The world’s most widely consumed beverage, all tea comes from the tropical plant known as Camellia Senensis. The tea plant grows best in a warm climate with long sunlit days, cool nights and an abundance of rainfall. Tea plants grow at altitudes ranging from sea level to 7,000 feet and on latitudes as far north as Turkey and as far south as Argentina.
The tea story started in China around 2750 BC. During this time, the tea plant was found to have a number of medicinal properties. Legend says that an Emperor by the name of Shen Nung was sitting in the shade of a wild tea tree, boiling some drinking water, when a breeze blew a few leaves from the tree into the pot and gave the water a flavor that he found delicious. He experimented further and found it to have medicinal properties, as well as a pleasing flavor. He urged the Chinese people to cultivate the plant for the benefit of the entire nation. Over time, he has become the Legendary Father of Tea.
Although the first tea was discovered in China, several other areas of the world now contribute to the overall tea harvest. The first tea used in England originated in China, and it wasn’t until the 19th century that tea growing spread to Formosa and that indigenous tea was discovered in Assam. In 1839, the first Indian tea was sold in London. Around 1191, Japanese Zen priests brought tea seed back from studying abroad in China and began cultivating them in the southernmost part of Japan. The first tea in Africa was planted in the Cape in 1687, but did not progress until the latter part of the 19th century. The 20th century has seen the spread of tea in Africa, notably in Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania.
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