If the article had possessed but a tithe of the virtues and excellencies accorded to it by the celebrated Garway it must have been recognized at the time as the coming boon to man.
Up to 1660 no mention is made of Tea in the English statute books, although it is cited in an act of the first parliament of the Restoration of the same year, which imposed a tax of “eightpence on every gallon made and sold, to be paid by the maker thereof.” This was subsequently increased to five shillings per pound in the Leaf, which at the time was stated to be “no small prejudice to the article, as well as an inconvenience to the drinker.” Ever since that year the duty on Tea has been one of the hereditary customs of the Crown, though Parliament has at sundry times, by different acts, fixed divers duties upon it.
Pepys alludes to Tea in his Diary, under date of September 25, 1661, the entry reading: “I did send for a cup of Tee, a China drink, of which I never drank before”; and again, in 1667, he further mentions it. “Home, and there find my wife making of Tee, a drink which Mr. Pelling, the Potticary, says is good for her cold.” But that it still must have continued rare, is very evident, as in 1664, it is recorded that the East India Company made the king what was then considered “a brilliant present of 2 lbs. of Tea, costing forty shillings,” and two years later another present of 22 lbs., both parcels being purchased on the Continent for the purpose.
It was not until 1668 that the East India Company is credited with the direct importation of Tea into England, which, although chartered in 1600, for the first time considered Tea worthy their attention as an article of trade. The order sent to their agents in that year was: “for 100 lbs. of the best Tey they could procure to the amount of £25 sterling.” Their instructions must, however, have been considerably exceeded, as the quantity received was 4,713 lbs., a supply which seems to have “glutted the market” for several years after. Up to this time no alarm had been excited that the use of Tea was putting in peril the stalwarthood of the British race. But in the very year of this large importation we find Saville writing to his uncle Coventry, in sharp reproof of certain friends of his “who call for Tea, instead of pipes and wine,” stigmatizing its use as “a base, unworthy Indian practice,” and adding, with an audible sigh, “the truth is, all nations are getting so wicked as to have some of those filthy customs.” Whether from sympathy of the public with these indignant reprehensions or other causes, the whole recorded imports for the six following years amounted to only 410 lbs., the quantities imported continuing small and consisting exclusively of the finer sorts for several years thereafter.
The first considerable shipment of tea reached London about 1695, from which year the imports steadily and rapidly increased until the end of the seventeenth century, when the annual importations averaged 20,000 pounds. In 1703 orders were sent from England to China for 85,000 pounds of Green Tea and 25,000 pounds of Black, the average price at this period ranging from 16 to 20 shillings ($4 to $5) per pound. The Company’s official account of their trade did not commence before 1725, but according to Milburn’s “Oriental Commerce” the consumption in the year 1711 had increased to upwards of 142 million pounds, in 1711 to 121 millions, and in 1720 to 238 million pounds. Since which time there has been nothing in the history of commerce so remarkable as the growth and development of the trade in Tea, becoming, as it has, one of the most important articles of foreign production consumed.
For above a century and a half the sole object of the English East India Company’s trade with China was to furnish Tea for consumption in England, the Company during that period enjoying a monopoly of the Tea trade to the exclusion of all other parties. They were bound, however, “to send orders for Tea from time to time, provide ships for its transportation, and always to keep at least one year’s supply in their warehouses,” being also compelled to “bring all Teas to London, and there offer them at public sale quarterly, and to dispose of them at one penny per pound advance on the gross cost of importation, the price being determined by adding their prime cost in China to the expenses of freight, insurance, interest on capital invested, and other charges.” But in December, 1680, Thomas Eagle of the “King’s Head,” a noted coffee-house in St. James, inserted in the London Gazette the following advertisement, which shows that Tea continued to be imported independently of the East India Company: “These are to give notice to persons of quality that a small parcel of most excellent Tea has, by accident, fallen into the hands of a private person to be sold. But that none may be disappointed, the lowest price is 30 shillings in the pound, and not any to be sold under a pound in weight.” The persons of quality were also requested to bring a convenient box with them to hold it.
The East India Company enjoyed a monopoly of the trade in Tea up to 1834, when, owing to the methods of calculation adopted by the Company, and the heavier expenses which always attend every department of a trade monopoly, the prices were greatly enhanced. Much dissatisfaction prevailing with its management, this system of importing Teas was abolished, the Company being deprived of its exclusive privileges, and the Tea trade thrown open to all.
In all probability Tea first reached America from England, which country began to export in 1711, but it is claimed to have been previously introduced by some Dutch smugglers, no definite date being given. The first American ship sailed for China in 1784, two more vessels being dispatched the following year, bringing back 880,000 pounds of Tea. During 1786-87, five other ships brought to the United States over 1,000,000 pounds. In 1844, the “Howqua” and “Montauk” were built expressly for the Tea trade, being the first of the class of vessels known as “Clippers,” in which speed was sought at the expense of carrying capacity, and by which the average passage was reduced from twenty to thirty days for the round trip. The trade in tea was entirely transacted at Canton until 1842, when the ports of Shanghai, Amoy and Foochow were opened by the treaty of Nankin, the China tea trade being mainly conducted at the latter ports. As late as 1850, all vessels trading in tea carried considerable armament, a necessary precaution against the pirates who swarmed in the China seas during the first half of the last century.
The progress of this famous plant has been something like the progress of Truth, suspected at first, though very palatable to those who had the courage to taste it, resisted as it encroached, and abused as its use spread, but establishing its triumph at last in cheering the world, from palace to cottage, by the resistless effect of time and its own virtues only; becoming a beverage appreciated by all, as well as an agent of progress and civilization.