The Red Emperor

China is the reputed birthplace of tea where, according to legend, Emperor Shen Nung discovered it nearly 5,000 years ago when a leaf from an overhanging tree fell into water he was boiling. He was intrigued by the smell and upon tasting the brew, became aware of its invigorating effect.

The legendary Red Emperor is also accredited with first teaching the Chinese of the benefits of hemp in the twenty-eighth century B.C., teaching them to cultivate “ma” (hemp) for cloth. and medicinal purposes. He is said to have invented the hoe, plow and axe, and first taught the people to store seeds, dig wells and irrigate crops.

In the Huainanzi it is reported that the Chinese people were sickly and diseased, so Shen Nung (or Shannong) was sent to teach them about plants and agriculture. Legend has it that he came about much of his herbal knowledge by eating hundreds of plants and testing their effects on himself. On one occasion he was said to have consumed seventy poisons in one day. The lucky circumstance of the falling tea leaf is what saved him... and that is how tea came to be known as an antidote to seventy different poisons.