The table of a 20th-century English academic follows a well-ordered rhythm: a hearty breakfast in the morning, a light lunch, the sacrosanct afternoon tea around five o'clock (teapot, scones, dry cakes), then, on ceremonial evenings, the formal dinner at the college's "high table" — the raised table where professors and guests dine in gowns, served before the students. Black tea links all these moments like a common thread.

More than a drink, the social backbone of a Briton's day: you stop, exchange an idea, offer a cup. In the Bragg household, father and son discussed crystallography cup in hand. Scald the teapot, leaves of an Assam or Ceylon tea, a bold infusion, a splash of milk.