Bramah Tea and Coffee Museum October 2007

The Bramah Tea and Coffee Museum was a museum in southeast

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It was the world's first museum devoted to the history of

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

and

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

, covering 400 years of commercial and social history of two commodities, since their arrival in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

. The museum was opened by Edward Bramah in 1992, 40 years after he had first had the idea. It was formerly at Butler's Wharf. It then moved to 40

Southwark Street Southwark Street is a major street in Bankside in the London Borough of Southwark, in London England, just south of the River Thames. It runs between Blackfriars Road to the west and Borough High Street to the east. It also connects the access r ...

SE1 The SE (South Eastern) postcode area covers a broad radial swathe of the south-east of the London post town from the Albert Embankment to West Heath, London, West Heath and the nearest edges of Sidcup and Selhurst. It loosely corresponds to the ...

, very close to

London Bridge station London Bridge is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Southwark, south-east London. It occupies a large area on three levels immediately south-east of London Bridge, from which it takes its name. The m ...

and

Borough Market Borough Market is a wholesale and retail market hall in Southwark, London, England. It is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London, with a market on the site dating back to at least the 12th century. The present buildings were b ...

. At this location the museum and

tearoom A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...

would open daily serving coffee and tea. Edward Bramah died aged 76 at

Christchurch, Dorset Christchurch () is a town and civil parish in Dorset on the south coast of England. The town had a population of 31,372 in 2021. For the borough the population was 48,368. It adjoins Bournemouth to the west, with the New Forest to the east. Pa ...

, on 15 January 2008. Despite his illness, Bramah had been working on a book which was to be called ''Britain's Tea Heritage''. The museum closed that year. There were plans for redevelopment or possible relocation, but it never reopened.

References

{{reflist Museums established in 1992 History museums in London Food museums in the United Kingdom Biographical museums in London Defunct museums in London Coffee museums Tea museums 1992 establishments in England Museums in the London Borough of Southwark

See also

References