Experienced
tea pickers collect up to 70 pounds of tea a day by hand.
It takes years
for tea to grow on land where lightning has struck or humans have lived.
Until the Sixth
Century, tea was consumed primarily as a remedy for headaches, kidney
trouble, poor digestion, ulcers, and to guard against "the noxious
gasses of the body and lethargy".
Did you know that
tea is sold by the producers at prices which range from 50 cents to $
150.00 per kg ?
Did you know that
very few herbal teas and fruit teas have any tea leaves in them ?
Did you know that
tea manufactured in the same Factory at 03:00 hrs can taste totally different
to teas manufactured at 12:00 hrs, even though the tea leaves could be
from the same area and a similar tea bush ?
Tea is the second
most popular beverage in the world, second only to water.
Although worldwide
people prefer hot tea, people in the United States prefer freshly brewed
iced tea.
Tea purists have
come to learn that many high quality tea bags are as good as high quality
loose tea; after all, high-quality tea bags contain the very same tea
leaves that can be found loose.
More than 46 billion
glasses of tea are consumed in the United States every year, 37 billion
of which are served iced.
Tea liqueur is
the result of infusing the leaves of the plant Camellia Sinensis in hot
water. 80% of the caffeine in tea is released in the first 30 seconds
of the infusion. If you want decaffeinated tea, just throw out the liqueur
after 30 seconds and brew a second infusion.
Contrary to popular
belief, the three types of tea, green, black, and oolong, come from the
same tea plant. The differences in taste result from the way the leaves
are processed.
Herbal teas do
not contain tea at all. A select blend of all natural ingredients including
herbs, flowers, fruit, and spices provides a delicate flavor -- without
caffeine. All herbal teas are naturally caffeine-free.
The
United States is the world's second largest tea importing nation, purchasing
over 100 million tons of tea each year from all over the world.
One
tea bush will produce tea for at least 50 years.
Contrary
to popular belief, 
the
terms pekoe and orange pekoe, refer to the size of a tea leaf instead
of a flavor or color of tea. The word is pronounced "peck-o."
From
a single kilogram of tea, you can make anywhere between 375 and 425 cups
of tea.
Tea
is actually an evergreen tree and a member of the Camellia family. For
ease in plucking, tea "bushes" are kept to a height of about
three feet. Left untouched, these plants can grow up to 50 feet tall and
live for more than 100 years.
There
are more than 3,000 varieties of tea available throughout the world. Like
fine wine, there are enough teas to please any connoisseur.