13 THINGS Tea Time

POP THE kettle on: 21 May is International Tea Day.

- Patty LaNoue Stearns

1 Actually, a dozen days throughout the year celebrate tea in its many forms and by different cultures—Japan recognises National Matcha Day on 6 February, while 21 September is National Chai Day in India. At a daily average of three cups, Indians collectively drink a whopping 1.08 billion servings of tea every day!

2 TEA IS second to water as the most popular beverage in the world. It was discovered by accident nearly 5,000 years ago, according to legend. As the story goes, Chinese Emperor Shen Nong sipped it first in 2737 BC, after leaves from the tree above him blew into his pot of boiled water. While tea is popular in China, Brits brew it more often (as English Breakfast, English Afternoon, and Irish Breakfast teas can all attest). But another country beats them all: Turkey drinks the most tea per capita, followed by Ireland and then the United Kingdom.

3 TEA’S 3,000-PLUS varieties boil down to a handful of main categories: black, green, yellow, white, purple, oolong and pu-erh. But they all come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis, a tropical evergreen shrub native to central Southeast Asia.

4 GREEN TEAS, like Japanese sencha, have low levels of caffeine, while black teas, like orange pekoe, pack more of a punch. Perhaps you've heard that tea has more caffeine than coffee? It’s technically true: By weight, dry tea leaves contain more caffeine than coffee beans do. But once the beverages are brewed, even black tea has only about half the jolt of java.