As legend has it, the emperor Shen Nung was sitting under a Camellia sinensis tree and leaves blew into his cup which was filled with boiling water. Upon trying this new concoction, Shen Nung was surprised to discover the drinks refreshing taste and thus, the first cup of tea was created. Now tea is a household staple around the world.

Tea was later established as Chinas national drink during the Tang Dynasty (618-906) and the first book ever written about tea was during the eighth century by Chinese writer Lu Yu called Ch’a Ching or Tea Classic. At first tea was primarily used for medicinal properties before its popularity grew into the everyday drink we know and love today.

It was also during the Tang dynasty that Japanese monks first brought tea back to Japan. Here, it was warmly embraced and the famous Japanese tea ceremony was born. For more information about Japanese tea ceremonies click here.

It’s hard to imagine Britain without tea but the Brits were a bit late to the [tea] party. Tea was first brought to Europe by Portuguese merchants who had been living in Asia. However, it was actually the Dutch who first saw the commercial potential of tea and who started shipping tea as a commercial import in 1610. It wasn’t until around 1650, that tea came to Britain. However, it took a while for it to really become popular and the Brits only really embraced tea after Charles II married Catherine of Braganza, a princess from Portugal and an avid tea lover.

Unfortunately, due to the expensive nature of tea, it remained a delicacy which only the wealthy could afford. Due to high taxes on tea in the 1770’s, it spurned a rise in illegal smuggling of the drink. Getting a good cuppa really was hard work! It wasn’t until the obscene taxation was overhauled in 1784 going from 119% down to 12.5% did tea become affordable and the tea smuggling industry came to an end.

Another accidental discovery also marked the history of tea. When tea samples were shipped in silk bags by Thomas Sullivan, a New York merchant, his customers thought both the bag and the tea were supposed to go into the teapot together. Proving to be quite an effective way of making the drink, the handy tea bag was thus invented!

Tea is now the 2nd most widely consumed beverage in the world, next only to water.