My motivation for writing on tea is to spread the knowledge of natural healing, for which I am a big proponent. I also think tea is becoming trendy again, but that's beside the point. I will be writing a short series of posts on the history of tea, its secrets, mysteries, and healing properties.

Tea, as it is known today, refers to any liquid brewed from leaves, roots, berries, barks, seeds, or other. Originally thought, tea comes from a very specific plant in China, the black tea shrub, and its beginnings are as mythical as the origin of fire.

The story of the first cup of tea comes from ancient China in the year 2737 B.C. One day the Emperor Shen Nung was heating water in a pot outside of his palace. All of a sudden the wind blew leaves from a near by bush into the pot, leaves from a black tea shrub, and the aroma completely captivated the Emperor. He tasted the intriguing brew and from thence tea became the world's most consumed beverage.

However the first cup of tea became brewed, the leaves from the black tea shrub began in China thousands of years ago and made its way across the world. Persian traders used to trek across the Hymalayas to exchanged saffron and other spices for tea leaves. Then in 1559 it reached the Venetians, the worlds greatest seafaring merchants, who brought it to Europe. Instantly tea was all the rage, everyone had to try it. By the early 1600's the Dutch East India Trading Company was importing large amounts of tea from China to feed the demand in Europe. At first, in Europe, tea was reserved just for the wealthy because of huge cost of bringing it from China, and the custom of only drinking it ceremoniously from Chinese porcelain in party settings. Eventually that changed as tea became wide spread, and other plants were used as substitutes for the Chinese black tea shrub in times of shortage or defiance.

Tea has always been regarded as a healing beverage with lots of medicinal properties. Whether you drink it for fun or for medicinal purposes, tea is a wonderful drink.