It takes around 2,000 tiny leaves to make just one pound of finished tea. Tea plants grow wild in parts of Asia, but it can also be farmed. Some tea grows in the United States. There is an island tea plantation off the coast of South Carolina and also in Hawaii. People were using ceramic teapots 11,000 ago in Asia and the Middle East. Tea didn’t reach most Europeans until the late 16th century. Mint tea isn’t actually a tea – it’s an infusion. There are around 3,000 different types of tea. The practice of putting milk in first is to do with social class – not taste.