The world's oldest tea leaves have been discovered buried with royal treasures in the tomb of an ancient Chinese emperor who ruled more than 2,150 years ago. Unearthed in the tomb of Jing Emperor Liu Qi, the tea provides some of the earliest evidence for the ancient Silk Road trade route that grew to stretch across Asia from China to Europe. It appears Emperor Jing, who was the fourth emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, enjoyed the drink so much he wanted to be buried with a large supply of tea leaves so he could drink it in the afterlife. Archaeologists discovered the huge stash of tea buds – or tips - in one of the burial pits that surrounded the mausoleum built for the emperor and his wife in Xi'an, Sha'anxi Province, China. Although the plant material had decomposed, analysis revealed it had been some of the finest quality tea buds from the tea bush Camellia sinensis. Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, Dr Houyuan Lu, an archaeologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and his colleagues described also finding similar tea remains in a tomb in Tibet. They said this also dates to around 200AD, which is the earliest indication tea was being transported along, and traded on, what later became known as the Silk Road. In particular, they said it appears tea was grown 2,150 years ago to 'cater for the drinking habits of the Western Han Dynasty' before spreading towards central Asia. 'Our study reveals that tea was drunk by Han Dynasty emperors as early as 2,100 years before present and had been introduced into the Tibetan Plateau by 1,800 years before present,' the researchers explained. 'This indicates that one branch of the Silk Road passed through western Tibet at that time.' Before the discovery of the tea in Emperor Jing's tomb, the oldest record of the beverage is in a 2,000-year-old text that mentions the drink. Emperor Jing himself was a key figure in Chinese history, crushing a rebellion and setting the scene for the long rule of his son, Emperor Wu. He ruled from 157BC until his death in 141BC, when he was buried in the Han Yangling Mausoleum in Xi'an, Sha'anxi Province. More than 50,000 terracotta figurines and animals were buried with Emperor Jing in his tomb complex along with silks, weapons and chariots. During the recent excavation, archaeologists found decomposed plant material spread up to 3-inches (8cm) deep over an area more than 42ft (13 metres) wide in one area of the mausoleum. The site was originally excavated in the 1990s, but researchers have only now been able to analyse the plant material found in one of the pits. The researchers used electron microscopes and mass spectrometry to help them identify the decomposed plant material found in the tombs. The mass spectrometry showed the samples matched those of modern green tea and contained high levels of caffeine. They also examined plant material found in a tomb in the Gurgyam Cemetery in Nigari, western Tibet, which also turned out to be tea.  Tea was thought to have been introduced to Tibet between 625AD and 680AD when the Tan Princess Wencheng as part of her dory to the Songtsen Gambo.  However, the researchers believe tea was introduced more than 400 years earlier than that during the Zhang Zhung kingdom. They said: 'This was at least four to five hundred years earlier than the Southwest Silk Road through Yunnan, which opened in the seventh century. 'Our data indicate that the plant residues unearthed at both the Han Yangling Mausoleum and Gurgyam Cemetery are the earliest physical evidence of tea in the world. 'These data indicate that tea was part of trade of luxury products, alongside textiles, that moved along the Silk Road around 2,000 years ago, and were traded up into Tibet.' Source: dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3393715/That-s-brewing-long-time-2-150-year-old-tea-leaves-treasures-buried-Chinese-emperor-provide-earliest-evidence-Silk-Road-trade-route.html#comments