A short history of tea
Legend has it more than 4,500 years ago, in 2737 BC, the Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung, was sitting underneath a tree while his servant was boiling water.
A leaf from the tree – a wild tea tree – plopped into the pot and he tried the brew and liked it.
A cup of cha
But it was not until the Tang Dynasty, 618 AD-906 AD, that tea became China’s national drink and the word ch’a was used to describe it.
The word ‘tea’ derives from early dialect words like Tchai, Cha and Tay, which were used to describe both the drink and the leaf.
Then when Buddhist priests began moving around, they took cultivation and tea drinking with them.
The first mention of tea outside China and Japan is thought to be by the Arabs in 850 AD and they are said to have brought it to Europe via the Venetians around 1560.
Bringing tea to Europe
However, the Portuguese and Dutch also claim the glory of bringing tea to Europe.
The Portuguese opened the sea routes to China, perhaps as early as 1515.
By 1610 regular shipments of tea were coming into ports in France, Holland and along the Baltic coast.
In the mid to late 17th Century, England entered the trade and our national love affair with the leaf began.
Enjoy tea with us
We serve tea here, so you can enjoy a brew with a breakfast pastry, something for lunch or an afternoon cake while sitting at one of our pavement tables.