The ancient Chinese discoveries of the medicinal and pleasurable benefits deriving from the tea leaf have carried with it throughout the centuries an ever-evolving, individualistic defining and redefining of this olden beverage. For many Japanese, such events as the Green Tea Ceremony, are considered as highly respected occasions for carrying on an important cultural etiquette. In British and European cultures, tea had eventually become poured down the spout of the aristocracy and into the common cups of the working class, when during the mid 1800’s, increased tensions in the tea-trading market with China opened new venues for tea plantations in other regions of the world. Soon the art of tea began permeating societies and nations all over the world. Not only as an intimate business of partaking in ritualistic afternoon ceremonies, but also as an entrepreneurial enterprise of production, manufacture, and trade.

In the early 50’s, the cultural patterns of taking tea shifted toward diminishment upon the introduction of the fast-food restaurants and coffee bars across America. And along with this declination of tea, also came the increasing shift of high blood pressure, diabetes, and every other form of fatal malady. How to serve or supply quality fine teas was soon forgotten. However, thirty years later conscientiousness for good health seemed a main catalyst for the reawakening appetite of a long-neglected repast. The ancient medicinal remedies offered by the fine tea leaf reemerged on the modern-day menu as a health food supplementation. In addition, its ancient couture habits not only appeased the stress brought on by the fast-paced lifestyle, but also re instituted the lost pleasures of afternoon respite.

Today, the reopening of many tearooms across the world, the pursuit of fine loose leaf tea for trade and for table, and the refinement of teatime ceremonies have recognized the renaissance of this once ancient beverage.