Tea History

One very simple and effective choice you can make to enrich your vitality is to replace coffee with tea. Yes, tea does contain caffeine but not as much as coffee. Tea also contains other healing chemicals and has a social place at the centre of a diversity of cultures. So popular is this drink that two countries claim they are its place of origin.

ANCIENT BEGINNINGS

Chinese legend has it that the Emperor Shen Nung discovered tea around about 2700 BC. Apparently the good Emperor was meditating under a tree with a pot of boiling water in front of him. A gust of wind is believed to have blown tea leaves into the

pot. Shen Nung found the resulting brew deliciously refreshing and tea drinking was born. Indians will tell you a different story. The Indian legend states that tea was a divine creation of Prince Siddhartha Gautama (later known as Buddha). The story goes that the Prince fell asleep despite having taken a vow to stay awake. Aggrieved by this failure, he tore off both his eyelids and threw them to the ground. Supposedly the eyelids took root and germinated into tea plants. When the Prince chewed the leaves of these plants all his fatigue was lifted. In reality, both of these stories came probably about 45 000 years after tea drinking was discovered. Archaeological evidence suggests that Homo erectus was consuming boiled water with leaves in it as long as 50 000 years ago. Some of these leaves probably came from wild tea plants. Wherever it began, it is doubtful that the first tea drinker could have imagined how tea would one day sweep the globe.

SPIRITUAL COMMODITY

Tea is made from a perennial evergreen plant known botanically as Camellia sinensis. If unplucked the plant will grow up to 10 metres high. Plantation tea plants are kept to around 1 metre for ease of harvesting. The best quality teas are made from

the first two leaves of the plant plus the bud and these must be picked by hand. Due to a variety of processing techniques and different ingredients added, there are estimated to be more than 3000 varieties of drinking tea derived from this one species. Green tea, for instance, is only different to common black tea in that green tea is not fermented. Since at least 300 BC, tea has been a popular drink in China. It has also enjoyed long popularity in India. It was only in the sixth century AD that tea arrived in Europe. It came on the backs of men who walked from China to Tibet along 5000 foot-high mountain passes with 300 pound loads of tea strapped to their backs and opium tucked behind their ears to deaden the pain. Tea was first introduced to the British through coffee houses during the reign of Charles II. In the eighteenth century, when Britain dominated world sea trade, it imported large quantities of tea from China. It then established tea plantations in India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and the drink became the most popular beverage in Britain, replacing beer (ale) for breakfast and gin at any other time. While tea drinking has assumed a quasi-religious status in the secular homes of the Western world, in some countries it is an overtly spiritual experience. In Japan, for example, elaborate tea ceremonies are performed and the drinking of tea is regarded as a sacred aspect of the art of living. Japanese monks also use tea to enhance concentration during meditation. In early twenty-first century Australia we consume about 9.5 million cups of tea every day. Thankfully, the health impacts of this popular lifestyle choice are generally good.

HEALTH IN A CUP

A cup of tea brewed for about one minute will contain approximately 32 milligrams of caffeine. This is about half that of instant coffee and only one-quarter to one-eighth of an espresso. So while caffeine is not good for you in large amounts, tea contains relatively low levels. Additionally, tea contains other chemicals, including flavonoids, tannins and theophylline. Certainly tea is a preferable health choice compared to its hot beverage competitor coffee. Indeed many studies are highlighting surprisingly diverse health benefits from tea.

Heart

In one study, 50 patients with atherosclerosis drank roughly two cups (500 millilitres) of black tea. The ability of the major artery of the arm to dilate (open) was then monitored with ultrasound. Patients drinking the tea prior to ultrasound evaluation had a greater dilation (or opening) in the arteries of the arm. The authors also found that ingestion of four cups of tea per day for a month, but no tea immediately before the ultrasound, had a similar effect. Caffeine alone did not have the same beneficial effects as the tea, suggesting that some tea component other than caffeine was

responsible for the action. Tea is a known source of flavonoids, the same health promoting substances that are found in red wine. These falconoid have antioxidant effects that are beneficial for the heart as they protect the arteries from damage and also stop damage to cholesterol, thereby perhaps acting to reduce cholesterol plaques.

Teeth

A group of researchers from the University of Illinois College of Dentistry in the USA believes that black tea benefits oral health by interfering with the harmful plaque bacteria in the mouth, which cause gum disease and cavities. One of their studies had volunteers rinse their mouths with black tea for 30 seconds five times at three-minute intervals. They found that this stopped the plaque bacteria from growing. This supported an earlier Swedish study, which found that rinsing the mouth with black tea reduces plaque build-up.

Following are some Chinese tradition claims about the relationship between health and tea drinking. Tea drinking is reputed to:

*
Increase blood flow to all parts of the body.
*
Stimulate clear thinking and mental alertness.
*
Speed the elimination of alcohol and other harmful substances (fats and nicotine, for example) from the bodily organs.
*
Increase the body's power of resistance to a wide range of diseases.
*
Accelerate the metabolism and the intake of oxygen by the bodily organs.
*
Prevent tooth decay.
*
Have a cleansing and invigorating effect upon the skin, which assists in the preservation of a youthful appearance.
*
Prevent or slow down the onset of anemia.
*
Clear the urine and facilitate its flow.
*
Benefit and brighten the eyes.
*
Combat the effects of summer heat.
*
Assist the digestion.
*
Ease discomfort in the limbs and joints.
*
Decrease harmful secretions of mucus.
*
Assuage thirst.
*
Banish fatigue, raise the spirits and induce a general feeling of well-being.
*
Prolong the life span of the individual.
*