Imported into Europe for the first time by Dutch traders around 1610, what beverage was sold commercially for the first time in Britain around 1660?

This now-common beverage began its European journey as an exotic luxury. The Dutch East India Company first shipped the dried leaves from Asia to Amsterdam around 1610, where it was initially consumed by the wealthy as a medicinal tonic. Its high price and unfamiliar taste kept it a novelty item on the continent for several decades, far from the everyday staple it would later become.

The drink's fortunes changed when it arrived in England, where it was first sold commercially to the public in London coffee houses around 1660. Its popularity truly soared after 1662, when the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza married King Charles II. She brought her love of the beverage to the royal court, instantly establishing it as a fashionable and high-status drink for the aristocracy.

For over a century, it remained an expensive commodity, often kept under lock and key in ornate caddies. The high taxes imposed on it made it a symbol of wealth and a prime target for smugglers, long before it became the affordable daily ritual known across the globe today.