What kind of world would this be without tea? There would be no teapot or teakettle if tea had never been discovered. There would be no teacup, teaspoon, or tea towel, and no tea time. Two of the world’s most famous parties would have been canceled: The colonists could not have held the Boston Tea Party in 1773, throwing 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor and Lewis Carroll 's Alice in Wonderland would say nothing of the Mad Hatter’s and March Hare’s tea party.

Luckily, tea was discovered in 2737 b.c. by a great Chinese emperor named Shen Nung. One day Shen Nung was boiling water outside when leaves from a nearby bush fell into the open kettle. Before Shen Nung could retrieve the leaves, they began to brew. He smelled the sweet aroma of the mixture and once he tasted it, the world was given tea! Tea is the most popular beverage in the world today-after plain water. It was introduced in Europe in 1610, and until about two hundred years ago, people in many Asian countries used blocks or bricks of tea as money.

Explore our Teabits and you might learn a little history about the first cup of tea, how ice tea was born or about the real Earl Grey. We can give you instructions on how to brew the perfect pot of tea, and how to clean those nasty tea stains off you favorite tea pot. Surprise your friends with little known tea facts and bits of tea leaf trivia.

The tea world is full of often-repeated tidbits of incorrect information. Dispell those myths here. You can discover interesting new ways to use tea. And you thought drinking a steaming cup of tea was the only way to use a tea bag!