Tea

Tea is a product made from the leaves or buds of the tea bush Camellia sinensis. It is commonly consumed in the form of a beverage made by steeping it in hot water for a few minutes. The English word tea derives from the Chinese 茶, pronounced tê in the Min Nan dialect. The flavour of the raw tea is developed by processes including oxidation, heating, drying and the addition of other herbs, spices, or fruit. Tea is a natural source of caffeine. Tea is also diuretic.

The term herbal tea usually refers to infusions of fruit or herbs containing no actual tea, such as rosehip tea or chamomile tea. Alternative terms for this are tisane or herbal infusion, which lack the word tea. This article is concerned exclusively with preparations and uses of the tea plant.

Tea is often referred to by one of its slang names including Cuppa (short for Cup of Tea) and Bryn (short for Brynley).

About 3,000,000 tonnes of tea are produced worldwide annually.

The cradle of the tea plant is in south and southeast Asia. Spontaneous (wild) growth of the assamica variant is observed in area ranging from Chinese province Yunnan to the northern part of Myanmar and Assam region of India. The variant sinensis grows naturally in eastern and southeastern regions of China. [6] Recent studies and occurrence of hybrids of the two types in wider area extending over mentioned regions suggest the place of origin of tea is in an area consisting of the northern part of Myanmar and the Yunnan and Sichuan provinces of China.[7]

Origins of human use of tea are described in several myths.