In the western world at least, recent years have robbed tea of the multi layered subtleties and variety that are treasured in China and other tea growing cultures.

The quest for homogeniety and mass production would naturally spell disaster for a plant whose very nature depends on the seasons, altitude and preparation of the leaves once harvested. Although these distinctions may have been somewhat forgotten by the modern world, the Chinese, for example, still count over a thousand different named green teas, while teas from ancient plants or aged Pu Ers from before the cultural revolution can sell for vast sums at auction in their home country. The many different vintages and harvests are very much treated as wine is in the west.

Having said that, the legendary status of tea has lost none of its allure or reputation. While tea drinking traditions are present in various forms throughout the world, from the highly academic and ancient Japanese ceremony, which takes a lifetime to perfect, to Chinese Gongfucha, Moroccan mint tea and the high tea of British aristocracy, every civilized society has adopted and personalized this custom.

Of course, the tradition begins in Asia, where both the Chinese and the Japanese attribute the discovery of tea variously to emperors and monks. One of these legends involves the founder of Zen, Bodhidharma, who is said to have travelled from India to China around the 5th century. There, he apparently cut off his own eyelids in frustration, having fallen asleep by accident after 9 years of meditation. The first tea plants grew on the spot where his eyelids fell. Whatever the truth, it is clear that the numerous varieties of Camellia Sinensis were originally native to China, then Japan, Korea and Taiwan, followed at last by the British plantations in India, Sri Lanka and Africa. Naturally, this explains a spectrum of flavours and subtleties in Asian teas that is somewhat missing in more recent cultivations.