Tea History-The Discovery of Tea

Chinese legend reads that the Emperor Shen Nong ("the god of farming") first discovered tea leaves when he observed that many of his people were dying of epidemic diseases and he decided to search for medicines. The legend says that Shen Nong (picture below)



has a transparent skin which enables him to test the toxicity of an herb by observing the change inside of his body.

He discovered tea one day while testing a cure. On this day, Shen Nong tried too many different kinds of toxic herbs and he lost consciousness. As he lay there, a few drops of dew from a tea tree dropped on his lips and revived him. Fascinated by this miracle, he ate the leaf, and though it was very bitter, he was able to see the leaves moving through and removing the toxins from his body.

It is recorded in the first Chinese medicine book named after Shen Nong, 神农本草经 (Classic of Chinese Herbs by Shen Nong), that Shen Nong tried 72 toxic herbs a day and that each time, tea detoxified his body. This is the first known record in Chinese history that shows tea being used as a medicine.





News of these medicinal qualities spread fast and tea varieties were developed for a host of different ailments, many of which are being proved true by modern science. For example, numerous recent studies have found that green tea has more anti-oxidants than any other drink. Anti-oxidants are shown to help reduce the presence of free radicals in our body. Free radicals randomly destroy healthy cells and reduce wholeness. It's no wonder that after more than 5000 years, green tea remains one of the most popular teas of the world! In honor of this rich history, Tea Beyond uses only the highest quality green tea as a base for all our beautiful blooming teas

H1N1 V.S. Green tea

I think nobody take H1N1 flu as serious as the Chinese government. Before I left for China, I called my parents. They always asked me about swine flu in the US.

When the plane landed at the Shanghai Airport, we were told to wait 30 minutes to get body temperature inspected.




I joked with people sat next to me that this scene reminds me about the natural disaster movie in which Dustin Huffman played the doctor.

On May 11th, the local news says a Chinese student from a college in Michigan was diagnosed with swine flu after he got home in China 4 days later. At night, the M hotel asked me to move to another one since they have a better sanity control. I was obviously “kicked out” by the M hotel. I even noticed the hotel manager stayed quite a distance when he spoke to me. I do not complain about people’s concerns. Chinese certainly have reasons to worry after few epidemic disease-SARS and Bird flu- outbreak in China few years ago.

When SARS outbreak in China few years ago, guess what people were looking for as a drink for prevention? Green Tea, Period! No kidding! People believe green tea helps improve immune system and keep you strong!!! Interesting enough during that time period, my friend said green tea was out of stock in his store!

I have met many professors in China who drink tea on a daily basis. They share a lot in common:

• Look much younger: very smooth skin, less wrinkles.
• Energetic: most of the professors are in their 70s, but the way they walk is more like they are just 50s.
• barely get sick: this is another proof that tea helps improve health
• Always have good mood: positive attitude about life.
• Think fast

Tea, where I started

I conducted numerous tea tasting events in the past few months and one of the most asked questions is how I ended up with tea, given my occupational background?

It all comes together naturally, like tea itself! ;)

Last week during my tea tasting event, I spoke to one of my customers who asked me how to stop his sugar crave?

I told him my own story: it was the time that China gradually opened its door to Western markets when I bought my first 3 pounds of the best chocolate (not the dark ones, but the milk ones, Oh yeah, full of fat) ever! I remembered that I finished the first pound in less than 24 hours, then the other 2 pounds in the next few days. The consequence?…just use your imagination…I gained almost 15 pounds! Have you ever tried that? Please do NOT!

My father, who is a retired physician, called that a suicidal lifestyle!...

We all agree that "We need to change!"

My changes resulted from the long time desire for better health and longevity (why not, see you all 200 years later), family background, childhood dream, cultural thirst and curiosity about science.

My family has been drinking tea for generations. I still remember that my grandfather always used his quart-sized tea mug during each meal. Jasmine green tea is the favorite in my family. I was told Jasmine tea is good for your skin and makes your skin smooth like silk.

Drink more Jasmine Green, my dear friends!!

But after I moved to the US, I found no place to continue my Jasmine tea hobby. Simply to put, the tea quality in the US was not even near what I had in China (Sorry, my American fellows). Coffee then became the alternative. After a few months of this coffee adventure, my doctor told me I had heart palpitation. That's the time I started to seriously transport luggage full of tea back from China when I visited my parents in Suzhou. My parents even "complained" that I came back not to visit them, but to quench my thirst for tea!

Through the centuries, navigating by sea allowed people to trade from one continent to another. But there were many sea-faring crews that were afflicted by various ailments. It was known that up to 1/3 of the crew died of died of scurvy, a disease resulting from Vitamin C deficiency. But Chinese crews started long distance sailing in the 15th century and did not have the same health issue simply because they brought dried tea leaves with them!

Another true story: Most Tibetans live at altitudes of around 10,000 to 15,000 feet where growing vegetables was rare due to high elevation and the local climate. However, to combat the lack of nutrients found in vegetables, they rely heavily on tea as their source of nutrition.

Drinking tea not only provides the necessary fluid for your body, but it also gives us many health benefits. Let's drink to that!

After months of research, I found that I have developed my second thirst-tea culture! Let's look at a few interesting points:
#1: All teas we drink now were originated from China, including Indian black teas, Ceylon highland black teas and Taiwan Oolong.
#2: All tea ceremonies started from China
#3: The fabulous Japanese tea utensils, whether ceramic or pottery, were widely used in the Song dynasty in China.
#4: Strong demands and high economic value of tea leaves accelerated the formation of tea plantations all over the world. Skilled Chinese tea workers were smuggled to India and Russia to help the development of tea plantations there.

Today we drink tea mainly for its health benefits. Even though tea has been used in cooking (yes, tea is edible) and as medicine and beverage by the Chinese for thousands years, it was not clear what constituents in tea make it a healthy drink in the past. As my research continued, my curiosity in tea as it relates science grew stronger.

I was raised in the time when scientists were regarded as the most respectful occupation in China. My questions like why, what and how, kept me focused in all my science classes in high school. Broad application of science in life is another reason that I’m attracted to science. Here’s a story. My family had a cat who always sought for yum food in our kitchen. One day he ate bad raw eggs that we left in trash bag. His face was swollen like a water melon when I got home from school. At that time it was very difficult to find a Vet near us and most of vets dealt with horses, not cat or dog. My father, who was a physician, fed the sick cat some active charcoals. Next day, the cat was completely recovered! My father explained to me that active charcoals consist of numerous cells or small holes and those holes can “absorb” the poison. Active charcoals can also be used to purify air and water.

Here’s another story. One of my high school classmates one day got bit by a big hornet bee. He screamed and we saw his arms swollen quickly. There were no soaps available immediately. My teacher told him that urine can help him release the pain.

Now I use the skills and knowledge I learned to test tea samples and do tea experiements. It has become the best part of my business! Of course, I also work closely with tea experts and scientists.