While Chinese history books proudly claim tea drinking began over 3,000 years ago, the evidence tells a more complex—and tastier—story. In Myanmar, tea isn’t just sipped; it’s eaten, fermented, tossed into salads, and woven into daily meals in ways China never imagined. The famed lahpet—fermented tea leaves mixed with garlic, nuts, and spices—isn’t a culinary novelty but a centuries-old tradition, a sign of a culture that has lived with tea for millennia.
Genetic studies back this up: Myanmar’s tea varieties are among the most diverse in the world, suggesting multiple, independent domestication events right in Southeast Asia. Add to that centuries of cross-border trade with China, and you get a picture where tea didn’t simply arrive in Myanmar—it likely started there.
The truth? China may have made tea famous, but Myanmar may have given it life.
Myanmar fits the profile of tea’s birthplace
The popular narrative holds that tea originated in ancient China, with written records of consumption dating back to 2737 BCE (Ghabru, 2010). Indeed, Camellia sinensis is native to parts of southwest China, and fossil evidence places its lineage at least 35 million years back (Pan et al., 2022). However, mounting genetic, cultural, and culinary evidence suggests that tea’s deepest roots may actually lie in Myanmar (Burma), not China.
Unlike China, where tea is primarily consumed as a beverage, Myanmar incorporates tea into a wide range of dishes-an indicator of a long-standing, deeply embedded tea culture. The most famous example is lahpet, a fermented tea leaf salad mixed with nuts, garlic, and spices (Win, 2015). This dish is not merely a modern invention; it is a centuries-old tradition, symbolizing hospitality and respect, served to guests as part of social and ceremonial gatherings.
Tea leaves in Myanmar are:
- Fermented for salads (lahpet), a preparation method unique to the country.
- Used as a flavoring in soups and rice dishes, indicating culinary innovation rooted in intimate familiarity with the plant.
- Embedded in rituals, showing tea’s role far beyond commerce or casual drinking.
Such extensive integration into daily foodways is a strong marker of indigenous origin, as plants that are deeply woven into cuisine often arise from long-term local domestication.
Genetic and historical evidence
Modern genetic studies show Myanmar’s tea varieties possess exceptional diversity, containing multiple types-including those classified in China (Katoh et al., 2015). This genetic richness suggests Myanmar was not merely an importer of Chinese tea plants but a center of independent domestication (Meegahakumbura et al., 2018).
Historically, overland trade routes between China and Burma moved tea in both directions (Bai, n.d.). The cultural exchanges along these borderlands likely enriched tea traditions on both sides, but the uniquely Burmese culinary applications hint that Myanmar’s relationship with tea is far older than recorded Chinese history would suggest.
Rethinking the tea history
While China remains the largest producer and an undeniable force in tea’s global journey, the evidence-from genetic data to culinary tradition-points toward Myanmar as tea’s original homeland. China may have popularized tea drinking, but Myanmar appears to have lived with tea in a deeper, more varied way for longer.
In other words, tea may have been born in Myanmar, traded through its mountain passes, and only later refined into the drinking culture we now associate with China.
References
- Wambulwa, M. C., Meegahakumbura, M. K., Kamunya, S. M., & Wachira, F. N. (2021). From the wild to the cup: tracking footprints of the tea species in time and space. Frontiers in Nutrition, 8, 706770. https://doi.org/10.3389/FNUT.2021.706770
- Pan, S.-Y., Nie, Q., Tai, H., Song, X.-L., Tong, Y.-F., Zhang, L., Wu, X.-W., Lin, Z., Zhang, Y. Y., Ye, D.-Y., Zhang, Y., Wang, X., Zhu, P.-L., Chu, Z.-S., Yu, Z.-L., & Liang, C. (2022). Tea and tea drinking: China’s outstanding contributions to the mankind. Chinese Medicine, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13020-022-00571-1
- Ghabru, A. (2010). Studies on flavan 3 ols and biological activity of Kangra tea Camellia sinensis LO Kuntze. https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/10253
- Lu, H., Zhang, J., Yang, Y., Yang, X., Xu, B., Yang, W., Tong, T., Jin, S., Shen, C., Rao, H., Li, X., Lu, H., Fuller, D. Q., Wang, L., Wang, C., Xu, D., & Wu, N. (2016). Earliest tea as evidence for one branch of the Silk Road across the Tibetan Plateau. Scientific Reports, 6(1), 18955. https://doi.org/10.1038/SREP18955
- Lally, J. (2021). Salt, Smuggling, and Sovereignty: The Burma-China Borderland, c. 1880-1935. The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 1-35. https://doi.org/10.1080/03086534.2021.1985216
- Bai, J. (n.d.). Sino-Burmese overland trade under dual-overlordship system in Qing dynasty with special focus on tea trade in Sipsong Panna. https://doi.org/10.58837/chula.the.2021.363
- Meegahakumbura, M. K., Wambulwa, M. C., Li, D.-Z., & Gao, L.-M. (2018). Preliminary Investigations on the Genetic Relationships and Origin of Domestication of the Tea Plant ( Camellia sinensis (L.)) Using Genotyping by Sequencing. Tropical Agricultural Research, 29(3), 230-240. https://doi.org/10.4038/TAR.V29I3.8263
- Katoh, Y., Katoh, M., & Omori, M. (2015). Identification of Teas Cultivated in Eastern, Southeastern and Southern Asia Based on Nucleotide Sequence Comparison of Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate Carboxylase Large-subunit of Chloroplast DNA and 18S Ribosomal RNA of Nuclear DNA. Food Science and Technology Research, 21(3), 381-389. https://doi.org/10.3136/FSTR.21.381
