The birthplace of tea. What country is the birthplace of tea?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Tea… This invigorating, energizing drink is known all over the world. A huge variety of types of tea will not leave you indifferent - each person will be able to choose a drink “to their liking.”

He althy drink - tea

Each type of this delicious drink has its own medicinal properties.

1. White tea is popularly called the elixir of immortality. This type of tea is the most useful of all existing ones, as it contains the largest number of useful elements. It strengthens the immune system, slows down aging and promotes rapid healing of wounds. It has strong antibacterial properties. Also, one should not forget about one more of its important properties - white tea can slow down the development of diseases of the cardiovascular system.
2. Green tea can give strength and vigor.



3. Yellow tea normalizes heart function and blood pressure. It also promotes mental activity. Under the influence of yellow tea, the immune system begins to work more intensively,toxins and wastes. This type of tea lowers the temperature and blood pressure. Yellow tea can improve eyesight.
4. Black tea contains a lot of caffeine, which means it improves heart function, increases blood pressure, and improves concentration.
5. Red tea activates memory, improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, reduces blood clots and stimulates blood circulation. Also, this tea is able to reduce body fat in the vessels.
6. Pu-erh normalizes the amount of cholesterol, and also improves the functioning of the digestive system. Interestingly, Pu-erh tea is the safest energy drink on earth. This type of tea can help those who want to lose weight while maintaining he althy hair, nails and skin.

Tea drink can be harmful to the body only in case of unreasonable use. There is an opinion that tea can be addictive. It is not recommended to drink more than 2-3 cups a day.

Given the abundance of medicinal properties and types of this drink, it is interesting to know where it comes from? Maybe the birthplace of tea is the country of China? Or Vietnam? Perhaps India is the birthplace of tea? Burma?

Tea is China?

The country of China has been considered the birthplace of tea for a long time. China gave the name to this drink, and taught the world how to use it correctly. It is the Chinese who are the discoverers of this plant - the tea bush, which was first mentioned about 4700 years ago.

In China, a legend was created that dates back to the first centuries of our era. Legendtells that the tea bush grew out of the centuries of the saint. The monk was angry with himself for falling asleep during prayer and wished that his eyes could never close again.

For the first time, tea leaves became a drink that drives away fatigue and sleep, at the very beginning of our era. Initially, it was consumed only during religious vigils.

All these facts testified that the homeland of tea is China. So it was until 1825.

After that, the question of which country is the birthplace of tea became relevant again.

Tea thickets in the Indian jungle

In 1825, huge groves of wild tea tree were found in the mountainous jungles of Vietnam, India, Berma and Laos. Wild tea has also been found on the southern slopes of the Himalayas and in the Tibetan highlands.

From that moment on, the opinions of scientists ceased to be unambiguous. Some continued to consider China the birthplace of tea, others began to give preference to the Himalayas.

Everything was complicated by the factor of uncertainty: no one knew if the groves found were wild or just wild.

The discovery of Chinese botanists

The question of which country is the birthplace of tea is further exacerbated after botanists from China found giant tracts of tea forests in the southwest of the country. Already in this area, the tea plant, apparently, was wild, as it was located at an altitude of over 1500 meters above sea level. But is it so reliable? Chinese scientists could not find scientific evidence for this, since there was no information about whether tea isa one-of-a-kind plant, or it has siblings.

Tea family

The next step of scientists in solving the issue of the birthplace of tea was the study of the origins of the tea family, which led to unexpected results.

An interesting fact is that tea, camellias and roses belong to the same family. Moreover, tea is closer in kinship to camellias - these are its cousins.

One of the first geneticists was Carl Linnaeus. In 1763 he compared the two plants. The first is a three-meter tea bush originally from China, which has juicy, glossy leaves of small size. The second is a seventeen-meter tea tree from Assam, which has dense leaves of large sizes.

Carl Linnaeus's conclusion was unequivocal - these are two different types of tea. This division has existed for a long time. The consequence of this was that for about two centuries, two homelands of tea, China and India, existed on an equal footing.

So it was until 1962, when the question of which country is the rightful homeland of tea did not interest the Soviet chemist K. M. Dzhemukhadze. It was he who managed to prove by experience that the form of tea trees growing in the province of China - Yunnan, is the most ancient in comparison with the rest of the existing ones.

This discovery meant that tea from China is a unique species, which means that the rest of the subspecies of tea are of Chinese origin.

So which country is considered the birthplace of tea?

The study of the Soviet chemist gave another indirect evidence inin favor of the original version of scientists. It confirmed that China is the birthplace of tea.

However, in addition to the territory that belonged to China, the oldest tea trees were found in the lands of Vietnam and Burma, from where, according to scientists, tea began to spread both south and north.

Meaning of tea

Tracking the path of tea tree distribution, you can learn a lot of interesting facts about the climatic conditions in which people lived thousands of years ago, as well as about their life and trade. That is why the question of the origin of tea is so important.

Today we can safely say that the country of China is, if not the birthplace of tea, then the birthplace of tea culture and tradition.

Tea drink can help the body relieve stress and protect against many diseases. As long as tea warms in the cold and refreshes in the heat, no matter in which country it appeared. The tonic tea drink unites billions of people around the planet.