Cha (chä), n. [Chin.
ch‘a.] [Also chaa, chais, tsia,
etc.]
Tea; -- the Chinese (Mandarin) name, used generally in
early works of travel, and now for a kind of rolled tea used in
Central Asia.
A pot with hot water . . . made with the powder of a
certain herb called chaa, which is much esteemed. Tr. J. Van Linschoten's Voyages (1598).
© Webster 1913.