The very interesting story of flavored Tea
Lots of things in our life have very interesting stories behind them. Things we take for granted sometimes have the most interesting stories of them all! One such story is of the humble flavored Tea we consume so voraciously.
After Tea got popular in China, India, and other countries in the block, and after the Portuguese took Tea back to Europe to convert them over for life, an experiment was conducted – which changed the face of Tea making forever. For some reason, a group of Tea experts from China were taken to the Azores Islands. They were asked to plant tea there, and they did so – but with a difference. They planted Jasmine plants and a few other herbal plants in between the tea gardens, and calmly walked away.
Tea takes about 3-4 years to actually grow to the level where they grow enough to be harvested. Once that happened, the tea plants of the Azores Islands threw up an interesting phenomenon – they imbibed the fragrance and flavor of Jasmine, and they continued to carry that flavor with them long after they were harvested. That gave tea growers an idea, and they started experimenting with various kinds of tea –which came naturally flavored.
Several kinds of naturally flavored teas started sprouting up the world over – wherever it was possible to grow tea. That is how we ended up with so many kinds of tea – you will see them if you visit a well stocked local tea store, or if you head over to buy tea online. Some flavors are very interesting to try, some will stick with you, and some are just nonsense! But there we go – another interesting story about mundane tea leaves!
Time to brew a tea! Head over to your kitchen!
