Paul D. BUELL

A woman picks tea leaves at the Dragon Well Tea Commune in Hangzhou, 1978. PHOTO BY JOAN LEBOLD COHEN.
Drinking tea—traditionally a brew made from the leaf, bud, or twig of the Camellia sinensis—is today universal in East Asia and much of the world, but the beverage took a long time to catch on. The precise form of tea consumed has also varied over time and by culture, reflecting different