10 Fun Tea Facts

I thought it would be fun to share some fun random tea facts with you.

There's so much information about tea, both factual and folklore, that you could spend many happy hours pouring over books, articles, and blogs.

These 10 fun tea facts just piqued my interest.

• Tea is the second most consumed beverage on the planet — after water! Globally, it has even greater consumption than coffee. In the U.S., tea is the 4th favorite drink behind water, coffee, and soft drinks. But its popularity is steadily climbing as many coffee drinkers now seem to add tea to their daily beverage choices.
• Globally, over 3 million tons of tea are produced every year.
• More than 1.42 million pounds in weight of tea are consumed in the U.S. every single day (about 17% of global consumption).
• It takes about three years before a new plant is ready for harvest. It takes between four and twelve years for a tea plant to mature enough to produce seed.
• More often than not, tea-producing plantations are between 3,000 and 7,000 feet above sea level. This explains why tea doesn't grow well in the United States.
• Only the top 1 to 2 inches of a mature plant are picked, referred to as the new "flushes" of the plant. A new flush grows within 7 to 14 days during the growing season.
• The Dutch East India Company introduced tea to the West. It was called tay or cha; the former pronunciation later changed to tea.
• Tea is valuable, ranked 31st in the most valuable crop/livestock league table. According to stats compiled by Statista, the global tea market is predicted to reach $44.3 billion by 2021.
• In some areas of the world, up until the early 20th Century, tea, particularly Pu-Erh Tea, has been used as a form of currency.
• The art of reading tea leaves is known as Tasseography. This word is derived from the French word tasse, which means cup.

I hope you've enjoyed these tidbits about tea.

Happy Sipping.