The discovery and the use of tea in China can be traced back to the ancient time of Holy Farmer (a legendary ruler, the second of the Three August Ones, who was supposed to have invented the plough and discovered the curative virtues of plants). The Chinese people often call themselves descendants of Yan Di and the Yellow Emperor. According to historians' research of the texts, Yan Di refers to the Holy Farmer. About 5,000 years ago, the Holy Farmer, who was thought of as the God of Farming, invented many farm tools and taught people how to grow crops. China is a country where the ancient farming revolution was accomplished very early. Archaeological excavation and historical records prove it is a reliable fact rather than a legend that the Holy Farmer founded methods of agricultural production. The Holy Farmer was also the God of Medicine in Chinese legend. To save the common people from pain, the Holy Farmer selected various wild plants as medicine. Fearless of the sacrifice, he tasted the wild plants himself to learn their effect on the human body. It is said that one day he got poisoned seventy-two times when gathering and tasting herbs on a mountain. Later he found a plant, which was tea. He brewed the leaves in a pottery tripod and then drank the liquid. As a result, the toxins in his body disappeared. Since then, the Chinese people have treated tea as a precious medicine bestowed on human beings by the cosmos. The story illustrates that the Chinese people first used tea as medicine.

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