How Did Humans Start Drinking Tea?

Tea history begins with a simple pot of boiling leaves, long before it became the world's most popular drink. The oldest tea ever found was buried with a Chinese emperor about 2,100 years ago. But who was the first person to boil a bitter leaf and decide to do it again tomorrow? In this video we follow one plant, Camellia sinensis, from the wild forests of southwest China to the whole world: the legend of Shennong versus the real evidence, tea cooked like soup with salt and ginger, Lu Yu's Classic of Tea, whisked foam contests in the Song dynasty, the loose-leaf decree of 1391, how one plant becomes green, oolong and black tea, the silver and opium trade, the Boston Tea Party, and the 1848 plant heist that moved tea to India. Chapters: 0:00 The oldest tea ever found 0:42 The plant: Camellia sinensis 1:26 The Shennong legend 1:48 The real evidence: Emperor Jing's tomb 3:03 Tea as soup 3:27 Tang dynasty and the Classic of Tea 4:27 Tea, horses and politics 4:57 Song dynasty: whisked foam and matcha 5:57 Ming dynasty: loose leaf and the teapot 6:25 One plant, many teas 7:01 Tea reaches Europe 8:00 Silver, opium and war 8:41 The Boston Tea Party 9:24 The great tea heist 11:17 So how did humans start drinking tea? Ancient Minds explores the hidden mechanisms behind how people actually lived — before modern tools, before modern law, before any of it was figured out. Subscribe for weekly ancient history breakdowns, and let us know what other mysteries of the past you want to explore.