几百年前,英国人尚不知茶为何物,十七世纪初,印度商人向英国国王贡奉了一公斤中国武夷岩茶,自此英国宫廷的人品起了茶的味道。1689年,英国商人开始直接从中国购买茶叶回国。此后,英国商人陆续到福建厦门采购武夷岩茶,美味甘淳的武夷岩茶很快风靡了英伦三岛。英国最早称茶叶为“Bohea”即为“武夷”之音译。英国和欧洲人对中国茶叶评价甚高,称之为“文世复兴时代诸大发现的意外收获”。 英国最初是在咖啡馆和药房出售茶叶,当时茶价高昂,被视为“奢侈品”,尚未在大众中普及。到十七世纪晚期,中国的茶叶和精美的茶具大量运到英国,茶价逐渐下降,喝茶的人多起来,成为家喻户晓的饮料,也开始改变着英国人的生活习惯。 Hundreds of years ago, the British still did not know what tea was. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Indian businessmen contributed one kilogram of Chinese Wuyi rock tea to the British kings, and the character of the British court played a tea taste. In 1689, British merchants began to buy tea directly from China to return. Since then, the British businessmen have purchased Wuyi Rock in Xiamen, Fujian, Wuyi Yan Gan Gan tea quickly swept the British Isles. The earliest British tea called “Bohea” is the “Wuyi” transliteration. The British and Europeans highly value Chinese tea and call it “the unexpected discovery of the great discoveries in the renaissance of the world”. The United Kingdom initially sold tea leaves at cafes and pharmacies, which were considered “luxury” at that time and were not yet widely available among the general public. By the late seventeenth century, large quantities of tea and fine tea sets were shipped to the United Kingdom, and the price of tea gradually dropped. People who drank tea became more and more household names and began to change British habits.