The first tea imported into England was a package of two pounds, by the East India Company, in 1664, as a present to the king; in 1667, another small importation took place, from the company's factory at Bantam. The directors ordered their servants to "send home by their ships 100 pounds weight of the best tey they could get." In 1678 were imported 4,713 lbs.; but in the six following years the entire imports amounted to no more than 410 lbs. According to Milburn's "Oriental Commerce," the consumption in 1711 was 141,995 lbs.; 120,595 lbs. in 1715, and 237,904 lbs. in 1720. In 1745 the amount was 730,729 lbs. For above a century and a half, the sole object of the East India Company's trade with China was to provide tea for the consumption of the United Kingdom. The company had the exclusive trade, and were bound to send orders for tea, and to provide ships to import the same, and always to have a year's consumption in their warehouses. The teas were disposed of in London, where only they could be imported, at quarterly sales. The act of 1834, however, threw open the trade to China.
From a Parliamentary return, showing the quantity of tea retained for home consumption in the United Kingdom, in each year, from 1740 to the termination of the East India Company's sales, and thence to the present time, it appears that in 1740, 1,493,695 lbs. of tea were retained for home consumption. Two years afterwards, the quantity fell to 473,868 lbs., and in 1767 only 215,019 lbs. were retained. Next year the amount increased to 3,155,417 lbs.; in 1769 it was 9,114,854 lbs.; in 1795, 21,342,845 lbs.; in 1836, 49,842,236 lbs.
The return in question also specifies the quantity of the various kinds of tea, with the average sale prices.
According to the annual tea reports of Messrs. W.J. Thompson and Son, and Messrs. W.E. Franks and Son, the total imports of tea during the last fifteen years were as follows, reckoned in millions of lbs.:—
| Years. | Black. | Green. | Total. | Home Consumption. |
| 1838 | 26,786 | 8,215 | 35,001 | 36,415 |
| 1839 | 30,644 | 7,680 | 38,324 | 36,351 |
| 1840 | 21,063 | 7,161 | 28,224 | 31,716 |
| 1841 | 24,915 | 6,303 | 31,218 | 36,811 |
| 1842 | 31,915 | 9,729 | 41,644 | 37,554 |
| 1843 | 39,513 | 7,340 | 46,853 | 39,902 |
| 1844 | 39,644 | 8,749 | 48,393 | 41,176 |
| 1845 | 39,518 | 11,790 | 51,338 | 44,127 |
| 1846 | 44,017 | 12,486 | 55,503 | 47,534 |
| 1847 | 46,887 | 8,368 | 55,255 | 46,247 |
| 1848 | 37,512 | 7,611 | 45,123 | 48,431 |
| 1849 | 43,234 | 9,156 | 52,400 | 50,100 |
| 1850 | 39,873 | 8,427 | 48,300 | 51,000 |
| 1851 | 62,369 | 9,131 | 71,500 | 54,000 |
| 1852 | 55,525 | 9,175 | 64,700 | 54,724 |
The duty on tea was gradually raised from 9d. per lb. in 1787 to 3s. a lb. in 1806. It was 2s. 2d. per lb. until May, 1852, when 4d. per lb. was taken off, and further annual reductions are to be made. Down to the year 1834 the duty was an ad valorem one of 96 per cent. on all teas sold under 2s. a lb., and of 100 per cent. on all that were sold at or above 2s., charged on the prices which they brought at the East India Company's sales. The ad valorem duties ceased on the 22nd of April, 1834, and under the act 3 and 4 William IV. c. 100, all tea imported into the United Kingdom for home consumption was charged with a customs as follows:—
| Bohea | 1s. | 6d. | per lb. |
| Congou, twankay, hyson skin, orange pekoe, and campoi | 2 | 2 | per lb. |
| Souchong, flowery pekoe, hyson, young hyson, gunpowder, imperial, and other teas not enumerated | 3 | 0 | per lb. |
In 1836, the uniform duty of 2s. 1d. per lb. on all descriptions of tea was imposed, which, with the additional 5 per cent, imposed in 1840, made the total duty levied per lb. 2s. 2d. and a fraction.
During the years from 1831 to 1841, in spite of an increase of nearly three millions in the population of the country, and notwithstanding the impetus given to the tea-trade by the abolition of the East India Company's monopoly in 1833, the increased consumption was only 6,675,566 lbs. Great as the increase has been of late years, however, it is very far short of what we might expect to see were the duty reduced to a moderate per centage on the value of the article as it comes from the Chinese merchant. In Jersey and Guernsey, where there is no duty on tea, the average consumption is 4½ lbs. per head per annum. The same rate for the United Kingdom would require an annual importation of nearly 150 million lbs. I asserted, many months ago, if the duty could be gradually reduced from its present exorbitant amount to 1s. per lb., the revenue would not suffer much, whilst the comfort of the people would be much increased, and our trade with China greatly improved.
| Years. | Teas Imported, lbs. | Entered for Home Consumption, lbs. |
| 1843 | 42,779,265 | 35,685,262 |
| 1844 | 50,613,328 | 41,176,00 |
| 1845 | 53,570,267 | 44,127,000 |
| 1846 | 57,584,561 | 46,554,787 |
| 1847 | 55,255,000 | 50,921,486 |
| 1848 | 47,774,755 | 48,735,696 |
| 1849 | 53,460,751 | 50,024,688 |
| 1850 | 50,512,384 | 51,178,215 |
| 1851 | 71,466,421 | 53,965,112 |
| 1852 | 66,361,020 | 54,724,615 |