A cup of tea

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you need to shake off your tiredness? Yes! A cup full of warmth and refreshment, tea.

Chinese Emperor Shen Nung first discovered tea when leaves from a wild tree blew into his pot of boiling water. And in Bangladesh, tea was introduced during the British Empire. Now our county is the 10th largest tea producer in the world. The industry accounts for 3% of global tea production. So defiantly this beverage is not only an important part of our life, but also it contributes in your economy too.  

The history of tea dates back to almost 5,000 years. As of now, it has more than 3,000 variations. Dhaka city alone offers a massive diversity in tea flavours.

For making traditional tea, the leaf of Camellia Sinensis is used from the very beginning. However, for varieties like Black tea, Green tea, Oolong tea, Pu-erh tea, White tea etc., it depends on how the plant's leaves are prepared and processed.

In modern time, these traditional teas are not the only one that enjoy popularity. There is a wide range of herbal drinks made from flowers, grains, leaves and even vegetables. Although they do not fit the true definition of "tea", it is the name by which most people know them.

If we consider the verity that can be found in the capital city, tea enthusiasts may already know, or get down to make a list for different teas to try!

The tea lover who loves to experiment with taste their bud, TSC, Polashi Mor, Dhanmondi 15 can be the haven for them. Beside these places, there are many other Tong tea stalls for experimental tea lovers. Many well decorated café and restaurants are now including the teas on their menu to attract the huge populace who love drinking tea.

Well! It will not be a surprise if anyone says, fish flavour tea is available there.

Ginger, lemon, mint, holy basil, spices and Ayurveda herbs are common name to be tagged with a plain cup of tea. Surely, it will be hard to find a tea stall which do not serve these teas now a day.

Fruits like strawberry, cherry, orange, mango, malta are some of the popular flavours among the street side tea stall fans. The process of making these teas are same as lemon tea, adding a squeeze of the juice into the raw tea.

Different kinds of flowers like rose, dandelion, Butterfly pea (Aparajita) are used for flavouring tea as well. Aparajita tea is now being sold as a hot cake at TSC area, mostly for its beautiful colour. Most of these flower-flavoured teas do not use tea leaves as the main ingredient, but boil flower petals to make the tea.

If one wants to taste something completely different, chilli tea, tamarind tea and Bengali goat milk cheese teas are the kinds one must try. They are not the best to taste, but for creativity, they will score full marks.

For smooth taste, chocolate tea, coffee tea (literally mixture of tea and coffee), caramel tea, malai tea are the ones to taste. One of the most favourites—malai tea has glaucous biscuits as the main ingredient which produces the luscious thick texture.

Any kind of tea is comparatively pocket friendly for the customers. The huge range of tea available in our market will cost from Tk 6 to Tk 20, according to the flavour one chooses. If one wants to have all these in a low price then the famous—Sahabuddin mama's tea stall is the go to place.
If you prefer a less crowd, Peyala, Bhoj, Ek Cup Cha or Tong Ghor can be your choice. The price would be within Tk 20 to Tk 120.

Eventually, it does not matter what the cost is. It is all about a sip of your favourite cup of tea— the guilt free addiction one will love to have which also uplifts your mood.