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Featured Article: Simply Tea

SIMPLY TEA
TEA THE DRINK -

America has taken to drinking -
drinking tea that is.

Tea is the world's most popular beverage next to water. Everyday more people throughout the world drink more tea than any other drink with the exception of water. The United States is second only to Great Britain, of the Western tea drinking nations, in the amount of tea consumed by its' people.

The story of tea goes back so far that its true beginning is lost in time. Tea drinking has been soothing and refreshing man for thousands of years. It is the drink or the rich, the poor, of scholars, poets and athletes of office and factory workers. A universal beverage.

Take a small spoonful of tea leaves in your hand. Study their strange little rolled up forms. Crush them together and breathe in their pungent aroma. Place them in a warmed tea pot and pour boiling water over them. Note the fragrance that arises. Strain and pour into your cup. Drink. You will feel stimulated refreshed and uplifted.

Behind that fragrance is one of the great stories of the world. A story filled with ancient legends, history, intrigue, romance, poetry and drama. Wars have been fought over tea, Empires won and lost. Rolled up in these tiny dried up leaves in the record of mans' progress. Tea became the national drink of the British - it is hard to imagine a world without it.

There are over three thousand varieties of tea, all of them stem from the same source/the plant Camellia Sinensis.

It is said that Tea was originally discovered by the Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung; who was considered by his people to be a divine healer. It was around the year 2737 BC that Shen Nung encouraged his people to boil their drinking water and he observed that those who did so were indeed more healthy. Legend has it that one windy day some leaves fell from a nearby plant into a pot of boiling water, with was situated just under the tree.

The Emperor thought the aroma was wonderful. He sipped the steaming brew, which he loved instantly and that, according to the Chinese, is how tea was born.

The people of India also have a legend about tea. About 2,000 years ago, according to their legend a saintly Buddhist priest, named Darma, needed to prove his faith. He felt he could do so by keeping himself awake for seven long years,and this would be possible if he thought only of Buddha. After five years he began to feel sleepy. He tried to stay awake. He needed something. Close by was a bush from which he snatched some leaves, and began to chew them. These were leaves from the tea bush.

He felt instantly refreshed and was able to complete his seven years of meditation.

As man's knowledge of the world expanded and grew, so did their knowledge of tea. Tea became popular in Europe and the British became addicted to this warm, soothing drink. People drank tea for its curative properties, and for pleasure.

Today, America has rediscovered both the health giving benefits of drinking tea and the pleasurable and social aspects.

Americans drink an average of. 46 billion servings of tea each year, the majority of which is served over ice.

Are you one of them?

TEA THE MEAL is said to be attributed to Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford in England (1783-1857). At that time dinner was served quite late, so there was a long time between breakfast and the evening meal. The Duchess apparently experienced a 'sinking feeling during the afternoon and ordered her servants to send up snacks of 'small tarts, biscuits and bread spread with good sweet butter'.

Soon Anna's court friends copied her idea and sewing late afternoon tea with refreshments became the fashionable thing to do.

The fashionable meal was also adopted by the then American colonies where rich ladies often emulated the English nobility. Low tables were set near sofas and chairs and laid with the finest linens and china. Unfortunately, this was only popular for a short time and everything English was boycotted -i.e. "The Boston Tea Party".

However, just three years later tea was once again popular, when Congress advertised in the Philadelphia Packet newspaper ...that the drinking of tea can now be indulged. A century later in the mid 1800's tea drinking was once again fashionable.

The Victorians made much of the tea party (although Queen Victoria herself did not have a taste for tea, preferring Cocoa, as was Prince Albert's taste and the German tradition) - again low tables were set out in the parlor (best room) and the food would typically consist of dainty sandwiches, small cakes, often elaborate ices,punch and wine would be served as well as hot tea.This tea became known as low tea.

High tea was for the working man because of the hour it was served-late evening. The men would come home from toiling in the factories or down the mines to a tea of bread & jam, (no butter) cold meat with pickles, plain cake all washed down with large mugs of hot, sweet tea with milk.

Tea parties were a way in which Victorian ladies could hear the latest gossip and scandal without interruptions. However, there were many social graces to adhere to. Always wear a hat, remove your gloves when eating sandwiches, never stay more than 20 minutes to name but a few.

Today, tea is served in a variety of ways, from the trendy tea lounge to the simulated Victorian tearoom. In ones' home, early in the morning, as a pick-me up when not too well, or just any time for pure enjoyment.

Whatever your taste, remember to make it Tea,"It does ones body good".

Mary Elizabeth Editor, the TEA BREAK News, a quarterly newsletter for tea lovers everywhere.