1893 text
That excellent and by all Physicians, approved, China drink, called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations Tay alias Tee, is sold at the Sultaness Head Coffee-House, in Sweetings Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London.” “Coffee, chocolate, and a kind of drink called tee, sold in almost every street in 1659.”—Rugge’s Diurnal. It is stated in “Boyne’s Trade Tokens,” ed. Williamson, vol. i., 1889, p. 593 “that the word tea occurs on no other tokens than those issued from ‘the Great Turk’ (Morat ye Great) coffeehouse in Exchange Alley. The Dutch East India Company introduced tea into Europe in 1610, and it is said to have been first imported into England from Holland about 1650. The English “East India Company” purchased and presented 2 lbs. of tea to Charles II. in 1660, and 23 lbs. in 1666. The first order for its importation by the company was in 1668, and the first consignment of it, amounting to 143 lbs., was received from Bantam in 1669 (see Sir George Birdwood’s “Report on the Old Records at the India Office,” 1890, p. 26). By act 12 Car. II., capp. 23, 24, a duty of 8d. per gallon was imposed upon the infusion of tea, as well as on chocolate and sherbet.
This text comes from a footnote on a diary entry in the 1893 edition edited by Henry B. Wheatley.
9 Annotations
First Reading
Mary • Link
The first samples of tea reached England between 1652 and 1654. Another luxury drink reserved for the moneyed classes. Portugal and Holland were both earlier than England in discovering the delights of tea and it was only later in the 17th Century that the English tea trade began to flourish through the East India Company. It seems likely that the backgrounds of both Charles II (years of exile in Holland) and his Portuguese wife Catherine of Braganza may have influenced the increasing popularity of tea during the latter part of the century.
In 1699 40,000lbs of tea were imported into England and by 1708 this figure had risen to 240,000 lbs in one year.
vincent • Link
google :tcha tee tea and get great references
Ready for a good cuppa? [Tea (Thea sinensis)is an evergreen plant of the Camellia family] "....Excellent and by all Physitians approved China drink, .." London's Mercuricus Politicus sept 23 1658
Tea is an infusion and requires boiling (not hot, not nearly-boiling) water, as Mrs. Beeton took pains to point out in 1861:
1658 :cost of "t" 10L(2400d) a Pound (avoisdupois) that is 250 approx cups of the every ready for a 11d:
now for 20 tea bags of green tea 3$ /2L or 10 P(25d) a cup
How how come it came the In thing ?
"...Tea came to continental Europe before it reached England, so why was it only England which developed a unique culture of tea drinking, with tea becoming the national drink of the whole people? Of course, there were many reasons. Samuel Twining, 9th-generation chairman of the Twinings tea company of England, founded in 1706, said--to this reporter's surprise--that the real cause was "snobbery"!
Rarity gives things value, and value is a source of human pride; Twining ascribes the main credit for creating this national drink to the monarchs, starting with Charles II, who taxed tea heavily from the 17th century onwards. After English tea taxes were first introduced, they increased repeatedly to reach a high of 119%. The heavier the duty, the dearer tea grew, and the more insatiable consumers' demand for it became. The "conspicuous consumption" described by the economist Veblen is by no means only a modern phenomenon.
Another product from China found its way into Europeans' lives at the same time as tea: tea sets made of porcelain, which was previously unknown in Europe..."
http://www.taiwaninfo.org/info/si…
Story : why green tea became black? because it took 18 months to reach the Thames Customs House.
For more bumff on tee Google
' tcha tee tea '
so many sources
Token • Link
"By act 12 Car. II., capp. 23, 24, a duty of 8d. per gallon was imposed upon the infusion of tea, as well as on chocolate and sherbet."
Ah, the "child of independence" is already in utero:
http://www.hmce.gov.uk/channelsPo…
Second Reading
Bill • Link
When I came to my Friend's House in a Morning, I used to be ask'd, if I had my Morning Draught yet? I am now ask'd, if I have yet had my Tea?
---An essay on ways and means for inclosing, fallowing, planting. W. Mackintosh, 1729.
Terry Foreman • Link
5 The "Mercurius Politicus" of September 30th, 1658, sets forth: "That excellent and by all Physicians, approved, China drink, called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations Tay alias Tee, is sold at the Sultancss Head Coffee-House, in Sweetings Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London." "Coffee, chocolate, and a kind of drink called tee, sold in almost every street in 1659."—Rugge's Diurnal. It is stated in " Boyne's Trade Tokens," ed. Williamson, vol. i., 1889, p. 593, "that the word tea occurs on no other tokens than those issued from 'the Great Turk' (Morat y" Great) coffeehouse in Exchange Alley. The Dutch East India Company introduced tea into Europe in 1610, and it is said to have been first imported into England from Holland about 1650. The English "East India Company" purchased and presented 2 lbs. of tea to Charles II. in 1664, and 23$ lbs. in 1666. The first order for its importation by the company was in 1668, and the first consignment of it, amounting to I43[ lbs., was received from Bantam in 1669 (see Sir George Birdwood's "Report on the Old Records at the India Office," 1890, p. 26). By act 12 Car. II., capp. 23, 24, a duty of 8d. per gallon was imposed upon the infusion of tea, as well as on chocolate and sherbet.
http://books.google.com/books?id=…
San Diego Sarah • Link
Edmund Waller MP writes one of his graceful little poems about Queen Catherine:
"TEA COMMENDED BY HER MAJESTY (c. 1680)"
"Venus her myrtle, Phoebus has his bays,
Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise,
The best of queens, and best of herbs we owe
To that bold nation which the way did shew
To the fair region where the sun does rise,
Whose rich productions we so justly prize.
The Muse's friend, tea does our fancy aid,
Repress those vapours which the head invade,
And keeps that palace of the soul serene,
Fit on her birthday to salute the queen."
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
By 1775, England’s love affair with tea had become too expensive. Most of the tea was imported from China. The British were so obsessed with the beverage that the fast “clipper’ ships were invented to get the freshest tea leaves back to the home country.
The famous Cutty Sark could transport over 1,000,000 lbs. of tea to England in less than 100 days.
In a mercantile world, the problem was this created a trade imbalance for England. Chinese citizens were not interested in British products. To pay for the imports, England was drained of gold and silver. What was needed was an export that Chinese had to have. Starting around 1775 the British East India Company started exporting opium from India to Canton, China to help with the balance of payments. This exploded into such a problem for the Chinese, they declared war on England during Victoria’s reign.
https://www.historyanecdotesforte…
Of course, it wasn’t just the Chinese being addicted: “Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a poet and an opium addict. One day in 1797, he went to sleep under the influence, after having read about Kubla Khan’s palace at Zanadu. When he awoke, he began to feverishly copy down a poem he had dreamed. It began with the famous line: “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan build a stately Pallace…”
When he reached the 54th line (one sixth of the way through the planned poem), his writing was interrupted by the infamous “person on business from Porlock” and by the time he got back to work, he had forgotten the rest of his most famous poem.”
https://www.historyanecdotesforte…
San Diego Sarah • Link
What were Queen Catherine and Pepys really drinking:
"In ancient China, compressed teas were usually made with thoroughly dried and ground tea leaves that were pressed into various bricks or other shapes, although partially dried and whole leaves were also used.
"Some tea bricks were also mixed with binding agents such as flour, blood, or manure to better preserve their form so they could withstand physical use as currency. Newly formed tea bricks were then left to cure, dry, and age prior to being sold or traded.
"Tea bricks were preferred in trade prior to the 19th century in Asia since they were more compact than loose leaf tea and were also less susceptible to physical damage incurred through transportation over land by caravans on the Ancient tea route."
The second paragraph has me shuddering! The need for tea bricks no longer holds, fortunately.
https://encyclopedia.thefreedicti…
San Diego Sarah • Link
This article doesn't say where these English East India Company men were when they drank "cocktails" containing tea [for length I've omitted the non-17th century info.]:
'As early as 1632, traders employed by the British East India Company were drinking a beverage known as “punch.” Considered the first modern mixed drink, punch was likely invented due to the scarcity of wine and beer in English merchant outposts in Asia. Distilled spirits kept better on long voyages and took up less space, but had to be diluted with available ingredients to create something sippable.
With the optional addition of spices, the beverage had 5 ingredients, and one theory states that the word “punch” derives from panch, Hindi for “five,” although it may also have come from “puncheon,” a type of cask in which liquor was stored.
When mariners brought tea punch recipes back to England in the mid-1600s, the beverage became popular among the wealthy financiers of sea voyages and others who could afford its imported ingredients. As these ingredients became more widely accessible, both tea and punch became mainstays.
By 1750, the two drinks were consumed widely enough that English physician Thomas Short addressed both in a treatise on the medicinal properties of beverages. Short extolled the virtues of tea, but not punch, writing that adding alcohol to tea “tends to make its Use injurious, where it really would not be.”
Tea punch spread to Britain’s American colonies, ... while the original British punch was often hot, American tea punch could be iced.
Cocktail historian David Wondrich, in his book "Imbibe," lists 1670 to 1850 as the golden years of punch’s popularity.
If you’re hankering to try some tea-based punch yourself, there are numerous historic recipes to choose from, ..." But sadly the recipe he gave was from the 1850's.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/arti…