Why Does Tea Have Two Names Throughout the World?
The English word tea and its many cousins (e.g. tay, thé, tey) trace their roots back to the name for tea in the Chinese Amoy dialect: Te (pronounced “tay”). On the other hand, cha —the Mandarin Chinese word for tea — gave birth to cha, chai, char and related names in use today. Apparently, whichever variation merchants used when bringing tea to different countries stuck. Some countries use both. It’s not unusual to hear someone in England ask for a “hot cup of cha.”
How Old is Tea Drinking? Really?
You’ll often read that Shen Nung, a Chinese emperor who lived some 4,700 years ago, discovered that tea leaves falling into boiling water make a refreshing drink. Alas, the emperor — credited with numerous discoveries in medicine, pharmacy, agriculture — is likely a myth himself. The earliest authenticated record of commercial cultivation of tea in found in 4th century Chinese documents. However, it’s generally accepted that people in East Asia were brewing and drinking tea hundreds of years before. In those early days, tea was drunk mostly for medicinal purposes. Green tea leaves were formed into small cakes, roasted, then pounded into small chunks. Brewed tea must not have tasted very good because the drink was typically flavored with ginger, onion, mint, and orange. Infusing tea leaves in a teapot became a widespread practice in China early during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Thus “modern tea drinking” is probably less than seven hundred years old.
Who Invented Iced Tea?
Conventional wisdom holds that iced tea was invented in 1904, at the St. Louis World’s Fair, by a British tea merchant named Richard Blechynden. While he may have helped popularize iced tea, “tea punches” — alcoholic ancestors of the drink — were served decades earlier in the United States, and at least one late 19th century cookbook includes a recipe for iced tea. Interestingly, about 80 percent of the tea served in the United States today is iced tea.
Who Invented the Teabag?
Legend has it that a New York City tea importer named Thomas Sullivan became annoyed at the high cost of the tin boxes he used to send tea samples to customers. So in 1904 (or by some accounts, 1908) he switched to small cloth bags. One of the recipients brewed a pot of tea by simply pouring hot water over the bag — and the rest is history. It’s a nice story, except some tea experts point out that a U.S. patent for a “tea leaf holder made out of fabric” was granted in 1903. Regardless of who was really responsible, many tea lovers consider the teabag one of the worst inventions of the 20th century. Tea brewed with loose tea is generally much tastier than tea make from dunked teabags.
Tea — a Low-Cost Drink
You can brew more than 200 cups of tea from one pound of loose tea leaves. That works out to less than ten cents a cup for quality tea brewed at home, even adding in the cost of heating the hot water. Tea’s low cost is a big reason why it’s the second most popular beverage throughout the world — second only to plain water.
Tea and Caffeine
A cup of brewed tea typically contains less than half the caffeine of a cup of coffee. If that remains a problem for you, it’s easy to decaffeinate loose tea at home. Because caffeine is highly soluble in hot water, “rinsing” tea leaves gets rid of most of the caffeine. Begin brewing tea as usual, but then remove the leaves after twenty seconds. Discard the initial brew and start again with fresh boiling water and the now-decaffeinated tea leaves.
Tea Songs
The two most hummed tea songs are “Tea for Two,” written by Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar in 1924 for the Broadway musical, “No, No, Nanette,” and “When I Take My Sugar to Tea,” penned in 1931 by Sammy Fain , Irving Kahal, and Pierre Norman.
Green Tea + Black Tea = 2 Teas?
Does green tea come from a different kind of plant then black tea? Surprisingly, even some botanists thought so during the 17th and 18th centuries. Back then, tea traders were not allowed to travel inside China and see how tea was produced. Tea plants and seeds were first obtained from China in the early 19th century, along with the know-how for manufacturing tea. Soon after, the British discovered tea plants growing wild in India. It wasn’t until 1905 that the tea plant received its official Latin name, Camellia sinensis. This single plant can be processed to produce green tea, black tea, or something in between.
Who Invented the English Afternoon Tea?
The credit goes to the Duchess of Bedford — one of Queen Victoria’s Ladies in Waiting — who came up with the idea of a late afternoon meal of tea, thin sandwiches, and small cakes to overcome the “sinking feeling” she felt. The notion caught on, with Queen Victoria’s enthusiastic support. The British actually invented two kinds of afternoon teas:
- “Low tea” (simply called “afternoon tea”)
- “High tea.”
These labels can be a source of confusion to Americans. The “high” in high tea does not imply that fancy, high class, or expensive foods are served (or that high tea is enjoyed by well-to-do Britons). It actually refers to afternoon tea served on a dining room table (a high table) as opposed to afternoon tea served on a “tea table” (a low table). High tea is a fairly substantial meal — equivalent to supper — served in working class homes. It is generally served at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., and features a hot dish, hefty sandwiches, scones, heavy cakes, biscuits — and, of course, plenty of tea. By contrast, afternoon tea is traditionally served around 4:00 p.m. This is a lighter meal — a satisfying “snack” between lunch and dinner — that will include scones, thin sandwiches (often with bread crusts trimmed away), biscuits, and assorted cakes.