Tea

Tea is a widely enjoyed aromatic beverage made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. This evergreen shrub is native to East Asia, specifically the borderlands of southwest China, northeast India, and northern Myanmar.

After plain water, tea is the most frequently consumed drink on the planet. People value tea for its diverse flavor profiles and its stimulating effects. Depending on the variety, a cup might taste sweet, nutty, floral, or grassy. Other types offer cooling, bitter, or astringent notes. The drink contains caffeine, which provides a stimulating effect for humans.

Making tea involves specific processing techniques that change the leaves' color and flavor.

To create green tea, makers stir unoxidized leaves in a hot, dry pan. They then roll the leaves and air-dry them to stop oxidation. This prevents the leaves from turning dark. Oolong tea is made by allowing the leaves to partially oxidize before heating them in a pan. Black tea undergoes full oxidation, which results in a darker color. Yellow tea was actually discovered by accident during the Ming dynasty through careless green tea production. In much older times, tea was steamed and pounded into hard cakes for boiling.

There are several distinct types of tea based on the plant used. True tea always comes from the Camellia sinensis shrub. This includes the Chinese small-leaf type and the Assam-type tea.

Some tea is also made from the leaves of Camellia taliensis, though this is rare. Many people also drink what is called herbal tea, or tisane. These are infusions made from different plant parts, such as rosehip, chamomile, or rooibos. These are not true teas because they do not come from the Camellia sinensis plant.

The history of tea is deeply rooted in East Asian culture.

Long before it was a liquid drink, people ate tea leaves raw or in soups. The earliest written records come from China, where it was sometimes called a "bitter vegetable." Physical evidence shows that Han dynasty emperors drank tea as early as the second century BC. In the 3rd century AD, the physician Hua Tuo wrote that drinking bitter tea helped people think better. Tea became a popular recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty. During this era, the writer Lu Yu authored The Classic of Tea, a famous treatise on tea preparation.

Tea spread globally through centuries of trade and cultural exchange.

Portuguese priests and merchants introduced tea to Europe in the 16th century. The Dutch later brought the drink to the Netherlands, Germany, France, and New Amsterdam. In Russia, tea arrived through gifts from a Mongolian Khan in the 1630s. By the 17th century, tea became fashionable among the British. In the 18th century, tea smuggling was common until the British government removed the tea tax in 1785. This made the drink more affordable for the general public.

Botanically, the tea plant has a massive natural range in East Asia.

The west-to-east axis of its habitat spans about 2,400 km. The north-to-south axis covers approximately 1,920 km. This range stretches from northern Burma at 29°N down to 11°N latitude. Scientists believe different types of tea diverged at different times. For example, Chinese small-leaf tea may have diverged from Assam tea around 22,000 years ago. This divergence happened around the time of the last glacial maximum.

Tea connects many different fields, from botany to global economics. The way we name tea reflects how it moved across the world. Most global names fall into three groups: te, cha, and chai. The word "tea" likely came from the Dutch via the Malay word "teh." The word "cha" entered English through the Portuguese in the 1590s. The term "chai" comes from a northern Chinese pronunciation that traveled through Persia. Today, tea remains a central part of many cultures and daily lives everywhere.