Our Tea - Coffee -Chocolate Plants Wall Art Pictures. Tea is made by pouring hot water over the dried leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, and has a history of over 5,000 years. It's one of the most consumed beverages in the world, after water. Coffee is thought to have originated in Ethiopia and spread to Yemen in the 15th century. By the 16th century, it was known in Persia, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey, and the Dutch transported coffee plants to the Americas and the East Indies. The earliest known use of the cacao plant was by the Mayo-Chinchipe people of Ecuador in 3300 B.C. Around 1800 B.C., the Olmec people of Mesoamerica used cacao seeds to make warm drinks, and by the 8th century A.D., the Maya used cocoa beans as currency.