On the 30th of June in the year 1768, Britain was rocked by a most unusual event. While King George III was enjoying his afternoon tea, having recently annexed the Indian territories of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, the city of London experienced a phenomenon that left scientists quite perplexed. Witnesses reported seeing dozens of tea cups rising mysteriously into the air, floating gently above the streets and hovering overhead.

As word of the flying tea cups spread, Londoners poured out of their homes and workplaces to gawk at the strange sight. Prime Minister Pitt the Elder attempted to corral a stray cup for study, only to have it splash scalding tea all over his newest wig. Meanwhile in Westminster, debates in parliament came to an abrupt halt as saucers rained down upon the heads of outraged MPs.

By evening, over 5,000 cups, saucers, and teapots had been spotted airborne across the city. While some called it a sign that Britain's hold on its caffeinated colonies was loose, scientists at the Royal Society were at a loss to explain the cause. Some suspected etheric wavelengths or magnetic disturbances, but the tea-borne phenomenon stopped as suddenly as it had begun with nightfall. Londoners were left trying to make sense of it all over a late dinner, their afternoon teas thoroughly disrupted by the skies above. To this day, the floating tea cups of 1768 remain an unsolved mystery from that mad tea time in history.