I Can’t Sleep - History of Tea | Can’t Sleep? Steep Yourself in History

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

Tea has been part of human culture for thousands of years, growing from ancient traditions into one of the world’s most widely consumed drinks. This episode explores the origins of tea, its spread across Asia and Europe, and the traditions that developed around drinking it. Along the way, you’ll hear about early tea cultivation, changing preparation methods, and the remarkable role tea has played in trade and culture around the world. It’s steady and consistent, with no whispering and no sudden changes, just enough to give your mind something to follow as you wind down. Happy sleeping! Read with permission from History of Tea, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tea), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. — Ad-free episodes: ⁠icantsleep.supportingcast.fm⁠Have a topic in mind? ⁠Request a topic⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and the first week costs nothing. Go to I Can't Sleep. supportingcast.fm for an ad-free experience today. You can also find the link in the show notes. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I help you drift off one fact at a time. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster, and today's episode is about the history of tea. Hear that? It's your money calling. It wants a promotion. Elevate your savings with the Scotia high-interest savings account. Always earn high regular interest rates that grow the more you save and invest.

Conditions apply. Visit scotiabank.com slash h-I-SA to learn more. Scotia Bank. You're richer than you think. Thank you, Heather Lemora, for sponsoring today's episode. The history of tea spreads across many cultures throughout thousands of years. The tea plant, Camelia Sinances, is both native and probably originated in the borderlands of China and northern Myanmar.

One of the earliest accounts of tea drinking is dated back to China's Shang Dynasty, in which tea was consumed in a medicinal concoction. One traditional method of preparing tea involves steeping loose tea leaves in a teapot and straining them into a cup, a practice that became common in Europe, following the introduction of tea by Chinese traders. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the 3rd century AD, in a medical text written by Chinese physician Huatuo. It first became known to the Western world through Portuguese priests and merchants,

in China during the early 16th century. Drinking tea became popular in Britain during the 17th century. To compete with the Chinese monopoly on tea, the British East India Company introduced commercial tea production to British India. Tea consumption likely began in Yunnan province during the second millennium BC as a medicinal concoction. From there the use spread to Sishuan, and it is believed that there for the first time,

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. In Chinese legend, sometime around 2007-37 BCE, Emperor Shenang was drinking a bowl of just boiled water because of a decree that his subjects must boil water before drinking it. A few leaves were blown from a nearby tree into his water,

changing the color and taste. The emperor took a sip of the brew and was pleasantly surprised by its flavor and 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. Shonong is also mentioned in Liu Yu's famous early work on the subject.

the classic of tea. A similar Chinese legend states that Shenong would chew the leaves, stems, and roots of various plants to discover medicinal herbs. If he consumed a poisonous plant, he would chew tea leaves to counteract the poison. The Chinese have consumed tea for thousands of years. The earliest physical evidence known today found in 2016 comes from the mausoleum of Emperor Jing of Han in Shian, indicating that tea was drunk by Han Dynasty emperors as early as the second century BCE. The samples were identified as tea from the genus Camellia, particularly via mass spectrometry,

and written records suggest that it may have been drunk earlier. people of the Han Dynasty used tea as medicine, though the first use of tea as a stimulant is unknown. China is considered to have the earliest records of tea consumption, with possible records dating back to the 10th century BC. Note, however, that the current word for tea in Chinese only came into use in the 8th century AD. There are therefore uncertainties as to whether the older words used are the same as tea. The word too appears in Shijing, another ancient text, to signify a kind of bitter vegetable. And it is possible that it referred to several different plants, such as sow-thistle, chickory, or smartweed, including tea. In the chronicles of Huoyang, it was recorded that the Ba people in Sichuan presented to the Jiu-King.

The state of Ba and its neighbor Shu were later conquered by the Chin. And according to the 17th century scholar, Gu Yangwu, who wrote in the Riji Lu, it was after the chin had taken Shu that they learned how to drink tea. The first known reference to boiling tea came from the Han Dynasty work, the contract for a youth, written by Wang Bao, where among the tasks listed to be undertaken by the youth, he shall boil tea and fill the utensils, and he shall buy tea at Wu Yong. The first record of cultivation of tea also dated it to this period. when tea was cultivated on Meng Mountain, near Chengdu. From the Tong to the Qing dynasties, the first three hundred and sixty leaves of tea grown here

were picked each spring and presented to the emperor. Even today, its green and yellow teas, such as the Meng Ding Ganlu tea, are still sought after. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to 220 AD, in a medical text, Shilun by Huatuo, who stated, To drink bitter too constantly makes one think better. Another possible early reference to tea is found in a letter written by the Chin Dynasty

General Lu Kuhn. However, before the mid-eighth century Tong Dynasty, tea drinking was primarily a southern Chinese practice. It became widely popular during the Tong Dynasty when it was spread to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. During the Tong Dynasty in China, tea was prepared differently than it is today. Instead of steeping tea leaves in hot water,

the tea was boiled with various ingredients, such as ginger, onions, and spices to create a savory broth. It was not until the Song Dynasty that the practice of steeping tea leaves in hot water became popular. Lauja, the classical Chinese philosopher, was said to describe tea as the froth of the liquid jade, and named it an indispensable ingredient to the elixir of life. legend has it that Master Lau was saddened by society's moral decay and sensing that the end of the dynasty was near he journeyed westward to the unsettled territories, never to be seen again.

While passing along the nation's border, he encountered and was offered tea by a customs inspector named Yin Shi. Yen Shi encouraged him to compile his teachings into a senior book, so the future generations might benefit from his wisdom. This became known as the Tao Dijing, a collection of Lao Zha's sayings. Tong Dynasty writer Liu Yu's Chah Jing, the classic of tea, is an early work on the subject. According to Chah Jing, tea drinking was widespread. The book describes how tea plant is.

were grown, the leaves processed, and tea prepared as a beverage. It also describes how tea was evaluated. The book also discusses where the best tea leaves were produced. Teas produced in this period were mainly tea bricks, which were often used as currency, especially further from the center of the empire, where coins lost their value. These were made by compressing tea leaves into a dense round shape That was easy to transport and store The cakes were valued based on their weight

And they could be traded for other goods or used to pay taxes During the Song Dynasty Production and preparation of all tea changed The tea included many loose leaf styles to preserve the delicate character favored by court society, and it is the origin of today's loose teas in the practice of brood tea. A powdered form of tea also emerged. Steaming tea leaves was the primary process used for centuries in the preparation of tea. After the transition from compressed tea to the powdered form, the production of tea for trade and distribution changed once again.

The Chinese learned to process tea in a different way in the mid-13th century. Tea leaves were roasted and then crumbled rather than steamed. By the Yuan and Ming dynasties, unfermented tea leaves were first pan-fried, then rolled and dried. This stops the oxidation process, which turns the leaves dart and allows tea to remain green. In the 15th century, Ulong tea, where the tea leaves were allowed to partially ferment before pan-frying was developed. Western taste, however, preferred the fully oxidized black tea, and the leaves were allowed to ferment further. Yellow tea was an accidental discovery in the production of green tea during the Ming Dynasty

when apparently sloppy practices allowed the leaves to turn yellow, which yielded a different flavor as a result. Tea production in China historically was a laborious process, conducted in distant and often poorly accessible regions. This led to the rise of many approaches. Apocryphal stories and legends surrounding the harvesting process. For example, one story that has been told for many years is that of a village where monkeys pick tea. According to this legend, the villagers stand below the monkeys and taunt them.

The monkeys in turn become angry and grab handfuls of tea leaves and throw them at the villagers. There are products sold today that claim to be harvested in this manner, but no reliable commentators have observed this firsthand, and most doubt that it happened at all. For many hundreds of years, the commercially used tea tree has been, in shape, more of a bush than a tree. Monkey-picked tea is more likely a name of certain varieties than a description of how it was obtained.

In 1391, the Hongwu emperor issued a decree that only loose tea would be accepted as a tribute. As a result, tea production shifted from cake tea to lease-leaf tea, and processing techniques advanced, giving rise to the more energy-efficient methods of pan-firing and sun-drying, which were popular in Giannon and Fujian, respectively. The last group to adopt loose-leaf tea was a literati, who were reluctant to abandon their refined culture of whisking tea until the invention of Ulung tea.

By the end of the 16th century, loose-leaf tea had entirely replaced the earlier tradition of cake and powdered tea. During the Sui dynasty in China, tea was introduced to Japan by Buddhist monks. Tea used spread during the 6th century AD. Tea became a drink of the religious classes in Japan. When Japanese priests and envoys sent to China and to learn about its culture, brought tea to Japan. Ancient recordings indicate the first batch of tea C.C. were brought by the priest named Saito in 805, and then by another named Kukai in 806.

It became a drink of the royal class when Emperor Saga encouraged the growth of tea plants. Seeds were imported from China, and cultivation in Japan began. In 1191, Zen priest Aesai introduced tea seeds to Kyoto. Some of the tea seeds were given to the priest Mioi Shonan and became the basis of Uji tea. The oldest tea special tea book in Japan, Kisa Yojogi, How to Stay Healthy by Drinking Tea, was written by Aesai. The two-volume book was written in 1211, after his second and last visit to China. The first sentence states, Tea is the ultimate mental and medical remedy

and has the ability to make one's life more full and complete. A-Sai was also instrumental in introducing tea consumption to the warrior class, which rose to political prominence after the Heon period. Green tea became a staple among cultured people in Japan, a brew for the gentry and the Buddhist priesthood alike. Production grew and tea became increasingly accessible, though still a privilege enjoyed mostly by the upper classes. The tea ceremony of Japan was introduced from China in the 15th century

by Buddhists as a semi-religious social custom. The modern tea ceremony developed over several centuries by Zen-Bud, Buddhist monks, under the original guidance of the monk Senno Rikyu. In fact, both the beverage and the ceremony surrounding it played a prominent role in feudal diplomacy. In 1738, San Nagatani developed Japanese Sencha, literally simmered tea, which is an unfermented form of green tea. It is a most popular form of tea in Japan today.

The name can be confusing because Sencha is no longer simmered. While Sencha is currently prepared by steeping the leaves in hot water, this was not always the case. Sencha was originally prepared by casting the leaves into a cauldron and simmering briefly. The liquid would then be leased. ladled into bulls and served. In 1835, Cahey Yamamoto developed Gokuro, literally jeweled to, by shading tea trees during the weeks leading up to harvesting. By the 20th century, machine manufacturing of green tea was introduced and began replacing handmade tea.

The first historical record documenting the offering of tea to an ancestral god describes a rite in 661 AD, in which a tea offering was made to the spirit of King Suro, the founder of the Gumguan Kea Kingdom. Records from the Gaurio dynasty show that tea offerings were made in Buddhist temples to the spirits of revered monks. During the Jocen dynasty, the Royal Yi family and the aristocracy used tea for simple rites. The day tea rite was a common daytime ceremony, whereas the special tea rite was reserved for specific occasions. Toward the end of the Jocen dynasty, commoners joined the trend and used tea for ancestral rights.

following the Chinese example based on Zhu Qi's text formalities of family. Stoneware was common, ceramic more frequent, mostly made in provincial kilns, with porcelain rare, imperial porcelain with dragons the rarest. The earliest kinds of tea used in tea ceremonies were heavily pressed cakes of black tea. the equivalent of age puer tea in China. However, importation of tea plans by Buddhist monks brought a more delicate series of teas into Korea and the tea ceremony. Green tea, Jaxol, or Jungno, is most often served. However, other teas, such as Boksoyong, Chen Rachin, Ujjun, Okchen, as well as native chrysanthemum tea, or mugwort tea, may be served at different times of the year.

The earliest record of tea in a more Occidental writing is said to be found in the statement of an Arabian traveler, that after 879, the main sources of revenue in Canton were the duties on salt and tea. Marco Polo records the deposition of a Chinese minister of finance in 1285 for his arbitrary augmentation of the tea taxes. In 1557, Portugal established a trading port in Macau, and word of the Chinese drink chao, spread quickly. But there is no mention of them bringing any samples home. In the early 17th century, a ship of the Dutch East India Company brought the first green tea leaves to Amsterdam from China. Tea was known in France by 1636. It enjoyed a brief period of popularity in Paris around 1648.

The history of tea in Russia can also be traced back to the 17th century. Tea was first offered by China as a gift to Tsar Mikhail I in 1618. The Russian ambassador tried the drink. He did not care for it and rejected the other. offer, delaying T's Russian introduction by 50 years. By 1689, T was regularly imported from China to Russia, via a caravan of hundreds of camels traveling the year-long journey, making it a precarious commodity at the time. T. was appearing in German apothecaries by 1657, but never gained much esteem except in coastal areas, such as Ostreeland. Tea first appeared publicly in mainland Britain during the

1650s, where it was introduced through coffee houses. From there, it was introduced to British colonies in America and elsewhere. Tea taxation was a large issue. In Britain, tea smuggling thrived until the repeal of tea's tax in 1785. In Holland, tea drinkers had to pay for an annual license per person. Tee was first introduced to Europe by Italian traveler Giovanni Battista Ramucio, who in 1555 published voyages and travels, containing the first European reference to Tee, which he calls Chai Kataille. His accounts were based on second-hand reports and the polities of the Gulf of Aden, Yemen, and Somalia. Portuguese priests and merchants in the 16th century made their first contact with tea in China,

at which time it was termed Cha. The first Portuguese ships reached China in 1516, and in 1560 Portuguese missionary Gaspar da Cruz published the first Portuguese account of Chinese tea. In 1565, Portuguese missionary Gaspar da Cruz published the first Portuguese account of Chinese tea. Louis Almeida published the first European account of tea in Japan. Commercial production of tea was first introduced into India by the British in an attempt to break the Chinese monopoly on tea. The British, using Chinese seeds plus Chinese planting and cultivating techniques,

launched a tea industry by offering land in Assam to any European who agreed to cultivate tea for export. Tea was originally only consumed by anglicized Indians. It was not until the 1950s that tea grew widely popular in India through a successful advertising campaign by the India Tea Port. Prior to the British, the plant may have been used for medicinal purposes. Some cite the Sanjivani plant as the first recorded reference of tea use in India. however scientific studies have shown that the sanjivani plant is in fact a different plant and is not related to tea in a psalm there is evidence of pre-modern medicinal use of tea among the singpho and comtee tribes however commercial production of tea in india did not begin until the arrival of the british east india company at which point large tracts of large tracts of large of the large tracts of india of land were converted for mass tea production.

India was the top producer of tea for nearly a century, but was displaced by China as the top tea producer in the 21st century. Indian tea companies have acquired a number of iconic foreign tea enterprises, including British brand Tetley. Most of the Indian tea garden owners have focused on exports to markets like Europe and Russia. While very few have focused on building their own brands, such as Makai Bari, Darmsalah Tea Company, and a few others. While India is the largest consumer of tea worldwide, the per capita consumption of tea in India remains a modest 750 grams per person annually. Recently, consumption of green tea has

seen a great upsurge across the cities, and regions such as Congra, which were known for their green tea production historically, have seen a resurgence of their green teas in the domestic market. Taiwan is famous for the making of Ulaong tea and green tea, as well as many western-styled teas. Bubble tea, or Genju-Nichad, is black tea mixed with Sweden-Kkent condensed milk and tapioca. Since the island was known to Westerners for many centuries as Formosa, short for the Portuguese Ila Formosa or beautiful island, tea grown in Taiwan is often identified by that name. As an attempt to circumvent its dependence on Chinese tea, the East India Company sent

Scottish botanist Robert Fortune to China, to purchase and bring out of China tea plants, which were then taken to India. With the exception of a few plants which survived in established Indian gardens, most of the Chinese tea plants fortune introduced in the northwestern provinces of India perished. Due to the British preference and fashion for a strong dark tea brew, which was discovered to be best made from the native varieties of tea plant in India, Assam subspecies. It proved more important for the development of production there. However, the technology and knowledge that was brought from China was instrumental in the later flourishing of the Indian tea industry in Assam and Sri Lanka.

From 1940 to 1952, tea was rationed, but caused, coffee was exempted. The drinking of tea in the United States was largely influenced by the passage of the Tea Act and its subsequent protest during the American Revolution. Tea consumption sharply decreased in America during and after the revolution when many Americans switched from drinking tea to drinking coffee. Considering tea drinking to be unpatriotic, the American specialty tea market quadrupled in the years from 1993 to 2008, now being worth $6.8 billion a year. Specialty tea houses and retailers also started to pop up during this period.