China is the birthplace of tea. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the Chinese drank compressed tea. It was during the Ming and Qing dynasties that the people slowly turned to drinking loose tea. Brewing tea methods also changed from roasting and tencha to the current methods of brewing tea.
The large number of items evacuated from Lady Hou, Xin Zhui's tomb, included an entire box of tea leaves. This shows tea used to be pan of the burial offerings during the Han Dynasty.
