shanmonster | Tea Time

While most folks I know drink coffee, I'm a big tea fan. My sister's been drinking it since she was five years old--piping hot, with lots of cream and sugar. People are often astonished by the wide variety of tea and ptisan in my cupboard. My favourites are cocoa spice, Earl Grey green, Angel's Dream, and Indian chai. Ginger tea is splendid for settling an upset stomach, and chamomile with honey for easing a sore throat.

Anyhow, all this musing about tea came about when I happened across a very old photograph of Japanese tea workers. Intrigued, I went on a tear and found the following images.

This photo dates from the early 1900s, and shows the Mad Hatter Tea Room, ostensibly the first tea room started in The Village (150 West Fourth St.). I'm really unsure as to what city this is in, though. The photograph was taken by Jessie Beals.

This is a stereogram of girls picking tea on a plantation at Uji, among the sunny hills of Old Japan. The photo was copyrighted to Underwood & Underwood, Keystone View Company, but I don't know the date.

Here are tea pickers hard at work in Assam, India. The photo dates around the 1890s.

This hand-tinted photo of a Japanese tea ceremony dates from the late 19th century.

A tea factory in Ceylon. I don't know the date of this photograph. This, and the next photo, were apparently used as an educational resource in Philadelphia schools.

This photo is labelled "Preparing Tea, pan-firing, Japan." This sort of factory was known as a tea firing go-down. Tea leaves were stirred by hand in iron kettles. When the leaves were dry, they were packaged for exporting.