who introduced tea in england?

Answer 1

The first sample of tea was brought to England between 1652-1654 by the English East India company. King Charles II and Catherine De Braganza, his wife,were confirmed tea drinkers and after the Restoration when they were restored to the English throne they established their love of tea drinking and the rest is history. Now go and put the kettle on.

Answer 2

Tea was first introduced into to England Between 1652 - 1654. It Sought to replaced the National drink of England which was ale sold in local ale houses. R.L Wickham was in charge of the East India Company agency at Firando, Japan. Who was the first to achieve the distinction of supplying the first reference to Tea by an Englishman.

King Charles II Married, while in Exile the Portuguese Infanta Catherine DE Braganza (1662) Charles himself had grown up in the Dutch Capital. As a result both he and his Bride were confirmed Tea drinkers. When the Monarchy were Re-established the two rules brought this foreign Tea tradition to England with them

Answer 3

The answer is indeed Charles II the tea was brought from China and Japan via the Dutch.

What isn't commonly known is a very brave Scotsman by the name of Sir Robert Fortune dressed up as a Chinese man and under penalty of instant death sneaked all the way into the foothills of the Himalayas to steal some tea plants from the Chinese.
Why?
Chinese had the monopoly on tea production and thus demanded extortionate prices. They refused to budge and accepted only silver for tea. The British would have been bankrupted within a year so what they had to do was sell the Chinese opium, then buy tea with that money. Opium of course was well-established in China and India for hundreds of years before the British- it was traditionally grown in Afghanistan and still is today.

The reason opium was banned was because the Chinese officials knew the British were selling it and didn't want their people to be paying the British to effectively export their incredibly valuable commodity- tea.

Solution? Brave horticulturist and botanist Robert Fortune who spoke fluent mandarin recruited two Chinese he could trust and they set off with Fortune disguised as an imperial court official, rode the Yangtze all the way up, nicked some tea plants and smuggled them first to England, then to Darjeeling in India.
Fortune then had the problem of harvesting, so he ventured back into China and convinced some Chinese to have a better life in India if they worked for him and they quite cheerfully left- being treated as sub-slaves as they were in Imperial China.

Tea in India, Ceylon and Java originates from the finest specimens Robert Fortune took from under the very noses of the Chinese.
The British then sought to diversify their production and established plantations in Ceylon, The Dutch established plantations in Bogor, Java.

The British then ended the opium trade as it was no longer necessary and the Chinese economy collapsed instantly as it no longer had a monopoly on tea production.
Robert Fortune brought back many Chinese and Asian plants to good old Blighty and earned himself a knighthood for his daring.

So have an Earl Grey on me. Black, no sugar thanks sweety.

Answer 4

I've read the article quoted by doctor_dru and read numerous other articles. He's the only person here who's quoted a source for any research, however, I can't find any definitive answer to your question.
There is documented trade for opium from Bengal (India) with tea from China, this goes back to the 17 century.
If you read James Clavells novel Tai-Pan (based in Hong Kong during the 1840's), there are the seeds of a theory that someone in Hong Kong arranged for tea plants to be stolen from China and shipped to India.

Answer 5

It is unclear whether tea arrived in England or America first. Samples arriving in London are recorded in 1652 yet the first evidence of any sale of tea does not appear until 1657, when Thomas Garaway (famous for his Coffee House in Exchange Alley, London) held a public sale. Much was made of the health giving properties of the beverage and prices ranged from £6.00 to £10.00 per pound

Answer 6

Marco Polo brought tea from China

Answer 7

Charles II had a wife named Catherine who was Portugese, and it happened that tea had made it to Spain by the time Catherine married Charles II. It was 1662 when Catherine brought tea over to England and introduced it to the people of this country.

Answer 8

Worzel Gummidge

Answer 9

Not sue eiyher Christopher Columbus or Walter Raliegh The Victorians were very een on it. Try discovery

Answer 10

Thomas Lipton I guess!!

De he introduce tea to Earl Grey ?