6 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT TEA YOU MAY NEVER HAVE HEARD OF…

1.In the 400-600’s demand for tea being used as a medicinal drink rose in China.

2. Tea in Japan during this period was rare and expensive, and enjoyed most by high priests and the aristocracy.

3. During 648-749 a Japanese Monk Gyoki planted the first tea bushes in 49 Buddhist temple gardens.

4. Buddhism and tea devotion spread and the Japanese Buddhist Saint and Priest Saicho and Monk Kubo Daishi, brought tea seeds and cultivation and manufacturing tips back from China and planted them in the gardens in Japanese temples.

5. In 951 a period when disease was rife, Kuya started Obukucha, green tea served at the New Year to ward off illness.

6. Tea is first mentioned in the ancient texts as an offering. In the Buddhist scriptures it is often spoken as an offering made to the Buddha.