In this episode we go way back to the early history of tea in Japan; where it came from, who brought it, who drank it, and why.  We look at tea's trip from Buddhist medicine to a fancy high-end foreign drink, to a drink for the masses, and how it got from the monastery to the millet grubbing dirt farmers. Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/samuraiarchives