The last pondering was on tea and some thoughts as to what makes a perfect cup of tea. In researching this TPP was fascinated by the legend of how tea came about and thought it would make a good pondering article.
So according to legends the story goes like this – in 2737 BC a Chinese emperor was sitting under a tree drinking water that had just been boiled when some leaves from the tree blew into the water. These leaves were from the Camellia sinensis tree. They changed the colour and taste of the water. The emperor liked the taste when he took a sip of the brew of what has become known as Tea.
Who knows if this is true or not, but it is a pretty cool story. It is made all the more interesting by the fact the legends say that the emperor was a renowned herbalist who felt better after the drink, thus believed that tea had restorative properties. It was these properties he promoted to his people when encouraging them to drink his new concoction.
As in all legends there are variations depending on who is telling the legend. In this case the variation goes that, as a herbalist, the emperor would try various herbs on himself to test the medicinal properties of them. Some of these herbs were poisonous and he found that tea worked as an antidote. It was these properties that got people started in drinking tea back in 2737 BC.
Whether you believe either version of the legend or not, it is pretty amazing that it has survived thousands of years, especially given that for many of those years the only way to perpetuate it was by word of mouth!
Your homework for today is to ponder on this legend and put yourself in the emperor’s position – would you have tried the drink that was “tainted” by the leaves or would you have tipped it out for fresh water?
Ponder away!
