Hill Country - Tea Estate Photo by Romesh & Jeneen Weerasooriya - Text by Siri
The tea plant is believed to have originated in the foothills of the Himalayas. Chinese legend has it that, an early emperor accidently first brewed the first "cup-of-tea" in 2737 BC when a few tea leaves from a nearby plant blew into the water he was boiling. Much later, when the Europeans discovered the commercial potential of tea as a beverage in the early 17th century--the Dutch and British East India companies spread tea cultivation to Java India, and Sri Lanka. In mid 1600's tea began to be sold in England and, rapidly moved to the first place as the most popular beverage in the country and remains there even today.

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