History of Tea: The Drink that Conquered the World

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History of Tea: The Drink that Conquered the World

The most widely consumed drink in the world (after water), and with a history of its own, tea holds an important place in the story of humanity.

 

Originating in Southeast Asia, tea has conquered the world. It is now the most widely drunk hot beverage and has a history that is steeped in ritual and cultural identity.

 

From the fields of China and northern India to the kitchen cupboards of the United Kingdom and the samovars of Russia, this is the story of Camellia sinensis, an unassuming evergreen shrub that sprouted bitter-tasting leaves and spread its roots throughout the entire world, altering the course of human history.

 

Tea in Ancient History

 

The tea plant is thought to have origins in the areas around Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram in northeastern India. Over the course of tens of thousands of years, tea spread through the southeast of Asia and formed different clades and varieties as it adapted to different regions. The resultant variations have a markedly different effect on the final product we brew today, although cultivars are not the reason for the difference between black and green tea.

 

Both black and green tea is made from Camellia sinensis. Green tea is made from young leaves and buds, while black tea is made from withered leaves that have undergone an oxidation process.

In East Asia, people used tea leaves for millennia. Exactly how long is completely unknown, and it’s possible the practice goes back even further than the Neolithic Era. It’s even possible that prehistoric human beings chewed on the leaves to get at the caffeine found in the plant. Apart from chewing the leaves, they could have been added to soups, fermented, or ingested in a whole host of other ways.

The earliest evidence for tea drinking comes from around the 2nd millennium BCE during the Shang Dynasty. However, according to Chinese legend, tea was introduced via the mythological deity Shennong in 2737 BCE. Tea was drunk for medicinal reasons as well as for energy.

 

Tea was drunk in southern China for millennia and was treated with disdain in the north until the Tang Dynasty (618 CE to 907 CE). During this time, tea spread to other parts of Asia, including Vietnam, Korea, and Japan