ABSTRACT
There are four major types of tea consumed in the world - green, black, oolong and white. No one really knows when humans started making tea, but it is likely that early Cro-Magnon were chewing raw leaves for thousands of years before the advent of agriculture. The caffeine found in the leaves would have given them a slight buzz and increased alertness. The Japanese monks Saicho and Kukai traveled to China in 804 to study Buddhist texts, and while there became enamored with tea and the ceremonies surrounding it. Upon his return in 805, Saicho carried tea seeds back with him and planted the first Japanese tea garden in a shrine near the capitol of Kyoto at the base of Hiei Mountain. In 1578, Tibetan religious leaders joined together with the Mongolian rulers to request trade with China for tea. Buddhist monks had enjoyed tea for centuries and it was no longer forbidden in Mongolia.
