There are some important facts about Tea which are extremely old and are unknown to many. Let us get to know more about this beverage which was used as a medical herb once upon a time but now has become as a drink of comfort and pleasure.

1598 A Dutch Trader who had traveled to the Far East initially wrote a book about TEA in English. The name of that book was “Voyages and travels of Hugo Van Linschoten”.

1600 The East India Company was established by Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). She established this company for the well being of the English crown. The East India Company was the largest trading company in the world at that time and was known as “John Company”. It was from these travelers who wrote about their journeys, that Tea come to be known in the East and that Western countries like England.

1700 The Famous tea drinkers of that time include: William Congreve, William Cowper, Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson and Alexander Pope. The British East India Company became the largest trading company in the world and tea was its largest import commodity.

1716 Tea reached Hudson Bay in Canada and it traveled with the pioneers in covered wagons to the settlement areas of the Canadian West.

1823 Like the Dutch the English constantly searched for new sources of tea.

1824 The first Tea from China was planted in the botanical gardens at Perdeniya, Ceylon.

1900 Tea was planted in the botanical gardens at Entebbe, Uganda, where it is still grown.

1903 Tea seeds from India were planted near Limuru, near Nairobi, Kenya and later many of Kenya’s tea was used in tea blends and exported to over forty countries.

To be continued

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