Take the Quiz!

1. The tea-plant is native to southern China and was known as far back as 2737 BCE when Emperor Shen Nung (the Divine Healer) wrote about its uses. It is alluded to in the classics under the various names of Tou, Tseh, Chung, Kha, and Ming. For what abilities was it prized?
A) Relieving fatigue and alleviating rheumatic pains

2. Why was Marco Polo not introduced to tea on his visit to China?
A) Because Kublai Khan had decreed that only the emperor and certain favored members of the nobility were allowed to drink tea

B) Because after the Mongol invasion, tea became a common drink and wasn't worth the attention

C) Because during the years of his visit the Chinese tea industry was suffering from a blight that destroyed most of the crops

D) None of the above. He was introduced to tea and brought it back to Europe with him

3. Lu Yu (Luwah), a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote the first book about tea known as the "Ch'a Ching" (Holy Scripture of Tea). What was the book about?
A) Poems to be sung during tea ceremonies

4. Who popularized (and commercialized) iced tea, and where was it first offered?
A) Lyndon N. Irwin for the 1890 Missouri State Reunion of Ex-Confederate Veterans

B) Thomas Lipton as a gimmick to bring customers into his newly opened New York stores in 1909

C) Thomas Sullivan to offer "sidewalk samples" as a way to introduce his new invention, the tea bag (1904)

6. How did tea first come to be cultivated in Japan?
A) It was brought there by a Buddhist monk

B) It was brought along the little known eastern leg of the "Silk Road" by traders

C) It was brought by the Portuguese when they first arrived in Japanese waters

7. Tea has been a favorite drink among Emperors in China for millennia. They even bestowed rare preparation of the leaves on their high ministers as a reward for eminent services. There was one emperor, however, who could be said to take the prize for most obsessed by tea. Legend has it that he:
A) died from starvation because he believed tea to be the food of the gods and refused to eat

B) would imprison farmers if their tea crop wasn't abundant enough and liked to drink tea while watching them being tortured

C) was so obsessed with tea he hardly noticed the Mongols that were over-running his empire

D) decreed that two hundred years worth of Imperial gardens were to be plowed over and only plants that could produce tea were allowed to be grown.

8. During the Sung Dynasty, dark-blue, black and brown glazed pots were the most popular for preparing the "froth of the liquid jade." For what reason did the Ming prefer white and off-white ceramic?
A) Because the color looked nicer with the green tea they made

C) Because the Empress gave the Emperor a white tea pot with a dragon and phoenix pattern on it

D) Because the tea cooled faster in the lighter colored ceramic and could be drunk more quickly, thus speeding up some of the Emperor's overly long tea ceremonies

9. Tea drinking has been associated with the British for a very long time. Why and when did it become fashionable?
A) During Elizabeth I's reign because she drank tea. Elizabeth provided a charter to the East India Company and in return the crown shared the profits as well as the tea

B) During Charles I's captivity. Charles I had condemned tea as being "foreign", which made it a popular drink among the common people and even a number of his nobles

C) During Charles II's reign. He and his wife Catherine Braganza of Portugal both enjoyed tea and their passion for it made it fashionable to drink

D) During Queen Anne's reign. Anne was a teetotaler and did not approve of nobles who drank alcoholic beverages. Tea became a means to favor and promotion

10. When did powdered tea make it's first appearance?
A) During the Tang Dynasty