After organizing her thoughts, Song Ming said, "Let's put it this way. Tea leaves were like porcelain. In ancient times, Europeans had to import tea from China. In 1610, the East India Company in the Netherlands imported a large quantity of tea leaves from China. However, due to the limited freight volume back then, the so-called large quantity was limited.
"Back then, the Netherlands imported tea leaves without understanding what they were used for. Most of them were placed into drugstores and sold as herbs from the mysterious orient.
"There were even two theories that they came up with: one, tea was poison, and second, tea was a precious beverage. This was incessantly debated by both sides.
"Even so, because the quantity of tea leaves was low, the price reached 80 Dutch guilders per pound. One had to know that this was a price that was exempted from tariffs. If the tariffs were added, the price would definitely be higher than gold.
