The history of Chinese tea is a long and complicated one. The Chinese have loved their tea for thousands of years. While academics considered Chinese tea a remedy for a wide assortment of sicknesses and disease, noblemen drank good tea to show off their status in society. The ordinary men and women in the street simply enjoyed it because it tasted nice!

As legend goes, tea was first discovered in China by the Emperor (and inventor) Shen Nong. He had a preference for his drinking water to be boiled before he drank it, to make sure it's free from pollutants. His servants of course obliged. One day he went on a long trip and was resting near a wild tea bush. As usual his servants boiled him some drinking water and a few leaves from the tea bush found their way into his cup. He found the taste very agreeable and refreshing and so tea (cha) was born! All of this happened in the year 2737 BC.

There is disagreement on exactly when tea started to be used as a medicinal herb. China, quite logically, has the oldest records of people drinking tea for medicinal purposes. It has been well recorded that tea was regularly used for this purpose during the Hun Dynasty, more than 200 years BC.

Chinese tea is widely credited with having the ability to cure a whole array of ailments. It is believed to be able to aid digestion, prevent heart disease, cancer and arthritis, give you stronger bones, help with oral health as well as generally boost the immune system.

During the Tang Dynasty (around 800 AD), tea started to be used on a widespread basis for pleasure and during social occasions. There are books dating back to that era describing in detail how tea was cultivated, how the leaves were processed and how to make a perfect cup of tea. The best tea producing areas in China was also well described during this era.

During this period in the history of tea, the way of preparation was totally different what the way we do it in modern times. Tea leaves were compressed into the form of square cakes. They were then dried out and was known as brick tea.

Afterwards these bricks were ground to a fine powder by using stones and a mixing bowl. All that remained then was adding hot water to this powder, or boiling it in an earthenware kettle, to make a delicious cup of Chinese tea.