Skinny lattes may be bad for us

Published on Tuesday 29 April 2008 21:29

IN 1955 Britain and Ireland accounted for one-third of the world's tea consumption. Britons are still big tea drinkers, but our share of the tea market has dropped to only 5 per cent of the world's cuppas.

We are still big tea drinkers – 994 cups per capita last year. But they consume 1,214 cups each in Ireland, while the world's champion tea drinkers are now the Iraqis, with 1,219 cups a head despite their troubles.

Instead, Britain has become a land of identikit coffee bars where you have to understand the difference between a "tall" and a "grande" before you can even order; and where just getting a drink requires making half a dozen intricate choices regarding the ingredients. Coffee may be popular, but simple it is not.

History has a way of repeating itself, however. When coffee first became popular in the British Isles, in the early 1700s, the coffee shops in the City of London became the centre for financial wheeling and dealing. Rumour and greed, fuelled by excessive amounts of caffeine, soon sparked a frenzy of lending called the South Sea Bubble. Shares in the South Sea Company shot up to 1,000 each before the market crashed. Many banks were left with huge losses, and a long credit crunch ensued.

Sound familiar? This suggests a strong historical connection between coffee and financial crisis. Time for tea, anyone?