Tea is one of the most widely consumed drinks in the world, second only to water in many estimates. Every day, billions of cups are prepared in homes, offices and cafés on every continent. However, the plant that produces tea, Camellia sinensis, grows naturally in only a small part of the world. Its original home is thought to be the mountainous area where modern-day China, Myanmar and India meet. The story of how this single plant became a global drink is therefore a story of trade, travel and changing tastes. It also shows how different societies took the same leaves and turned them into very different customs.
In China, tea was first used as a medicine rather than as an everyday drink. Early writers described it as a cure for tiredness and poor digestion. Over time, however, people began to drink it for pleasure. By the time of the Tang dynasty, which lasted from the seventh to the tenth century, tea had become popular across much of the country. During this period, a scholar named Lu Yu wrote a book known as The Classic of Tea. It explained how to grow the plant, how to prepare the leaves and which kinds of water were best. In those days, tea leaves were usually pressed into hard cakes. These cakes were easy to store and carry, and they were sometimes even used as a form of money in remote regions.
From China, tea travelled east to Korea and Japan. Buddhist monks played an important role in this movement. They had studied in Chinese temples, and they brought seeds and drinking habits home with them. Monks valued tea because it helped them stay awake during long hours of meditation. In Japan, a special way of preparing powdered green tea gradually developed. This powder, now called matcha, is whisked with hot water in a bowl. Later, the drinking of tea grew into a formal ceremony with strict rules about movement, speech and the arrangement of the room. For example, guests are expected to admire the bowl before drinking. The ceremony is still practised today, although most Japanese people drink tea in a much simpler way at home.
Europe learned about tea much later. In the early seventeenth century, Dutch merchants began shipping small amounts of it from Asia to Amsterdam. At first, it was extremely expensive, so only wealthy families could afford it. Tea soon reached England, where it was sold in coffee houses in London from the 1650s. Its popularity increased further when it became fashionable at the royal court. In addition, the price slowly fell as trade grew and more ships carried tea across the oceans. By the eighteenth century, tea was no longer a luxury for the rich. Working families also drank it, often with sugar and milk. Tea was also heavily taxed in Britain for many years, and as a result, a large illegal trade in smuggled tea developed along the coast.
Tea also travelled over land. Russia received much of its tea by camel caravan across Mongolia and Siberia, a journey that could take many months. Because of this long route, Russian tea culture developed its own features. One example is the samovar, a large metal container that keeps water hot for many hours. Families and guests could refill their cups throughout the day. Further south, tea became central to hospitality in many parts of the Middle East and North Africa. In Morocco, for instance, green tea is traditionally mixed with fresh mint and a generous amount of sugar. It is poured from a height into small glasses, which creates a light foam on the surface. Refusing a glass of tea in such settings may be considered impolite.
For a long time, China was the main supplier of tea to the rest of the world. However, in the nineteenth century, British traders wanted a source that they could control themselves. They began to establish large tea plantations in the Assam region of north-east India, where a local variety of the tea plant was found growing wild. Plantations were later set up in other areas, including the hills of Darjeeling and the island of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. These new farms produced huge quantities of black tea. Life on the plantations was often very hard for the workers, who were poorly paid and had few rights. Nevertheless, the farms changed the global market, and today India and Sri Lanka remain among the largest producers of tea.
In the twentieth century, new inventions changed the way tea was prepared. The tea bag, which appeared in the United States in the early 1900s, made it possible to brew a single cup quickly and without mess. Iced tea also became popular in warmer regions. More recently, drinks such as bubble tea, which contains chewy balls of tapioca, have attracted younger customers in many countries. At the same time, interest in traditional loose-leaf teas has grown again among people who want a higher-quality product. These changes show that tea culture is not fixed. Instead, it continues to adapt as the drink meets new people, new places and new ways of living.