SC - Tea class at next EKU

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Well, so far all the research i've done indicates that

The first mention of tea outside China and Japan is said to be by the 
Arabs in 850 AD

The Arabs were reputed to have brought tea to Europe via the 
Venetians circa 1559.

The first European to personally encounter tea and write about it was 
the Portuguese Jesuit Father Jasper de Cruz in 1560 while he was in 
China.

This contradicts the previous statement, unless the Venetians didn't 
write about it...

I found implications that the Portuguese drank tea in the late 16th 
c. but no direct statements or dates. For example: "Jesuit priests 
travelling on the ships are reputed to have brought the tea drinking 
habit back to Portugal"

However, another source says "...the Portuguese traders who brought 
just about every other type of Oriental delicacy back to Europe in 
the sixteenth century never bothered to establish a commercial trade 
in the teas they sampled in ports like Canton and Amoy."

- ----- End of references to tea in Europe before 1601 -----

Tea reached Europe for the first time in 1610 , carried by the Dutch 
from a trading station in Bantam, Java, where they buy tea from 
Chinese merchants, who speak the Amoy dialect, which for some reason 
explains why we say "tea" and not "cha".

- -- My comment: I can verify that in Malay the word for "tea" is "teh"...

In the early 1600s tea was considered a medicinal beverage and was 
sold mainly in apothecary shops.

The first known reference to tea by an Englishman dates from 1615, 
when a certain Richard Wickham wrote to Macao asking for 'a pot of 
the best sort of chaw'

- -- My comment: This source does not say where Wickham happened to be 
at the time. Seems odd to write for a pot of tea, rather than some 
sort of weight or packet of tea. Doesn't sound too reliable.

The first tea reached Russia as a gift from the Chinese to Tsar Alexis in 1618

In 1637 the Dutch East India Company added tea to their list of goods 
traded regularly.

Until the mid 1600's (seventeenth century), many Britons, especially 
those in the church , were opposed to tea, and felt drinking it was a 
"filthy custom." Henry Saville even warned that the "statue of men 
and the beauty women" would soon be destroyed through the use of tea.

Thomas Garraway or Garway, an English coffeehouse proprietor, is the 
first to sell tea in his store in 1657 or 58, in dry and liquid from 
at his coffee house in Exchange Alley in the City of London.

Charles II made tea fashionable in high society in 1662, when his 
bride, who was Portuguese, and presumably had been drinking tea, 
included in her dowry chests of tea. After this time it became 
popular for London coffee shops to serve tea.

The English East Tea Company imports tea of its own in 1676

In 1680 Madame de la Sabliere, wife of the French poet, introduces 
France to the custom of drinking tea with milk. Pouring the milk into 
the cup of hot tea cooled the tea slightly, making it less apt to 
break her cherished eggshell porcelain tea cups

The tradition of afternoon tea is credited to France, rather than 
England, in around the 1740's. A lady named Madame de Sevigne wrote a 
letter to a friend about a five o'clock tea she had recently 
attended. In the letter, she mentioned her surprise that some people 
took milk in their tea.

- -- My comment: Well odd if Madame de la Sabliere drank tea with milk 
while Madame de Sevigne [Sevigny?] was surprised at it.

Afternoon Tea wasn't introduced in England until the early 1800's. 
Anna, seventh Duchess of Bedford is given credit for beginning the 
tradition. During the long hours between the large English luncheons 
(12:00) and the late English suppers (8:00-9:00 ) she would get a 
"sinking feeling". So she sent to the kitchen to have a pot of tea, 
some bread, butter and cakes sent to her in her boudoir (a ladies 
withdrawing room, not a bedroom.) She is said to have shared her idea 
with friends and by the 1840's, Afternoon Tea had become a widespread 
social event in England. Along with its popularity came very strict 
social rules and customs.

- -- My comment: nothing to indicate common tea drinking in Europe before 1601.

Of course, perhaps the teacher of the class uses 1650 as her cut off 
date - still, i haven't found any evidence of "teas" as an event 
before that time.

Anahita, the skeptical