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The
Bramah Museum, only two minutes from London Bridge Station, is the
world's first museum devoted entirely to the history of tea and
coffee. It tells the commercial and social 400 year old history
of two of the world's most important commodities since their arrival
in Europe from the Far East and Africa.
Since the British played a major role both in the China trade and
development of production in India, Ceylon and Africa, the museum
naturally tells the story from a British perspective. The museum
through its ceramics, metalware, prints and displays answers all
those questions that people from around the world ask about British
tea and coffee.
The museum believes everything possible should be done to maintain
and if possible improve the quality of tea and coffee offered to
the public.
The London tea trade has, for generations, conducted the business
of unloading ships, marketing, blending and packing on both sides
of the Thames close to London Bridge.
Although the tea auctions were held north of the river, the South
Bank
boasted many prestigious warehouses.
Also nearby is the George Inn
with its original seventeenth century coffee room.
For 200 years the East India Company sailing ships returning from
China would unload their cargoes on the Thames.
Although the steam ships bringing teas from India, Ceylon and Africa
frequently berthed further down river, their cargoes would be brought
up by barge as far as London Bridge. Some Clipper sailing ships
however, came as far as London Bridge in the 1860s.
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