The right tea for this moment

Tea’s “calm focus” is real chemistry: L-theanine nudges your brain toward alpha waves while caffeine lifts you — together they beat caffeine alone on attention.

“White tea” isn’t white — it’s named for the silvery down on the unopened buds, tiny fibres that catch the light like frost.

Green, white, oolong and black tea all come from one plant — Camellia sinensis. The difference is entirely how the leaf is processed.

In 2002, 20 grams from the original Da Hong Pao mother bushes sold for ~¥180,000 — gram for gram, pricier than gold.

Sencha was invented in 1738 by Nagatani Soen, who spent years perfecting a steaming method so ordinary people could enjoy quality green tea — today it's Japan's most-drunk tea.

After water, tea is the most consumed drink on the planet — ahead of coffee, beer and wine.

For centuries, compressed tea bricks were real currency in Tibet, Mongolia and Siberia — money you could literally drink.

The first book devoted entirely to tea — Lu Yu's “The Classic of Tea” — was written in China around 760 AD, covering everything from growing the leaf to the proper way to boil water.

The world's biggest tea drinkers aren't the British: Turkey tops per-capita consumption at over 3 kg of tea per person per year — well over a thousand cups.

“Orange pekoe” has nothing to do with oranges — it's a leaf-size grade of black tea. One theory credits Dutch traders honoring their House of Orange; another, the coppery-orange color of the leaf.

Tea’s “calm focus” is real chemistry: L-theanine nudges your brain toward alpha waves while caffeine lifts you — together they beat caffeine alone on attention.

“White tea” isn’t white — it’s named for the silvery down on the unopened buds, tiny fibres that catch the light like frost.

Green, white, oolong and black tea all come from one plant — Camellia sinensis. The difference is entirely how the leaf is processed.

In 2002, 20 grams from the original Da Hong Pao mother bushes sold for ~¥180,000 — gram for gram, pricier than gold.

Sencha was invented in 1738 by Nagatani Soen, who spent years perfecting a steaming method so ordinary people could enjoy quality green tea — today it's Japan's most-drunk tea.

After water, tea is the most consumed drink on the planet — ahead of coffee, beer and wine.

For centuries, compressed tea bricks were real currency in Tibet, Mongolia and Siberia — money you could literally drink.

The first book devoted entirely to tea — Lu Yu's “The Classic of Tea” — was written in China around 760 AD, covering everything from growing the leaf to the proper way to boil water.

The world's biggest tea drinkers aren't the British: Turkey tops per-capita consumption at over 3 kg of tea per person per year — well over a thousand cups.

“Orange pekoe” has nothing to do with oranges — it's a leaf-size grade of black tea. One theory credits Dutch traders honoring their House of Orange; another, the coppery-orange color of the leaf.

Tea’s “calm focus” is real chemistry: L-theanine nudges your brain toward alpha waves while caffeine lifts you — together they beat caffeine alone on attention.

“White tea” isn’t white — it’s named for the silvery down on the unopened buds, tiny fibres that catch the light like frost.

Green, white, oolong and black tea all come from one plant — Camellia sinensis. The difference is entirely how the leaf is processed.

In 2002, 20 grams from the original Da Hong Pao mother bushes sold for ~¥180,000 — gram for gram, pricier than gold.

Sencha was invented in 1738 by Nagatani Soen, who spent years perfecting a steaming method so ordinary people could enjoy quality green tea — today it's Japan's most-drunk tea.

After water, tea is the most consumed drink on the planet — ahead of coffee, beer and wine.

For centuries, compressed tea bricks were real currency in Tibet, Mongolia and Siberia — money you could literally drink.

The first book devoted entirely to tea — Lu Yu's “The Classic of Tea” — was written in China around 760 AD, covering everything from growing the leaf to the proper way to boil water.

The world's biggest tea drinkers aren't the British: Turkey tops per-capita consumption at over 3 kg of tea per person per year — well over a thousand cups.

“Orange pekoe” has nothing to do with oranges — it's a leaf-size grade of black tea. One theory credits Dutch traders honoring their House of Orange; another, the coppery-orange color of the leaf.