c. 1560.—"Whatsoever person or persones come to any mans house of qualitee, hee hath a custome to offer him in a fine basket one Porcelane ... with a kinde of drinke which they call cha, which is somewhat bitter, red, and medicinall, which they are wont to make with a certayne concoction of herbes."—Da Cruz, in Purchas, iii. 180.
1565.—"Ritus est Japoniorum ... benevolentiae causâ praebere spectanda, quae apud se pretiosissima sunt, id est, omne instrumentum necessarium ad potionem herbae cujusdam in pulverem redactae, suavem gustu, nomine Chia. Est autem modus potionis ejusmodi: pulveris ejus, quantum uno juglandis putamine continetur, conjiciunt in fictile vas ex eorum genere, quae procellana ([Porcelain]) vulgus appellat. Inde calenti admodum aquâ dilutum ebibunt. Habent autem in eos usus ollam antiquissimi operis ferream, figlinum poculum, cochlearia, infundibulum eluendo figlino, tripodem, foculum denique potioni caleficiendae."—Letter from Japan, of L. Almeida, in Maffei, Litt. Select. ex India, Lib. iv.
1588.—"Caeterum (apud Chinenses) ex herba quadam expressus liquor admodum salutaris, nomine Chia, calidus hauritur, ut apud Iaponios."—Maffei, Hist. Ind. vi.
" "Usum vitis ignorant (Japonii): oryzâ exprimunt vinum: Sed ipsi quoque ante omnia delectantur haustibus aquae poene ferventis, insperso quem supra diximus pulvere Chia. Circa eam potionem diligentissimi sunt, ac principes interdum viri suis ipsi manibus eidem temperandae ac miscendae, amicorum honoris causae, dant operam."—Ibid. Lib. xii.
1598.—"... the aforesaid warme water is made with the powder of a certaine hearbe called chaa."—Linschoten, 46; [Hak. Soc. i. 157].
1611.—"Of the same fashion is the cha of China, and taken in the same manner; except that the Cha is the small leaf of a herb, from a certain plant brought from Tartary, which was shown me when I was at Malaca."—Teixeira, i. 19.
1616.—"I bought 3 chaw cups covered with silver plates...."—Cocks, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 202, [and see ii. 11].
1626.—"They vse much the powder of a certaine Herbe called Chia, of which they put as much as a Walnut-shell may containe, into a dish of Porcelane, and drinke it with hot water."—Purchas, Pilgrimage, 587.
1631.—"Dur. You have mentioned the drink of the Chinese called Thee; what is your opinion thereof?... Bont. ... The Chinese regard this beverage almost as something sacred ... and they are not thought to have fulfilled the rites of hospitality to you until they have served you with it, just like the Mahometans with their Caveah (see [COFFEE]). It is of a drying quality, and banishes sleep ... it is beneficial to asthmatic and wheezing patients."—Jac. Bontius, Hist. Nat. et Med. Ind. Or. Lib. i. Dial. vi. p. 11.
1638.—"Dans les assemblées ordinaires (à Sourat) que nous faisions tous les iours, nous ne prenions que du Thè, dont l'vsage est fort cummun par toutes les Indes."—Mandelslo, ed. Paris, 1659, p. 113.