It starts with a child’s first tea party and grows into sipping a cup in the afternoon as a mark of sophistication, or simply finding refreshment with a glass of thirst-quenching iced tea on a stifling hot summer day. Tea is so much more than colored water with a subtle hint of  flavor. Those dried pieces of nature we call tea leaves are steeped until they have the ability to infuse joy, relaxation, or energy into everyday situations.

Tea comes from nature

If you look into the history of where the tradition of drinking tea comes from, you’ll find there are a variety of possibilities with most settling on an accidental leaf fluttering through the air until it fell into the emperor’s boiled water. It eventually made its way to England where it became deep-rooted in culture and traditions involving relationship-building conversations over a steaming hot cuppa. On a hot day at the 1904 World’s Fair, a vendor added ice to turn a centuries old tradition into a refreshing treat.

The value of tea is priceless

Throughout history, tea has been used as currency, a commodity for trade, medicinal treatments, and even to make a political statement by dumping barrels of it into the Boston Harbor in protest to taxation. Today, 3 Million tons of tea are produced worldwide every year for our consumption and enjoyment.

Enjoying tea is natural

Whatever your reason for drinking it, whatever your preference in brewing loose leaf or bagged, and whatever your choice of herbal, Oolong, green, white, red, or black, and whether you add cream, spices, sugar, with a twist of lemon, honey, or prefer to enjoy its natural flavor; this drink connects us full circle to our roots and embraces our ancestry from beginnings to new beginnings.