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Tea Up!

Discussion in 'War44 General Forums' started by Jim, Dec 21, 2010.

  1. Jim

    Jim Active Member

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    Tea is considered to be the quintessential British drink and a great tradition. It was introduced to Britain from China in the 1600s and later imported from India and Ceylon. Britain consequently became the world’s largest importer of tea. The tradition of afternoon tea was begun in 1850 by Anna, the Seventh Duchess of Bedford. She ordered that a tray of tea, bread, butter, sandwiches, and cakes be served at 4:00pm, since dinner was at 8:00pm she became hungry in the afternoon. Through invited friends the practice spread and by the 1880s afternoon tea was an established social event. For the Tommy soldier, tea or “brew up” was a far more practical matter, and involved no fine china cups and doilies. At every opportunity, during rest halts, lulls in fighting, or in a bivouac or camp, tea was brewed with a heavy helping of sugar and milk (or, more usually, one of the many milk substitutes). Tea was considered an energy beverage essential to morale and reinvigorating exhausted troops.

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    Infantry sections and vehicle crews carried an essential “brew up kit” or “brew kit,” typically: packets of soluble tea or compressed compo “tea blocks”; sugar; powdered, evaporated, or condensed tinned milk; a book or box of matches; and biscuits, all carried in a 24-hour ration cellophane bag, grenade packing tube, Bren gun magazine pouch, or rifle bandoleer. The “char” was brewed up in a “Dixie” or former ration tin (called a “billy” by Australians) on a “Benghazi cooker,” a “Tommy cooker,” or a looted German Esbit cooker. Often a pair of men was assigned the duty to quickly brew up tea in a well-rehearsed drill during rest halts.
     

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