A tea chest is a type of wooden case originally produced and used to ship tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

 to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. The conventional tea chest is a case with riveted metal edges, of approximate size 500x500x750 millimetres. The term is now used more widely to indicate similarly-sized cases, including cardboard cases, produced for various home and commercial uses.