According to Chinese legend, tea was innovated by Emperor Shen Nong while he was sitting under a tree in the comfort of his home. The tale tells of how the emperor called for a servant to bring him water in order to quench his thirst. The servant did so but before serving it to him; he added a few leaves from the tree the ruler was sitting beneath for herbal taste. Emperor Shen Nong thoroughly enjoyed this new flavour and as a result, invented tea by chance. Tea has a long history as it traditionally originated from the southern province of Yunnan where it was seen as a curative drink, especially in the Western Han dynasty. Under the Eastern Han and Tang dynasties, tea became a readily available part of Chinese peoples’ lives. Different types of tea included white tea, green tea, oolong tea, black tea, smoked tea and red tea. In the Song dynasty period, it took the form of a powder but it wasn’t until the Ming dynasty that tea was made using leaves infused in water, similar to today’s methods. The value of a tea was typically determined by its grade or the fineness of the harvest as well as the size of the tea leaf itself. Chinese workers had different duties regarding the process of creating teas such as harvesting tea leaves, cleansing then crushing them and lastly developing the tea into its final form, under the emperor’s command. The purpose of inventing tea was for it to be drunk and enjoyed primarily by the people of China. However, tea slowly spread to the rest of the world through sea exportation following the start of the 10^th century.