ABSOLUTELY
First things first......
Tea
Tea is often thought of as being a quintessentially British drink, and they have been drinking it for over 350 years.
In the UK alone some 165,000,000 cups of tea are drunk every day.
But in fact the history of tea is much older. The story of tea begins in China.
According to legend, in 2737 BC, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water, when some leaves from the tree blew into the water.
Shen Nung, a renowned herbalist, decided to try the infusion that his servant had accidentally created. The tree was a Camellia sinensis and the drink was what we now call tea.
Tea drinking certainly became established in China many centuries before it had even been heard of in the west. Containers for tea have been found in tombs dating from the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) but it was under the Tang dynasty (618-906 AD), that tea became established as the national drink of China.
It became such a favourite that during the late eighth century a writer called Lu Yu wrote the first book entirely about tea, the Ch'a Ching, or Tea Classic.
It was shortly after this that tea was first introduced to Japan, by Japanese Buddhist monks who had travelled to China to study.
Portuguese who were living in the East as traders and missionaries were the first to bring tea to Europe. But it was not the Portuguese who were the first to ship back tea as a commercial import.
In fact the Dutch, in the last years of the sixteenth century began to intrude on Portuguese trading routes in the East. By the turn of the century they had established a trading post on the island of Java, and it was from Java in 1606 that the first shipment of tea was sent to Holland.
Tea soon became a fashionable drink among the Dutch, and from there spread to other countries in continental Western Europe, but because of high taxes it remained a drink for the wealthy.
The first dated reference to tea in the UK is from an advert in a London newspaper, from September 1658 which announced that 'China Drink, called by the Chinese, Tcha, by other nations Tay alias, Tee' was on sale at a coffee house in Sweeting's Rents in London.
By the 18th century many wanted to drink tea but could not afford the high prices due to tea tax. Their enthusiasm for the drink was equally matched by the enthusiasm of tea smugglers to get it into the country illegally!
Tea bags were invented in America in the early twentieth century, but sales only really took off in the 1970s. Nowadays it would be hard for many tea-drinkers to imagine life without teabags.
Tea is now the world’s most favourite drink, after water.
Taiwan is famous for Oolong tea and green tea. Bubble Tea or ‘Zhen Zhu Nai Cha’ is black tea mixed with tapioca.
The island was known to Westerners for centuries as ‘Formosa’, a Portuguese word meaning ‘beautiful island’, so tea grown in Taiwan is often identified by that name.
Tea
Tea is often thought of as being a quintessentially British drink, and they have been drinking it for over 350 years.
In the UK alone some 165,000,000 cups of tea are drunk every day.
But in fact the history of tea is much older. The story of tea begins in China.
According to legend, in 2737 BC, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water, when some leaves from the tree blew into the water.
Shen Nung, a renowned herbalist, decided to try the infusion that his servant had accidentally created. The tree was a Camellia sinensis and the drink was what we now call tea.
Tea drinking certainly became established in China many centuries before it had even been heard of in the west. Containers for tea have been found in tombs dating from the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) but it was under the Tang dynasty (618-906 AD), that tea became established as the national drink of China.
It became such a favourite that during the late eighth century a writer called Lu Yu wrote the first book entirely about tea, the Ch'a Ching, or Tea Classic.
It was shortly after this that tea was first introduced to Japan, by Japanese Buddhist monks who had travelled to China to study.
Portuguese who were living in the East as traders and missionaries were the first to bring tea to Europe. But it was not the Portuguese who were the first to ship back tea as a commercial import.
In fact the Dutch, in the last years of the sixteenth century began to intrude on Portuguese trading routes in the East. By the turn of the century they had established a trading post on the island of Java, and it was from Java in 1606 that the first shipment of tea was sent to Holland.
Tea soon became a fashionable drink among the Dutch, and from there spread to other countries in continental Western Europe, but because of high taxes it remained a drink for the wealthy.
The first dated reference to tea in the UK is from an advert in a London newspaper, from September 1658 which announced that 'China Drink, called by the Chinese, Tcha, by other nations Tay alias, Tee' was on sale at a coffee house in Sweeting's Rents in London.
By the 18th century many wanted to drink tea but could not afford the high prices due to tea tax. Their enthusiasm for the drink was equally matched by the enthusiasm of tea smugglers to get it into the country illegally!
Tea bags were invented in America in the early twentieth century, but sales only really took off in the 1970s. Nowadays it would be hard for many tea-drinkers to imagine life without teabags.
Tea is now the world’s most favourite drink, after water.
Taiwan is famous for Oolong tea and green tea. Bubble Tea or ‘Zhen Zhu Nai Cha’ is black tea mixed with tapioca.
The island was known to Westerners for centuries as ‘Formosa’, a Portuguese word meaning ‘beautiful island’, so tea grown in Taiwan is often identified by that name.