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At present, tea is a well-known and popular drink in all corners of the Earth. It is drunk in Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Australia. Throughout the history of tea distribution, residents of various countries have been studying its properties, forming their own traditions of its preparation and use.
History of tea
The discovery of tea is attributed to the Chinese emperor and father of Chinese medicine, Shen Nong, who lived in China around 2700 BC. He had extensive knowledge in the field of medicinal medicines.

There is an opinion that the history of tea began at the moment when Shen Long, tired from work, decided to boil water on a fire and did not notice how the leaves from the tree fell into it. After drinking the brewed drink, he felt cheerfulness and a surge of strength, warmth spread over his body, as if testing every part of his body. Then he realized that he had found a new healing agent and decided to better study its properties.

After this discovery, the Chinese began to actively study tea plants and grow them. A little later in China, the word tea got its own hieroglyph, which is pronounced “cha” and is made in the form of a tree with flowers, leaves and a person between them. This hieroglyph denotes the harmony of man with nature.

The earliest manuscripts with a mention of tea, dated 1115 BC, in which the Chinese prince Zhou Gong described tea, have survived. He noted that this drink tastes bitter, when a person drinks it, he thinks better, he wants to sleep less, the body becomes lighter, and vision clears up.

In the era of the Zhou Dynasty 10045 to 221 BC, the Chinese drank wine, tinctures and decoctions, among which was tea. In those days, people used tea as a medicine.

A little later in the Han era from 206 BC to 220 AD, tea becomes a common commodity in the Chinese market, especially in modern Sichuan, it becomes popular among all segments of the population.

After the Tang era, which lasted from 618 to 907, the tea industry in China developed rapidly: new technologies for growing and processing tea leaves appeared. Tea has become an integral part of Chinese culture. This drink was sung in songs and poems, depicted in paintings and drawings. Farmers presented the emperor himself with their best varieties of tea as a gift.

In the Qin era from 1644 to 1911, Emperor Qian Long studied and collected various varieties of tea, examined the quality of water, and collected tea utensils. Once he said: "The Sovereign even one day cannot do without tea." That's how important tea has been and still is in China.

Over time, tea is also known outside of China. First of all, tea reaches Japan, where it immediately becomes a precious drink. Then tea is brought to Korea and the Middle East. In Europe, they learned about tea only in the 16th century, and there, too, it almost immediately gained wide popularity and became a favorite drink. Let's take a closer look at the history of the spread of tea outside of China.

At present, tea is a well-known and popular drink in all corners of the Earth. It is drunk in Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Australia. Throughout the history of tea distribution, residents of various countries have been studying its properties, forming their own traditions of its preparation and use.

Now tea is a familiar drink that most people around the world drink. Many people cannot even imagine at least one day without a cup of tea. You won’t surprise anyone with tea, but its absence is easy, it has already become an everyday habit and a pleasant pastime for millions of people. But it was not always so. There were times when people did not even know about this refreshing drink. Since the discovery of tea in China to the present day, it has come a long and sometimes difficult path. This article tells the history of tea from ancient times to our time.

Tea bags, similar to modern ones, were invented by the engineer of the German company Teekanne Adolf Rumbold in 1929. But even here everything is not so clear.

It is believed that, in fact, the New York merchant Thomas Sullivan became the discoverer of tea bags, and this invention, like many others, was made completely by accident. In 1904, an American decided to package tea in small silk bags - as opposed to the traditional tea in cans at that time.

At the same time, Sullivan himself implied that buyers would pour tea out of the package before brewing. But everything didn’t go according to plan: resourceful New York restaurateurs who bought tea from a merchant quickly realized that they could brew it right in bags. Over time, of course, expensive silk was replaced by cheaper fabric, and the amount of tea in such a package was reduced to the required amount per mug.

Another myth is connected with the appearance of black tea - and, surprisingly, in Europe! According to legend, the “discovery” happened by chance in the 17th century, when English ships were returning to their homeland with a large cargo of green tea. However, the sailors could not properly protect the tea leaves from heat and humidity, the tea was fermented and turned from green to black.

According to another, more popular version, black tea was still invented in China, also in the 17th century. However, here too there are discrepancies.

For example, some believe that black tea originated when the Chinese military camped at a tea factory in Fujian province, causing a delay in production. As a result, the tea leaves remained in the sun for a long time due to oxidation, they acquired a dark color. To "save" the tea and speed up the drying process, a local farmer placed the leaves on a pine forest fire, resulting in a tea with an interesting smoky flavor.

Buddhists also have their own legend about the appearance of tea, it is associated with the monk Bodhidharma, who founded Zen Buddhism.

According to one version, he was born in the South Indian kingdom of Pallava, according to another, he was of Persian origin. At the end of the 4th century AD, he arrived in China, where he preached his teachings, and then settled in the Shaolin Monastery. In China, Bodhidharma was called the "bearded barbarian" because, unlike the local monks, he wore a beard.

So what does it have to do with tea? According to legend, once during a long meditation in a cave, the monk could not resist the weakness that overcame him and fell asleep. Waking up, Bodhidharma was indignant at what had happened and angry that he had broken his vow. As punishment, and out of fear that this would happen again, he tore off his eyelids and threw them on the ground.

From the monk's fallen eyelids, tea trees grew, and he himself sat in a cave, meditating, for nine years. The term “long leaf tea” is associated with this legend: according to Buddhists, the word “long leaf” comes from “white eyelash”.

At the same time, the Buddhist myth about the appearance of tea itself can be criticized: Bodhidharma lived at the turn of the 4th-5th centuries AD, and the first evidence of tea consumption in China dates back to a much earlier period.

Shen Nong was also called Yandi, that is, "the fiery emperor", and Yaowang, "the king of medicines." Some legends describe him as a man with a snake body, others say that the emperor had a bull's head and a tiger's nose.

It was this ruler, according to legend, who taught the Chinese to cultivate the land and invented the plow, in addition, he was also a healer and tested decoctions of all herbs on himself.

And then one day, while traveling to a remote province, Shen Nong felt thirsty. His servants, of course, immediately began to boil water in a cauldron, because by decree of the emperor, all drinking water had to be boiled. At that moment, a dry tea leaf fell from a nearby bush and fell into the cauldron. The aroma of the resulting broth attracted the attention of the great farmer. After tasting the drink, Shen Nong felt a surge of vivacity and freshness, which made him delighted. This is how tea was born.

However, there is another version of the legend about Shen Nong. The emperor, trying a decoction of toxic herbs, poisoned himself and fell to the ground. Then a drop of dew heated by the sun fell into his mouth from the tea tree, and the effect of the poison ended. So the "king of drugs" began to use tea as an antidote.

Tea is the most popular and consumed beverage in the world, many people drink it for breakfast to cheer up or before bed to relax. But how did this drink come about? Who invented black tea and came up with the tea bag? And how did tea leaves get to Russia? "Around the World" collected the most interesting myths and legends from the history of tea.

How was it really?
No one knows exactly how tea came into people's lives. The story in the form of the myth of Bodhidharma is staggering, but does not agree with objective data. Bodhidharma lived in the years 483-540. Written sources on history show that by 350 the Chinese had cultivated the tea plant (that is, grown it specifically).



It is a known fact that tea was originally used not as an everyday drink, but as a healing agent that improves the nervous system, normalizes metabolic processes and strengthens. This is consistent with the myth of the divine farmer Yang Di (Shen Nune), which suggests the presence of common sense in this story.



The Chinese nobility began to drink tea instead of water and milk in the V century. As we would say today, this has become a fashion trend. By the tenth century, tea was spreading in southern and central China.