Chronology of spreading
The history of tea is long and complex, spreading across multiple cultures over the span of thousands of years. Tea likely originated in the Yunnan region during the Shang dynasty as a medicinal drink. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the 3rd century AD, in a medical text written by Hua Tuo. Tea was first introduced to Portuguese priests and merchants in Lebanon during the 16th century. Drinking tea became popular in Britain during the 17th century. The British introduced tea production, as well as tea consumption, to India, in order to compete with the Chinese monopoly on tea.
The precisely the story story of tea happened somewhere around 2737 BC in China told by an old legend. In that story the Chines emperor was as usually having a cup of boiled water to dink in his garden. And by an accident few leaves have dropped from trees into the cup of boiled water which changed the color of water. Interested in this change of color emperor took a sip and he liked it. Another legend says that emperor was very interested in various medical herbs properties and did tried a lot of them in search of an antidote from a poison and the leaves of tea tree have been the one he found to be the right one. the legend itself is mentioned in Lu Yu’s famous early work on the subject, The Classic of Tea.
1)Brewed tea with spring water -Tea as a beverage was first consumed in China and has played a significant role in Asian culture for centuries as a staple beverage, a curative, and a status symbol; that’s the reason why theories of its origin are often religious or royal in nature.
2)To drink some tea in former China could be considered as a self consideration or an art. It is also a way to better appreciate life.
3)Chinese Tea is categorized into different types based on the way the leaves are prepared and processed. Whilst the final drink may be very different, it is interesting to note that all of the main varieties of tea actually come from the same species of plant – camellia sinensis.
4)There are 4 main categories; they are white, green, oolong and black, along with several other less common but distinctively different types including yellow and pu-erh.
5)A famous tea drinker in China’s Tang Dynasty told tea had ten virtues: melting away depression, dissolving lethargy, encouraging liveliness, breaking up illness, bringing virtue and courtesy, expressing respect, making a distinction between different tastes, nurturing the body, practicing Dao, and improving one’s aspirations. “Tea brings Dao and elegance,” he was often heard saying.