So legend has it, in 2737 BC in ancient China, Emperor Shen Nung ruled that all drinking water must be boiled as a hygienic precaution. One day while visiting a distant region of his realm, he and the court stopped to rest.

In accordance with his ruling, the servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the boiling water, and a brown liquid was infused into the water. The Emperor drank some, and found it very refreshing. Tea was created.

In 780 AD the first book on tea "Ch'a Ching", was written by the Chinese author Lu Yu. It comprises three volumes and covers tea from its growth through to its making and drinking. The books contain many illustrations of tea making utensils and some believe that the book inspired the Buddhist priests to create the Japanese tea ceremony. The modern term "tea" derives from early Chinese dialect words - such as Tchai, Cha and Tay - used both to describe the beverage and the leaf.

Tea arrived in Britain in 1657, when Thomas Garraway sold it at his coffeehouse in London’s Exchange Alley. The sale of tea began in London when the East India Company undercut Dutch prices and advertised tea as a panacea for apoplexia, catarrh, colic, consumption, drowsiness, epilepsy, gallstones, lethargy, migraine, paralysis and vertigo.

Extremely high taxes on tea meant that it remained a rare commodity in England and a luxury for the upper classes only. Smuggling began and by 1700, two thirds of all tea drunk in Britain had been smuggled into the country.

Tea was smuggled over from Holland and Scandinavia, was met by local fishing boats then covertly transported inland, through underground passages and hidden pathways. Smuggling continued until 1784, when the Prime Minister was forced to slash the heavy taxes on teas.

As an example of American rebellion against British Rule, it represented one of the significant events leading to the American War of Independence. Angered by heavy taxes on tea, the Americans had decided that the British had interfered once too often.

On 16th December 1773 a mob disguised as Native American Indians, boarded British ships in Boston harbour. They smashed open the tea cargoes and threw them into the sea. Every patriotic American gave up tea drinking and turned to coffee and some have said had an influence on starting the American War of Independence in 1775.

Until the mid 1800's, cargo ships usually took between twelve and fifteen months to make passage from ports in the East to those in London. Recognising that the old ships had to carry too much weight, a more streamlined vessel was designed, capable of carrying greater cargo at a greater speed.

The clipper was born! By the mid 1800's, races between the tea clippers had become a great annual competition, raced between China and London. The most famous clipper was the Cutty Sark built in 1868.