After water, tea is the most widely-consumed beverage in the world! How this precious plant discovered in China came to be treasured around the globe is a story that takes us across many centuries and many continents.

The discovery of tea has its origins in China in the third millennium BC, making it about 5000 years old. Yunnan province is considered the birthplace of tea and also where tea was first cultivated and the earliest tea plants found were 3200 years old.

Shen Nong, one of the most far sighted rulers of his day is reputed to have discovered the tea plant’s leaves as an infusion by accident. As a result, Shen Nong is called the "Father of Tea" as well as the inventor of agriculture.

For 3000 years or more, tea was used as a medicinal treatment for a number of disorders. However in 581 AD, tea first started being used for its taste, and not just for its medicinal properties.

In 800 AD, the first book was written about tea, Cha Ching (the Holy Scripture of Tea). By this time, tea drinking had become an elaborate ceremony, which was supposed to mirror the universal particular. This would later become part of the Zen Buddhist tea ceremonies that were exported to Japan along with the Zen philosophy by the monks.

In the Sung Dynasty (690 - 1279 AD), tea houses came into being, where people would sit and do blind taste tests of various types of tea leaves and water. Elaborate ceremonies were conceived and put into practice in these tea houses, often to the accompaniment of music and art.

Japan in the 16th century experienced a growth in Chado (the way of Tea), along with tea houses and elaborate tea ceremonies. Tea ceremonies were meant to help people understand the three elements of harmony, respect, and purity leading to tranquility.

In India tea has been regarded as a medicinal plant for millennia. The consumption of tea was first clearly documented in the ancient epic Ramayana (circa 500 BC). Research shows that the tea plant is also indigenous to eastern and northern India, and was cultivated there for thousands of years. However, commercial production of tea in India did not begin until the arrival of the British East India Company, at which point large tracts of land were converted for mass tea production.

The earliest mention of tea in European literature is in 1559, when Chai Catai (tea of China) appears in records of the spice trade, between China, Arabia and Europe. With the advent of missionaries into the Chinese area, and the spread of Dutch, Portuguese and English influence through their trading companies, it was only a matter of time before the Europeans learned the art of drinking tea. By 1880 the Dutch were growing their own tea in Indonesia, while the British had started to take afternoon tea. In the 1800s, tea was being grown in plantations in Ceylon and India as well.

America was also introduced to tea in 1800 and many traders like Lipton started working on both sides of the Atlantic. Today tea is consumed in large quantities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, while Europe and America have declining patterns of tea consumption.