The history of tea spans multiple cultures over thousands of years. The tea plant is called Camellia sinensis, and is native to East Asia. It may have originated in the border areas of southwest China and northern Myanmar. One of the earliest accounts of tea drinking dates back to the Chinese Shang Dynasty, when tea was consumed as a medicinal drink. The earliest documented records of tea drinking date back to the third century AD, in a medical text written by the Chinese physician Hua Tuo. Tea first reached the Western world by Portuguese priests and merchants in China during the early sixteenth century, and became popular in Britain during the seventeenth century.

The regular tea trade began in Canton, where it was controlled by two major monopolies: the Chinese Cohong Company and the British East India Company. The Kohong family got tea from the "tea men" who had an elaborate supply chain reaching the mountains and provinces where tea grows. The East India Company imported many products, of which only tea proved to be one of the most successful. Tea was initially promoted as a medicinal or tonic drink, but by the end of the seventeenth century it was considered a multipurpose drink, albeit mainly reserved for the elite because it was expensive. Tea was traded in large quantities by the eighteenth century, when tea was sold through grocery stores and tea shops in London. By the twenties, black tea had surpassed green tea in popularity as its price declined, and early British drinkers began adding sugar and milk to tea, a practice that did not exist in China. European maritime trade with China was dominated by the exchange of silver for tea. As prices continued to fall, tea became increasingly popular and by 1750 it had become Britain's national beverage.

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In 1793 British China demanded an exchange of goods between the two countries: tea for British products, but the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty refused to exchange this, justifying this: "Our heavenly empire possesses all things in abundance and is prolific and lacks no product within its borders. Thus there is no need to import the manufactures of foreign barbarians in exchange for our own production." Therefore, it was necessary to pay for tea with silver bars. As a way to generate the silver needed to pay for tea, Britain began exporting opium from traditional growing areas in British India (in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan) to China. Opium use became more prevalent in Chinese society and caused social problems, so serious measures were taken to limit the import of opium in 1838-1839, creating problems in financing tea importers, which was one of the main causes of the First Opium War.

At the same time, in an attempt to circumvent its dependence on Chinese tea, Britain began to use India to grow tea, and plantations were established in areas such as Darjeeling, Assam, and Ceylon where tea plants smuggled from China were grown, and the technology and knowledge brought from China were instrumental in the prosperity of the Indian tea industry. Tea remained very important in Britain's global trade, and partly contributed to Britain's global dominance by the end of the eighteenth century. To this day, tea is seen around the world as a symbol of "British identity", but also for some as a symbol of ancient British colonialism.

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Tea types are categorized by country of origin, such as in Chinese, Ceylon, Japanese, Indonesian, and African teas, or by smaller region, such as Darjeeling from India, Ufa from Sri Lanka, Kimon from Anhui Province of China, and Inshu from Japan. Tea is also classified by the size of the treated leaf.

But the most important classification is through the manufacturing process, which leads to four categories: fermented (black), unfermented (green), and half-fermented (yellow tea and oolong tea). Green tea is usually produced from the Chinese plant and is mostly grown in Japan and China, the soaked leaf is green, and the liquid is light pale green and slightly bitter. Black tea, the most common type of all, is best made from Assam plants or hybrids, the soaked leaf is bright red or copper-colored, the liquid is bright red and slightly astringent but not bitter, and carries the characteristic aroma of tea. Oolong tea is mostly produced in southern China and Taiwan from a special variety of Chinese plants. The drink is pale or yellow in color, as in green tea, and has a unique flavor, or smoky.

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China continues to be a leader in tea production, producing more than 3.1 million metric tons of tea in 2021. But there are other large producers in Asia and Africa, where the climate is suitable for growing tea.

The global tea market was valued at US$122.2 billion in 2022 and is expected to rise to US$160 billion by 2028. While the United States is the largest importer of tea worldwide, buying more than $3.1 billion worth in 2022, citizens of Turkey are the most passionate about the drink. In 2016, the average Turkish consumed nearly seven pounds of tea during the year.