When publishing and/or talking about tea in Burma, or some other state for instance, it is inevitable to depart on the journey into the region of tea in China - in south-west China to be precise - for that's as I will describe in the following absolutely from wherever tea is actually coming from. The discussion on if the annals of Burmese tea and the drinking of tea in Burma have started in China has possibly more to do with at least some Bamars'/Burmans' reluctance to acknowledge that the origin of tea is China and that the drinking of tea was adopted.
By them later from the Shan, than with tea, tea consuming and tea tradition itself. The reality are that tea both as seed and beverage was found and had become crucial section of Chinese and later Shan lifestyle presently at any given time when no Bamar/Burman had actually collection foot in to what's nowadays Burma (since 1989 also called Myanmar). In other words the very first empire of the Bamar the 'kingdom of Pagan' (that was really established by the Pyu, and while we're at it, Anawrahta, the 42nd king of Pagan. TUPI TEA
Who's by the Bamar Burman regarded the founder of the very first Burman kingdom was a Pyu, not a Bamar/Burman) did in the past not exist what is presently the clear answer to the problem of the origin of tea, tea drinking and tea tradition in Burma; Burma or any predecessor of it just didn't exist in or throughout the period in question, period. But why exist still people (not so most of them, though) who in the face of details and logic say that Burmese tea, tea drinking and tea culture are not begun in China? Short answer:
Because the area that was in pre-Bamar time inhabited by the Shan has become putting partially within the much north east of Burma. But, these areas are in these times based within Burma's boundaries does not necessarily mean that the precise region by which Camellia sinensis was basically found and from where it then spread to India, through all south-east Asia and, finally, across the world lies within north-east Burma. It's probable however it can also be probable that Camellia sinensis - translated from Latin in to British the title means.
