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context: tea ceremony > history
Early History
Tea was first introduced from China around the start of the 9th Century. It didn't catch on - the Japanese didn't like the taste.
It was brought again, along with Zen, by Eisai (1141-1215) in about 1191. Tea and Zen were linked, but at this time tea wasn't a religious matter: it was used by monks to help keep them awake during nocturnal meditation. As is the way of these things, it did eventually become absorbed into meditative rituals. This time tea stayed.