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Poisoned 72 times, saved by a leaf
The legend of Shennong
The farmer was Shennong, the mythical Chinese inventor of agriculture. He had spent the day roaming the forest in search of edible grains and herbs, and he was weary when the poisons began to close in on him.
He chewed on the leaf, and it revived him. That is how tea was discovered, as the legend goes. Tea doesn't actually cure poisonings, but the story shows how important tea was to ancient China.
Tea's real age
Archaeological evidence suggests tea was first cultivated there as early as 6,000 years ago, which is 1,500 years before the pharaohs built the Great Pyramids of Giza. That original Chinese tea plant is the same type that's grown around the world today.
Why do legends credit Shennong with herbs?
Chinese tradition names Shennong, whose name means Divine Farmer, as the ruler who taught people agriculture and herbal medicine. A herbal text called the Shennong Bencao Jing carries his name, though scholars date it to the Han Dynasty, roughly two thousand years ago. It is traditionally described as listing 365 substances, one for each day of the year. The text is among the oldest surviving Chinese works on herbal medicine.
How can one tea plant make so many teas?
Nearly all tea comes from the species Camellia sinensis. Two main varieties exist: the small-leafed Chinese type, and a large-leafed type from Assam. Processing decides the result. Leaves left to oxidize become black tea, partly oxidized leaves become oolong, and leaves heated early stay green. White tea comes from young buds that are simply dried.
Where did the wild tea plant originate?
Botanical and genetic studies place the origin of Camellia sinensis in the region where southwestern China, northern Myanmar, and northeastern India meet. Yunnan Province still has forests of wild tea trees, some growing taller than a house. Left unpruned, a tea plant grows into a tree. Plantation bushes are pruned to waist height to make picking easier.
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