Where Tea Was Found As A Drink And Other Amazing Facts About It

Thursday, June 17th, 2010 at 3:36 am

Tea is a product of leaves from the camellia sinensis plant where it is cured in a variety of different methods. What most people are familiar with, is loose leaf tea or organic black tea which is made with boiling water to make a nice tasting hot drink. Tea is the second most consumed beverage behind water in the world and many people enjoy drinking it warm or iced and cold. There are many types of tea and the most frequently used ones are white, black, green yellow and oolong. Even though the different varieties all come from the same plant, the methods and the parts of the plant in drying them are different producing various taste and aroma. The other popular type of tea is an herbal one which has no caffeine and is made from leaves, flowers, fruits and herbs and doesn’t have any parts of the camellia sinensis plant in it.

The Yunnan Province of China is referred as the birthplace of tea where people living in this area discovered that eating the leaves from the tea plant and also brewing it with water are delicious and quite pleasant. China is also proud to claim that they have the world’s most ancient tea tree which is said to be 3,200 years old. Green tea is one of the favorite blends that come from China and has been said to have health benefits as well as helps to curb an appetite.

There are a few interesting myths surrounding the start of drinking or consuming tea leaves. One is based on Shennong who was the Emperor of China in addition to being the inventor of agriculture and Chinese medicine. One legend says that he was drinking a bowl of water in 2737 B.C. when some leaves from a plant closeby blew into his bowl changing the color. He tried it and discovered it had a nice flavor. Another myth was that he often was testing different herbs and plants for their medicinal effects and sometimes the herbs he tried were poisonous. He would then drink boiled water with tea leaves to erase the poison he had ingested.

In other nations and cultures, tea was consumed for different reasons, for example, in India, it was originally consumed for medicinal purposes. It was first noted to be used as a medicine in 500 B.C. In fact so much tea was consumed in India that it was the leading country of tea consumption for 100 years until it was passed by China during the 21st century.

In Japan, tea was first drank in religious classes in the country when different priests were sent to China to be educated about different things about the Chinese culture. Britain, also became consumers of tea a long time ago and it is highly consumed today still. It was originally a beverage saved only for the wealthy people but now is widely consumed in the afternoons with milk and sugar for many residents living in Great Britain.

Share and Enjoy: