Editing Tea (section)

===Early tea drinking===
[[File:Shinno (Shennong) derivative.jpg|thumb|upright|A 19th-century Japanese painting depicting [[Shennong]]: Chinese legends credit Shennong with the invention of tea.<ref name="laura2" />]]

People in ancient East Asia ate tea for centuries, perhaps even [[millennia]], before ever consuming it as a beverage. They would nibble on the leaves raw, add them to [[soups]] or [[Leaf vegetable|greens]], or [[ferment]] them and chew them as [[areca nut]] is [[betel nut chewing| chewed]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Driem |first1=George van |author1-link=George van Driem |title=The tale of tea: a comprehensive history of tea from prehistoric times to the present day |date=2019 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden ; Boston |isbn=978-9004386259 |page=20 |language=en |chapter=The Primordial Origins of Tea}}</ref>

Tea drinking may have begun in the region of [[Yunnan]], where it was used for medicinal purposes. It is believed that in [[Sichuan]], "people began to boil tea leaves for consumption into a concentrated liquid without the addition of other leaves or herbs, thereby using tea as a bitter yet stimulating drink, rather than as a medicinal concoction."{{sfn|Heiss|Heiss|2007|pp=6–7}}

Chinese legends attribute the invention of tea to the mythical [[Shennong]] (in central and northern China) in 2737 BC, although evidence suggests that tea drinking may have been introduced from the southwest of China (Sichuan/Yunnan area).<ref name="laura2">{{Citation| last=Yee| first=L.K.| title=Tea's Wonderful History| publisher=The Chinese Historical and Cultural Project| quote=year 1996–2012| url=http://www.chcp.org/tea.html| access-date=17 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020803115304/http://chcp.org/tea.html |archive-date=3 August 2002 }}</ref> The earliest written records of tea come from China. The word ''tú'' {{Wikt-lang|zh|荼}} appears in the ''[[Classic of Poetry|Shijing]]'' and other ancient texts to signify a kind of "bitter vegetable" ({{lang|zh|苦菜}}), and it is possible that it referred to many different plants such as [[sow thistle]], [[chicory]], or [[Polygonum|smartweed]],{{sfn|Benn|2015|p=22}} as well as tea.{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|pp=264–65}} In the ''[[Chronicles of Huayang]]'', it was recorded that the [[Ba (state)|Ba]] people in Sichuan presented ''tu'' to the [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou]] king. The [[Qin (state)|Qin]] later conquered the state of [[Ba (state)|Ba]] and its neighbour [[Shu (state)|Shu]], and according to the 17th century scholar [[Gu Yanwu]] who wrote in ''Ri Zhi Lu'' ({{lang|zh|日知錄}}): "It was after the Qin had taken Shu that they learned how to drink tea."{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|pp=29–30}} Another possible early reference to tea is found in a letter written by the [[Qin dynasty]] general Liu Kun who requested that some "real tea" to be sent to him.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NT8J5qDjABIC&pg=PR18 |title=All the Tea in China |author=Kit Boey Chow |author2=Ione Kramer |pages=2–3 |publisher=Sinolingua |date=1990 |isbn=978-0-8351-2194-1 |access-date=21 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831072957/https://books.google.com/books?id=NT8J5qDjABIC&pg=PR18&lpg=PR18 |archive-date=31 August 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The earliest known physical evidence<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/archaeologists-discover-worlds-oldest-tea-buried-with-ancient-chinese-emperor-a6805171.html|title=Archaeologists discover world's oldest tea buried with ancient Chinese emperor|work=[[The Independent]]|publisher=Independent Print Limited|access-date=15 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008011801/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/archaeologists-discover-worlds-oldest-tea-buried-with-ancient-chinese-emperor-a6805171.html|archive-date=8 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> of tea was discovered in 2016 in the mausoleum of [[Emperor Jing of Han]] in [[Xi'an]], indicating that tea from the genus ''Camellia'' was drunk by [[Han dynasty]] emperors as early as the second century BC.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Earliest tea as evidence for one branch of the Silk Road across the Tibetan Plateau|volume=6|pages=18955|author=Houyuan Lu|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|doi=10.1038/srep18955|pmid=26738699|pmc=4704058| date=7 January 2016|display-authors=etal|bibcode=2016NatSR...618955L}}</ref> The Han dynasty work "The Contract for a Youth", written by [[Wang Bao]] in 59 BC,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://phys.org/news/2016-01-world-oldest-tea-chinese-emperor.html|title=World's oldest tea found in Chinese emperor's tomb|publisher=[[Phys.org]]|date=28 January 2016|quote=The oldest written reference to tea is from the year 59 BC.|access-date=22 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917190549/http://phys.org/news/2016-01-world-oldest-tea-chinese-emperor.html|archive-date=17 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> contains the first known reference to boiling tea. Among the tasks listed to be undertaken by the youth, the contract states that "he shall boil tea and fill the utensils" and "he shall buy tea at Wuyang".{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|pp=29–30}} The first record of tea cultivation is dated to this period, during which tea was cultivated on Meng Mountain ({{lang|zh|蒙山}}) near [[Chengdu]].{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|pp=30–31}} Another early credible record of tea drinking dates to the 3rd century AD, in a medical text by the Chinese physician [[Hua Tuo]], who stated, "to drink bitter t'u constantly makes one think better."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AGaTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 |title=The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug |author=Bennett Alan Weinberg, Bonnie K. Bealer |page=28 |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-415-92722-2 |access-date=7 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513051901/https://books.google.com/books?id=AGaTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28 |archive-date=13 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, before the [[Tang dynasty]], tea-drinking was primarily a southern Chinese practice centered in [[Jiankang]].{{sfn|Benn|2015|p=42}} Tea was disdained by the [[Northern and Southern dynasties|Northern dynasties]] aristocrats, who describe it as inferior to yogurt.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qmwywEACAAJ&q=slaves'%20drink&pg=PA76 |title=The Jiankang Empire in Chinese and World History |author=Andrew Chittick |pages=75–76 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780190937546}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PASE4LVLzQ0C&q=yogurt&pg=PA22 |title=Culture and Power in the Reconstitution of the Chinese Realm, 200–600 |editor1=Scott Pearce |editor2=Audrey G. Spiro |editor3=Patricia Buckley Ebrey |page=22 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |year=2001 |isbn=0-674-00523-6}}</ref> It became widely popular during the Tang dynasty, when it spread to Korea, [[Japan]], and Vietnam. ''[[The Classic of Tea]]'', a treatise on tea and its preparations, was written by the 8th century Chinese writer, [[Lu Yu]]. He was known to have influenced tea drinking on a large part in China.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |author=Miranda Brown |date=2 March 2022 |title=The Medieval Influencer Who Convinced the World to Drink Tea—Not Eat It |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/eating-tea? |website=Atlas Obscura}}</ref>