Up to the middle of the seventeenth century ale and beer were the
common drink of all classes; but about that time coffee was
introduced, and coffeehouses became fashionable resorts for gentlemen
and for all who wished to learn the news of the day. Tea had not yet
come into use; but, in 1660, Pepys says in his diary: "Sept. 25. I
did send for a cup of tee, a China drink, of which I never had drank
before."