Introduction
What better way to kick start this blog then with a short text about the tea origins and legends associated with it.
A plant as robust and beloved as tea must have earned some stories along the course of history, we are going to start with the factual overview along with some stories on how this leaf came to be. You can believe then or no its totally up to you and that does not stop us form enjoying this amazing drink either way.
So lets dive in and explore where tea came from or at least what we know about it origins.
Tea Origins - Where it came from?
You might find surprising that pretty much all the tea types in the world comes from one evergreen tea tree Camellia sinensis. The different types and flavours are actually achieved by different processing of the leaf.
This plant is native to East Asia and obviously the exact location is unknown and a matter of hot debate as every one probably whats to claim it but it safe to assume that it originates from borderlands of southwestern China, India, and Myanmar
Yunnan province is often called the birthplace of tea.
Consumption of tea in credible historical records can be traced back to Shang dynasty around 3rd century BC and some go as far back as 16th to 11th centuries BC.
At first only consumed as a medicinal drink with addition of other leaves and herbs. Only later to be used as a bitter stimulating drink in a concentrated liquid form.
The Divine Farmer
There are two popular legends on the origins of tea that we are going to look at first one concerns Shennong translated as Divine Farmer was a legendary Chinese ruler that is said to teach the Chinese people agriculture and herbal medicine. He is credited with investing a how and a bunch of other things you would a divine farmer to invent.
He was also known for advancements in herbal medicine, there is a book credited to him called Shennong Ben Cao Jing or Shen Nong?s Herbal Classic in which he lists 365 herbal formulas from plants roots and minerals.
It is said that Shennong tasted each herb or medicine personally and been poisoned many times but also ate many beneficial herbs as well so he was able to recover. Legends say he had transparent body to better see the defects of roots and plants on himself.
So it's tea time, the story goes that he was boiling some water for one of his experiments and some leaves from nearby tea tree landed in his bowl and instead of fishing them out he deiced to try and see how they tasted.
Must have been delighted that it was not another poison that would make him sick instead he enjoyed a nice brew of tea.
It is said that after a long day of chewing, swallowing and experimenting on himself from now on he was able to relax with a satisfying bowl of tea. Some say he was able to treat some side effects of the poisonous of ingesting all the poisonous substances.
Bodhidharma
If you think that leaves falling into Shennong bowl and his transparent body was a bit boring, I bet you will find this one more interesting.
Bodhidharma or Da Mo in China was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century CE He is traditionally named as the one who brought the Chan Buddhism from India to China and the first Chinese patriarch. This later was adopted by Japanese and became what we know today as Zen.
Don't let his serious look and bushy eye brows scare you because he is apparently the one who we need to thank for when we drink tea.
So apparently during his long and exhausting meditation sessions he was falling asleep. Apparently he spend nine years looking at a cave wall meditating. One day being furious that he cannot stay awake he ripped his eyelids off and threw them outside of his cave.
Later on a bush grew in the place where his eyelids dropped and some of his students decided to boil and taste the leaves and found it very tasty, pleasant and beneficial to keep them alert during long meditation sessions.
Rest is history
Tea quickly became the drink of choice in China, Japan and all round the world, It brought many benefits, events with tea were raised to the ranks of ceremony and spiritual experiences. The love of tea also lead to some less pleasant events like Opium wars but it only goes to show how much people are willing to do to put hands on this extraordinary plant.
Whether you choose to believe you drink Bodhidharma eyelids or that Shennong had transparent stomach is up to you, but it will definitely help you enjoy a nice cup of tea, and we touched on the origins of tea as a first post on this site.