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.
Bramah's Museum of Tea and Coffee, 40 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1UN.