There are so many trees in the mountains and how come only tea got the opportuniteaa???( I ignore coffee for a second!...but it is not a leaf anyway..)

The answer could be..

 The inventor was a Chinese Emperor called Mr.Shennong who was a scholar, scientist, and a herbalist.He is also known as the Emperor of the Five Grains and taught the Chinese to consume grains and avoid killing animals.He is considered to be the father of Chinese agriculture.He is also believed to have introduced technics of acupuncture. So, friends..tea had a good and solid back up power... 

As all good discoveries happen  accidentally, this is no different. In 2737B.C. the Emperor was travelling to a distant region, he stopped by to rest for a while. Some leaves from the near by tree landed in the cauldron of boiling water. I am sure that this was accidentally given to the Emperor by the servants otherwise would have got removed from the pan. Luck factor....

The emperor got interested in the delightful flavour  as well as the refreshing feeling that the infusion gave and got interested in it. The magic drink Tea took birth. It was considered as a medicinal drink till around 300A.D ,when became a drink among the Chinese.In 780 A.D. a scholar named Lu Yu published the first definitive book, Cha Ching or The Tea Classic, on tea after he spent over twenty years studying the subject. It is amazing to know that he documented his knowledge of planting, processing, tasting, and brewing tea and elevated tea drinking to a high status throughout China. This was when the art of tea drinking was born.

 Later, a Song Dynasty emperor helped the spread of tea consumption further popularised. He enjoyed tea drinking so much, that he bestowed tea as gifts only to those who were worthy. During this time, tea inspired people to write many books, poems, songs, and paintings. Tea’s value became suddenly a growers’ dream to the capital.Between the Yuan and Qing Dynasties, advancement in tea production and enhancing the flavour methods got increased. During this period, tea houses and other tea-drinking establishments were opening up all over China. By 900 A.D., tea drinking spread from China to Japan where the Japanese Tea Ceremony or Chanoyu, was created.  Japanese elevated the tea culture to an art form for which years of dedicated studying is required. Unlike them, the Chinese people tend to view tea drinking as a form of enjoyment: to have after a meal or to serve when guests visit. Well, we in India drink tea without all these customs!!

Tea was introduced to Europe in the 1600s to England in 1669. At that time, the drink was enjoyed only by the aristocracy because a pound of tea cost an average British labourer the equivalent of nine months in wages. ( 3roses/Taj Mahal tea on the retail shelf costs Rs 37/-!!!). British marketed our teas during the “British Raj”. Today India has many estates and gardens with latest technologies and produce varieties of teas hold a prestigious name in the international market.