The Origin of tea plants? Nobody knows for sure. According to Chinese experts in the History of Tea, the world’s earliest tea plants were found in the Southwestern provinces of China; Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan. Geological proof also point to the same provinces as the geology and climate of those provinces are the most suitable for growing tea.
Until today, those provinces have the largest number of wild tea plant species with their original characteristics. The oldest existing tea plant with an age of probably more than 2,700 years old is still existing in Yunnan province. Therefore, most experts around the world acknowledge China as the origin of tea plants.
According to Chinese Ancient history, the discovery of tea by Chinese started from the saying that “Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs and he had ingested 72 different toxins every day, and he came upon tea as an antidote.” Indeed, Chinese historians confirm that originally all tea leaves were plucked from wild plants and used for medical purposes.
Today, China produces the largest amount of tea in the world, including green tea, oolong tea, black tea, jasmine tea, white tea, black tea, and pu’er teas. Drinking Chinese tea comes with many health benefits. Chinese tea detoxifies the body, counters bad breath, can be an effective part of weight loss program, and has excellent anti-aging benefits by improving skin elasticity.
