1. There is a set of legends about the one whom and when tea has been opened. The Chinese tradition attributes this opening to mythical emperor Shen-nun, "the divine farmer", acquainted Chineses with properties of all herbs.
Once, when it, as usual, wandered in search of medicative herbs, some leaflets of a tea tree have got to its kettle with boiled water. Broth has seemed to the wanderer tasty and has put to its to heart. Since then Shen-nun did not drink other drinks.
2. According to other legend, with tea we were acquainted by 28 patriarch of the Buddhism - Bodhidharma who has fallen asleep during meditation and having woken up, in anger has pulled out to itself eyelashes (or cut off to itself eyelids) and has thrown on the earth.
Next day in this place the tea tree has grown. Having tried broth from its leaves, Bodhidharma has decided that all has turned out not too badly.
3. Into the Western Europe tea have started to import in the middle of XVI century.
4. In a XVIII century tea became in the West so popular drink that attempts of the English government to take over the control of trade in tea in North American colonies have caused the mass riots which have crowned in 1773 with the well-known Boston tea party: the colonists who have changed clothes as Indians, have got on the ships of the East Indian company and have thrown out the big party of tea in the sea. The Boston Tea Party became a prologue to War for independence.
5. By the way, there is an opinion that after that the European liberals preferred tea to aristocratic chocolate. After all love to tea and indignation of that the monarchic power has raised for it the price, have brought to English colonies in America revolution and freedom.
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