History of Tea
Mysterious Origins
People like to attribute inventions and food related discoveries to happy accidents. The myth for tea is that a Chinese emperor was drinking boiling water when leaves fell into it, and he drank it anyway and liked it. This story is an unlikely one; variations of herbal tea drinking are probably as old as cooking itself, but finely developed preparation methods didn't appear until 3,000 years ago.
Tea Conquers the World
- 222 - Tea is a common drink in China.
- 479 - Turkey and Mongolia trade tea.
- 648 - Gyoki plants tea in Japan.
- 1610 - The Dutch acquire tea from either China or Japan.
- 1635 - German physicians tout warnings of the dangers of tea drinking.
- 1650 - The Dutch introduce Tea to New Amsterdam.
- 1657 - Tea is sold in London.
- 1670 - The Massachusets Colony drinks black tea.
- 1680 - Scotland is introduced to tea by the Duchess of York.
By 1750, tea had conquered the world!
Further History sections soon to come. Maybe.
Sources: http://www.246.dk/, http://www.2basnob.com/
© Kiwi-chan 2008
