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While the first Chinese book about tea was written as early as 800 A.D., it would take until 1560 before any European wrote about his tea drinking experiences – at least as far as the historians know. The first known European to exhaustively write about his tea experiences was Portuguese Jesuit Father Jasper de Cruz. He was a missionary sent from Portugal to China where he tried the fascinating brew for the first time. Portugal was a dominating seafaring country at the time and when de Cruz tasted his first cup of tea in 1556, Portugal had very recently gained the first right of trade with the Chinese empire. Early European caravan leaders had mentioned tea before, but only swiftly and they were usually quite confused regarding its proper use. One source does for instance claim that tea leaves should be boiled, salted, covered in butter and eaten.

The Portuguese eventually developed a trade route between Europe and China and begun to import tea to Lisbon. From Lisbon, the tea was transported to the rest of Europe by Dutch seafarers. France, Holland and the Baltic countries were all comparatively large importers of tea from Lisbon.

In 1602, the alliance between Portugal and Holland was altered and Holland used their first-rate navy to start up their own Pacific trade route. Tea soon grew immensely popular in Hague where it was enjoyed not only by the court, but by wealthy Dutch families as well. During this period, one pound of tea would cost over $100 in Hague. As the quantities of imported tea increased, the price gradually decreased and eventually European apothecaries began to include tea in their assortment of supposedly healing compounds. By 1675, you could purchase tea even in food shops in Holland.

Until the middle of the 17th century, France and Holland were the two main tea consuming countries in Europe, but tea soon caught on in the rest of Europe as well. The tea fancy was a part of a much larger interest in all oriental things, including herbs, spices and exotic clothing. In 1680, adding milk to tea is mentioned in writing for the first time.