Introduction
Tea drinking originated in China and the word tea is derived from t'e of the Chinese Fukien dialect. The Dutch introduced it to Europe. In Cantonese, tea is known as Ch'a and this is the name by which this wonderful beverage came to be known in Japan, India, Russia, Iran and the Middle East. The first authentic reference to tea was made in an ancient Chinese dictionary revised by Kuo P'o, a celebrated Chinese scholar in AD 350. The first exclusive book on tea, Ch'a Ching meaning 'Tea classic' by the Chinese tea expert Lu Yu was published in AD 780 in which he has described various kinds of tea, their cultivation and manufacturing in China. The opening of a sea route to India and the East by the Portuguese in 1497 facilitated large-scale trading between Europe and the Oriental countries.