HISTORY:
Archeological evidence suggests that people consumed tea leaves steeped in boiling water as many as 500,000 years ago. Botanical evidence indicates that India & china were among the first countries to cultivate tea. Tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world after water. It is estimated that almost one billion cups of tea is consumed every day across the world.
Green tea has been consumed through out the ages in India, china, Japan and Thailand. In traditional Chinese and Indian medicine, practitioners used green tea as a stimulant, diuretic (to promote the excretion of urine), astringent (to control bleeding and help heal wounds) and to improve heart health. Other traditional uses of green tea include treating flatulence (gas), regulation body temperature and blood sugar, promoting digestion and improving mental process.
Legend describes the creation of the tea plant to dareuma or Buddha dharma, the founder of the Zen sector of Buddhism. In course of his meditation near Nanking in china, the saint fell asleep. On waking up he was so angry that he punished himself by cutting off his eyelids. Where the eyelids dropped to earth, a strange plant comes up. And thus the tea plant was born & the tea beverage came into being. China is the first country to use it as a beverage.
Today, India is the largest tea producing country & Great Britain as well as Ireland rare the chief consumers of tea. In Nepal, the tea cultivation started in 1920 BS.(1863 AD) & the credit goes to Badahakim shree Gajaraj Singh Thapa . He started the plantation of tea in Ilam tea estate for the first time in Nepal. Now, many tea estates have been established in Ilam, Dhankuta, Panchathar, Jhapa & Terathum districts of eastern regions of Nepal.
All true teas- as distinct from herbal & flower infusions are made from the leaves of a magnolia- related evergreen tree with the botanical name of camellia senensis. Although reaching a height of 30 feet in the wild, on tea plantations (called gardens or estates), the plant is kept as a shrub, constantly pruned to height of about 3 feet to encourage new growth & for convenient picking.
Tea plants grow only in warm climates but can flourish at altitudes ranging from sea level to 7000ft. The best teas, however, are produced by plants grown at higher altitudes where the leaves mature more slowly & yield a richer flavor. Depending upon the altitude, a new tea plant may take from two & half to five years to be ready for commercial picking. But once productive, it can provide tea leaves for close to century.
Tea plants produce abundant foliage, a camellia-like flower, & a berry, but only the smallest & youngest leaves are picked for tea- the two leaves & a bud at the top of each young shoot. The growth of new shoots, called a flush, can occur every week at lower altitudes but takes several weeks at higher ones. The new leaves are picked by hand by "tea pluckers", the best of whom can harvest 40 pounds per day, enough to make, 10 pounds of tea.
1 Tea was used for over 4700 years ago.
2 2 Chinese emperor Shen Nong ben cao jing was the first person to drink tea on 2737bc & found useful for tumors & other health complications.
3 1760-1122bc Tea was used as a medicine
4 1368-1644ad-Green Tea WAS PRODUCED IN CHINA
5 Mid of 17th century-Tea reached to Europe.
6 The search for tea in Assam was started by the East India Company as an alternative source of supply to UK.
7 The first commercial effort in organized tea growing was started by the Assam Tea Company in 1839AD George Williamson was pioneer of manufacture in Assam.
8 By 1856, major tea production began in Darjeeling.
9 In Nepal, tea cultivation started in 1863 AD
10 1984 Ad – Kanchanjanga Tea Estate (KTE) was established at Ranitar in the remote hilly region of panchathar district of Nepal at an altitude of 800-1300 meter, covering 94 hectares of land to produce high quality organic green tea.
· Japanese call tea as a "best beverage".
· Chinese call tea as a "sweetest honey from heaven".
· Ancient Chinese saying "better to be deprived of food for three days than tea for one day".
Tea in different languages
Cha - Chinese word.
O-cha - Japanese word.
Chai - Indian word.
Chiya – Nepali word.
