Page 57 - Thirst Magazine Issue 2 June 2017
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St. Louis World’s Fair
held for 8 months,
legend says that the villagers would taunt was attended by
the monkeys that lived in the tea bushes. nearly 19.7 million
people from more
The monkeys would get so angry that they than 60 countries.
would hurl tea leaves at the villagers, thus
making it easier for them to harvest the tea.
The popularity of tea spread to Japan ICED TEA
and Mongolia. It became a favorite drink Iced tea was created by a man named Richard
for royalty. As the availability increased and Blechynden. He added ice chunks to hot tea to
prices went down, it was soon included at cool off visitors to the St. Louis World’s Fair
every meal. in 1904. The idea was a huge success and more
than doubled tea consumption in the United
BUTTER TEA States. Today, iced tea is more popular than
hot tea in the USA.
People began to add sweeteners, spices,
fruit and onions to their tea. In the frigid
regions of Mongolia, people began to make a TEA BAG
high calorie tea called butter tea. Butter tea is The first tea bags were created by accident.
made with salt and yak butter, which is still In 1908, a man from New York, named
consumed today. Thomas Sullivan was looking for a way to
allow his clients to sample the tea he was
TEA CURRENCY selling. He packaged tea in small silk draw
bags which his clients mistakenly used to
Tea was once pressed into blocks and used make the tea with. The rest is history.
as a form of currency. This was particularly
popular among people who lived a long way
from any cities or towns. INSTANT TEA
Instant tea was invented in the 1930’s.
VICTORIAN TEA DRINKING It didn’t become popular until the 1950’s
when manufacturers began adding other
By the 1500’s tea use had spread to flavors, such as lemon and sugar, to the tea.
European royalty. The Dutch East India
Company began tea imports to England
in the late 1600’s. By the mid 1700’s, CANNED TEA
tea was cherished all over Europe. Japan, in an effort to make tea consumption
easier for people when they were away
Later on, French and German physicians from home, introduced canned tea in 1981.
called for a ban of tea, saying it was harmful. This opened the global market for sales of
In the early 18th century, opponents to tea canned and bottled teas.
claimed that it lead to moral decay.
Tea is consumed worldwide. Every country
POISON has a preferred way to prepare tea. India, with
its spiced teas, is the largest tea consuming
The original colonists brought the love of tea nation. In Africa, tea is poured from up to
with them when they landed on Plymouth two feet above the cup to increase oxidation.
Rock in the Americas. At first, only the well- In Taiwan, they drink black tea mixed with
to-do could afford the imported tea. The first tapioca balls (or pearls) and sweetened
tea was sold publicly in a small Massachusetts condensed milk, called Bubble Tea. In the
store around 1690. Tea remained the most southern United States, sweet iced tea is
popular beverage for over two hundred years. served in restaurants and diners.
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