Tea was discovered nearly 5,000 years ago in China by Emperor Shen Nung, the father of agricultural and herbal medicine. Today, tea is the world’s most popular beverage (second only to water!) Fluid and eternal, tea is steeped in culture, history and spirituality. Originally drank for spiritual and medicinal purposes, the habit of drinking tea eventually spread across China, and ultimately throughout the world. Tea came to be appreciated for it’s flavor, pleasure of drinking, beauty of tea accessories and ritual. The Golden Age of tea occurred during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in China, when “the art of tea” took it’s place side by side with painting, calligraphy, poetry, music, martial arts, incense, landscaping and other scholarly pastimes. The Cha Ching (“Tea Classic”) was written during this time by Lu Yu, a Tang dynasty scholar and poet. More than 4,000 years after it was discovered and celebrated in the East, tea first arrived in western Europe at the beginning of the 17th century, less than 400 years ago.

Tea comes from a beautiful evergreen plant, Camellia sinensis, indigenous to China and parts of India. Today, there are over 3,000 varieties of tea produced in more than 60 countries worldwide. Tea, a crop like wine, varies with soil, climate, elevation, season and processing. The four main tea types - white, green, oolong and black are not different tea leaves, but rather reflect different processing techniques: White tea is unfermented tea; simply steamed and dried. Green tea is unfermented tea; often withered, rolled or shaped and dried. Oolong tea is withered, shaken or rolled (never broken), semi-fermented and dried. Black tea is withered, broken or rolled, fully-fermented and dried.

Long ago in Asia it was discovered that “tea is a miraculous medicine for the maintenance of health”. In 1211, a Japanese Buddhist monk wrote a book about the beneficial effects of tea, titled “Maintaining Health by Drinking Tea”. Eight centuries later, and many incarnations of tea drinking later, modern research has provided scientific confirmation for these traditional health beliefs about tea. Prized for its ability to “banish fatigue, stimulate mental powers, and raise energy levels”, tea provides a rich variety of flavor and stimulation to adapt to any time of day.

Originally, the greatest benefits were believed to be derived mainly from green tea. However health benefits are now being credited almost equally among all tea - white, green, oolong or black. All types of tea drank in moderation is good for you.