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Here at Dorothy’s Teas we believe there is no better accompaniment to a delicious cup of tea than a great work of fiction, which is why we are thrilled to announce a new series celebrating tea in literature through the ages. In this series we will focus on one author, celebrating their day of birth and how tea drinking is portrayed in their writing. Literature is a fantastic means of gauging customs and attitudes towards social traditions such as tea drinking, meaning that the exploration of tea in literature helps us better understand the role it played in bygone ages.

Charlotte Brontё was a novelist and poet born on this day, 21st April, in 1816 in Thornton, West Yorkshire, and is celebrated today for creating some of the most atmospheric and engaging fiction of the 19th century. Charlotte was born at a time when tea drinking had become a national beverage, enjoyed by everyone from the poor to the very rich - with the 1784 Tea Tax Act having made tea affordable to almost all members of British society. The popularity and accessibility of tea is evident throughout Charlotte’s novels, with regular mentions of characters taking tea with a frequency that indicates that it had essentially become a staple in most British homes.

Tea in Charlotte Brontё’s fiction

In Charlotte’s most famous novel Jane Eyre tea is mentioned several times, and is observed being taken both as a comforting beverage during times of trauma, and as a daily ritual enjoyed by most principal characters. During the opening chapters, Brontё writes “…a (tea) tray was soon brought. How pretty, to my eyes, did the china cups and bright teapot look, placed on the little round table near the fire! How fragrant was the steam of the beverage, and the scent of the toast!”. Here tea provides comfort to Jane during the trauma of the illness of her best friend. In Vilette, one of Charlotte’s later novels, tea is once again a regular presence, though interestingly coffee usurps tea when protagonist Lucy Snowe departs to the continent (Belgium), indicating that coffee rather than tea may have been the chief hot beverage in mainland Europe in the 1800’s.

How would tea in Charlotte Brontё’s time compare with the tea we drink today?

During Charlotte’s lifetime, tea was exclusively a Chinese export, with wide scale tea production in India and Sri Lanka not yet in operation. Tea advertisements from the time display various grades of black teas: the cheapest and lowest grade being ‘Bohea’ and the higher quality grades ‘Congou’ and ‘Lapsang’, while green teas were advertised as ‘Singlo’ and ‘Hyson’. The Brontё family would probably have purchased their teas from a grocer in the town of Haworth where they had moved in 1820, and they would likely have acquired a mid-range grade such as Congou or Lapsang, as Bohea was predominantly a staple of the much poorer classes. 

It is very difficult to speculate exactly how the Chinese teas consumed by Charlotte and her family would compare with the Chinese teas on sale today, but it is possible that they may be similar to our Yunnan, Lapsang Souchong or Russian Canavan teas.

Suggested tea pairings

Immerse yourself in the world of Chinese teas and experience something similar to the teas taken in 19th century England by trying Lapsang Souchong or Russian Caravan. If you would like to try a green Chinese tea why not try Temple of Heaven, Imperial Long Jing, or a Sri Lankan version of a green Hyson (Young Hyson). Alternatively, why not sample a tea which incapsulates the spirit of the Brontё family’s love of nature and walking in the beautiful Yorkshire moors by trying our fabulous Fell Walker black tea, blended using a Chinese Yunnan, our Fell Walker tea is bold and brisk, the perfect substance for the long-distance walker!