Unusual facts about tea. Interesting facts about tea (10 photos)

We offer a short excursion into the world of this wonderful drink.

When buying Chinese tea, we do not assume that in ancient times this drink was consumed only at the imperial palace and in wealthy families.

What else do we know about tea? Check out a selection of interesting facts about tea.

1. Camellia sinensis tea plant

Camellia sinensis plants are the source material for both green and black tea.

2. Tea - for pleasure and health

At first, tea was expensive, and the drink was used only for medicinal purposes. Ginger, onion, mint, orange were added to it. Knowing about the many antioxidants contained in the famous drink, we use tea to improve health, to prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer.

3. The most popular tea

According to the first mentions, tea appeared in the 4th century AD. And, of course, everyone knows that this happened in East Asia. If we talk about modern China, now the tea boom is taking place in the city of Anxi, where the most popular tea of ​​the same name is grown today.

4. Same plant, different types of tea

Until the 19th century, China stubbornly kept the secret that different varieties of tea were made from the same plant. In Europe, for many centuries, it was believed that each tea had its own special way. According to statistics, 75% of a tea leaf turns into black tea, and 25% into green.

5. Eyelashes Buddha

In Japanese, the terms "tea" and "eyelash" use the same word. According to legend, the Buddha cut off his eyelashes so that they would not interfere with his nightly meditations, and buried them in the ground. In the morning, a tea bush grew there.

6. American tea

In 1904, Richard Blechinden invented iced tea. In the US, 80% of tea is served chilled as an alternative to homemade lemonade. Te Guan Yin tea is especially popular for its aroma and taste.

7. How Tea Bags Came to Be

Tea bags were also invented by the Americans. According to legend, Thomas Sullivan, a supplier from New York, noticed that tea in metal cans was quite expensive for consumers.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to sell tea already in paper bags. One day, his client accidentally dropped a bag into the water, and everyone found that the glass turned out to be exactly the same tea.

8. How tea is made

The technology of making tea has not changed for centuries. The upper leaves of the Camellia sinensis tea bushes are usually picked by hand. Then they are dried during the day, and to improve the flavor they are rolled between metal rollers. Then leave to oxidize in the open air. Only then the leaves are subjected to heating and final drying. As mentioned earlier, green and black tea are obtained from the same plant, only the methods of processing raw materials differ. To obtain green tea, the leaves are carefully dried, then packaged and sent for sale. To obtain a special taste and color of black tea, the leaves are dried and twisted, subjected to fermentation.

9. The largest tea plantations

The largest tea plantations are owned by China, India, Sri Lanka (or Ceylon), Japan and Taiwan.

1. When tea is boiled or the brew is heated for a long time, many of the beneficial substances of tea are destroyed, and alkaloids are released into the infusion, which can have a harmful effect on humans.

2. According to Chinese mythology, tea was discovered by Emperor Shen Nong. Shen Nong traveled in search of healing herbs with a cauldron in which he usually boiled water for healing decoctions. In 2737 B.C. e. a few tea tree leaves fell into the cauldron of boiling water. The resulting broth was invigorating and pleasant to the taste.

3. Tea has been known in Russia since the 16th century, and was first brought in the 17th century from China.

4. According to the total consumption of tea, Russia is in fourth place in the world. The top three are: China, India and Turkey.

5. The tea leaves are picked and sorted by hand. The work of pickers is quite hard and monotonous: the ratio of the mass of finished black tea and raw leaf is about ¼, that is, it takes four kilograms of leaf to make a kilogram of tea.

6. It is believed that the predecessor of the tea bag was invented in 1904 by merchant Thomas Sullivan. The modern tea bag was invented by Teekanne engineer Adolf Rambold.

7. The most expensive Chinese tea is Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe). The cost of such tea can reach $1,025,000 per kilogram or $35,436 per ounce. The price is determined by the initially high cost of production and, as a rule, the very high quality of the product itself.

8. Both green and black teas are obtained from the leaves of the same tea plant, but in different ways. Green tea is pre-fixed with steam at a temperature of 170-180 °C; oxidation lasts no more than two days, after which it is usually stopped by heating. Black tea undergoes complete fermentation (oxidation) for two weeks to a month.

9. China holds over a quarter of the world's tea production. In addition, it is the only country that produces white and yellow teas, as well as oolongs and pu-erhs.

10. Extracted tea is an instant tea that does not require brewing. Modern instant tea in its chemical composition and properties does not differ much from tea brewed from a dry leaf.

11. The birthplace of iced tea in the package is Switzerland. The Swiss Max Sprenger, having visited America, was struck by the amazing ability of iced tea to quench thirst and, upon arrival at home, suggested the idea of ​​releasing ready-made iced tea in bottles.

12. In Thailand, the tea drink "cha-yen" is widely used. This is a strongly brewed tea with the addition of anise and red-yellow or green dye, diluted with condensed milk / sugar with the addition of whole milk / cream. Served exclusively with ice and almost always in a transparent glass.

13. In Asia, tea is used in cooking. Powdered dry tea is used as a seasoning for a variety of dishes. In Burma, fresh tea leaves are consumed as a salad; in Tibet they are used as an ingredient in soups.

14. From tea, food colorings of yellow, green and brown colors are obtained. They are absolutely safe for human health, moreover, tea food coloring contains vitamin P.

15. Tea was originally used as a medicine. Its use as a drink became widespread during the Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907).

16. White tea is in the first place in terms of the content of nutrients, as it is not subjected to heat treatment. It contains vitamins C, PP, B vitamins, trace elements, amino acids and many other substances. It also has less caffeine than other teas.

17. Yellow tea is made exclusively in China from high quality raw materials. For this tea, there is a “9 unpickable” rule, according to which you can’t pick tea on a rainy day, you can’t pick a bud covered with dew, a purple bud, a hollow bud, even a little opened bud, a bud damaged by insects or frost, a sluggish bud, and also too long or too short a kidney.

18. Many herbal teas for weight loss have a pronounced laxative effect, which explains their effect: due to the general exhaustion of the body, a decrease in body weight occurs. However, after the end of taking such tea, the body begins to fight with exhaustion and quickly returns to its original weight.

19. In Japan, there is a unique variety of tea - genmaicha. It is a green tea made from tea leaves and roasted brown rice. Initially, poor Japanese drank such tea, as rice served as a filler and reduced the cost of the drink. Today it is used by all walks of life.

20. Until the middle of the 19th century, tea was bought exclusively in China.

21. Tea in England finally turned into a product of everyday consumption thanks to the Scottish merchant Thomas Lipton. He actively advertised tea in the English market and at the same time was able to reduce the price of tea by almost half.

23. There is much more caffeine in tea than in coffee, but it acts much softer, since it does not act in combination with tannin. It has a mild effect on the cardiovascular and central nervous systems. Tea caffeine does not accumulate and does not linger in the human body.

24. Ceylon tea (Sri Lanka) is widely known, but coffee was originally grown in Ceylon. Only after the death of coffee plantations from a fungus in 1869, it was decided to reorient them to tea.

25. Tea in China is drunk hot, without sugar and other additives, because additives, according to the Chinese, barbarously distort the taste of the drink.

26. Indian Darjeeling tea is valued above other black teas due to its special taste. With proper brewing, a light drink with a refined nutmeg, slightly tart taste and floral aroma is obtained. Such properties are provided by the special growing conditions of tea: cold and humid climate, high-altitude location of plantations and soil characteristics.

27. Apart from da hong pao tea, pu-erh is also one of the most expensive teas in the world. It is distinguished by a specific production technology: the collected leaves, processed to the level of green tea, are subjected to a fermentation procedure - natural or artificial (accelerated) aging. Fermentation occurs under the influence of mold fungi of the genus Aspergillus.

28. In the US, coffee remains a more popular beverage than tea. Overall, Americans consume about 25 times less tea than coffee.

29. The most common tea in the world is black. It accounts for 75% of the world's tea consumption.

30. 100 grams of black tea without additives contains about 3-5 calories, and 100 grams of green tea without additives contains 1 calorie. The most high-calorie of the common additives to tea is honey.

Exist? We will learn all these and other interesting facts about tea in this article.

History of tea

If you look into the history of the drink, you can learn some new interesting facts about tea.

The birthplace of tea is China. Hence the name of the drink, which is called differently in different parts of the country. Russia traded with the province of Hankou, where tea is called "cha". Europeans moored ships in the southeast at the ports of Sanmen, Guangzhou and Fuzhou, whose inhabitants called tea "chii" or "tiea". Hence the differences in the name between European and Slavic countries. For example, the English pronounce "tee" and the Russians say "tea". The history of the origin of the drink is the merit of the Chinese, and it fell in love in many countries thanks to the British - after them Europeans, Americans and Indians began to drink tea. By the way, there are interesting facts about tea growing in India - they have been growing there for a long time, but only monks drank the drink, and therefore tea culture arose only in the 19th century.

Today, tea is grown in 30 countries. 4 of them produce a premium drink: Yunnan, Fujian (China), Wuji (Japan), Darjeeling (India) and the south of Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

Tea in Russia

In our country, tea is one of the favorite drinks. When and where did tea appear in Russia? It was brought to Russia in the 17th century and immediately fell in love with the people, despite the high price due to the lack of its own production. How did Russian tea appear? The history of its origin is quite interesting: the first bush and seeds were planted by P. E. Kirillov, who grew tea at home, since it was quite expensive to bring it from China. But before the October Revolution, the government did not engage in tea breeding.

The situation changed with the advent of the USSR, where tea production reached the highest level, and the important tasks of the state were not only to grow classic varieties in Krasnodar, Azerbaijan and Georgia, but also to obtain new varieties for cultivation in cold regions. Own production of tea in the USSR not only provided for the needs of citizens, but also made it possible to export the product to other countries. After the collapse of the USSR, factories remained in sovereign countries.

Today, 95% of tea in Russia is imported, and China, India and Turkey occupy the main place among the producing countries.

The benefits of tea

During the French Revolution, a doctor decided to conduct an experiment to find out which of the drinks - coffee or tea - is harmful to humans. Two prisoners sentenced to death were given 4 large cups of coffee and tea daily. The one who drank the tea lived to be 76 years old. And the second - up to 82. The doctor who observed them lived to be 62 years old. He didn't drink coffee or tea. The benefits and harms of the drink are not familiar to everyone. Therefore, it is worth considering its pros and cons in more detail. Let's start with the benefits:

Gives vigor and strength, helps to stimulate metabolism, normalize the activity of the heart, blood vessels, digestive and nervous systems.

Contains trace elements such as copper, iron, fluorine, manganese, calcium, zinc.

Prevents the growth of malignant tumors and reduces the risk of cell transformation into cancer cells.

Promotes weight loss and improves skin condition.

Regular consumption of tea reduces the occurrence of cerebral clots, sclerosis and hypertension. This is achieved due to the ability of the drink to slow down the formation of fatty layers inside the blood vessels.

Despite the heat, in summer it is the best drink, because after hot tea, the skin temperature drops by 1-2 degrees.

Harm from the drink

The benefits of tea are obvious. But what about harm?

The first mention of the use of tea dates back to the 4th century AD. However, according to scientists, the tea drink began to be consumed much earlier in East Asia.

one . Not everyone and not always knew that tea should be brewed. When tea first appeared in Europe, a salad was prepared from tea leaves at one of the royal receptions. The treat was eaten with pleasure, because no one wanted to seem ignorant.

2. Russians appreciated tea much earlier than Europeans for one simple reason: Tea was delivered to Europe by sea, and it came to us from Mongolia by land. At that time, sailors still had no idea how to properly store tea in wet ship holds. Tea needs fresh air during storage.

3. Tea was not always called tea. In the writings of ancient Chinese philosophers, it is mentioned under the names "tse", "tou", "chun", "ming", and also "cha", which translates as "young leaf".

4. The use of tea benefited the English aristocrats not only in terms of its great taste and medicinal properties. The fact is that the passion for the new drink so captured the satiated lords that they almost stopped drinking alcohol.

5. In Europe, it has long been believed that different varieties of tea are produced from different plants. China stubbornly kept the secret of its manufacture. In fact, all varieties of black and green tea are made from the same plant - Camellia sinensis.

6. Iced tea was invented in 1904. The author of the invention is Richard Blechinden. Since then, up to 80% of tea in the US has been sold as a chilled drink.

7. In Japanese, the terms "tea" and "eyelash" use the same word. There is a legend that the tea tree grew out of the eyelids of the young Buddha, who cut them off and buried them in the ground so as not to sleep during nighttime meditations.

8. The most extensive tea plantations are in China, India, Japan, Taiwan and Sri Lanka, which used to be called Ceylon.

9. The tea bag was not invented by the famous Lipton, but by a New York supplier, Thomas Sullivan, who discovered that it was unreasonably expensive to ship tea in metal cans.
Therefore, at the beginning of the 20th century, he began selling tea in paper bags. One of the customers accidentally dropped the bag into the water and found that it turns out ... the same tea.

10. The appearance of the word "tip" - tips in English - is really associated with tea. In the 18th century, it was customary to drink tea in special "tea gardens".
On the tables in such gardens were small wooden boxes with the inscription "T.I.P.S." (To Insure Prompt Service). Wanting to get hot tea as quickly as possible, the visitor threw a coin into the box.

Everyone today is familiar with tea drink. We can drink two, three or even more cups of tea a day. When buying a package of tea in a store, we do not even think about how many substances it contains and what unique properties it has.

Growing tea bushes is a very profitable business, as a tea bush can grow and bear fruit for more than a hundred years;

Tea played an important role in weddings in China. The newlyweds passed tea to each other. It was a symbol of eternal love, since the tea bush does not like transplants;

To get the most out of your tea, do not boil it. After all, the whole aroma will come out with the steam;

Tea with lemon was invented in Russia;

Tea helps to get rid of caries;

Tea with milk is the best remedy that helps to cope with alcohol poisoning or the wrong action of medicinal preparations;

If you grind the tea leaves, you get parashek, which will save you from burns.

- if you chew a leaf of tea, then nausea and vomiting will immediately pass. It even works for toxemia or seasickness;

America is the only country where people love coffee much more than tea. They use it all the time. Tea - much less often;

If you drink tea after a meal, it will be easier for you to digest food. It also contributes to the prevention of any diseases associated with the digestive system.

It has been scientifically proven that tea stimulates the brain. So before an important conversation or exam, it is best to drink a cup of tea;

Tea contains much more caffeine than coffee itself.

In the ancient world, the Chinese believed that the perfect tea would only come out when it had been infused for a whole year;

Valuable tea should be stored in a separate place. Only then will its aroma not deteriorate. It is even believed that it cannot be stored in the kitchen either, because it is often cooked there and vapors are constantly emitted;

Mineral water should not be used to make tea. Such water will only spoil the tea. Also, do not use water that has not yet boiled or has been brewed twice. It is best to pour boiling water over tea leaves at a time when the water has really only heated up;

Do not pour tea with water that has already boiled away halfway. By the way, you need to heat the water on fire. So all familiar and convenient water heaters will not help;

- Dishes for tea should be made of faience or porcelain. Metal cups cannot be taken categorically;

Some peoples love tea so much that they use it not only as a drink, but even eat it;

For Tibet, tea is life. This is mentioned in all historical literary robots;

For Mongolians, tea is also very important. Their peculiarity is that they constantly add various milk, lard, butter, flour or salt. The Russians are unlikely to like such a drink;

Every Englishman drinks tea with milk;

The tradition of brewing very strong tea was formed in prison life;

Such tea is called "chifir". It is harmful to health. After all, not only does it contain a huge dose of tea, but such tea must be evaporated for a long time, which makes it even worse. As a result, ready-made strong tea is a mixture of harmful ingredients;

In Poland, they could not come to drink tea for a long time. For the Poles, it was, above all, medicine;

The famous archaeologist Heinrich Liman, who discovered Troy, did it thanks to tea. It was by engaging in tea plantations that he was able to raise money for work;

The modern concept of tea was formed 700 years ago;

Thomas Sullivan invented the tea bag as he was embarrassed by the inconvenience of transporting tea in cans;

Until the 18th century, everyone thought that green and black tea were made from completely different plants;

The English have an interesting tradition - they put a spoon across the cup if they want to show they don't want more tea and they don't need to refill;

Until the middle of the 19th century, Moscow drank more than half of all the tea that was imported into Russia;

Tea is grown in only 5 countries;

There are teas that cost a fortune. One auction sold tea for $685,000 per kilo;

Tea is much better invigorating than coffee;

Tea is the most popular drink. Not even beer could beat him;

From one kilogram of tea leaves, 400 cups can be brewed;

Brewed tea leaves are often used to eliminate unpleasant odors.

This is a great way to keep the food in the fridge from filling everything up with their flavors;

Every day, 3 billion cups of tea are brewed in the world;

Once they conducted an experiment on whether tea is harmful. The sentenced prisoner was sent to a separate cell and was given tea to drink 3 times a day. In the end, he outlived all his judges and died at the age of 83;

The largest tea bush has reached 30 meters in height;

The familiar samovar, in fact, was not created for brewing tea. It was primarily used to make mead;

Tea is such an important product that there have been many cases in history when various frauds were carried out in trade;

Iced tea first appeared in 1904;

There are many legends about the creation of tea. One of them says that one monk fell asleep during the ceremony, and to punish himself, he cut off his eyelids. In the place where he threw them, the first tea bushes grew. Terrible, of course, but the fantasy seethes;

In 780, a tax was introduced on the transportation of tea. It was China's first way of making money;

When tea came to Europe, all the aristocrats began to literally revel in it. But not everyone knew exactly how to use it. It got to the point that a salad was made from tea leaves and all the guests, being polite people, ate it;

Many countries also wanted to learn how to grow tea. Of course, they did not succeed, but they still had separately planted tea bushes.

So, we see that tea, no matter how ordinary it may seem to us, has its own unique history and plays a big role all over the world: for some it is a way to earn money, someone simply cannot live without drinking this drink. One way or another, we can safely say that tea is the product that will be in every home for many centuries to come.