National Tea Day

That’s about the perfect sentiment we can think of for a nice cup of tea! Tea is a wonderful drink that comes in a wide variety of different flavors, each of them having a distinct personality and character. It has been used for everything from a simple morning libation to the central element of certain social and religious rituals.

This amazing drink is so important that taxing it was the final straw that ignited a fledgling country to declare a revolution! National Tea Day celebrates this fantastic beverage and the seemingly endless list of things it can do.

History of National Tea Day

The History of National Tea Day reaches far back into the world’s history but can be narrowed down to a place of origin that is surprisingly precise.

This place sits at the intersection of Latitude 29N and Longitude 98E, notable as the joining of NE India, Burma, China, and Tibet. Many mythological origins for tea also exist as well, some of them merely interesting and others quite gruesome.

In one period in China, the Emperor had ordered that all people of his nation would boil their water before drinking it. So it came to pass that the Emperor was sitting and drinking a simple cup of boiled water when leaves from a nearby tree blew into it, creating the first tea.

In another tale, a man sat meditating in front of a wall (for 9 whole years!) when he accidentally fell asleep. On waking, he was so disgusted with his inability to stay awake, which he considered to be a weakness, that he severed his eyelids and threw them to the ground where they sprouted into the first tea bushes. A little disturbing, perhaps, but utterly Asian in its style.