5 Crazy Facts About Tea

People are absolutely crazy about their tea, and for good reason. Not only does tea taste great, but it’s also packed with health benefits. You probably know how much tea you drink on a regular basis and how much you’re spending on it, but there are some interesting facts about tea that you may not have known. Let’s take a glimpse into the world of tea and see what makes this drink tick.

5. The Price of Tea

The average cost of tea is about $0.25 to $0.40 per cup, which is one reason why it’s so popular. What if you wanted to go all out and spend some big bucks on tea, though? Among the most expensive teas in the world, you’ll find Tieguanyin, vintage Narcissus, PG Tips and Panda Dung Tea that range from $1,500 to $35,000 per pound. The most expensive tea, though, is Da Hong Pao, which goes back to the Ming Dynasty and is valued at $600,000 per pound.

4. Iced Iced Tea Leaves

Tea is great on its own, but there are many people that prefer the iced version of the drink. In fact, nearly 70 million Americans drink iced tea every single day, but where did it come from? The earliest known documentation of iced tea came from the 1820s, and became more popular in print during the 1860s and 70s. It wasn’t until the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri that iced tea really started to take off in the United States after being introduced by Richard Blechynden.

3. Inception of Tea

Tea is one of the oldest drinks in the world, and the origins of tea are somewhat documented if not left to legend. The most widely accepted origin of tea comes from 2,737 BC from Emperor Shennong of China. The legend reads that Shennong had a servant who was boiling drinking water when a tea leaf fell into the water and he enjoyed the taste. In terms of full documentation, tea goes back to around 2nd century BC with writings at the time saying that tea use went even further back.

2. Tea Types

When you think of how many types of tea there are, you probably consider the handful of main types such as oolong or green tea. While there are the primary types, there are many different subtypes, and the amount of them might be surprising. All in all, there are over 3,000 different types of tea in the world. Think of tea the same way you do peppers, with very specific types not being too well known.

1. British Consumption

In Great Britain, there’s an estimated 67.2 million people. How many cups of tea do you think that translates to in a day? 10 million? 20 million? Not even close. Every day, Brits consume 100 million cups of tea. It doesn’t matter what age someone is in Great Britain, everyone is seemingly drinking at least one cup each day. This translates to 36 billion cups of tea every year, with three quarters of Brits drinking tea regularly and only 12 percent saying that they never drink tea. 58 percent are drinking two cups or more.