In his daily history slot on WLR's Big Breakfast Blaa,Eamonn McEneaney tells Ollie and Mary all about Waterford's connection with the early tea trade of the 17th and 18th century.The 18thcentury trade in armorial porcelain was a by-product of the trade in tea from China, a beverage that became very fashionable after 1660 when Catherine of Braganza wife of King Charles II popularised the drink among the ruling class in both England and Ireland. Tea was a luxury, expensive item so the early porcelain tea cups were extraordinarily small. The early tea cups were without handles in the Chinese fashion.Leaf tea was so valued that it was stored by the lady of the house in a locked silver tea canister to prevent the servants from helping themselves to the rare and much sought after beverage. ‘Tea for the classes, buttermilk for the masses.’