Tea was discovered in China, possibly
as early as 2737 BC. It was originally drank for its
herbal medicinal qualities, and was later used as a religious
offering. Tea was spread to Japan by Japanese priests that
were studying in China. The emperor of Japan loved tea so
much that he imported tea seeds from Japan to be planted in
Japan so that tea could become available to more people.
The
History of Tea
Tea finally arrived in England during
the 17th century when the English king married a Portuguese
princess. The Portuguese princess soon made tea a royal
drink. Tea soon became very popular to import via the East
India Company. Tea began to be heavily drank in the
18th century in England even though it was heavily taxed.
The price of tea eventually dropped during the 19th century,
especially when Indian tea started to arrive in very large
quantities.
Tea was first introduced to India by the
British, i an attempt to stop the Chinese monopoly. The
British brought seeds into India, but they immediately failed
because the seeds were endemic to China. The British used
the Chinese planting and cultivation techniques to successfully
plant the seeds in India. Tea only became popular in the
1950's because of the successful advertising by the India Tea
Board. As of now, China is the number one producer of tea,
while India follows close behind. Turkey is the number one
tea drinker out of all the countries by drinking around 6.5 kg of
tea annually. The United States was the 70th largest tea
drinker.
