Tea (16 page)

During the latter half of the seventeenth century, tea continued to be more of a novelty for the aristocracy than anything else. By
1675
, however, it could also be purchased in food stores, and its popularity continued to grow steadily until, by the end of the seventeenth century, most of the British middle and upper classes were drinking tea daily. It was still expensive, however, and for the working class, tea remained a luxury.

At this point, both black and green tea were being shipped to England. By most accounts, the British imported forty thousand pounds of tea in
1699
, and much of this popularity can be attributed to the availability of sugar. Tea, coffee, and chocolate are all inherently bitter, and the addition of sugar to all these exotic imports made them much more palatable. The upper and middle classes, who could afford it, used refined white sugar, while the lower classes drank less-expensive, poor-quality tea mixed with coarse brown sugar or molasses. A cup of high-quality, sweetened tea was an unusual treat for most people.

In spite of the addition of sugar, tea gradually lost its appeal in France, as wine, chocolate, and coffee gained ground. Its popularity continued to grow in England, however, and, unlike the French, the English gradually began to adopt tea as the beverage of choice at social gatherings, rather than alcohol.

Coffeehouses and Tea Gardens

By
1714
, when George I became king, there was great interest in tea. Britain's great literary figure of the late eighteenth century, Dr. Samuel Johnson (
1709
–
1784
), a famous frequenter of coffeehouses, was an early advocate of tea as well. He wrote, “with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and with tea welcomes the morning.” He also wrote, “Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.” These were fine and stirring words for tea enthusiasts.

Johnson was not the only one to wax poetic over tea. The dramatist Colley Cibber (
1671
–
1757
) wrote in his play
The Lady's Last Stake
, act
1
, scene
1
, “Tea! Thou soft, sober, sage and venerable liquid; thou female tongue-running, smile smoothing, heart opening, wink-tippling cordial, to whose glorious insipidity I owe the happiest moment of my life, let me fall prostrate.”

With a growing demand for tea, more merchants began to carry it in their establishments. Thomas Twining opened a teahouse in
1717
next to his coffeehouse on the Strand. The establishment was remarkable for a couple of reasons: (
1
) he was serving tea and not coffee, and (
2
) he allowed unchaperoned ladies to purchase tea for themselves—a revolutionary idea. Before this innovation, a woman had to send her husband or servant to purchase tea (or anything else) for her, or at least have a male accompany her.

Twining continually worked to improve the taste of the tea blends and varieties that he sold. Playing on the sensibilities of the class-conscious British, he advertised his company as “suppliers to the nobility and gentry” and named his new teahouse The Golden Lyon. By
1734
, Twining had decided that there was a fortune to be made in tea, and he gave up the coffeehouse to concentrate on tea.

The origins of London's private “gentlemen's clubs” can be seen in these coffeehouses where men gathered to drink tea and coffee, discuss business and politics, or simply visit with friends. Throughout the country, members of the working class went to pubs and taverns to drink tea (and ale), but those who lived in London could also go to pleasure gardens or tea gardens to enjoy a cup. Many of these were rowdy places with dancing, games, fireworks, boat rides, Indian jugglers, equestrian entertainments, and circus acts. A few of the more sedate and sophisticated pleasure gardens were for the upper class, however, and women and children of the gentry were allowed to go to these.

The most famous pleasure garden in London was Vaux-hall, which opened in
1732
. Here, men and women could stroll along beautifully landscaped promenades and enjoy tea and tidbits in a pleasant, social setting.

By
1790
, most of the pleasure gardens had closed, but tea, at home and in coffeehouses, teahouses, pubs, and taverns, had become an essential part of life for nearly everyone. It is estimated that laborers were spending approximately
10
percent of their food budget on tea and sugar. Tea with bread and cheese was the main meal of the day for the poor and the working class.

The teapot, elegant or plain, was an important household fixture by the end of the eighteenth century. It held an honored place in both stately mansions and humble cottages and became a symbol of the British love affair with tea, one that crossed class and geographic lines and united people throughout the country.

Why did the British prefer tea to coffee, unlike the rest of Europe? The influence of the East India Company cannot be overlooked. Because the government had granted the company a monopoly, vast fortunes were made in the tea trade, and the men who stood to gain the most were the most enthusiastic about creating the tea craze. The British East India Company had been, for all intents and purposes, forced out of the Mediterranean trade by the French and Dutch, so it was difficult for them to get coffee, which came from primarily from Arabia and Ethiopia, but thanks to the booming Asian trade, they did have a steady supply of tea.

But the drink and the etiquette surrounding it also appealed to the British. They loved it because it was exotic, because it was such an important commodity for their own British East India Company, because it conveyed an aura of something more than just a cup of hot beverage. In the end, who knows precisely what causes fads and fashions, and what causes a fad to become a habit? The British taste for tea, a commodity no longer exotic or aristocratic, is so ingrained within the culture that it has lasted for centuries. It must have more than mere fashion to recommend it!

THE PATH OF TEA
—
FROM CHINESE MOUNTAINTOP TO ENGLISH TABLETOP

Canton

The eighteenth century, which was an exciting time of expansion and discovery for Europeans, and of course particularly the British, was a period of decline in China. Their persistence in traditional patterns made the Chinese resistant to an exchange with the West, whether the exchange was of trade goods or ideas. China's sense of its own superiority to all foreigners included the Western nations. The general feeling in China was that their ruler was the most powerful in the world, that their history was the longest and most noble, and that people of all other nations were inferior and unworthy of diplomatic exchange.

Nevertheless, in
1685
, the emperor of the Qing dynasty (
1644
–
1911
), K'Ang Hsi, decided to open all ports (with stiffduties to safeguard Chinese interests) to Europeans. In
1715
this decision was revoked, however, and all ports except Canton were closed to foreigners as, once again, China turned inward. Trade between China and Europe was restricted to Canton for
160
years. The reasoning was straightforward—it was simply easier for the Chinese to control trade from one location than to try to control several different ports.

These directives, not surprisingly, caused Canton to become a very busy and active trading center in
1715
. Not only the British but also the Dutch, French, Danish, and Swedish traded there, as well as merchants from India and the United States (after
1784
), but it was the British who dominated trade in Canton.

Although the Portuguese and Dutch had done much to establish early trade routes, it was the British who persisted and who remained to take full economic advantage of the trade relations they had established.

The British quickly learned that trading with the Chinese was different from trading with any other country. For one thing, China did not need or want any of the goods that the Europeans had to offer. The Chinese were self-sufficient and showed little interest in Western trade items. They wanted only silver in exchange for the tea, silk, spices, and porcelain exported to England and other parts of Europe. Enormous amounts of silver were being taken from South America and Mexico during this period, and this was shipped to China to pay for luxury trade goods.

The Eight Regulations

Because China remained in a superior trading position, the British were forced to obey what became known as the Eight Regulations. These rules controlled the lives of all foreign traders in Canton, both publicly and privately. Canton is located at the mouth of the Pearl River, where, according to the regulations, warships were not permitted at all. Trade ships had to anchor, load, and unload at the walled city of Whampoa, thirteen miles below Canton. Factories (places of trade) could only be built in specified areas located outside Whampoa, and no women or firearms were allowed inside the factory. No foreigners were allowed within the city walls, and traders could live only in the factories and only during the active trading season from June to December. When the ships left at the end of the year, all Westerners had to leave with them.

There were restrictions on travel, on free time and recreation, on mixing with the Chinese, on almost every aspect of life. But the traders with the East India Company persevered, for, in spite of everything—the frustrations, the regulations, and the difficulties—they were making fortunes buying and selling silk, spices, porcelain, and particularly tea.

Perhaps the regulation that had the greatest influence, in the long run, was that all orders and purchases had to be made through the Hong merchant guild, the Chinese-government-approved wholesalers, also known as the Co-Hong. The greed of both the European and the Chinese traders, coupled with the corruption of the Hong, was to prove to be a deadly combination for China.

Tea Found Only in China

China remained the only place in the world that exported tea, and the Europeans were determined to keep this trade open. European investments in tea during the early seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries involved a great gamble. The profits could be astronomical, as could the losses. Part of the difficulty and uncertainty lay in getting the tea from the mountains of interior China to the ports of England. The path was long, and misfortune could occur at any time.