Learn about tea | New to tea?
All tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant, a warm-weather evergreen plant indigenous to Southern China’s Yunnan province.
Tea is a very mild stimulant. Much like coffee, chocolate, and colas, it contains caffeine. Tea is comprised of three notable components: (1) essential oils, which grant tea its delightful, delicious aromatic tendency; (2) polyphenols/tannin compounds, which contribute to tea’s level of astringency, taste, “mouth-feel”, and its health benefits, and (3) caffeine, which is purported to give one a surge in energy.
“Herbal tea”, as it is known colloquially, is any hot beverage made from leaves, bark, flowers, fruit, herbs, etc. Despite the common usage of the term, most tea connoisseurs are careful to make the distinction between tea made from the Camellia sinensis plant and everything else. Within the tea industry, all that is not Camellia sinensis is termed herbal infusions or fruit tisanes.
What is tea? Well, it’s only the second most popular drink in the world behind water. In fact, it is estimated that tea can be found in almost 80% of all U.S. households. And that on any given day, more than half of the United States population will drink a cup of tea. What’s even more surprising is that even after tallying up a few convincing statistics like that, the U.S. doesn’t even “weigh-in” as one of the world’s top patrons when speaking in terms of per capita tea consumption.
