Why herbal tea isn’t actually tea | The Tea Curator:
Tea is said to have been first discovered in China way back in 2737BC by Emperor, scholar and herbalist, Shen Nung. According to legend, he was sitting under a native Camellia Sinensis tree, boiling a pot of water, when some leaves fell from the tree into the pot. The Emperor drunk the infusion and experienced such a wonderful state which ‘gave joy to the body and sparkle the eyes’; that moment was the genesis of when tea began to permeate itself into Chinese culture.