It’s somewhat of a shame that when you mention a “tea house” the vast majority of the great British public will think of quaint, traditional images; old ladies sipping from china tea cups and picking at cream scones, laced doilies and vicars, cricket on the green and murder in the summerhouse.
Where the most scandalous thing that has ever happened is that fateful summers day in August 1876 when Mrs Trellis of North Wales put the milk in first. Silence fell. Clocks stopped. Fighting dogs and children stopped in the street. After the local dowagers had been revived it was agreed by all that the incident would never be spoken of again. (At least not when Mrs Trellis was in earshot.)
It’s a shame because historically and factually this image of the traditional tea house has as much to do with reality as Beethoven with punk rock. That is to say very little at all. Tea and the tea house I can (and do frequently) argue have been the hotbed of political, cultural and social reform for the last few hundred years. What’s more tea as a drink has done more to change the fabric of this world than any other drink. During the Industrial Revolution the owners of factories encouraged their workers to drink tea rather than the traditional lunch time drink, beer. (Turns out getting drunk at lunch time then going back to operate highly dangerous and complicated machinery isn’t a great idea, who knew?) Thus creating the tea-break.
It is thought tea first became popular around the 1660s when Charles II’s wife Catherine Braganza started drinking tea to ward off cholera.
And since celebrity culture was just as inflammable in the 1660’s as it is today this created one heck of a demand. This demand required more tea, hence the Opium Wars and also tea plantations on industrial “country the size of Wales” scales. It also meant speed. To get the tea back to Britain the fastest ships in the world were constructed, tea clippers. The wealth of this trade built the British Empire.
When the tea got back to Britain people needed places to drink their cups of char. So the tea house was created becoming popular throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The tea house differed from that other great drinking place, the pub, in one key way. Mainly that tea drinkers weren’t as proven to become incomprehensible and start singing and thus end all chances of conversation as their pub drinking fellows were. So natural and free conversation began. At this time tea being more of an expensive drink meant that generally only more educated, learned people of means could afford to partake in tea. This flow of free thought between the learned folk created the enlightenment.
Also thanks to the strict, official rules of society with it’s sexist censorship women were demonised and harassed from most traditional meeting places unless they were accompanied by a male chaperone. One exception was the tea house. The tea house provided a place for the early women’s suffrage campaigners to meet and discuss universal equality without fear of dispersal.
The tea house literally provided a place for the changing of this world, how fantastic is that? When you visit a tea house and sip your drink you have that history, that linage of the shaking of the worlds and changing of times, of speed and revolution, of the celebration of progress, new ideas and, most importantly, equality.
It was therefore with a quiet sense of joy and proud feeling of ancestry that I entered Waterloo Tea Gardens, one of Cardiff’s premier tea houses for the Made in Roath opening.
The Made in Roath 2015 Opening was a free to enter, open to anyone, call out for art work of any type and style displaying a wide range of artistic design from the very experienced practitioners and highly exhibited artists to the fledgling, first time creatives; a refreshing change from other art call outs. While the works were evaluated and prizes awarded there were no judgements just, like the dodo at Alices’ tea party, praise for all.
The evening began with a large and charming crowd which reflected Roath’s diverse population. Chris Brown, director of the contemporary art gallery G39, gave a splendid and inspiring speech and then wine and nibbles were had by all. A thoroughly pleasant way to start the festival.
It was one too that I thought encompassed the very spirt and concept of Made in Roath: it doesn’t matter who you are but hey why don't you do something. It’s a festival that brings together the most established and experienced artists with first time makers and people who have never been to an art gallery. People with a passion for the arts meeting, sharing and enjoying time together. There is a spirit of equality, of just having a go, of creating something just for the joy of creating it. It’s a spirit which can be imbibed everyday this week during the Made in Roath festival.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the festival, Dai
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