Story

Tea
The story of tea began in China 5000 years ago. Emperor Shen Nong ordered his servants to boil some drinking water. Some leaves fell into the water. When the emperor saw this he became interested and decided to taste it. He was pleased with the taste. He said it was refreshing.

Tea drinking soon spread throughout China. A Japanese Buddhist priest, Yeisei, brought tea back to Japan. He is called ‘the father of Japanese tea.’ The Japanese developed a Tea Ceremony. Some women spend many years learning and practising the tea ceremony. It is important that the act is perfect, polite, graceful and charming.

Europeans began to hear stories about tea, but didn’t know much about it. One traveller said the leaves were boiled, salted, buttered, and eaten! From 1600 the Europeans began to trade with China and tea became popular.

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