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Be transported across time and London with a new web app launched by the Horniman Museum and Gardens celebrating the quintessentially British and Horniman beverage – tea.

Tea Trail Londonwww.teatrail.london – explores the heritage of tea in London through three unique trails and is the Horniman’s contribution to Europeana Food and Drink, an initiative which has brought together partners from across Europe to develop a suite of inspiring projects featuring food and drink related content.

Aimed at encouraging international and UK visitors to London, as well as curious Londoners, to discover and explore new sites in the capital, Tea Trail London brings out the historic stories of tea in a variety of fascinating London venues including museums, shops and tea houses. Each trail has a different focus, allowing users to explore sites and objects – from ‘meeting’ Earl Grey and seeing the home of the Duchess who ‘invented’ afternoon tea, to sampling tea flavours from around the world.

The three trails are:

  • Tea Through Time follows tea’s journey to Britain, discovering the people who first imported tea, how tea crossed oceans and continents and how tea was received in London society since it became popular in the city nearly 500 years ago.
  • World Tea Tastes explores some of the different ways and styles that tea is drunk around the world to be found in London, highlighting the versatility and popularity of tea.
  • Taking Afternoon Tea looks at this famous institution which has been enjoyed for hundreds of years, from monarchy to working families. This trail includes some London landmarks of tea enjoyment.

Adrian Murphy, Digital Manager at the Horniman Museum and Gardens says: ‘Our founder Frederick Horniman was a Victorian tea trader so the topic of tea was a natural choice when we became involved in this project. Tea Trail London has given us a great opportunity to explore our own collections for tea related objects and to work with some of the establishments connected to tea that our capital has to offer. We hope that through these trails users of the web app will not only learn about the way that tea is, and has been, drunk and enjoyed across London, but also have a lot of fun in doing so too.’

Tea Trail London can be found at www.teatrail.london. Access to the web app is free.

Tea Trail London was made possible through the Europeana Food and Drink project which is funded by the European Commission under the ICT Policy Support Programme as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme.

Pictures show (left to right)

  • Chocolate Afternoon Tea at Browns Hotel – credit Browns Hotel
  • Late 19th Century Teapot from India – credit Horniman Museum and Gardens
  • Horniman Tea Ad, courtesy of Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising © Robert Opie
  • Tea Trail London logo – credit Horniman Museum and Gardens