Tea is one of the most popular drinks on Earth. According to the generally accepted version, it was first used in ancient China. For example, in the treatise "Shen Long Ben Shu" there are the following lines: "When a person drinks tea, he thinks better, he falls asleep less, his body becomes lighter, and his eyesight becomes sharper." True, for a long time tea was considered either as a medicine or as a ritual drink.
By the beginning of the Han era, which dates back to 207 BC. - 220 AD, tea has already become a widespread commodity, although not available to everyone. And after Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi united the scattered parts of the country into a single state, tea gradually began to become a nationwide drink.
The heyday of consumption of this drink in China falls on the Tang era (618 - 907). The popularization of tea in the broadest strata of society was promoted by Buddhist monks, who viewed tea bushes as wonderful plants with healing properties. Therefore, the monks, along with the propaganda of their religious views, actively spread the tradition of tea drinking. As a result, good teas began to be considered a luxurious gift that can be safely presented to people of even the highest rank, up to the emperor.
Residents of different provinces began to compete, trying to bring out new varieties of tea, distinguished by exquisite taste and aroma, and deserve the honor of becoming suppliers of the imperial court.
From China, tea came to other countries, primarily the neighboring ones: Japan and Korea. Then after a while to Burma, Thailand, to Sri Lanka. And then traders from Western countries became interested in the drink.
In 1684, a Dutch merchant brought a shipment of tea bushes to Indonesia, then a colony of the Netherlands. They took root well, multiplied, and after a while Indonesia itself became a tea producer.
In India, the first plantations appeared around 1780. And by the middle of the 19th century, the slopes of the mountains of the island of Sri Lanka were also covered with tea plantations. This happened after almost all coffee plantations were killed there as a result of a massive disease. To prevent the island's economy from receiving a crushing blow, a replacement was urgently required, and the tea came in handy.
Tea first came to Russia in the middle of the 16th century. By the middle of the 17th century, it had already received recognition among the upper aristocracy, and a hundred years later it spread among the people of the lower classes. Since then, the samovar for a long time has become an integral part of the interior of any home, even a very modest one. The poor drank empty tea, while the wealthier people drank a bite, that is, alternating sips of a fragrant hot liquid with lumps of sugar.
