I often hear about how historical cultures would mainly drink tea or alcoholic beverages as opposed to water because water wasn't sanitary and they had not figured out that the boiling process of the creation of their drinks is what sanitized it. So did any cultures figure this out?
Supposedly, tea was invented when the Chinese emperor Shennong (who may or may not have existed) was on the march with his army. The emperor liked to have his water boiled prior to drinking it as he believed it would cleanse the water (which it does). Supposedly, a leaf from a tea plant landed in the water as it was boiling, turning the water brown colored. It was served to the emperor anyways, and he enjoyed it, and voila, tea.