History of Tea

China

Along with the written history, the oral tradition of passing down facts and myths regarding the origin of tea developed into various legends.  The legend related to early Chinese tea discovery also relate to the same founder of Herbology.  The person believed to be the founder of Herbology is Shin Nung Sin, also known as "Shen Nung" in Chinese.  He understood the study of plants and introduced the cultivation of teas to his people.  Shin Nung Sin was credited as having formed the nations which later became China.  This very wise man, also known as "Divine Husband Man" during the 3rd millennium B.C., discovered tea by recognizing the aroma emitted from the plants.  Shin Nung Sin began to pick leaves from the tea plant, chew the leaves, and categorize them by taste such as sour, sweet and bitter.  He is next credited as the first man to brew tea with his purpose being to find medicinal properties. 

As time passed, tea leaves were picked, pressed into hard cakes and roasted.  This process of tea making would allow the drinker to crumble the cakes and added them to water.  This method of tea preparation became popular among the elite of the Tang Dynasty.  This form of tea became widespread and was sold outside China in places along the Silk Road such as Turkey, India and Russia.  A man called Lu Yu is credited with writing the "Tea Classic" which summarized the vast knowledge of tea at the time.  The dried blocks were often ground into a fine powder and mixed with water, a popular form of tea made famous by the Japanese.  This form of process, made popular during the Song Dynasty, was extremely wasteful and during the Ming Dynasty, the method of allowing the tea leaves to boil or soak in water became the standard.  

During the Ming Dynasty the making of tea pots, cups and tea ceremony tools were further developed.  It was during this period that the preferred cups for tea where white in color which allowed the color of tea to be more easily recognized and admired.  The Manchus invaded China and the Quing Dynasty was born.  It is during this period that further developments were made in the tea making process.  The methods of oxidation during the tea process began to play a bigger role.  It is the differences of the oxidation process that create the differences between black, green and the popular oolong teas. 

A legend has it that Dal Ma (Korean pronunciation), also called  Bodhidharma , the Shaolin founder, came to China with a Chinese man called Moo Jae to help spread his religious belief as a Buddhist monk on Shaolin Mountain.  Dal Ma went to a large cave in the mountain and sat in meditation for nine years.  Eventually, Dal Ma fell asleep while meditating and became very angry that he could not stay awake.  He cut off his eyelid and threw it on the ground.  Later, the first green tea plant sprouted and supposedly grew from the eyelid.