There are just 2 ways to describe ‘tea’ in all languages around the world!
Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world, after water. While it may or may not be completely true, it is certain that tea drinkers are spread all over the world, specially in India, China Japan and UK.
Yunnan Province, located in China is generally considered as the birthplace of tea. More broadly, the ancestor of Camellia sinensis (or tea) originated and evolved within an arc of ancient forests across Southeast Asia (See map below).
According to a Chinese legend, the history of tea began in 2737 B.C. when the Emperor Shen Nong was boiling water in the garden and a wild tea leaf drifted into his pot. The Emperor enjoyed drinking the infused water and was pleasantly surprised by its flavor.
The chinese have consumed tea since atleast 2nd century BC, but it was not until the Tang dynasty in 7th century AD did consumption become widespread. It didn’t spread to the western world until 1610 when the Dutch East India Company brought some samples of tea to Europe. England was actually a latecomer to the tea trade, as the East India Company did not capitalise on tea’s popularity until the mid-18th century.
Fun fact: There are just two ways (mostly) to describe tea in various languages around the world. It either sounds like ’te’ — which means tea was introduced to that country via the sea routes — or sound like ‘cha’ — which means that tea was spread to that region across land. It is a great way to see how global trade was conducted back in those times! [read more on this]
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From the desk of Aditya Khanduri
About me (Why I started Polygyan)
