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Right you lot, sit down - school's in session! Time to learn a bit about the origins and history of our favourite beverage...tea!
The origins of tea spring from lore that originated in China and India. Both stories tell of how royalty accidentally came upon the leaves of this plant that instantly refreshed and energised their minds and bodies. Tea is often said to be nature's very own energy drink, that relaxes and calms the mind, relieves stress.
So what are the lesser known secrets of this drink that has a mysterious history, soothing powers, loyal consumers, poetry dedicated to its charm, and entire books dedicated to it? In the UK, tea is a favorite hot beverage and on average each person consumer at least 3 cups of tea a day.
UK is the second largest per capita consumers of tea in the world; Turkey is the number one consumer of tea. Approximately 160,000,000 cups of tea are drunk everyday in the UK alone! And, a whopping 96% of tea brewed in the UK is done so by using tea bags. While almost everyone in the UK consumes their tea with milk (that's 98%), only 30% like to take sugar in their tea.
Somewhere during the 18th century, tea overshadowed gin and ale as the most popular drink. Tea shops were specifically set up for women to get together and have a social meeting, much like the purpose bingo serves these days.
In the US, tea is also widely popular, but in the form of Iced Tea. A massive 80% of tea consumers in the US drink only Iced Tea.
In comparison to coffee, tea has significantly lower levels of caffeine, and a survey shows that 80% of office workers say they catch up on all the office news over a cup of tea!
In Darjeeling, India, one particular garden has 3 million tea bushes, which are plucked 32 times a year!
In the early days of tea drinking, the tea cups and saucers were small in size due to the expensive nature of the habit. As such there was no room for the spoon to rest, and drinkers often rested the spoon on top of their cup to indicate that they had had enough tea. Today, you just need to rest your spoon on your saucer to let your host know that you've had enough!
For the working masses, high tea replaced the main meal of the day. High tea was taken at some point between the afternoon tea and dinner, and was consumed with accompaniments such as meats or bread.
The first advertisement of tea was published in the Mercurius Politicus on September 30, 1658. Following this publicity, around 500 coffee houses began serving tea by the year 1700.
Mint is traditionally used in Touareg tea, which is popular in the North African and Arab countries.
Gunpowder tea is produced in Zheijang province of China and is named as such because the leaves of the tea are rolled into tiny pellets.
Used tea bags make for excellent odour absorbents. Simply dry the used tea bags completely and place them in the spot from where you'd like to remove odours.
 The phrase, 'not for all the tea in China' originated in China around the 20th century. China used (and still conitnues) to be a major producer of tea, and the phrase simply indicates the unwillingness to be tempted.
'Dressed to a tee' is a phrase that was originally meant to say, dressed for a tea, as in being in your best attire to attend a tea party.
The phrase 'not my cup of tea' originates from Japan's fifteenth century Teaism, and it was used to describe 'the one you didn't care for.'
'Tea and sympathy' means caring and being hospitable towards a person was coined by Robert Anderson in a play he wrote in 1953.
'Storm in a teacup' has its roots traced back to the Latin dictionary which was published in 1854. The original phrase literally translated to say 'to raise a tempest in a teapot'.
'Born with a silver spoon' is a phrase that found shape  way back in the 1600s. Back in the day, spoons were made of wood, in fact the word spoon is derived from the Anglo-Saxon for wood - spon: a chip of wood. The tradition was that godparents would gift a new born baby with a silver spoon, this gift however was only accessible to the wealthy few.
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