When was tea first grown?
The cultivation of tea is believed to have begun in the province of Szechwan in China in around the year 350. From there its cultivation and use as a beverage spread throughout China and Japan under the patronage of Buddhist priests.
It was brought to Europe by the Dutch in 1610 and became increasingly popular from the middle of the 17th century in England, tea began to oust coffee with the encouragement of the East India Company. India’s tea industry was r. founded in 1834.
It will be great to know that today tea is drunk by about half the world’s population.
