A shopping list dating back to the 1600s has been found in a West Yorkshire archive. It was made to be given to an apothecary, who would collect the requested items and deliver them to Temple Newsam house near Leeds. Written December 8th, 1644, the list includes a request for 13 bottles of “china drink."
Before this discovery the earliest reference to drinking tea in England was an entry in Samuel Pepys’ diary from 1660.
