Tea During Ancient Time

Teas are botanically classified as Camellia sinensis, which are teas from China and Camellia assamica, which are teas that originated from plants in the Assam region of northern India.

Tea has long been touted for its healthful properties and according to some scholars may be the most commonly drunk beverage in the world after water.

Legend credits the origin of the tea infusion to leaves form a tea tree falling by accident into drinking water intended for the Chinese emperor, Shen Nung in 2737.

There are varying legends as to whether tea originated in India or in China.

The plant has been cultivated so long and so widely in South China that at present it is difficult to ascertain its geographical origin from wild plants in the natural vegetation.

There was a suggestion that after reviewing ancient records, that the used of tea started in Szechuan and was introduced to central Chin after the Ch’in conquered Shu, in the fourth century BC.

Another accounts purporting to tell about the early use of tea by an ancient emperor says that as early as the twelfth century BC, tribal leader in and around Szechuan included tea in their offerings to Emperor Wen, duke of Chou and founder of the Chou dynasty (1122-256 BC).

The earliest record of tea cultivation and consumption is found in ancient Chinese literature dating back to 1100 BC.

In the year 350 AD, tea is growing along the Yangtze River in Szechuan province.

Tea consumption evolved into part of Chinese religious symbolism and culture – the first monograph on tea, written about 780 AD, was called Ch’a Ching, or Tea Scripture.

Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, is ascribe, by a Chinese text of the first century BC, the notion that tea is an indispensable constituent of the elixir of life. His followers, who sought the secret of immortality, certainly believed this, dubbing tea “the forth of the liquid jade.”

Ancient written history tell in 727 AD, tea is presented to Emperor Shomu as an official gift from Chinese T’ang Court, Tea’s then spread to Japan.

At first this beverage was primarily used as a medicine, or by Zen Buddhist monks to prevent drowsiness during long hours of meditation.

In 1600 Texeira, a Spaniard, saw dried tea leaves at Malacca: a proof that tea had been introduced into Southern Asia by the Chinese long before the arrival of the Europeans in those area.
Tea During Ancient Time