Abstract

    Tea originated from China and then was spread to Britain. In the long-time development, unique British tea culture has formed. The afternoon tea is well-known around the world and their elegant customs and delicate desserts also gain a great fame. This essay intends to state and analyze the uniqueness of British tea culture, thus helping people to know more about Britain and its charm.
    The first part briefly states the origin, development and present situation of British tea culture. The second part analyzes the creative ways of tea drinking, the elegant customs of tea party and the special spirits of tea ceremony in Britain. In the last part, these different aspects of features are concluded to show the uniqueness of British tea culture.

Key words: uniqueness, tea drinking, tea party, tea ceremony

摘    要

茶，起源于中国，又飘香于英国。在历史漫长的发展过程中，英国形成了自己独具特色的茶文化，以其下午茶文化闻名于世界，优雅的饮茶习俗和精致的茶会点心更被人们津津乐道。本文致力于陈述和分析英国茶文化的特色，以帮助人们增进对英国及其独特魅力的了解。
在第一部分中将对英国茶文化的历史传播和形成、发展以及现状进行简明的叙述。在第二部分中将介绍英国茶的独特的饮用方法、茶会的优雅的礼仪以及英国茶道的鲜明特点。在第三部分将总结这些不同方面的特点，综述英国茶文化的独特性。

关键词：独特性，饮茶，茶会，茶道

1. Introduction
    In a folk song in Britain, it is sung that when the clock kicks at four, everything in the world stops for tea. It is almost a rule that no matter how important the thing is, you should wait for British people to drink up their tea. British people spend a third of their lifetime drinking tea and form a close relationship with tea.
Tea culture originated from China in ancient times. China is the first country to cultivate, make and drink tea. With the development of cultural communication and economic trade around the world, tea was gradually sold to other areas such as Middle East, Arab, Japan and North Korea. However, the export of tea seeds was forbidden at that time. Although many countries had joined Chinese tea consumption, only British established their own system of tea culture.