When publishing and/or talking about tea in Burma, or some other place for example, it is inevitable to depart on the journey to the sphere of tea in China - in south-west China to be accurate - for that's as I'll explain in the following positively from wherever tea is formerly coming from.
The debate on if the real history of Burmese tea and the drinking of tea in Burma have begun in China has possibly more related to at least some Bamars'/Burmans' reluctance to admit that the source of tea is China and that the drinking of tea was followed by them later from the Shan, than with tea, tea drinking and Taiwan Tea lifestyle itself. The reality are that tea both as seed and cocktail was found and had become important part of Asian and later Shan lifestyle already at a time when no Bamar/Burman had ever set foot into what's nowadays Burma (since 1989 also called Myanmar).
In other words the very first kingdom of the Bamar the 'kingdom of Pagan' (that was actually established by the Pyu, and while we are at it, Anawrahta, the 42nd king of Pagan who is by the Bamar/Burman considered the founder of the 1st Burman kingdom was a Pyu, not a Bamar/Burman) did back then maybe not occur what's already the definite response to the problem of the source of tea, tea drinking and tea lifestyle in Burma; Burma or any precursor of it simply didn't occur in or during the age in question, period. But why are there however people (not so many, though) who in the face of most details and reasoning say that Burmese tea, tea drinking and tea lifestyle are not begun in China? Small answer: Because the location that was in pre-Bamar time inhabited by the Shan has become sleeping partly within the much north east of Burma. Nevertheless, these places are nowadays found within Burma's boundaries does certainly not imply that the actual region where Camellia sinensis was basically discovered and from wherever after that it distribute to India, through most of south-east Asia and, ultimately, around the world lies within north-east Burma. It is possible nonetheless it can also be possible that Camellia sinensis - translated from Latin into English the title indicates 'Tea flower' (camellia) 'from China' (sinensis) - has at a later stage extensive into the location now included in the north-eastern part of Burma.
The guide of tea is a guide with several pages and chapters beginning shrouded in the mist of fable and star a while back 3000 BC. There is even the concrete date 2725 BC stated what's relating the (accidental) discovery and the later drinking of tea to the Asian emperor Shen Nung about who I can tell you more somewhat later. No-one actually knows when it was that the drinking of tea (what back then was generally green tea extract since it was unfermented also called unoxidised) started to become part of Asian culture. That is why it can not be within the range of this information to (as interesting as this might be) cope with related fables, legends and folklore to be able to reveal tea history's key of when and wherever this was and how it happened. The answer to this problem won't ever be discovered anyhow what indicates so it will for generally remain concealed behind the layer of legend. Thus we've to find details in the proper execution of prepared documents and archaeological finds that'll provide us tea related information we are looking for. And so far as that is concerned we do not need to search for long.
We're provided the very first trusted information in a Asian encyclopaedia that was started to be collected and prepared during the Han Dynasty sometime about 325 BC and further expanded from then on: its title is Erya also spelled Erh-ya. The author of the Erya is as yet not known but it is among scholars recognized that this have now been disciples of Confucius. Here we discover documents letting us know that tea was already known and drunken at least in the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty in 1046 BC, possibly earlier. Nevertheless, it is maybe not specified whether it was tea made from camellia sinensis leaves and drunken for pleasure or some natural not likely really delightful tea drunken for medical applications only.
From later documents we know that producing and drinking tea was already part of the Asian people's every day life in the beginning of the Han Dynasty in 206 B.C. as well as earlier. That the drinking of tea has so somewhat quick permeated the Asian lifestyle could truly not need been possible without Buddhist monks. It had been the Buddhist monk orders that have not merely distribute the drinking of tea among the populace but that had also bought out the planting and handling of tea. Immediately after tea as cocktail had been presented during the Han Dynasty, Buddhism was related to tea. The Buddhist monks have really early acknowledged that tea was a low priced and refreshing cocktail with excellent style and smell that kept them awake.
From the by Lu Yu during the Tang Dynasty prepared and at about 760 AD published guide 'The Traditional of Tea' (Cha Jing in Chinese) we are able to take that green tea extract was known and drunken throughout most of China for pleasure from 618 AD, or early in the day on. For Lu Yu tea was the mark of equilibrium and strange unity of the Universe where we are able to observe how highly he considered tea.
A sensational discovery could (at enough time with this publishing in 2016) 1255 years later demonstrate Lu Yun wrong in in terms of green tea extract was already a favorite cocktail in south and west China earlier than 141 BC. The a.m. sensational discovery was so it was established that leaves within the tomb of the 6th Emperor of the western Han Dynasty, Emperor Jin of Han (Liu Qi), wherever actual (Camellia sinensis) tea leaves that got him along side tens of thousands of clay troops and several other activities as grave best for the journey into his afterlife. To prevent distress, the emperor's tomb was already found in the 1990s during road construction work, which alone (not the street construction nevertheless the discovery of the Emperor's tomb) was some sort of sensation. Nevertheless, with respect to the articles of this information the obtaining of the tea leaves was even more sensational because these tea leaves are the most old and best tea leaves ever found what's earned them an entry in the Guinness Guide of Earth Files as 'The world's oldest tea leaves' ;.
Much like so several other activities the beginning of drinking tea is steeped in legend. You can find different experiences about how exactly the very first chapter of the guide of tea begins and having read them I have come to in conclusion that 99.99 percent of them belong to the sphere of legends. Among the most used Asian legends is the with good pleasure again and again told star about an emperor's container of heated water that been put just under a tea tree wherever tea leaves were sure to drop to the pot. Obviously, oh question (how can it be any different) tea leaves fell to the container with boiling water whereupon the emperor took out of awareness a glass of the formerly as yet not known now slightly yellowish-brown coloured water. He was, while the star goes, so excited about the smell and style that from then on he produced tea his favorite cocktail and the drinking of tea became part of Asian culture. The emperor in that star is the mythic emperor Shen Nung also spelled Shannong, Shen Nong who is by the Asian worshipped while the 'Divine Farmer' and the 'Father of Asian Herbal Medicine' ;.He was what's nowadays named 'pharmacologist', and it is believed he has 'lived' 140 years, from 2838 BC to 2698 BC. This is undoubtedly all natural star but its source may be observed against the background of the fact that Shen Nung was herbalist and that tea was in the beginning used as natural medicine in both solid (as plant or salad) and/or water form (as tea).
What's tea and where is it begun? Shortly put, tea is a beverage frequently comprising of water and normal (uncured) and cured tea leaves of the species camellia sinensis. This is, as formerly said, an evergreen plant indigenous to Asia that will when it remains unmarked grow in the wilderness into a tree with a top of some 55 ft/ 17 m. Incidentally, why do we contact tea, tea? Allow me to shortly explain where the title 'tea' begun and from wherever it distribute round the world. The title 'tea' has its source in China wherever 2 names are useful for the same beverage. It is called 'Cha' in Mandarin dialect and 'Tay' in Xiamenese dialect. In 1644 the British recognized a trading post in Xiamen and anglicised the Xiamenese 'tay' what, eventually, became 'tea' a name that in the following time quickly distribute through and was recognized by the English talking world.
Wherever just is Camellia sinensis begun? As unbelievable since it appears and whatever we may think about it, extensive and step-by-step study has led to the effect that this tea seed - the Camellia sinensis - wasn't a seed that had or would have changed and developed individually in a number of areas of the planet but astonishingly enough only within a somewhat small region located in and limited to an area that does include areas of what's nowadays the Shan state (as north and north-eastern part of the back then maybe not present Burma) and the Asian provinces Yunnan and Sichuan.
But whether 'Burmese' tea has its source in China (what it has) or maybe not, or if the drinking of tea became part of the Burman's lifestyle only after it was presented in their mind by the Shan (what it was) or if the popular 'Burmese milk tea is actually Indian tea presented by the Indian - and NOT British - people during British colonial instances (what it was and is) does actually maybe not subject significantly - if anything more - since the fact remains that 'Taiwan Tea' has as time passes (trough most of the Bamar/Burman kingdoms, the British colonial instances and the past-independence time) resulted in a built-in part of the alleged 'Burmese consume and food culture' what it remains to be even today and will be wherewith I have now 'beamed' us from the old past to the present.