A Brief History of Tea

2737 BC	Tea was first cultivated in China and has been enjoyed there for thousands of years. According to legend, Tea was discovered by Emperor Shen Nung. The Emperor, known as the ‘Divine Healer’, was a scholar and a herbalist. He advocated boiling water before drinking to his subjects. One afternoon, as he knelt before his boiling water, some leaves from a nearby tea bush blew into the pot. The Emperor noted a delightful aroma and, upon sipping the beverage, proclaimed it as ‘heaven sent’. Tea was primarily drunk as a digestive and for other for medicinal purposes throughout China. Tea leaves were gathered from wild tea trees.
206 - 220 BC	During the Han Dynasty tea’s popularity grew and it was also drunk for pleasure. Tea plantations were established to support the growing demand. Tea was steamed and compressed into tightly pressed cakes to ease transportation.
332	First record of tea manufacture written by Zhang Yi
729	Tea introduced to the Japanese imperial court from China as a result of trade between Buddhist monks. Emperor Shomu is said to have served tea to 100 Buddhist monks at his palace in Nara. Tea drinking fell from favour due to cooling Sino Japanese relations
783 - 793	Evidence of Tea taxation in China.
960 - 1279	Chinese Song Dynasty. Growth of the Chinese tea house.
1191	Japanese Buddhist monk, Yeisai-zenji, brings tea plant seeds to Japan and popularises tea drinking.
1400s	Japanese Tea Ceremony formalised
1600	Elizabeth I grants a charter to The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies which later became known as the East India Company. The Company had a monopoly in the Indian tea trade.
1610	First shipment of tea to Europe from China arrived in Holland. Tea popularity in France and Germany was short lived, but remained fashionable in the Low Countries.
1657	First recorded advert for tea in England in a pamphlet produced by Thomas Garraway explaining the tea would cure many known ills. Read Garraway's pamphlet on the many benefits of tea.
1662	Tea popularised in England by Charles II’s new Portuguese wife, Catherine of Braganza.
1713	East India Company's tea sales reach 97,000 kilograms per annum
1773	Parliament’s reduction in colonial taxation leads to the Boston Tea Party in Colonial America. Learn about the Boston Tea Party
1813	East India Company's tea sales increase to 14.5 million kilograms per annum
1840s	East India Company’s monopoly on tea imports ended
Late 1800's	Rooibos (red bush tea) cultivation and trading outside of Cape Province, South Africa
June 1998	London Tea Auction closes after 300 years of trading
2008		TFTL launches bringing you luxury loose leaf teas. 2008 is considered a lucky year by the Chinese, because the number 8 sounds like the word “prosper” or “wealth”.

Extra Information from The Tealover’s Companion, Pettigrew and Richards, 2005.