Tea - The tea

The tea

The History

The tea we drink every day is approx 5.000 years old. The legend says that the Chinese Emperor Shen Nong discovered it in 2737 before Christi. One day the Emperor was boiling water in the garden and suddenly a leaf from the camellia plant fell into the pot. When he drink this water it taste good for him, so good, that he never drunk other drinks.

Another legend is about Daruna a japans priest. One day the priest was angry about his tiredness during his meditation that's why he cut his eyelids out and threw them to the ground and on this place grew up two tea plants. When he taste the tea he was very lucky that he could meditate again because it refreshed him and he didn't have to sleep any more.

History of iced tea

Iced tea discovered Richard Blechynden, a young Englishman. He had come all the way from India, to represent teas from the Far East. His mission was, of course, to help popularise tea. But the weather was very hot. Perspiring crowds hurried past the colorful Far East Tea House, where hot tea was being served. In desperation, Blechynden tried filling tall glasses with pieces of ice and started pouring hot tea into them. The people found the new drink cooling and

refreshing and they asked for more. Today, it is America's national summertime drink.

The Plant

At first the tea was only offer in Japan, India, Russia and so on before it came to Europe because the tea plant is an evergreen plant and is grown in tropical regions. The main tea producers are India, China, Srilanka, Indonesia and East Africa.

The History(continue)

The first teashop opened in London in 1717, but tea was very expensive. So expensive that later, when it became modern to drink, the tea was locked in a tea caddy and the lady of the house was the only one with the key. Once the tea was used by the guests and family, the servants used the leaves a second time for themselves and sometimes they even sold them to the poor to use again. Many middle class families scrimped in order to buy tea as it was quite a status symbol. Because of its growing popularity and high cost, it was often difficult to get pure tea. It was smuggled in and could be sold used or mixed with other things. As tea became more and more popular, the government began to make more rules and blow up taxes on it giving them quite a nice revenue. In 1784 however, they were forced to reduce taxes and tea became affordable for everyone.

As a nation the British drink about 196 million cups of tea every day. Britain has approx 50 million people. These are approx 4 cups of tea per person. They drink a cup of tea first thing in the morning, then a midmorning cup of tea at work, followed by afternoon tea, and perhaps a cup of tea before they go to bed.

The tea Council is responsible for monitoring the quality of tea in Britain. A group of professional tea drinkers travel up and down the country, tasting tea samples and testing the quality. If you visit a British household, the first thing you will be offered is a cuppa, that's a cup of tea.

Questions

Where is the tea plant? (The main regions)

The plant is in India, China, Srilanka, Indonesia and East Africa.

How old is the tea?

The tea is 5,000 years old

How many cups of tea do a British drink in the week?

These are 28 cups of tea per week.

Vocabulary

to plant - pflanzen

perspiring - schweißtriefend

desperation - Verzweiflung

to scrimp - sparen

revenue - Staatseinnahmen

to force - zwingen

tea council - Teerat

Picture description(in the text)

"From the top of the report till the end"

First: an old picture of the tea-plant from Japan

Second: tea-plant-fields in china

Third: tea-plant-picture from India

Fourth: the same like by third

Fifth: an Indian by boiling tea

Sixth: a tea-picking-ritual