Titbits on Tea

摘要

When tea first came to Britain, beer brewers feared it would replace the traditional ale the English drank at break-fast So brewers lobbied for a tax on tea and in 1689, approxi-mately 40% per kilo of dry leaf tea was placed on tea. This made tea extremely expensive to buy, and it quickly became one of the most smuggled commodities of the time. There are three main types of tea plants: Camellia Sinensis is a bush from China that can grow 9-15 feet tall and produces tea leaves for up to 100 years. TheCamellia Assamica is from Assam and can grow 45-60 feet tall and produces tea leaves for up to 40 years. Camellia Assamica subspecies Lasiocalvx is a tea plant from Cambodia that grows 15 feet tall and while it is not cultivated, it has been naturally crossed with other varieties.