History of Tea

2737B.C. — The history of tea starts with the Chinese Emperor Shen Nong, who accidentally invented tea, around 2737 B. C.

According to stories from various sources, it is believed that the leaves of the Camellia Sinensis growing in nearby accidently floated into the boiling water pot of water kept over and open fire. The concoction was appealing to the Emperor and thus the great beverage was invented.

59 B.C. — The first book on tea was written in the year 59B.C. by Wang Bao, which helped readers of that time to buy teas and had instructions on preparing tea.

22 A.D. — A first book which described and showed the benefits of tea was written by a physician and surgeon Hua Tuo in the year 22A.D.  He wrote Shin Lun, a book in which he described about the tea’s ability to improve the human mental functions.

400-600 A.D. — The demand for tea rose steadily. Rather than the harvest leaves from wild trees, farmers began to develop ways to cultivate tea.

479 A.D. — Turkish traders are known to have bartered tea on the Mongolian border in the year 479A.D. which resulted in the introduction of tea to Turkey.

589-618 A.D. — During the Sui Dynasty, somewhere between 589A.D. to 618A.D.,  tea was introduced to Japan by Buddhist monks.

Returning home who brought tea in the brick form from China. The drinking of tea was confined to the court aristocracy and Buddhist ceremonies until the twelfth century.

618-906 A.D. — Tea was introduced to India, during the T’ang Dynasty, between 618A.D. and 906A.D. through the traders via the Silk route.

Trading of tea with Russia also started in this period.

780 A.D. — In the year 780A.D., the first known literature on tea was written by a renowned Poet Lu Yu. The book described about the cultivation of tea plants and about the preparation of teas.

1211 — In Japan, Eisai wrote a small book on tea, elevating its popularity further.

1368-1644 — During the Ming Dynasty, Chinese people began to enjoy tea again. The new method of preparation was steeping the whole leaves in water.

1610 — The Dutch brought tea to Europe from China, trading dried sage in exchange.

1636 — Tea was introduced to France in 1636.

1657 — Tea was first sold in England at Garway’s Coffee House in London.

1661 — The Taiwanese began to drink wild tea.

1689 — 1689 marks the trip made by Russian traders with three hundred camels traveling 11000 miles to China and back in order to supply Russia’s demand. This back and forth trip took a total of one year and four months to complete.

1679 — In Taiwan, settlers of Formosa’s Nantou county cultivated the first domestic bushes. Dutch ships carried the tea to Persia, the first known export of Taiwanese tea.

1733 — The Boston Tea Party, a protesting high taxes that England levied on tea, began of the American colonies’ fight for independence. Under cove of night, colonists dressed as Native Americans boarded East India Company ships in Boston Harbour. They opened chests of tea and dumped their contents into water. This was repeated in other less known instances up and down the coast.

1776 — England sent the first opium to China. Opium addiction in China funded the escalating demand for tea in England. Cash trade for the drug increased until the opium war began in 1839.

1835 — The East India Company established experimental tea plantations in Assam, India.

1839 — Tea was planted in Darjeeling as an experiment by Dr. Campbell, little did he know then, that within a short span the liquor from this land would capture the imagination of the tea loving people across the world.

1857 — Many influential and successful planters were responsible for transforming Ceylon from ruined a coffee-producing region to one famous worldwide for its tea.

Tea plantation and exports gathered momentum after was 1860s.

1900 — Trans-Siberian railroad made transport to Russia cheaper and faster. Java became an important producer as well.

1904 — Richard Blechynden created iced tea for St Louis World Fair.

1908 — Thomas Sullivan invented tea bags in New York, sending tea to clients in silk bags which in turn was mistakenly steeped without opening and thus the tea bags were invented.

1910 — Sumatra, Indonesia grows and exports tea. Soon thereafter, tea is grown in Kenya and other parts of Africa.

1953 — World’s first instant tea is introduced.

 1987 — An Indian multinational non-alcoholic beverage company set up a fully owned subsidiary, Tata Tea Inc., in the USA.