Tea plantation in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.
The importing of tea into Britain began in the 1660s with the marriage of King Charles II with the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza where she brought to the court the habit of drinking tea.[35] In the same year Samuel Pepys records drinking "a china drink of which I had never drunk before".[35] It is probable that early imports came via Amsterdam or through sailors on eastern boats.[35]
Regular trade began in Guangzhou (Canton).[35] Trade was controlled by two monopolies: the Chinese Hongs (trading companies) and the British East India Company.[35] The Hongs acquired tea from 'the tea men' who had an elaborate supply chain into the mountains and provinces where the tea was grown.[35]
The East India Company brought back many products, of which tea was just one, but it was to prove one of the most successful.[35] It was initially promoted as a medicinal beverage or tonic.[35] By the end of the seventeenth century tea was taken as a drink, albeit mainly by the aristocracy.[35] In 1690 nobody would have predicted that by 1750 tea would be the national drink.[35]
