In 1908, Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea merchant, sent samples of tea to his customers in small silk bags. Instead of removing the tea from the bags, customers simply dunked them in hot water, leading to the creation of the tea bag.
In ancient China, tea bricks were used as a form of currency. It was a common practice to break off pieces of tea bricks to pay for goods and services.
The most expensive tea in the world is Tieguanyin, a Chinese oolong tea. A rare variety of Tieguanyin, called Da Hong Pao, sold for $1.2 million per kilogram in 2002.
Tea bags were invented not for convenience but as a way to sample tea. They were originally intended to be emptied into a tea pot, but people found it easier to just leave the tea in the bag.
While taxation without representation was a significant factor, the British government’s Tea Act of 1773 also gave the British East India Company a monopoly on tea imports to the American colonies. This angered American merchants and led to the famous protest.
The title of the nation with the highest per capita tea consumption goes to Turkey, where each person consumes an average of over seven pounds of tea per year.
Besides drinking it, tea bags have many other uses. They can be used to reduce puffiness around the eyes, soothe sunburn, alleviate insect bites, and even neutralize odors in shoes.