The Complete and Thorough History of Tea
In the beginning, there was tea. By beginning, of course, we mean 2737 B.C. China. According to Chinese folklore, Emperor Shen Nung discovered tea while walking through his garden, when a light breeze carried a leaf from the Camellia bush into his steaming bowl of water. Emperor Shen Nung took a sip and tea was born. The Chinese then had tea to themselves for the next 3,500 years to perfect the agriculture and preparation that would accentuate the flavors, aromas and healing properties before tea took its act to the world stage.
Japan was next on the tea scene with sightings reported as early as 805. It didn't gain in popularity, however, until 1191 when Eisai, the famous Japanese monk, returned from a trip to China bearing green tea seeds. He championed the virtues of tea in Kissa Yojuki (Drinking Tea For Health), the first Japanese book devoted to tea. In doing so, Eisai succeeded in promoting tea to the elite Samurai class, leading to its widespread acceptance. His preferred style of tea making was to grind the green leaves into powder and whisk them into hot water in a bowl. This procedure has been perfected and immortalized in the Japanese Tea Ceremony.
Tea began to spread in the 16th century, as Europeans (Portuguese, Dutch and others) began to circle the globe in search of undiscovered lands. Often passing through Asia, the Dutch brought tea back with them in the early 1600s, introducing it to the next tea hot spot, England. The aristocrats were able to keep it their little secret until the masses took hold of it around the 1650s when coffeehouses began offering it as an alternative to coffee. Tea was considered a man's drink until another spokesperson, this time Catherine of Braganza (King Charles II's escort), introduced it at court as the fashionable breakfast drink.
The gospel of tea was further spread by the Dutch, introducing it to North America as they settled in what is now Manhattan. Unfortunately, England doused this growing affection with heavy taxation on teas destined for the American colonies. The colonies took exception to this and tossed the British tea into the Boston Harbor, an event affectionately dubbed the Boston Tea Party. While not the cause of the Revolutionary war, which followed shortly after, it certainly didn't help matters. After the war, Americans wanted tea of their own — without some silly tax.
Americans, already suckers for innovation and convenience, found two new reasons to love tea in the early 1900s. First, in the scorching summer of 1904 at America's first world fair, an Englishman by the name of Richard Blechynden (say that five times fast!) set up a booth to promote Indian black tea. And since no one was buying it due to the extreme heat, out of desperation he poured ice into the hot tea. With this, ice tea was born. Then in 1908, Thomas Sullivan, in an effort to reduce his overhead, dispensed with the usual tins and distributed tea samples in silk bags. His customers found them convenient for brewing — thus tea bags were born.