Gyorgy Sajo rose quietly and spake the following:

> Derek > wrote in message >...
>> Gyorgy Sajo rose quietly and spake the following:
>>
>>> In 1644 the Manchus came to power in China. They preferred to drink
>>> black tea with milk, and this habit spred quickly to Europe, together
>>> with the first shipments of tea. From the above follows that the
>>> Europeans most probably received black/red tea from China.
>>
>> Except, the Dutch started importing tea almost 50 years earlier.
>>
>> It's more likely that this habit spread quickly to England, which started
>> importing the beverage around 1650.
>
> You are right about the Dutch being the first to import tea to Europe,
> and that in pre-Manchu China they possibly did not experience the
> habit of drinking black tea with milk. However, according to my source
> (Evans' book), some fifty years later they were the first to introduce
> it to Europe:
>
> "Manchu-style milk-tea had astounding repercussions; in fact, it
> became the most popular tea outside of China. (...) Following the
> publication of a descripition of the Dutch Embassy of Captain Moor
> Mautzuiker, Peter de Goyer, and Jacob de Keyser to China on August 8,
> 1656, which spoke of adding milk to tea, the novel Melkthee [English:
> milk tea] appeared at fairs in Holland and Friesland. From there it
> gained the rest of Europe."

Works for me.

--
Derek

Mediocrity takes a lot less time and most people won't notice the
difference until it's too late.