Tea in the West
The spread of tea drinking to the West began with Portuguese missionaries' reports from China during efforts to spread Catholicism to that region in the 16th century. The missionaries in China were enamored of both the flavor and customs associated with this drink and spoke highly of tea's great medicinal properties upon returning to Europe.
Despite these endorsements by the Portuguese, it was the Dutch who were responsible for the earliest commerce in tea between Asia and Europe. The first teas to make their way to Europe were probably Japanese green teas, rather that the Chinese, because of better trade relations between the Dutch and Japan at the time. By 1610, tea began to arrive in Holland on ships operated by the Dutch East India Company. There it was touted as an exotic medicinal beverage and was consumed primarily by the aristocracy – a probable consequence of its costing more that $100 per pound.
The Dutch tea marketing effort soon became the most important factor in the spread of this new commodity to other European countries. Germany and France were slow to accept the medicinal value of tea as it was presented by the Dutch. So much emphasis was placed on tea's ability to cure virtually all known ills, that the conservative medical establishments in Germany and France soundly rejected the beverage as a whole. A German medical treatise of 1635 even went so far as to claim its consumption would hasten the death of people over forty!
Despite these controversies, tea drinking did gain certain popularity in these countries. But probably its greatest acceptance was found in England, a country whose manner and personality seem forever tied to its tea drinking tradition. Tea was first introduced to England in the middle 1600's by English aristocrats who, upon traveling to Holland, returned with reports of its pleasant qualities. The first actual sale of tea in England was a Garway's Coffee House in London in 1657. As coffee houses began to proliferate, tea consumption also expanded. Tea's purported medicinal benefits continued to be its primary recommendation, but its presence in the coffee houses rather than only in apothecary shops gave legitimacy to tea as an all purpose drink. By 1702, there were nearly 500 coffee houses in London alone. The coffee shop started by Thomas Twining in 1706 (Tom's Coffee House) in 1717 became the first tea shop, after Twining recognized that the increasing numbers of female tea drinkers offered an unexplored business opportunity. His new tea shop was open to both men and women (unlike the men-only coffee houses) and a long tradition of women gathering over tea was begun.
The early history of tea in England, not unlike its history in other countries, was not without controversy. It was variously accused of being the cause of the country's economic woes, lack of productivity and national impoverishment. A number of influential writers of the time proposed unfounded theories that its consumption led to ill-health and feebleness. But simply too many people had remained committed to tea as a soothing beverage to be enjoyed throughout the day.
Despite tea's embroilment in controversy, it survived as an important commodity in the English economy. The English East India Company, foreseeing the future of this new product, endeavored to replace the Dutch East India Trading Company as England's tea supplier. By 1669, they had convinced the King and Queen to ban imports of tea from the Dutch Trading Company and began importing it directly from the Orient.
This entrepreneurial foresight on the part of the English East India Trading Company would lead to the cultivation of tea in India and Ceylon 100 years later. Although English traders and botanists would spend many years attempting to make Chinese tea plant seeds grow in India, ultimately it would be the success of the native tea plant (or Assam type) which would establish India and Ceylon as the premiere tea growing regions they are today. The Assam plant with its robust resistance to climactic changes, and ability to thrive in high altitudes, would forever distinguish Indian from Chinese tea varieties. China and India remain the dominant tea exporting nations, and the China and Assam types are the two major classifications of tea. Back to Top