Glossary: tea

Tea is native to China, where it grew wild until the Chinese determined that the leaves helped flavor the flat taste of the water they boiled to prevent getting sick. Tea plant cultivation in China began about 4,000 years ago but it wasn't until the 8th century a.d. that outsiders (the Japanese) discovered it. Europeans were finally introduced to tea during the 17th century and the British (who were the true tea lovers) spread its use by implementing new growing areas such as India. In fact, the English so enjoy their tea that they developed a meal around it, high tea. Tea also played an important role in the development of the United States'"its taxation led to the Boston Tea Party, one of the issues that triggered the War of Independence. Americans further influenced tea use both by inventing tea bags and by starting the practice of drinking iced tea at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. The word 'tea'

From THE NEW FOOD LOVERS COMPANION, Fourth edition by Sharon Tyler Herbst and Ron Herbst. Copyright © 2007, 2001, 1995, 1990 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc.