I’ve long marvelled about the power of tea, but it was only this week that I understood how it could be used as a weapon against the police. The London coppers had raided a Quaker meeting room, believing that a protest over the use of fossil fuel was being planned.

More than 20 officers, some armed with Tasers, broke down the front door and arrested six women, who they handcuffed and took in for questioning – probably the first time in history that British police have forced their way into a Quaker place of worship.

And here’s where we come to the role of tea.

We already know that tea is the natural beverage of consolation.Credit: Istock

Mal Woolford, 58, an elder of the famously pacifist organisation, was on site during the raid, and described the police response as “ridiculously heavy-handed”. He told The Times: “I had all kinds of conflicting feelings of outrage of why they were here, why there were so many of them, but I wanted to keep the situation calm. The only resistance I could put up was to make tea and drink it in front of them without offering them any.”

This may be peak-Quaker. It’s certainly peak-British.

It takes us once again into the mysteries of tea, surely the best drink in the world and one which – in this world of slavish devotion to coffee – deserves its fair measure of praise.

We already know that tea is the natural beverage of consolation.........

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