The Tea Plant Essay

If tea arrived in Europe around the same time as when coffee did, why did it not find the immediate success that coffee had?

how to process and grow tea or it would be useless to get the thousands of

- First in its market to brew its tea from tea leaves as opposed to artificial powders.

Tea became a mainstream drink in Asia around 100 BCE. It then became a mainstream drink in Europe around 1610 CE.

When the tea made its way to France, it was also considered a fashionable expensive drink. In the United States the colonists favored tea until the tax imposed on it caused the Revolutionary War in 1775. (Saberi, 2010, p. 112) Turmoil and war has occurred for the diffusion of tea from China to United States.

Tea: Tea began as a luxury drink, and then trickled down to become the beverage of the working man. The story of tea is the story of imperialism, industrialization, and world domination. According to Chinese tradition, the first cup of tea was brewed by the emperor Shen Nung. Before tea was a beverage, it was used for medicinal purposes and foodstuff. Tea became a daily drink in China around the third century A.D. As the Industrial Revolution of 18th and 19th centuries gained steam, tea provided some of the fuel. Factory workers stayed alert during long, monotonous shifts thanks to welcome tea breaks. The beverage also had unintended health benefits for rapidly growing urban areas. Chewing leaves and rubbing them on wounds were ways that tea was used for medicinal purposes.

On May 10 of 1773, the Tea Act was passed by the British Parliament. The act did not place a new tax on tea, but it did help the Parliament and one tea company improve their revenue. The East India Tea Company was losing their profits to other companies who illegally sold tea from other countries. The East India Tea Company had too much unsold tea, which caused them to almost go bankrupt. The British Parliament was upset that the British company was losing money because of other companies from different countries smuggling tea, so Parliament passed the Tea Act. After the Tea Act was passed, the East India Tea Company controlled the trade of tea. Illegal and legal tea companies lost money because of the East India Tea Company. Even

The tea its self wasn’t made in Britain but made in China. The British East India Company had extensive dealings in China. The tea destroyed during the Boston Tea Party was described as “Bohea” type, which is known as black tea. The black tea come from the mountains in China.

In the late sixteenth- century Europe adopted a caffeinated warm drink for the first time this included chocolate, tea and coffee. Tea fills the senses with a bittersweet scent. This herb came from china by ship. Unlike cider and beer tea was new to the English-speaking world (49). Starting in the eighteenth- century Europe trading companies began to market green and black tea (51). Before this time period tea was very rare in the west region of British north America. Only the wealthy could originally afford tea and sugar. Tea was also used as a source of herbal medicine rather than traditional methods. This herb was also expensive because it shipped across great distances and allowed the East India Company to charge higher prices and labor added an extra charge. This resulted in tea becoming a luxury item in the colonies (53). The Townshend’s act in 1767 put a tax on tea which Americans responded that parliament could not tax without their consent. This frustrated the colonist because it put their love for tea at risk, so they responded to parliament by aiming at British merchants and manufactures

Introduction To understand the American Revolutionary War one must learn about how it feels to be in a war. You Are There The year is 1777. Everyone is getting ready for battle.

The origins of tea are rooted in China (Food Timeline). According to legend, the beneficial properties of tea were first discovered by the Emperor Shen Nung in the year 2737 B.C. He drank only boiled water for hygienic purposes, and one day while he drank a breeze rustled the branches of a tree and a few leaves fell into his cup. Creating the first cup of tea. It is challenging to know whether or not the emperor was real or just a part of the spiritual and cultural development of ancient China. China was not unified as an empire until the third century, so it is unlikely emperors existed back then. One thing that is known is that tea was popular in China thousands of years ago. The first written reference of tea is in the third century B.C. A famous surgeon recommended the beverage to patients to increase concentration and alertness. Tea was first written as “tu” in ancient texts. This caused a good deal of confusion because the same Chinese character was used for both tea and Chinese sow thistles. Between 206 B.C. and A.D. 220 a Han Dynasty emperor ruled that when referring to tea, the characters should be pronounced as “cha”. From here on, tracing tea’s history became easier because tea acquired its own individual character (Food Timeline).

December 16, 1773. One hundred and fifty Bostonians, masquerading as Indians, made their way through a large group of spectators. They went aboard three ships, broke open the tea chests, and dumped them into the harbor.

Tea first became a mainstream drink in Asia in the first century BCE. Tea was then introduced to Europe in the early sixteenth century.

According to an interview from Daniel Lui, a tea expert who has been studying the art of traditional Chinese tea for decades and set up his business in Vancouver’s Chinatown to teach others the art of tea, says “Virtually all teas are from the Camellia sinensis plant. What determines the different varieties of black, green, white, oolong, and pu-erh are location, harvesting time, method of harvesting and processing”(Silver, 2011). These five kinds of tea have different colors and flavors because of their difference in location and harvesting method. The first kind is black tea, which is also called red tea in China, is a post-fermented tea that produces dark tea water when steeped. This tea has various pure qualities, which blends easily with other flavors to create a rich and exquisite taste. As the second kind, green tea is light and refreshing. It contains the largest amount of caffeine and vitamins and has a subtle flavor and light color when steeped. The third one is white tea, which is light and delicately smooth. It has the least processed procedure that only undergoes steaming and drying, and leaving to its natural state. The forth one is Oolong tea. Oolong Tea has flowery sweet aroma combine with a pleasantly sweet after taste; it never loses its appeal no matter how often people drink it. And the last one is pu-erh tea, which is the strongest and most bold flavor tea. Unlike other teas, pu-erh 's quality and taste

In the article “Types of Teas and Their Health Benefits” from WebMD” it is noted that although there are many brews of tea, purist really only deem green tea. Black tea, white tea, and oolong tea as authentic.