茶, चाय, Tea (Chá, Chai, Tea)

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What’s in a cup of tea? 茶, चाय, Tea explores the many stories of Britain’s national drink, spanning millennia and connecting communities across the world.

Whether we call it 茶, चाय or Tea, the drink brewed from the camellia sinensis plant, is enjoyed by billions of people every day. It is Britain’s national drink and second only to water as the most popular beverage in the world.

Tea means many things – its popularisation and spread is connected to stories of imperialism and colonial violence, yet it has inspired artistic expression, cultural customs and national identities.

Learn about the production of tea, from the people who work on the plantations to the processes involved in making the tea that is widely consumed today.

Enjoyed by billions of people, alone or together, with milk or cinnamon or salted butter – find out the complex history and myriad of meanings in how we consume tea today.

Model with an outfit of a tea plantation worker in the Cha, Chai, Tea, exhibition
Learn about the production of tea, from the people who work on the plantations to the processes involved in making the tea that is widely consumed today.
A cuddly toy of bubble tea
What if you could cuddle Bubble Tea?
A table with stories from tea drinkers with models of the tea they drink
Cha, Chai, Tea, exhibition, Stan Lau
A historic advert for Horniman's Tea: a woman in Edwardian dress holds a package of Horniman's Tea in front of a Horniman's Tea sign
Horniman Tea advert
A china model of four men drinking tea and sharing food on a raised platform
Four men drinking tea and sharing food
Cases with tea samples in Cha, Chai, Tea exhibition
Cha Chai Tea exhibition showing tea samples from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Watercolour drawing of Chinese people pouring dried tea leaves into boxes
Watercolour drawing of people producing tea
A metal tea strainer
Tea strainer
Archive photo of Chinese tea workers operating a tea processing machine
Archive picture of Chinese tea workers

The exhibition has been developed in partnership with organisations including:

  • Bollo Brook Youth Centre in Ealing
  • The British Asian Collective
  • Cuppo Bubbo in Herne Hill
  • Hackney Chinese Community Services
  • THIRST (The International Roundtable for Sustainable Tea)
  • Grass People Tree
  • Matheson Bosanquet Tea Estate

As well as a host of artists, academics and consultants.

Content warning: The exhibition contains content that could be upsetting or triggering. Themes that are explored throughout the exhibition include: violence, sexism, racism, enslavement, indentured labour, sexual violence, addiction.

The exhibition is supported by The Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund – delivered by the Museums Association.

Main image: Stan Lau.