Did you know about Camellia Sinensis?

Sounds like a sexy, naughty European... I know.
But Camellia Sinensis is the fancy scientific plant name for "Chai".

"Chai" is apparently a Chinese surname too... but we are talking about Tea today.
Tea - the most widely consumed drink in the world after water.

Mainly because I think Chai has brought more families and people together than any other beverage in the world. And because I believe there are two kinds of people in this world:

1. Chai people 
2. All the other people

According to some legends, it was 2700-something B.C, the wind was blowing somewhere, a Chinese Emperor was drinking a bowl of boiling hot water, because boiled water had been decreed (or something like that). Anyway... the wind was blowing in a dramatic fashion (as with all legends) and it blew leaves from a nearby plant into the Emperor's bowl of boiling water, and the water magically changed colour. It intrigued him, he sipped it, he liked it. 

This was the first unceremonious cup (rather "bowl" of tea). 

Tea (which now has more than 3000 varieties) started as a medicinal drink. This makes complete sense to me, because tea soothes me, keeps my digestion good, and keeps me fresh. The first cups of tea were made thousands of years ago in China - something like the 3rd Century A.D. The Portuguese in China had the beverage around 16th Century. From there it gradually made its way to Britain, and in the 17th Century gained popularity. It was the British that introduced tea plantations in India and set the traditions of "tea time" in Indo-Pak subcontinent. It's no surprise then that "Chai", a word for tea in many languages around the world, is derived from the Mandarin Chinese word "Cha". In colloquial Punjabi we use this word too, "Cha". And for some of us our daily dose of Chai puts the "Cha" in our life's "Cha Cha Cha". 

What's kind of Chai do you drink - black, green, oolong, white, puerh, masala?