Templar Teas: Tea Trivia
-It takes years for tea to grow on land where lightning has struck or humans have lived.
-The largest tea bush discovered was 100 feet high and thought to be more than 1700 years old. It was found growing wild in China.
-Ruth Campbell Bigelow introduced the first commercial flavored tea, Constant Comment, in 1944.
-The first advertisement for tea appeared in a British newspaper in 1658. England's acceptance was slow, but lasting.1
-"The Agony of the the Leaves" refers to when hot water is poured over tea leaves so that the flavor, tannins and caffeine can be released.
-Tea contains between one-third and one-half as much caffeine as coffee.
-Drinking 4.7 cups of tea a day may reduce the risk of stroke in men.
-Aside from water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world with a per capita consumption of about 0.12 liters a year.
-Experienced tea pickers collect up to 70 pounds of tea a day by hand.
-Until the Sixth Century, tea was consumed primarily as a remedy for headaches, kidney trouble, poor digestion, ulcers, and to guard against "the noxious gases of the body and lethargy".
-In 1666, the cost of purchasing one pound of tea in Holland was between $80 and $100.
-One tea bush will produce tea for at least 50 years.
-John Horniman sold the first tea bag in an attempt to deter the reusing of tealeaves.
-Ancient tea drinkers added salt to their cup.
-In 1610 Japanese Green Tea was introduced to Holland as an exotic medicinal beverage.
-87% of U.S. Southerners say they drink tea and over 80% of this consumption is iced tea.
-There are more than 3,000 different types of tea all derived from Camellia Sinensis.
-Per capita consumption of caffeine for U.S. adults is approximately 200 mg. daily.
-Tea drinkers have healthier arteries.
-Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world next to water.
-Americans consume about 127 million cups per day; 95.5 million are over ice.
-There are 3,000 varieties of tea, but all come from the Camellia sinensis evergreen plant.
-Tea was discovered in 2737 B.C. by Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung, when tea leaves blew into his pot of boiling water.
-Iced tea was created in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.
1 The Bantam Library, Teas & Tisanes, 1989.