Prince Siddhartha

We have mentioned before that nobody knows for sure when and where tea was first discovered. One of the most popular legends is of a Chinese King by the name of Shen Nong who is said to have discovered tea around 2737 B.C. More information about this legend can be found in the article titled Shen Nong - The Father of Tea. There is another legend that has spread throughout the Orient and traveling wherever tea and Buddhism went, gaining a large following in Japan. This legend is important to the Buddhist version of tea’s discovery because of its important to Zen Buddhist religious practice.

The legend says that a Prince with an Indian name called Siddhartha Gautama made a pilgrimage to China. To prove his faith he vowed never to sleep, not even in years, but one day when he felt really fatigued he fell into a deep sleep. When the Prince Siddhartha woke from his dream he was so ashamed at having broken his vow that he tore off his eyelids and threw them into the ground. His eyelids took root and from them a bush of green tea leaves sprouted. Prince Siddhartha started eating these leaves and it helped with his meditation and alleviated his weariness so he recommended it to his followers.

According to Indian tea origin theorists, tea was introduced to China by Prince Siddhartha in 519 B.C. However, tea had already been a part of China’s culture for at least one thousand years before Prince Siddhartha’s birth. It seems like the true origin of tea will remain unknown for the time being. Even though the legends of the origin of tea are wonderful in essence, they seem to hold some myth in them.

Join me in my next article as I explore the facts that allow us to determine the true origins of tea.

Green Tea

Green tea is most common in China. As with all other varieties of tea, green tea also comes from the plant Camellia Sinesis. Although black tea has been the most popular variety of tea in the West, recently green tea has been spreading in popularity.

Green tea consumption started in China almost 5,000 years ago and it is used for such things as healing wounds, stopping bleedings and regulating body temperature. The same is done in Japan, Thailand and India.

Green tea is now being acredited with providing many health benefits. There is already hard evidence that shows green tea helps reduce the risk of certain cancers and lowers cholesterol levels.

Black Tea

Black tea is one of the four main varieties of tea that exist today. The other three varieties are green tea, oolong tea and white tea. Black tea, as well as the rest of the varieties of tea, come from the plant Camellia Sinesis and one characteristic that distinguishes it from the rest of teas is its strong flavor. Black tea is known to retain its flavor for many years, while others will usually hold it for no more than two years. Black tea makes about 90% of the tea sold in the west.

Black tea is classified into four different grades: whole leaf, broken leaf, fannings and dust.

After the discovery of tea by emperor Shen Nung, as the story goes, it took a while for tea to become a popular drink in China. This was accomplished during the Tang dynasty (618-906 AD) when tea became the national drink of China.

Japan was the next country to fall in love with tea. With Budhist monks traveling to China to study, they would bring back to Japan the refreshing drink. Tea became part of Japanese culture as it is seen even today by rituals such as the Tea Ceremony.

Cup of tea in Holland

The history of tea in Europe began with the Portuguese, as they visited the East as traders and missionaries, they brought back with them new discoveries to the West, including tea. But it was the Dutch who truly introduced tea to Europe by establishing a trading post in the island of Java and commercially exporting the first batch of tea from China to Holland in 1606.

Tea soon became a popular drink in Holland and soon spread through continental western Europe, but because of its high price it remained a drink strictly for the wealthy.

Around 1675, as the amount of tea imported grew and prices dropped, tea became available to  common food shops and by that time, many well to do homes had exclusive tearooms.

Tea is said to have began as a medicine and grew into an everyday beverage. While tea entered the realm of poetry as one of the polite amusements in China, the fifteenth century saw Japan turn tea into a religion of aestheticism. This religion, known as Teaism, and introduced by Okakura Kakuzo, author of “The Book of Tea.”

Okakura

In Japanese culture, Teaism has been highly favored by the isolation of Japan from other cultures. Tea is a part of many Japanese habits, customs and cuisines. Anyone studying Japanese culture will notice the importance of tea as it is also in the literature and paintings.

Japanese Teahouse

Okakura describes Teaism as “a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.

Tea has been around for a long time. Although there is no doubt tea originated in China, nobody knows for sure how the first cup was brewed. However, there is a famous story about the origin of tea that dates back to the year 2737 BC, when China was under the rule of King Shen Nong.

Shen Nong

King Shen Nong was known as the father of agriculture and medicine. As the story goes, the king had made it a rule to boil water before drinking it because he believed this would make it healthier to drink. One day when the king was visiting a distant region of his realm, he decided to take a brake and ordered his servants to bring him water. As the servants started bowling the water according to the king’s rule, dry leaves from a nearby bush started to fall on the pot of water. The king became very interested in the infused water and found it to be very delicious and at once felt invigorated. Tea was born.

King Shen Nong was always very concern with his health and that of his people. He recommended tea to those around him, saying, “Tea gives vigor to the body, contentment to the mind, and determination of purpose.” Thanks to his concerns on health, he has been said to discover tea and its medicinal powers.

Even though many affirm that tea was discovered by King Shen Nong, chances are that a king by this name never existed. There used to be a primitive farming tribe in China by the name of Shennong. A clever chieftain is said to have invented plowing tools and to discover tea along with other medicinal herbs through personal experimentation. Legend has given him the status of divinity, the name King Shen Nong, and the title of Father of Tea.

A couple of nights ago I decided I wanted to make fried rice, so I went on the Internet, found a recipe and started looking for all the ingredients I was going to need. I soon realized there were a few things I was missing: green onions, carrots and celery. I went to my local grocery store, walked towards the fruits and vegetables section and bought the ingredients I needed.

Camellia sinensis

Making fried rice was pretty easy once I knew what I needed to buy, where to get it and how to make it. I would have never gone to an electronics store to buy the ingredients I was missing. Making sense of things by placing items into groups where they share commonalities makes sense, and that is exactly what scientists do with plants.

Camellia is the name of the genus (a group) from where the tea plant comes from. The name of the species where the tea plant comes from is called Camellia sinesis, but before I confuse you, here is the complete classification of the tea plant:

1- Kingdom: Plantae
2- Division: Magnoliophyta
3- Class: Magnoliopsida
4- Order: Ericales
5- Family: Theaceae
6- Genus: Camellia
7- Species: Camellia sinensis

All teas, whether they are green, black, white, etc., come from the same plant. What makes each type of tea different are characteristics such as the age of the leaves and how those leaves are processed before they make it to your cup.

So there you have it. I’ve introduced you to the queen of the dance floor. Don’t be afraid to introduce her to your friends and have your own party… a tea party that is.

Ms. Camellia Tea

I’ve created a new category on the newsletter which I’m calling “Ms. Camellia Tea.” I thought it would be fun to give the category an interesting name. If you don’t know what the name stands for, you might want to read the first post.

The purpose of the category is to discuss all things related to tea, such as its history and important facts.

There is a lot to be said about this internationally famous plant and what it can do for all of us. I know I will be learning a lot from my research and I’m sure you will too.

I know this category won’t cover everything I would like to talk about so I will definitely be adding more categories soon. Enjoy and let me know what you think. - Antonio

Before I talk about tea, it’s only fair that the first article is devoted to Bullen Tea, the company, and how it all got started. Like many entrepreneurs, I am constantly searching for that next big idea. The idea for Bullen Tea came for reasons that had little to do with tea, the actual product I was going to be selling, and a lot to do with web programming and design. My goal was simple: to develop a website from top to bottom from where I could learn how web programming and e-commerce really works so I would be able to do the same thing again and again if I wanted to. That goal hasn’t changed. What has changed is my love for tea.

Antonio Bullen - Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Bullen Tea started in my bedroom in Panama, my home country. I moved to the United States at the age of 21 and I always thought I would make millions of dollars out of the software I had saved on floppy disks and CDs. Because I was doing all of the web programming, customer service and inventory logistics myself, Bullen Tea took years to get up and going, and I was working on it every time I could. As soon as I immigrated I started working long hours for other companies that would eventually teach me many valuable lessons I have applied at Bullen Tea. I was saving a little bit here and there from every paycheck so I could invest it on my business ideas. Between a full time job and college classes, I barely had enough time to devote to Bullen Tea. Nothing was moving fast so I decided something had to give and I quit school. Things didn’t work out the way I wanted. The money wasn’t there and yes… it was partly because of the low paying jobs I was doing. It was enough to pay my personal bills, but not to sustain my little baby company. I realized quiting school was not the right decision. I needed to have a plan B in case Bullen Tea didn’t work and as long as I was working low paying jobs, there would be no Bullen Tea.

After much humiliation and struggling, I went back to college and traded my little fast car for something with better gas millage and cheaper maintenance. I’m still going to school. I’m studying International Business at San Diego State University and I’m having fun doing it. The difference I’ve seen in myself from going to classes now and before is that I really want to learn this time around. I’m actually going to school for the right reasons!

I’ve learn some valuable lessons from working on Bullen Tea and I keep them in mind so that I don’t like to make the same mistakes twice. Bullen Tea is growing and soon it will become the company I have envisioned for so many years now. Right now my job is to build by acquiring as much knowledge as possible. That’s the reason why I created this newsletter section. I want to be able to tell you about what I’ve learned. You can read more about my life at www.antoniobullen.com. Thank you for stopping by.