First Reference To Drinking Tea Found In England

historical-nonfiction:

A shopping list dating back to the 1600s has been found in a West Yorkshire archive. It was made to be given to an apothecary, who would collect the requested items and deliver them to Temple Newsam house near Leeds. Written December 8th, 1644, the list includes a request for 13 bottles of “china drink.“ 

Before this discovery the earliest reference to drinking tea in England was an entry in Samuel Pepys’ diary from 1660.

You could buy it in Exchange Alley. It was not called tea, but Cha. But traders knew about it as far back as the 1620′s. Again, it was called cha. Not tea.