All tea comes from an evergreen shrub which has the Latin name 'Camellia sinensis'. Although these shrubs would naturally grow to a height of 60 feet, when they are grown for harvesting they are usually kept to about 3 feet in height.
There are probably about 3000 varieties of tea depending, like wine, upon where they are grown, the climate, the soil conditions and how they are processed. Some teas are named after where they are grown, such as Assam - a region of India, or Keemun - a region of China.

Tea is harvested after each 'Flush', which is the sprouting of the top two leaves and bud. These are then hand picked and processed into one of the four types of tea described below.

Black tea is withered, fully oxidised and dried. Black tea yields a hearty, amber coloured brew. Some of the popular black teas include 'English Breakfast' and 'Darjeeling'

Green tea skips the oxidising step of the process. It is simply withered and then dried. It has a more delicate taste and has a pale green or golden colour.
Green Tea has a high content of vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folic Acis, Magnesium, Potassium and Fluoride. There is strong evidence that Green tea helps lower blood pressure and is linked with the prevention of many types of cancer.

Oolong Tea, which is popular in China, is withered, partially oxidised and dried. Oolong is a cross between Black Tea and Green Tea in colour and taste.

White tea is a very rare tea from China and is the least processed. White Tea is not oxidised or rolled but simply withered and dried by steaming.

It is said that tea was introduced to Britain as a consequence of the marriage of King Charles the Second to a Portugese Princess called Catherine of Braganza. She was a tea addict and thus it became a fashionable beverage first at Court and then amongst the wealthy classes as a whole.

From 1664 the East India Company started to import tea from the Far East and it became a popular drink in the coffee houses, which were as much locations for the transaction of business as they were for leisure. Tea at that time was much too expensive for the working classes particularly as the Government had, like everything else, decided to levy a tax on it. This inevitably resulted in the smuggling of tea on a large scale as well as the adulteration of the product. The 'Tea Tax' was eventually drastically reduced in the 1780's which then allowed all classes to adopt tea as their beverage of choice.

In the middle of the nineteenth century the blossoming of the Temperance Movement and its enthusiasm to have the working classes become teetotal gave another boost to tea drinking as an alternative to alcohol.

After 1834, the East India Company, having lost its monopoly of trade with China, then encouraged the growing of tea in India where it was mainly based. This was first started in the Indian region of Assam and the first auction of 'Assam' tea took place in Britain in 1839.

After 1834 and the loss of the East India Company's monopoly, the trade in tea became a virtual free for all. Individual merchants and sea captains with their own ships raced to bring home the tea first and make the most money, using fast new clippers which had sleek lines, tall masts and huge sails.In particular there was competition between British and American merchants which led to the famous clipper races of the 1860's. These came to an end with the opening of the Suez Canal.

Below is a picture of probably the most famous tea clipper - the Cutty Sark.

 

 

By 1901 with cheap imports from India and Ceylon tea drinking had become firmly established as part of the British way of life. During the First World War and again during the Second World War, the Government took control of the importation of tea to ensure that this morale boosting beverage continued to be available at an affordable price. Inevitably, however, it was rationed between 1940 and 1952.

By the 1970's a new element of tea drinking took off in Britain with the arrival of the American invented 'Tea Bag'. In very recent years Herbal Teas and Teas with Fruit Infusions have become increasingly available and popular. A huge range of teas, of multivarious types and from many regions of the world, being easily available has resulted in tea drinking now becoming as fashionable as, if not more than, the drinking of Coffee.