Tea drinking and cultivation
Consumo y cultivo del té
- Date
- c. 150 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Yangling Mausoleum, Xianyang, Shaanxi, China
- Credited to
- Court of the Western Han dynasty
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
The oldest known tea leaves appear in the tomb of Emperor Jing (died 141 BCE), and in 59 BCE a contract by Wang Bao already mentions buying tea in the market. Tea became a pillar of Asian trade and culture.
The legend of Shennong (c. 2700 BCE) has no support. The species originates in south-west China and northern Indochina.
What it led to
- tea-for-horses trade with Tibet and the steppe
- Tang tea culture (Lu Yu's Classic of Tea, 760)
- world tea market from the 17th century