To Know More About Tea

By Author: miltongressod03
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Tea is traditionally the most widely consumed beverage worldwide just after water. The taste of tea is slightly bitter and has an astringent flavor which is widely enjoyed by most of the people on earth. It is an agricultural product of the leaves, leaf buds and internodes of the camellia sinensis plant that is prepared and cured by various methods to make it fit for consumption. The term also refers to the aromatic preparation that is prepared by the combination of hot or boiling water and the cured leaves.

The first ever written reference of tea that has been made and consumed had appeared in 350 A.D. Kuo P'o' had updated an old Chinese dictionary for the addition of the description of tea as a beverage made from boiled leaves. Tea during that time was made of leaves boiled in water with various other things such as ginger, orange and other produce were added to it. Although tea was generally consumed for medicinal purposes for the treatment of digestive and nervous conditions, the people living in the interior part of China pressed tea into brick currency that they used to barter with other tribes.

From 350 ...
... to 600 A.D., the demand for tea dramatically increased and it outstripped the supply from that of wild tea trees. Farmers began to grow tea plants in the Szechwan district, but soon the tea cultivation had spread throughout China. In the western world tea was brought to the notice of the Europeans in the mid of the 16th century by Ramusio, who was a famous Venetian writer on travels and voyages. The first ever public sale of tea in England was conducted by one Thomas Garway in 1657.

Generally there are four different types of tea that are most commonly found in the market. They are black tea, oolong tea, green tea and white tea.

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