2004_0514_184500AA
History
Chinese Legend

According to Chinese legend, tea was accidentally discovered by King Shen Nong about 2700 B.C. Shen Nong's discovery happened while he was sitting under an unknown tree boiling some water. When a gust of wind blew a leaf into the pot, he tried the water and TEA was born.

A competing legend started in India. It claims that tea was first grown there and that Prince Siddhartha Gautama (Buddhism's founder) tore off his eyelids and threw them to the ground because he fell asleep despite his vow to remain awake during his pilgrimage through China. Supposedly, the eyelids took root and germinated into tea plants that sprouted leaves with an eyelid shape.