The History of Tea
Written by Pam Preedy.
“A nice cup of tea” was the panacea for all ills. For women, at a time when they were expected to remain in the home, it opened the way for a good gossip; a chance to mull over their problems with a friend(s). According to legend, the story of tea began in 2737 BC when Shen Numg, the Chinese emperor and herbalist was sitting under a tree while his servant boiled driving water. Some leaves fell into the water, he tasted it, and so tea was invented.
Whether the story is true or not, tea drinking was established in China long before it came to the West. Containers for tea were found in tombs dating from the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD), and by the Tang dynasty (618-906AD) tea drinking was firmly established in China.
In the late eighth century, writer Ly Yu produced the Ch’a Ching or Tea Classic. shortly afterwards, Japanese Buddhist monks introduced tea drinking from China to Japan: the Tea Ceremony was born in Japan.
In 1606 the first consignment of tea was shipped from China to Holland via Java. It soon became a fashionable drink in Holland and spread to other Western European countries. It was a drink for the wealthy, kept in upper-class British homes in tea caddies locked and guarded by the lady of the house.
It was made popular by the wife of King Charles II, Catherine of Braganza (married in 1662). She enjoyed Chinese tea known as ‘Tchaa’.
By 1660 London coffee house owner Thomas Garway advertised the sale and brew of tea and by 1700 tea was being sold by grocers and tea shops in London and by the 1770s the price of black tea became cheaper and more popular than green tea. Originally it was served without milk in a handleless cup.
Tea was already used in India in 1662 when it was noted that it was in semi-medical use. In Indian Food A Historical Companion by Achaya K.T. noted that tea was commonly used not only all over the Indies, but also among the Dutch and the English, who take “it as a drug that cleanses the stomach, and digests the superfluous humours, by temperate heat particular thereto.”
In 1689, it was recorded that tea was taken in Surat (Gujarat state) without sugar or milk, or mixed with a small number of conserved lemons and that tea with some spices added was used against headaches, gravel and gripe.
The British East India Company began large-scale production of tea in Assam in the early 1820s using local tea crops. The first English tea garden was established at Chabua in upper Assam. In 1840 the Assam Tea Company was established. It began the commercial production of tea from the 1850s; the tea industry rapidly expanded, consuming vast tracts of land.
By 1900, Assam was the leading tea-producing region in the world, growing tea as a cash crop and a monocrop. In an attempt to introduce tea into India, British colonizers noticed that tea plants with thicker leaves also grew in Assam, and these, when planted elsewhere in India, responded well.
The colonial tea industry was founded on indentured labour. The British kidnapped labourers and forced them to work on the tea plantations for little or no pay, a practice which earned them the offensive name “coolie catchers”. This especially impacted women, as tea cutting was seen as “women’s work” though they received less pay despite being coerced into producing more.
The British tea industry was described as: “The hunger, the sweat and the despair of a million Indians!“.
At first, tea had been a high-status drink, but as it became cheaper, it increased in popularity among the working classes, particularly the Temperance movement as an alternative to beer; using boiling water to render it safe.
So, why not put the kettle on and contemplate the story of tea!
Originally published in Life in Bromley magazine (Issue 35, January 2025)