In Japan, the owner of an inn or restaurant specializing in serving teas.
"Here was the highway to the capital, and a road running along the mountainside wide enough for two horses to pass each other. Here too was a teahouse thatched with straw and built up of cryptomeria branches woven together. A sign said 'Finest Home-brew Here,' but the rice paste was many days old and dust had deprived it of its whiteness. On a side counter were tea brushes, clay dollas, and dancing-drummer dolls—and reminiscent of Kyoto and therefore a tonic to the weary travelers, who rested there awhile. Moemon and Osan enjoyed it so that, upon leaving they offered the old innkeeper one piece of gold. But he scowled unappreciatively, like a cat that is shown an umbrella. 'Please pay me for the tea,' he demanded, and they were amused to think that less than fifteen miles from the capital there should be a village which had not yet heard of gold pieces."
Ihara Saikaku, Five Women Who Loved Love (1686).
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