15 Tea Facts!
Here are 15 tea facts you might have not known about your favorite beverage!
1. In the mountains of Ya'An in the Sichuan, China grows the most expensive tea in the world. Workers fertilize tea bushes with waste from pandas because their body's only process small amounts of nutrients from the foods they consume. This luxurious tea will cost you roughly $200 for only a small cup of tea.
2. Tea is made from one single plant called the Camellia Sinensis plant. Black tea, white tea, green tea, and oolong, are all made from the same tea bushes, but they each undergo different processes to provide a different cup of tea.
3. Black tea undergoes the longest process of oxidation, while white tea undergoes the shortest.
4. One of the biggest tea producers to this day is China. China supplies nearly 29% of the world's tea, while India is second. Some other countries in the top 10 list is Iran, Turkey, Vietnam, and Argentina.
5. The biggest consumer of tea are the United Arab Emirates, who drink nearly 14 pounds of tea every year. The United States come in 69th place in the top 100.
6. Herbal tea isn't actually tea; it's a blend of various flowers, fruits, herbs, spices, bark, roots, and more. Some examples of our very own herbal tea blends are Sangria Dream, Lemon Ginger, Immunitea, & Turmeric Root.
7. Thomas Sullivan accidentally invented the teabag. In 1904 he sent out samples of tea in small silk pouches to customers. The customers did not know to remove the contents of the tea before adding it to the pot of hot water. Sullivan saw the new opportunity and began making prepackaged teabags out of gauze.
7. All tea is known for having its own health benefits, but green tea is known as a super food. Multiple studies have shown that drinking green tea might be helpful to fight against certain forms of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
9. In china, black tea is called "red tea".
10. Legend has it that tea was discovered in 2737 B.C. when the emperor of China, Shen Nong, was boiling tea in his garden. A tea leaf dropped in his pot of hot water.
11. The Camellia Sinensis plant takes 3 years to mature before you can harvest any tea.
12. There are 6 main categories of tea: white, yellow, green, oolong, black, and post-fermented.
13. In the US, the South and Northeast have the most tea drinkers.
14. Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world. Water comes in at first.
15. You can find the oldest tea tree in Yunnan Province, China. The tree is said to be over 3,200 years old! Yunnan Province is also known as the birth place of tea.