Drinks of the World

By Garway’s Advertisement we get at one fact, that the use of tea had not been brought into popular use before 1657: a fact which is borne out by that old quid nunc Pepys, who would surely have noticed it, as, indeed, he did as soon as it was brought under his ken. He mentions it in his diary under date 25th Sept., 1661, as being then a novelty, at all events to him. “I did send for a Cup of Tee, a China Drink of which I never drank before.” And again, 28th June, 1667, “Home, and there find my wife making of Tee, a drink which Mr. Pelling the Potticary tells her is good for her cold and defluxions.” So that even then it was not a common drink with people well to do, as we know Pepys was. The old English custom of drinking beer at breakfast died very hard—nay, it is not yet dead—surviving in farm houses in many places in the country, notably in Somersetshire; and when tea became cheap enough to be drank by the middle classes, those beneath them in the social scale indulged in sage tea, and infusions of other home grown herbs.

As it increased in popularity, the poets got hold of it, and numerous were the laudatory verses in Latin respecting its virtues. But, as far as can be found, the earliest English poem about it was by Waller, as under:—

As years went on, its popularity became greater, and it is satisfactory to find by the following extract from Lord Clarendon’s diary, 10th Feb., 1688, that the tea imported was good, and that it was treated properly. “Le Père Couplet supped with me; he is a man of very good conversation. After supper we had tea, which he said was as good as any he had drank in China. The Chinese, who came over with him and Mr. Fraser, supped likewise with us.”

With time, the consumption of tea increased, and its price was much lower; but still, taking the money value in the time of Queen Anne, in relation to our own it was excessively dear, and its value fluctuated much. Black tea varied in 1704 from 12s. to 16s. per pound; in 1706, 14s. to 16s.; in 1707, which seems to have been an exceptionally dear year, 16s., 20s., 22s., 24s., 30s., and 32s. In 1709 it was from 14s. to 28s.; and in 1710, 12s. to 28s. Green tea in 1705 was 13s. 6d.; in 1707, 20s., 22s., 26s.; in 1709, 10s. to 15s.; and in 1710, 10s. to 16s. The difference between new and old is given once; the new tea is 14s., and the old 12s. and 10s.

The margins in price are not only accounted for by difference in age, but it was well known that old leaves were re-dried and used in the cheaper sorts; indeed, there is a very curious advertisement in the advertising portion of the Tatler, Aug. 26th, 1710: “Bohea Tea, made of the same Materials that Foreign Bohea is made of, 16s. a Pound. Sold by R. Fary only, at the Bell in Grace Church Street, Druggist. Note. The Natural Pecko Tea will remain, after Infusion, of a light grey colour. All other Bohea Tea, tho’ there be White in it will Change Colour, and is artificial.”

Tea was now “in Society,” and was made the medium of pleasant little réunions. The accompanying illustration gives a Tea-party, temp. Queen Anne, by which it appears that the cups had no handles at that time, and were of veritable oriental porcelain, and that it was not considered a breach of good manners to drink tea out of saucers.

But even this Eden had its serpent, in the shape of scandal, from which the tea table seemed no freer in the time of Good Queen Anne than our own.[131] “Thus they take a sip of Tea, then for a draught or two of Scandal to digest it, next let it be Ratifia, or any other Favourite Liquor, Scandal must be the after draught to make it sit easie on their Stomach, till the half hour’s past, and they have disburthen’d themselves of their Secrets, and take Coach for some other place, to collect new matter for Defamation.”

An anonymous poet of that time sings thus of the tea table:—

Peter Motteux, in the same reign (1712), wrote “A Poem in Praise of Tea;” but his theme may, after all, only have been taken to advertise his East India Warehouse in Leadenhall Street. He says:—

As years went on, the poets still sung its praises; and the following portion of “Tea Drinking” brings us down to 1752, by which time it was a necessity in polite society:—

But, although some wrote in praise of it, there was a class of people who were opposed to its use, and one of them was the celebrated Jonas Hanway, of umbrella fame. Possessed of a competence, he had nothing particular to do, so he turned philanthrope. He took up the cause of the Marine Society, he was a Governor of the Foundling Hospital, and he founded a Magdalen Hospital, which is now at Streatham. These things, however, did not fully occupy his time, and he scribbled de omnibus rebis: among other things, about Tea, against which he had a great aversion. In 1757 he wrote “An Essay on Tea, considered as pernicious to Health, obstructing Industry, and impoverishing the Nation; also an Account of its Growth, and great Consumption in these Kingdoms.”

Judged from our present standpoint, it was a farrago of rubbish and false arguments, and he recommends “Herbs of our own growth in lieu of Tea.” He gives a list of plants which he thinks useful for the purpose:—Ground Ivy, plain, or with a few drops of lemon Balm, or lemon Balm alone, or mixed with Sage, and Lavender flowers; Lavender itself; the fresh tops of Thyme; Mint; the flowery tops of Rosemary, by themselves, or mixed with Lavender; Penny royal and Lavender; Horehound; Trefoil flowers; Sorrel; Angelica; Sage; Cowslips; and recommends a drink, which he occasionally used himself, made of Ground Ivy and stick Liquorice.

This roused the ire of no less a person than Dr. Samuel Johnson, who, as “a hardened and shameless tea drinker; who has for many years diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnights, and with tea welcomes the morning,”[132] could not sit still, and have his favourite beverage abused. So he wrote a review of Hanway’s Essay, and demolished it. Johnson certainly was an immoderate and enthusiastic tea drinker, and somewhat a tyrant over it, as Mrs. Piozzi rather ruefully relates. “By this pathetic manner, which no one ever possessed in so eminent a degree, he used to shock me from quitting his company, till I hurt my own health not a little by sitting up with him, when I was myself far from well; nor was it an easy matter to oblige him even by compliance, for he always maintained that no one forebore their own gratifications for the sake of pleasing another; and if one did sit up, it was, probably, to amuse one’s self. Some right, however, he certainly had to say so, as he made his company exceedingly entertaining, when he had once forced one, by his vehement lamentations and piercing reproofs, not to leave the room, but to sit quietly, and make tea for him, as I often did in London till four o’clock in the morning.”

When dining one day with William Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell), Johnson told a little story of Garrick and his tea drinking. “I remember drinking tea with him long ago, when Peg Woffington made it, and he grumbled at her for making it too strong.” But the names of worthy and eminent tea drinkers are legion, and its virtues are so patent that even our Legislators have a room set apart in the Houses of Parliament for the discussion of it and other matters.

One or two words only, before concluding the subject of tea, and those are to show how to make a good cup of tea.

The teapot should be thoroughly warmed, and the tea put into it before the addition of the water, which should just have come to the boil, and not have been boiling for any length of time. After standing about three minutes it should be ready for drinking. No second water should be used. A sufficiently large teapot, or teapots, should be provided, and if the quantity required exceeds the supply, then fresh tea should be made.

Tea drinking has been stigmatised by some as slow poisoning; and in one of Hood’s works we are treated to a pictorial representation of “Sloe poison.”

J. A.