Tea travelled from China to Europe on the boats of Dutch and Portuguese travellers at the start of the 17th Century.
This was a key part of the history of tea.
Teas were popular with the British and were auctioned to the wealthy.
The cost of tea was quite high and therefore this meant that only the upper class could afford to drink the beverage.
This new trading between the East and West paved the way for more trade and communication between the two places.
In Europe tea became a status symbol: if you drank you tea, you were well off.
It also opened technological gates and inspired the development of faster boat-crafts called “clippers”.
This meant that tea could be transported from China to Europe much faster than on slow cargo ships
