Tea: The Drink Known Around the World

15 Tea: The Drink Known Around the World Water is the world's most popular drink. However, tea is a close second. It is consumed by people all over the world, and it easily outsells the other two popular drinks-coffee and cocoa. Consumed in almost every country, tea inspires rituals and brings friends closer. From its accidental beginnings in China nearly 5, 000 years ago, this amazing versatile hot drink has travelled around the world. Accepted folklore has it that the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung discovered tea by accident in 2737 BC. One morning, as he was walking in his garden, a small leaf drifted down from a tea tree and fell into his drinking bowl. The Emperor took a sip from his bowl and the rest, as they say, is history.

Early on, Japanese monks visiting China developed a fondness for tea. They brought it back to Japan where it soon gained a place in the social customs of the time. The Japanese did not immediately begin to grow their own tea. Instead, they relied on imports from China. However, by the 12th century, tea was being cultivated in Japan. The Chinese ambassador to Russia gave the Russians their first taste of tea in the early 1600s. But it wasn't until the end of that century that a booming tea trade was established between the two nations. By the middle of the 17th century, tea had become popular in Europe. Initially, it was treated as a medicinal drink. It was thought to be good for poor digestion and for calming the nerves. A pivotal moment in the history of tea in the West occurred in 1662, with the marriage of a Portuguese princess to the King of England. Although tea was already being consumed in small quantities in England, it was not until Princess Catherine came to England with her love of tea that things really began to take off. For the next 300 years, tea and high society were linked. Tea has come of age since that fateful morning when Emperor Shen Nung first tasted it. There was no way he could have known how his warm drink would travel to distant lands in the coming centuries.