| The true origins of tea as a beverage are unknown, | | | | He apparently enjoyed it, and thus tea the beverage |
| but it is believed that tea drinking began about 5,000 | | | | was born. No word on whether Shennong took his |
| years ago in China, where the tea plant, Camellia | | | | tea with sugar and milk, though. |
| sinensis, is native. | | | | "Wan Tu" Drink Some Tea? |
| It is perhaps because of this lack of verifiable | | | | A variation of the Shennong tea legend has an evil, |
| information on the beginning of tea and tea drinking | | | | cruel man by the name of "Wan Tu" as the |
| that a number of legends have sprung up around the | | | | discoverer of tea. The way this variation goes is that |
| creation of tea as a beverage. | | | | Wan Tu was banished to the southern areas of |
| The World's First Tea Drinker? | | | | China because of his despotic temperament. |
| One of the more popular legends of how tea drinking | | | | While there, he too falls prey to falling tea leaves in |
| began center around Shennong, who was believed to | | | | his pot of boiling water. Wan Tu drinks the tea and, |
| be an ancient Chinese emperor, herbalist and farmer | | | | as legend has it, he finds tea so refreshing he |
| (in fact, his name means the Divine Farmer). | | | | becomes a kinder, gentler man. |
| Shennong was fairly knowledgeable about science in | | | | Instant Tea? |
| his day and he believed water should be boiled in | | | | There is another Chinese legend on the discovery of |
| order to make it safe enough for drinking. While on a | | | | tea, albeit with a twist of Buddhism. This particular |
| journey around 2737 B.C., he stopped briefly to rest. | | | | legend has it that Bodhidharma, an Indian Buddhist |
| His servants gathered twigs, including those from a | | | | monk famous as the founder of Zen Buddhism, |
| tea plant, to make a fire to boil his water in. | | | | travelled to China. While there, he became so angry |
| A few of the tea leaves from the burning tea twigs | | | | at his drowsiness during meditation, he cut off his |
| floated in the heat from the fire and landed into the | | | | eyelids and threw them to the ground. His eyelids |
| pot of boiling water. His curiosity piqued by the | | | | sprang into tea bushes immediately, thus creating |
| discoloration of the boiling water caused by the tea | | | | instant tea, in a manner of speaking. |
| leaves, Shennong decided to try the accidental brew. | | | | |