Tuscan tea

17:33 Jan 17, 2012 

makes sense and I agree with you. I think you are right on the point that Dutch-speaking people don't make the association.

16:25 Jan 17, 2012 

Tea was valuable for a long time in England. To the point where extremely sweetened tea (sugar was also expensive) became quite a fashionable thing to drink (18th century). Hence the outrage about the Boston Tea Party (where they threw a whole cargo of tea in the harbour because taxes had been raised on the tea, making it even more expensive; that's the short story). Tea caddies are still an item that crops up quite often in English antique shows. It is usually a box (various types of wood, depending on the pecuniary status of the owner), lined with velours and with a lock so as to prevent people from stealing the contents of it. A kind of cigar box but locked. The lady of the house or the house keeper would usually have the key.
But whether this would really filter through in the Dutch is another matter. 'Bruin goud' is ok, but I don't think Dutch-speaking people associate tea with money in the same way as English speakers.