern germany also prefers tea. they have/had their own tea culture, at least they in the 19th centaury

>t. Never met an actual Chinese or French person in his life

Hey hey lindybeige, how many french and chinese did you kill today?

It came from the Portuguese court, coffee was just a thing because it appeared after the battle of Vienna so symbolised victory

Don't know who that is, just pointing out that the hierarchy for boorishness goes

1.Chinese
2.French
3.Americans

Coffee was very popular - see Enlightenment coffee houses - but fell out of fashion to tea as a) the tea trade was actively encouraged by the government and the likes of the East India Company as it was more lucrative due to the Empire's geography, b) tea culture was considered high culture and coffee culture increasingly common (and too Continental) - coffee houses lost their allure to clubs - and, finally, c) a number of coffee sellers lost out and switched to tea when there were some big coffee crop failures.

Maybe you are right. Innocent Han Chinese in Guangzhou just wanted to trade freely with good wholesome Anglo merchants and were prevented from doing so by the oppressive Manchu regime.

you're lindybeige attempting to justify anglo-saxon war crimes against french, chinese, and americans

>Chinks
>Honorable

Oh I'm laughing

lindybeige did nothing wrong

Tea is actually way more popular than Ireland than it is in Britain

Russian Empire had an ever-increasing demand after they started trading with China after the treaty of Kiakhta. Of course alcohol remained dominant but Tea was the second preferred drink IIRC.

Based Lindybeige

Because every official was off his tits 90% of the time and all the silver was being drained from the country.

Russian tea was the comfiest tea.

I wish you could still buy tea that was shipped overland by camel caravan.

Drink coffee at evening isn't healthy thing. Tea is much safer.

Fermented Chamaenerion Tea (Ivan-tea) is great and hath a lot of vitamin C. In 6th times more than in a lemon.
But it's rare even in modern exussr.

Eastern Europe consumed a shitload of tea because of the Ottomans. Turkey still has the largest consumption per capita in the world. Turkish tea is also very very good, but then again so is coffee.