LE PALAIS DES THES

It all began in China in 2737 BC. Legend has it that while the emperor Shen Nung was boiling water to quench his thirst in the shade of a tree, a light breeze rustled the branches and caused a few leaves to fall. They mixed with the water, giving it a delicate color and fragrance. The emperor tasted it and found it to be delicious. The tree was a wild tea plant and tea was born. In India, another legend tells of how Prince Dharma was touched by divine grace and set out to preach the teachings of Buddha in China. To make himself worthy of such a mission, he vowed never to sleep during the nine years of his journey. Toward the end of the third year, however, he was overcome by drowsiness and was about to fall asleep when by chance he plucked a few leaves from a wild tea plant and began to chew them. The stimulating qualities of the tea immediately had their effect; Dharma felt much more alert and thereafter attributed the strength he found to stay awake during the six remaining years of his apostolic mission to these leaves. In Japan, the story goes a little differently. After three years, an exhausted Bodhi Dharma ended up falling asleep while he prayed. On awakening, infuriated by his weakness and devastated by his sin, he cut off his eyelids and threw them to the ground.