Tea and British customs

Europeans began to learn about tea in the 16th century, but the first person who introduced tea to Europe was not the Portugal who first arrived on the coast of China, but an Italian scholar named Lamuxue, although he had never seen tea himself. Ramuxue wrote in a book published in 1559 that, according to a Persian, China produces a plant called tea. When boiled in water, it can cure many diseases. The first people to import tea into Europe were the Dutch, about 1610. After tea was introduced to the Netherlands, tea drinking followed. The Netherlands is the first country in Europe to start drinking tea. By the mid-17th century, drinking tea was becoming more popular in the Netherlands.

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the British began to understand tea by translating the works of other Europeans. In 1615, an employee of the British East India Company stationed in Japan wrote to a colleague in Macau, asking him to purchase "a jar of first-class tea." This may be the first Englishman to mention tea. In the mid-17th century, tea was imported into Britain through various channels. In 1657, a coffee shop in London, England, put up such a sign: In the UK, tea is "very rare and precious, selling for as much as 6-10 pounds per pound, so it has always been regarded as a symbol of nobility and luxury. Only princes and nobles can enjoy it";"From now on, this shop sells tea and tea drinks to the public for the first time","the price is only 16-50 shillings per pound." The sign also said that China tea is "good for health and suitable for all ages," and listed more than 10 effects of tea, including refreshing eyesight, strengthening liver and nourishing stomach, nourishing kidney and diuretic, enhancing memory, promoting digestion, treating headaches, preventing malaria, etc. It can be seen that tea was mainly regarded as a medicine at that time. Because of this, a London cafe placed an advertisement in a newspaper on September 30, 1658, emphasizing that tea was "a wonderful drink admired by all doctors." This was also the first tea advertisement to be published in a newspaper in British history.

Just as the trend of tea drinking became popular in Britain, in 1662, Princess Catherine of Portugal married King Charles II of England. Catherine was the first queen in England to love tea, and she made tea drinking a part of court life. Because of this, the British East India Company specially selected a batch of tea and presented it to the British King in 1664. Under Catherine's initiative, British women also adopted tea drinking as a fashion. In this way, the trend of tea drinking has become popular in Britain at a faster rate.

In the UK, tea was originally sold in coffee shops. In 1717, the first specialized teahouse was born in London, called "Golden Lyon". Different from cafes that also sell tea, World Customs Network,"Golden Lyon" serves both male and female guests. One writer once wrote: This teahouse "gathers ladies to savor the wonderful drink in small cups." Since then, similar teahouses have appeared one after another, attracting more men and women. In 1722, an Englishman praised: "Of all the foods or medicines introduced into our country, tea is the best, most pleasant and safest plant."

In the early 18th century, tea had transformed from a luxury to a public drink and entered the homes of ordinary people. Drinking tea has become a daily habit of British people, and Britain has become a "tea-drinking kingdom". In the mid-19th century, the trend of drinking afternoon tea spread in the UK and eventually developed into an integral part of British living customs and cultural traditions. However, due to natural and cultural reasons, the British prefer fermented black tea. They also like to add sugar and milk to their tea to make a tea drink with a unique British flavor.