Today is International Tea Day

In 2019, the General Assembly of the United Nations decided to designate 21 May as International Tea Day to recognize tea’s cultural, economic, and historical significance. The day highlights the role of tea in reducing poverty, supporting rural development, and promoting sustainable production and consumption. The date was chosen as it aligns with the tea harvesting season in major tea-growing regions.

Tea’s historical significance

If you are interested in learning more about tea’s historical significance, the Bibliography of British and Irish History (BBIH) is a good place to start your research. Not only are the British and Irish well known for their large tea consumption, but given the global reach of British and Irish history, the BBIH also contains many records about regions in other parts of the world, such as India and China.

Searching for ‘tea’ in the BBIH yields more than 400 hits. More than 100 of those hits are about places in Asia. For example, the BBIH contains 37 records about tea in the Assam region in India. Assam tea is a black tea named after the region of its production and is commonly used in English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast tea blends. While tea was first brought to Britain in the early 17th century by the East India Company, the British began commercial cultivation of Assam tea in the 19th century.

Did you know?

Tea plantations in Assam do not follow the Indian Standard Time (IST), but follow their own time standard, known as “Tea Garden Time,” set by British plantation owners to make the most of daylight hours.