Now if you are a tea drinker and a lover of tea, chances are you would enjoy learning more about this cup of good cheer and find some of the stories associated with tea and tea drinking fascinating. Read on to find out some strange facts and myths related to tea:

• Whether its black, white, green or oolong tea, all the varieties of tea come from the same basic plant which is the Camellia Sinensis
• After water, it is tea that is the most consumed beverage in the world; beating coffee, beer, orange juice etc by a long chalk! Some 2 billion people in the world drink tea each day!
• According to some estimates, 5 out of 6 North Americans drink tea
• The tea plant is pruned to about waist height, to enable easy picking. If left to grow undisturbed, this plant will go on to grow into a tree that may reach as high as 30 meters.
• At one point in history, tea was used as currency: in Siberia, until the 19^th century, blocks of tea formed the currency of the people
• Here is the story of the tea bag: Thomas Sullivan found it too expensive to use tin boxes in which to import tea to New York. He found gauze packets to be a more economic option. Users however were rather confused with the new fangled packaging and used the tea, bag and all to brew their cup and thus was born the tea bag!
• 80% of tea consumed in the United States is iced tea but what is the iced tea story? Well apparently it was British tea merchant named Richard Blechynden who ‘invented’ iced tea in the early 20^th century, however many estimated date the invention of iced tea even prior to that. And long before this, tea punch (which used to be made by mixing alcohol in the concoction) was being drunk as well.
• Tea contains caffeine (a lot less than coffee but does contain it nevertheless) but it contains no tannic acid though it has often been accused of doing so. To reduce the amount of caffeine you consume in your tea, steep the leaves in hot water for half a minute, discard the water and re-steep the leaves to very significantly reduce your caffeine consumption.
• People drink hot tea even on warm days because they find that it paradoxically seems to cool them down. This is due to a process called vasodilation which is a widening of the blood vessels

If you have enjoyed this post about strange tea facts, check out our other posts about the Legends of Tea and the history of the Culture of Tea Drinking in China.

Tags: Health, history, iced tea, tea, World