Did tea drinking originate in India or China?

Question

Did tea drinking originate in India or China?

Answer 1

Creation myths

In one popular Chinese legend, Shennong, the legendary Emperor of China, inventor of agriculture and Chinese medicine, was drinking a bowl of boiling water, some time around 2737 BC. The wind blew and a few leaves from a nearby tree fell into his water and began to change its colour. The ever inquisitive and curious monarch took a sip of the brew and was pleasantly surprised by its flavour and its restorative properties. A variant of the legend tells that the emperor tested the medical properties of various herbs on himself, some of them poisonous, and found tea to work as an antidote. Shennong is also mentioned in Lu Yu's famous early work on the subject, Cha Jing.

A Tang Dynasty legend regarding tea spread along with Buddhism and Bodhidharma, founder of the Zen school of Buddhism based on meditation known as "Chan". After meditating in front of a wall for nine years, he accidentally fell asleep. He woke up in such disgust at his weakness, he cut off his eyelids and they fell to the ground and took root, growing into tea bushes. Sometimes, the second story is retold with Gautama Buddha in place of Bodhidharma. In another variant of the first mentioned myth, Gautama Buddha discovered tea when some leaves had fallen into boiling water.

Whether or not these legends have any basis in fact, tea has played a significant role in Asian culture for centuries as a staple beverage, a curative, and a symbol of status. For these reasons, perhaps it is not surprising that its discovery is ascribed to religious or royal origins

Answer 2

china.

Answer 3

Popular history gives it to China

Answer 4

think it started in our house when i was little lol

Answer 5

Neither.  My dads from lancashire and he's been drinking tea all his life, he's 69 now, sometimes about 10 cups a day.

Answer 6

northeast India, north Burma, southwest China and Tibet all show tea orginating at the same time.

Answer 7

India

Answer 8

Tea drinking began in China, cultivation of tea plants in India only started during the British Raj to give the ex-pats a regular supply for 'tiffin'.

The production in India saw the price drop and in becoming so much cheaper, it became the drink of the masses.

Answer 9

Why can't it have originated in both. That general area grows a lot of teas but different types.

Answer 10

Tea drinking originated in China.

Answer 11

China

Answer 12

Tea drinking originated in Southwest China in the Yunnan province.