As one who grew up in the South I can say that we drank tea with nearly every meal and I still drink it at least two or three times day! Where I live one of our favorite grocery stores sells it by the gallon already made and I love it. Apparently I am far from being alone since eight out of ten households in the United States keep tea in the home and drink it regularly.

In the Far East tea gardens used to be very popular, especially in India, Taiwan, and China where they were known for the production of premium tea. The poor economic state in many of these locations has made many traditional growers of tea evolve to more advanced and efficient methods of growing and harvesting tea which has made the better tasting premium teas even tougher to find.

If you are like me and you enjoy the taste of a quality gourmet tea there is a diverse variety of teas available to sample which can sometimes make it difficult to narrow it down as to which one you may want to try first. With the choices such as chamomile tea, Chinese green tea, black tea, yerba mate, and many more too numerous to mention it is plain to see that one could drink a different tea at least weekly and never get through the list.

Although the practice of drinking tea goes back thousands of years to Ancient China when it was first drank for its health benefits many people today drink it for a variety of reasons. Some like the Chinese did and still do, drink it for its medicinal benefits while others such as we here in the U.S. and the Brits in the U.K. drink it more because we love the taste. Many of the people who just drink it because they love it are unaware of the great health benefits due to the large numbers of antioxidants. In addition to this, tea is also known to enhance the immune system and possible reduce the incidence of strokes and heart attacks. Add the fact that tea without the added sugar has no calories and is lower in caffeine than coffee and you have a nearly perfect beverage.

Traditionally tea has always been drank hot as the English do but many prefer to have their tea on ice, which is the way we tend to drink it here in the U.S. Among drinkers of iced tea, it seems that the flavorful Black Tea is very popular due to its stronger taste.