… tea drinking was a polite and sociable encounter staged around the tea-table. In media representations (visual culture, poetry, essays) the term ‘tea-table’ increasingly served as a synecdoche for the sociable assembly. As an idea, the … tea drinking was a polite and sociable encounter staged around the tea-table. In media representations (visual culture, poetry, essays) the term ‘tea-table’ increasingly served as a synecdoche for the sociable assembly. As an idea, the …