A Taste of vietnam
Interesting and Fun Facts
About Tea
Tea is widely consumed by people all around the world. Everyone knows that this beverage traces its history back to the times of thousands years ago when the Chinese discovered and started to use it. But do you know anything else about tea and its features?
According to the Chinese myths, tea was discovered accidentally.
The legends say that in 2737 B.C. Shannong, the culture hero and one of Three Sovereigns that created all crafts and art, traveled looking for healing herbs. He boiled water for healing decoctions in cauldron. Once several leaves from the tea tree fell into the cauldron with boiling water. The decoction was so tasty and bracing that Shannong drank nothing but tea for the rest of his life.
Until 1800s tea was used as money in Siberia, Tibet and Mongolia.
People used numerous products and things as the mean of exchange, however, tea served as money in some regions of Asia until the 19th century and even later. Moreover, tea was valued much more than metal coins because then it was very expensive. Tea varieties even had their own denomination that people used for the more fair exchange.
Tea contains more caffeine than coffee.
It is true until we are talking about concentration of caffeine in the coffee beans and tea leaves. But to get one cup of coffee you use more coffee beans (measured in grams) than tea leaves (measured in grams as well). So it comes out that the cup of tea contains 3-4 times less caffeine than a similar cup of coffee. You are also less likely to get a “caffeine crash” when you drink tea because of the high levels of antioxidants in tea. It slows the absorption of caffeine, which results in a gentler increase caffeine in the human body.
The legends say that in 2737 B.C. Shannong, the culture hero and one of Three Sovereigns that created all crafts and art, traveled looking for healing herbs. He boiled water for healing decoctions in cauldron. Once several leaves from the tea tree fell into the cauldron with boiling water. The decoction was so tasty and bracing that Shannong drank nothing but tea for the rest of his life.
Until 1800s tea was used as money in Siberia, Tibet and Mongolia.
People used numerous products and things as the mean of exchange, however, tea served as money in some regions of Asia until the 19th century and even later. Moreover, tea was valued much more than metal coins because then it was very expensive. Tea varieties even had their own denomination that people used for the more fair exchange.
Tea contains more caffeine than coffee.
It is true until we are talking about concentration of caffeine in the coffee beans and tea leaves. But to get one cup of coffee you use more coffee beans (measured in grams) than tea leaves (measured in grams as well). So it comes out that the cup of tea contains 3-4 times less caffeine than a similar cup of coffee. You are also less likely to get a “caffeine crash” when you drink tea because of the high levels of antioxidants in tea. It slows the absorption of caffeine, which results in a gentler increase caffeine in the human body.
Adding milk to the tea in Britain is not only connected with taste.
The British have the tradition of adding milk to their tea. Initially it was done to save porcelain cups which may crack when hot tea is poured directly into them. Cold milk with tea will not burn the thin walls of porcelain. It means that there will be no sharp temperature drop that can harm fragile tea cups. Now, when there are advanced technologies of producing lasting high quality porcelain cups, milk with tea is more like tradition in Great Britain.
Tea was stored in chest.
As it was mentioned before, in the 18-19th centuries tea was quite expensive, rare and luxury product. So people stored them in special elegant boxes with secure locks. Each of this kind of boxes often contained two or more compartments for different types of tea, stored in small metal containers.
The teabags were invented in the USA in the beginning of the 20 century.
There are a lot of discussions about when exactly the teabags were launched. A patent for a tea leaf pouch was registered in 1901 by Roberta C. Lawson and Mary Molaren in Milwaukee. In 1908, American businessman Thomas Sullivan sent samples of tea in thin silk bags, which customers dipped directly into hot water. Sullivan's story became very popular and is best known today. True tea lovers don’t consider teabags as a great invention because they don’t allow the leaves to expand while brewing and enable the release of more of the compounds that are responsible for flavor.
The British have the tradition of adding milk to their tea. Initially it was done to save porcelain cups which may crack when hot tea is poured directly into them. Cold milk with tea will not burn the thin walls of porcelain. It means that there will be no sharp temperature drop that can harm fragile tea cups. Now, when there are advanced technologies of producing lasting high quality porcelain cups, milk with tea is more like tradition in Great Britain.
Tea was stored in chest.
As it was mentioned before, in the 18-19th centuries tea was quite expensive, rare and luxury product. So people stored them in special elegant boxes with secure locks. Each of this kind of boxes often contained two or more compartments for different types of tea, stored in small metal containers.
The teabags were invented in the USA in the beginning of the 20 century.
There are a lot of discussions about when exactly the teabags were launched. A patent for a tea leaf pouch was registered in 1901 by Roberta C. Lawson and Mary Molaren in Milwaukee. In 1908, American businessman Thomas Sullivan sent samples of tea in thin silk bags, which customers dipped directly into hot water. Sullivan's story became very popular and is best known today. True tea lovers don’t consider teabags as a great invention because they don’t allow the leaves to expand while brewing and enable the release of more of the compounds that are responsible for flavor.
Oolong, black, green, and white tea are made from the same plant.
These tea varieties come from one tea tree called Camellia sinensis. Despite they are harvested from the same tea plant, oolong, black, green, and white tea differ in the way they are treated. All tea leaves are withered, rolled, and heated. The varieties are created based on the additional steps, the timing of processing, and other actions taken before the leaves are packaged.
Iced tea was invented be the Americans as well in 1904.
Another US invention is iced tea, although there is also a version that it was invented by a British tea seller at the World Exhibition in St. Louis in 1904. Iced tea is consumed most actively in the United States – 85% for iced tea VS 15% for hot tea.
The Japanese nobility in the 14-15 centuries organized tea tournaments.
Tea tournaments became very widespread among the Japanese aristocracy during the period of the 14-15th centuries. It was noble and respected to understand the tea varieties and their unique features. The point of such kind of competitions was to guess by flavor the type of tea and the place of its origin.
Tea is still harvested manually.
Tea is so far relatively expensive because it is harvested and sorted manually. All attempts to create special equipment for these purposes failed: collected leaves are mixed with stems, shoots and other debris. Machine-assembled tea is used either for the production of tea of the lowest category, or for the extraction of caffeine from leaves, used in cosmetology and pharmacology.
These tea varieties come from one tea tree called Camellia sinensis. Despite they are harvested from the same tea plant, oolong, black, green, and white tea differ in the way they are treated. All tea leaves are withered, rolled, and heated. The varieties are created based on the additional steps, the timing of processing, and other actions taken before the leaves are packaged.
Iced tea was invented be the Americans as well in 1904.
Another US invention is iced tea, although there is also a version that it was invented by a British tea seller at the World Exhibition in St. Louis in 1904. Iced tea is consumed most actively in the United States – 85% for iced tea VS 15% for hot tea.
The Japanese nobility in the 14-15 centuries organized tea tournaments.
Tea tournaments became very widespread among the Japanese aristocracy during the period of the 14-15th centuries. It was noble and respected to understand the tea varieties and their unique features. The point of such kind of competitions was to guess by flavor the type of tea and the place of its origin.
Tea is still harvested manually.
Tea is so far relatively expensive because it is harvested and sorted manually. All attempts to create special equipment for these purposes failed: collected leaves are mixed with stems, shoots and other debris. Machine-assembled tea is used either for the production of tea of the lowest category, or for the extraction of caffeine from leaves, used in cosmetology and pharmacology.