How Did Tea Originate?

It is really remarkable that we still use tea as one of the beverages that man enjoyed thousands of years ago. The Chinese had enjoyed the mildly stimulating effects of tea even since 2000 B.C. The Western waited a long time before it could enjoy the drink, because tea was introduced into Europe only about 300 years before.

Europe and North America began to cultivate the custom of taking tea as a beverage in the early 18th century. For that cause the tea trade with China flourished. Speedy sailboats called "tea clippers" were used to carry the flavored leaves to North America and Europe.

The British found tea bush which were growing wild in Assam, India. Now botanists believe that the tea seeds were brought to China and planted them, because the plants didn't grow wild there as India. The British understood the superior quality of tea of India and large plantations were established. Tea began to cultivate in large proportion in India and Ceylon and became the chief industry that surpassed China by 1940 in the quantity of tea exported. Now a day tea is one of the favorite stimulating beverages in all over the world. The British are the world's greatest tea drinkers; in average an Englishman drinks 4 kilograms of tea in a year.