Tea Story - Europe

Tea reached Europe from China and Japan in 1610 when Dutch traders brought leaves back as a luxury item alongside spices and silks.

The British were introduced to tea in 1662 when Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza included a chest of tea in her dowry when she married Charles II: the First Lady of Tea.

Tea's importance as a global commercial product started with the founding of the East India Company in England.

Created in 16th century under a charter from Elizabeth I to seek exotic riches, the Company had a monopoly on all goods entering Britain from outside Europe.

This initially restricted tea to the tables of England's high society. Over time, sailors returning from the Far East shared it with family and friends, and enterprising smugglers avoided the Company's monopoly and government tariffs by illegally importing.

Tea was soon being requested in London's COFFEE houses.

At the start of the 18th century, England imported 200,000 pounds of tea each year; by 1750, that figure grew to over two million.

Tea replaced ale and gin as Britain's most popular beverage and spawned new industries, from tea gardens to English pottery and porcelain.

By the 19th century, the British Empire had helped make tea a daily drink as explorers and entrepreneurs set up tea plantations in India.

In Britain, tea integrated into society at all levels, and was thought to have reduced urban disease and fuel the Industrial Revolution.

Employers instituted a morning and afternoon "tea break" to compensate for long working hours.

Tea Story - Turkey

In Turkey, tea is of such importance, that all brides-to-be must master the art of demilikacay, or tea preparation. The people of Turkey drink more tea than any other beverage, consuming about 160,000 tons of tea per year.