When you are representing nations in the small footprint of a national pavilion, One wants to use iconic pieces of their culture... Things that are easily understandable and internationally recognized. While I know that Tea comes from China, The United Kingdom is internationally known for their cultural embracement of tea and specifically in the ritual of Afternoon Tea. The discussion was about how great it would be to have an example of that internationally known and understood British tradition of Afternoon Tea... The post I remarked on was stating that there were already too many British/London references in the United Kingdom Pavilion... And that a British Tearoom should instead be in the Canada Pavilion...(as it was once under British Rule, but is no longer)...
Which seemed to me to be off the point of the UK Pavilion which we were discussing...
The United States was also once a colony of Britain, and there are many fine hotels around the country that serve Afternoon Tea, but within the context of the World Showcase, an Afternoon Tearoom would not seem appropriate in the American Pavilion either... Though, again, I do know that the tea traditionally came from China....