Ahhh, the love of tea!
Hippocrates once was noted as saying: “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food”.
Next to water, tea is the most consumed beverage in the world. How many people drink tea in the United States alone? About 158 million per day. That’s a lot of tea!
A pure simple leaf (Camellia Sinensis). Where did it all begin? That answer is not always factual or simple but I will do my best to explain a few things and give you some history.
Clifford explains the origin of the name and the specific plant involved in how and why tea is so appealing. 
The first stories of tea
In ancient China, a long, long time ago (people say 2737 BC) an emperor whose name was Shen Nung, a divine healer, was kneeling in front of a fire boiling water, the wind blew and leaves fell from a tree above him and into his boiling water. The scent was intriguing so he took a sip and there it was. The first sip of tea and the first tea story.
If the leaves were tea leaves they had to be unfermented making this drink the first green tea drink in history.
The following is my favorite tale of the creation of tea.
An herbalist from the Chinese culture studying herbs was said to know 100,000 healing properties of different herbs. He was passing the information down to his son; however, he was only able to pass on 80,000 of the properties before he would die. He told his son to visit his grave in five years and the other 20,000 would be there waiting for him. His son did as his father asked and visited his gravesite five years later. On the side of his father’s grave was a tea bush! That tea bush was the answer to the other 20,000 healing properties of herbs.
These are fun, mystical stories and their reality could be questioned. I choose to enjoy the stories and dream of the day that tea was first created.
During the early years, tea was used medicinally. It was many years after its discovery that tea became a drink to enjoy and share. Tea is still used medicinally as it has many healing properties. More and more people are turning to tea because it is an enjoyable beverage as well as helping heal our body and soul.
Today we have scientific proof of how good the Camellia Sinensis plant is. We are learning new evidence every day about the health benefits of tea.
Tea historical facts:
- Tea is said to have started in China
- Chinese monks worshipped the entire process of tea. They gave the tea as gifts.
- Monks would drink the tea to help them stay awake during long hours of meditation.
- Taoists used tea in their immortality elixir.
- Japanese Tea is considered to be from the gifts of the Chinese monks.
- In the 1600’s Dutch East India Trading Company was shipping tea to Europe.
- Russians received several chests of tea as gifts around 1618.
- In Europe tea was for the royal and rich, costing over 100 dollars per pound.
- One of the earliest recorded tea parties was in America in 1674.
- In 1773 Sons of Liberty had their own tea party and threw 32 cases of tea into the Boston Harbor.
- India, which is responsible for Darjeeling, Assam, and Nilgiri teas, was discovered around 1830. This tea was already freely growing in the fields.
- India has over 2,000 tea producers and is one of the largest producers of tea.
- There are herbs that can be brewed like teas and are most often referred to as tea but are not. Herbs brewed are called tisanes. Tisane is a French word that means “ herbal infusion”.
Can you grow tea in the United States? This book will show you the yes and the no's to growing tea. 
The origin of tea
The origin of tea is simple to find. As far as we can tell all tea comes from a single leaf and that leaf originated in areas of China considered Northern Myanmar. This also includes the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan. The way tea is processed depends on its unique flavor.
China was a very closed nation and it was years if not many years before tea left the area of China. It was passed into other areas by monks who gave the tea as a gift.
Later tea was exported from China to Japan, Iran, and India. Then in the 1600s Dutch merchants imported teas into Holland. From Holland tea spread throughout Europe.
Tea played a valuable role in the First Opium War and American Revolution. England was growing opium in India and selling that opium to China. In turn, Chinese tea was imported to Britain. China wanted out of the Opium trade, realizing the addiction and other issues, and the First Opium Warsaw China was defeated by the British. Hong Kong then became the port for the merchants to sell and trade.
Tea for Opium trade came to an end when the East India Company, a government-controlled entity, took over the tea trade.
Most of us have heard of the Boston Tea party of 1773. People (some of them dressed like Native Americans) attacked a shipment of tea from the East India Company and threw that tea into the harbor. This was an act of defiance set up to protest against the idea of unpopular taxes.
That was the final act and the American Revolution started.
Tea has quite a history as well as a connection that branches out all over the world. Now more and more countries are planting and harvesting their own teas. It’s amazing how a single plant can taste so different just by where it was planted, harvested, and processed.
I’m just glad it made it to my mug this morning!
Which country produces the most tea?
Did you even think twice about who is the biggest exporter of tea? If you know tea, you will know that the answer is China, always China. China is and has been for some time the biggest exporter of tea.
Number one and number two: China and India produce over 60 percent of the world’s tea exports.
How much tea is exported each year? About 6 million tons. And finally who does not produce tea? Australia. But I bet one day we will see some production of tea from them. Tea is a profitable export, well worth the effort and I am very appreciative of all the work that has been done.
Top 20 tea-producing nations.
These countries are the top producers and I am happy to say I have tasted teas from all these countries. In all, there are over 64 countries that produce tea and that number just keeps growing.
- China
- India
- Kenya
- Sri Lanka
- Vietnam
- Turkey
- Iran
- Indonesia
- Argentina
- Japan
- Thailand
- Bangladesh
- Malawi
- Uganda
- Burundi
- Tanzania
- Myanmar
- Mozambique
- Rwanda
- Nepal
How is tea produced
First, the leaves are removed from the plant generally by hand. Picked leaves and generally the bud or the bud and the top three leaves.
The leaves are then sorted and any stem, twig, or broken leaves are removed.
The leaves are then processed by laying them out to wilt for several hours. This process allows the leaves to be processed further without crumbling.
The next process is where the teas develop their personality. The leaves are twisted, rolled, or pressed. This process starts the leaves into oxidation by releasing enzymes and oils into the air.
The leaves are then left to rest being laid out and allowing the oxygen to mix with the released oils and enzymes. This changes the color of the tea leaves. The length of time that they are allowed to be exposed to this process creates the tea that they will become.
White Tea – no oxidation, not wilted
16 corn silk pyramid teabags, each filled with 2 grams of whole leaf white tea. 100% organic tea, direct from our single garden in Bangladesh
Yellow Tea – not oxidized, not wilted, and allowed to yellow
A Chinese yellow tea. This tea is loose leaf and grown organically.
Green Tea – not oxidized, not wilted
Gokyuzyo translates literally to "The Highest Grade" in Japanese. One of the best green teas from a favorite in my cup.
Oolong – wilted, bruised, and partially oxidized
This isn't your typical tea. With about half the caffeine of an average cup of coffee, it brings a complex flavor that's both floral and spicy.
Black Tea – Wilted, crushed, and fully oxidized
A brisk summer Assam tea with sweet and sour flavors, woody notes, and a hint of astringency.
Pu-erh – Post fermented and aged
Pu-erh is well known to help increase metabolism and aid in weight loss. It is one of the new found old wonders of the tea world.
The leaves are next fired, this dries them out and seals in the above processes.
With every cup of tea, I try to remind myself to be thankful for those that work diligently in the field harvesting tea leaves so I can enjoy them.
Today take a moment when you pour yourself that cup of tea and think about the tea that was harvested for you to enjoy and all the people from those that planted, harvested, processed, packed, and produced that single cup of tea.
