The best of Queens and best of herbs we owe
To that proud nation which the way did show.”
The earliest mention made of Tea by an Englishman is that contained in a letter from a Mr. Wickham, agent of the East India Company at Firando, Japan, and dated June 27, 1615, to a Mr. Eaton, another officer of the Company, resident at Macao, China, asking for “a pot of the best Cha.” How the commission was executed does not appear, but in Mr. Eaton’s subsequent account of expenditures occurs this item, “Three silver porringers to drink Tea in.” The first person, however, to advocate the use of Tea in Europe was Cornelius Bottrekoe, a professor of the Leyden University, who, in a treatise on “Tea, Coffee and Chocolate,” published in 1649, strongly pronounces in favor of the former, denying the possibility of its being injurious even when taken in immoderate quantities.
Tea was evidently known in England previous to its direct importation there, small quantities having been brought from Holland as early as 1640, but used only on rare occasions. The earliest mention made of it, however, is that contained in a copy of the “Mercurius Politicus,” at present in the British Museum, and dated September, 1658, in which attention is called to “that excellent, and by all Physitians approved, China drink, called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations Tay, sold at the Sultaness Head, a Cophee-house by the Royal Exchange, London.” The most famous house for Tea at this early period, however, was Garway’s, more popularly known for upwards of two centuries as “Garraway’s,” being swept away only a few years ago by the march of improvement. Defoe refers to it as being “frequented only by people of quality, who had business in the city and the wealthier citizens”; but later it became the resort of speculators, and here it was that the numerous schemes which surrounded and accompanied the “Great South Sea Bubble” had their centre, and, appropriately enough, “Garraway’s” was also the headquarters of that most remarkable but disastrous Tea speculation of 1842.
A singular handbill issued by its founder is still extant, being discovered by accident in a volume of pamphlets found in the British Museum, where it may still be inspected. Although the document bears no date, there is ample internal evidence to prove that it must have been printed about 1660. It is a quaint and extraordinary production, purporting to be “An exact description of the leaf Tea, made according to the directions of the most knowing merchants and travelers in those Eastern countries, by Thomas Garway,” setting forth that:—
“Tea is generally brought from China, growing there on little shrubs, the branches whereof are garnished with white flowers of the bigness and fashion of sweetbriar, but smell unlike, and bearing green leaves of the bigness of myrtle or sumac, which leaves are gathered every day, the best being gathered by virgins who are destined for the work, the said leaves being of such known virtues that those nations famous for antiquity, knowledge and wisdom do frequently sell it among themselves for twice its weight in silver. That it hath been used only as a regalia in high treatments and entertainments, presents being made thereof to grandees.”
Proceeding at considerable length to enumerate its “virtues,” many of which are decidedly apocryphal, and attributing to the beverage, among its other properties, that of—
“Making the body active and lusty, helping the headache, giddiness and heaviness, removing the difficulty of breathing, clearing the sight, banishing lassitude, strengthening the stomach, causing good appetite and digestion, vanishing heavy dreams, easing the frame, strengthening the memory, and finally preventing consumption, particularly when drank with milk.”
Many other remarkable properties being credited to this wonderful “Chinese herb,” the advertiser closes his great encomiums by suggesting—
“That all persons of eminence and quality, gentlemen, and others who have occasion for tea in the leaf may be supplied. These are to give notice that the said Thomas hath the same to sell from sixteen to fifty shillings the pound.”