Tea Centre (1953)

Tea Centre, Regent's Street, London

This video captures the bustling Tea Centre café with modern décor and patrons enjoying tea at their tables.

A man in a white coat is shown weighing tea and packaging it. Close-ups show tea being poured into a pot, after which boiling water is added. A waitress sets the pot under a timer to brew for exactly five minutes.

The man gives a talk to a group of women, demonstrating antique teapots, tea seeds, and different tea varieties. He also shows tea molded into engraved bricks used as currency in Tibet, scraping tea from the block with a knife.

Additional shots include the man purchasing tea from an automatic dispenser, drinking from a disposable cup, and explaining the inner workings of the dispensing machine.