Tea - from food to medicine October 30 2015

Anthropologists speculate that prehistoric humans (the species Homo erectus) discovered indigenous tea trees growing wild in the forests of Yunnan. The quest to discover edibles in the environment would have eventually tempted these early inhabitants to chew on the leaves of the tea trees, perhaps stimulated by their own curiosity or from watching the actions of forest-dwelling animals. They would have discovered these leaves to be a source of invigorating energy that might sustain them on their daily rounds of foraging for food.

Once these prehistoric humans learned  the skills of fire building, they gained warmth and protection from the elements, and soon they acquired the ability to cook meat and boil water. Surrounded by an abundance of wild-growing tea trees, they felled these trees to use for fuel. Most likely alng the way, they experimented by adding tea leaves and other forest barks and leaves to boiling water, which was then stewed into various strong, bitter and invigorating concoctions.