Tea has long been termed a healthy alternative to coffee, but there is so much more to it outside the health benefits. Sure, there are the benefits that come along with the higher antioxidant content, like the ability to promote weight loss and reduce the risk of heart disease, but its soothing nature, opulent taste and floral aroma are what makes its the perfect drink to kickstart most mornings for most people. Let us take a ride back in time to find the answer to one simple question - How long have we been consuming tea?.
Stories go back to a time in 2737 B.C when the legendary Emperor of China and the inventor of Chinese medicine, Shennong was boiling a pot of water and a few leaves from a nearby tree fell into it and changed the colour. The emperor was pleasantly surprised by the flavour it added to the water. While testing the same with other leaves, he found some of them to be poisonous and used tea as an antidote. Thus tea was discovered.
Many estimate a number between 1000 and 2000 years when answering the question how long humans have been consuming tea. But recently, Chinese archaeologists concluded a decade-long study stating that humans have been consuming tea for about 6000 years when they found defined roots of Camellia Sinensis that was dated to 3366 B.C (Neolithic period) on China’s eastern coast. It is also to be noted that tea leaves have been found inside the mausoleum of an emperor of the Han Dynasty with the presence of detectable levels of Theanine (an amino acid unique to the plant). This proves the claim that tea was being consumed as early as 140 B.C.