It's been around for thousands of years in the Far East, but only made it's way to Britain in the 17th century.
Tea is well-known as our national drink. But it had a to compete with the simultaneous arrival of coffee and chocolate, so how did the golden cuppa triumph?
Peter Brown of Fairfax House in York and Sarah Jane Evans, the author of The Book of Tea and Coffee, explain to Jennifer Chevalier how women were instrumental in the story of tea. Sarah Jane Evans, The Book of Tea and Coffee, Pavilion Books Ltd; ISBN: 1862052018