tea leaves
Tea is a popular beverage in southern hemisphere of Scarterra enjoyed by both peasants and princes.
Up north, tea is less common and is commonly viewed as a luxury, especially the further you get from the southern coasts.
"True tea" is made from tea leaves. "Herbal teas" are made from flowers and herbs and various other plants. Unsurprisingly, herbal teas are more popular in areas where tea leaves are harder to come by.
Both true teas and herbal teas can be used medicinally. Sometimes, these are true medicines, other times they are placebos.
Additional Information
Uses, Products & Exploitation
Different types of tea require different methods of harvesting and processing tea. Rather than reinvent the wheel, check out this article for details.
There are really no modern teas that could not be created with medieval technology (albeit rather labor intensively).
Civilization and Culture
History
Tea was first cultivated in the Second Age, and became very popular with the elves of that age. Not every elf liked tea, and not every nation had a tea drinking culture, but more than half of the nations. Of the modern elves, grey elves drink a lot of tea. The other elf groups do not. Either their ancient ancestors dropped tea drinking at some point in the distant past or their ancestors never drank tea in the first place.
Historical records indicate that Mera's Tenders may or may not have been the first people to cultivate tea leaves but they went out of their way to encourage people to drink hot tea. After Mera spirits taught elves and the other mortals of the era that boiling water will neutralize most contaminants, many mortals still did not bother. Adding a pleasant smelling, pleasant tasting leaves to steep in the boiling water gave an incentive.
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