ABSTRACT
Archaeological evidence (Jelinek, 1978) indicates that tea leaves steeped in boiling water were consumed by Homo erectus pekinensis more than 500,000 years ago. Chinese legend, described in the Cha Ching (Tea book) around C.E. 780, attributes tea drinking to one of the earliest Chinese herbalists, King Shen Nong, circa 2700 B.C.E.. Indian legend claims that tea was brought to China by Siddhartha Guatama Buddha during his travels in that country (Gutman and Ryu, 1996).
