In Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography he talks briefly about his poverty in England and his upbringing and he mentions his mother being taken away because she was sick. He doesn’t go into great detail about her mental collapse but when she is lucid she tells him she would have been alright if he had made her a cup of tea. I couldn’t think of a worse thing to tell your child who has just seen his little world collapse. When coffee first came to England people thought it was medicinal but then prior to the NHS in the UK everything was thought medicinal to begin with including magnets and radioactivity, without any proofs that any of them were.
There is a scene in Carry on up the Khyber when Sid James, his family and guests are having tea and the Muslims attack the fort. Canons roar, his commander keeps running in with a spear in his back telling them things are going badly, the ceiling falls onto the table and still they all drink their tea. Only when they finish do the men get up to go and have a look at what’s going on.
It is a quite hilarious poke at the supposed imperturbability of the trained British official, central to which is form, tradition and tea. I have no idea when this started with tea, and for the most part the tea is actually far stronger than I would ever drink, but it is indelibly linked to civilised values. To being above the fray.
A cup of tea wouldn’t even shake in an earthquake!