http://www.tea.co.uk/the-beginnings-of-tea--china-and-japan
SHEN NUNG:
There are various legends surrounding the origins of tea. Perhaps the most famous is the Chinese story of Shen Nung, the emperor and renowned herbalist, who was boiling his drinking water when leaves from a nearby tea shrub blew into the cauldron. He tasted the resulting brew, and the beverage of tea was born.
An alternative story claims that links tea drinking to the Indian prince Bodhidharma, who converted to Buddhism and in the sixth century and went to China to spread the word. He believed that it was necessary to stay awake constantly for meditation and prayer, and took to chewing leaves from the tea shrub, which acted as stimulant, helping him stay awake. (An alternative, more macabre version has Bodhidharma accidentally falling asleep, and upon waking cutting off his own eyelids in disgust at himself. He threw the eyelids away, and from them sprouted the first tea shrub).
Part of the problem in pinpointing the origins of tea stems from the fact that the Chinese character t'u is used in early sources to describe infusions made from several different plants, not necessarily just tea. By the third century AD though a new character, ch'a, was developed to refer specifically to tea. Ch'a is very similar in its calligraphy to t'u, and its development suggests that tea had become such a popular drink that it needed its own character. The word ch'a is now sometimes used in English to refer to China tea.
Tea was certainly known as a beverage in the time of Confucius (c.551-479 BC) and grew in popularity during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). By the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD) tea was the national drink of China, spreading from court circles to be popular throughout Chinese society. It was during this time that the practice developed of sending finest teas to the emperor's court as a tribute to him.
At this time, it was manufactured in brick form: the tea leaves were pounded and pressed into a brick-shaped mold, then dried. To prepare the tea, part of the brick was ground down, and the result was boiled in water. Later, powdered tea was developed from green tea leaves. This gained popularity during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 AD). Boiled water was poured onto the powder and left to brew, and the resulting liquid was whisked into a frothy tea. It was during this period that tea drinking became popular in Japan, reintroduced there by a Zen Buddhist monk who had been studying in China. So in Japan, it was the Sung method of preparing tea that took hold.
DIFFERENT FLAVOURS:
In China, tea fell out of favour as a drink during the years of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1280-1368), when the Mongol rulers considered the drinking of tea a symbol of decadence. But it returned to popularity under the native Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). After years of foreign rule, this Dynasty saw a revival of all things considered quintessentially Chinese, and tea was certainly one of them. It was in this period that tea began to be brewed by steeping cured loose leaves in boiling water. Because it was at this time that the tea was first tried by Europeans, it was this method of making tea that became popular in the West, and remains so to this day. Also under the Ming Dynasty there was experimentation with different types of teas, fermented black teas, unfermented green teas, and the semi-fermented variety that it is now known as oolong, and within these categories with innumerable different varieties.But the variation in types of tea in China is not even half the story. The history of tea in China and Japan is bound up with its cultural significance.For tea was a drink that would take on literary, artistic and even religious overtones. This can be traced to the writing of a fascinating treatise on tea by a Chinese scholar called Lu Yu.By the time Lu Yu wrote the Ch'a Ching, The Classic of Tea, in the eighth century, tea was already a fairly common drink in China. But Lu Yu's work was the single most influential aspect in developing the cultural significance of tea. Little is known about the man himself, except that he was probably born in the second of the eighth century and died early in the ninth century. He was a scholar from Hupei Province in Ching Ling, an area of Southern China where the cultivation of tea was most widespread, and lived for a time in seclusion in Chekiang Province. It was during this time that one story claims he came to write the Ch'a Ching. According to this, he had been walking in the wilderness, chanting poetry until he was moved to tears. Returning home for some tea he was inspired to write the Ch'a Ching. A more prosaic version of events suggests that the Ch'a Ching was in fact commissioned by a group of tea merchants, wanting to popularise the drink that was the basis of their livelihood. If this is the case, then it was a remarkably early - and remarkably successful - work of PR!
CH'A CHING BY LU YU
The Ch'a Ching itself elevates the preparation and drinking of tea to near-religious status. Like a religious ceremony, there is a set ritual, using particular implements which are endowed with individual significance, and there are guidelines on the appropriate state of mind for the tea drinker, and the atmosphere in which tea should be drunk. This similarity to religious ritual is no coincidence; the Taoist faith was central to culture in eighth century China, and with it the belief that every detail of life was an act of living that was worthy of celebration, and that one should attempt to find beauty everywhere in the world. Thus the emphasis on tranquility and harmony in the preparation and drinking of tea was recognition of its part in the masterpiece of life.
-The Ch'a Ching begins with an explanation of the tea shrub and how it grows, and on the proper manufacture of tea, right down to the weather conditions when it should be picked (only ever on a clear day). Lu Yu next describes the implements needed for the preparation of tea - 24 in all, a number which would put even the most elaborate modern western tea service to shame! These range from the brazier and the cauldron for heating the water, to the roller needed to grind the solid bricks of tea, to the bowls from which the tea was drunk, to the container for carrying it all. Lu Yu gives advice on every aspect of these implements, and indeed the right equipment was so important to him that he states that if even one implement is missing, it is usually best to dispense with the tea altogether.-
Lu Yu then gives advice on the best sources of water for tea (mountain water from slow-flowing streams is best), the stages of boiling, and the correct method of drinking the finished beverage.After all the rigours of its preparation, it is no surprise that Lu Yu believes that tea must be sipped slowly in order to savour the flavour. He also states that to enjoy the tea at its best, the drinker should have no more that three cups, and five at the most. He also laments the practice of adulterating tea and lists some of the things added to it by his contemporaries. Some of these - ginger, orange peel and peppermint - are familiar to tea drinkers now, but Lu Yu also mentions the custom of adding onion to the boiling tea! In fact, the only adulterant of which Lu Yu approves would also now be considered very strange by western tea lovers - salt.
The stringent rules of Lu Yu's tea making seem at odds with the modern western notion of a quick cuppa, but in some ways they are not so different. Lu Yu was concerned that tea should be made in an atmosphere of tranquility and the drinking of it should create still greater tranquility. Most modern British tea drinkers would agree that the familiar act of making tea can be calming at times of stress - and that the drink itself can enhance that feeling of tranquility. We may not need 24 implements, nor have to draw our water from mountain streams, but a nice cup of tea is still a good way to enjoy a moment's peace.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE JAPANESE TEA CEREMONY - CHA-NO-YU
Lu Yu's book was certainly influential in his homeland, China, but it was most avidly read in Japan.There it helped form the basis for the development of the Japanese Tea Ceremony (Cha-no-yu), a ritual that has raised the preparation and drinking of tea to an art form that still flourishes today. Tea was probably introduced to Japan in the eighth century by a Chinese priest, and for some years the practice of tea drinking remained the preserve of Buddhist priests. In 1191 a Zen Buddhist monk named Eisai arrived from studying in China bringing new seeds, and introduced the tea ceremony. The ceremony was based on the tea-drinking rituals of Zen Buddhist monks in China, who believed tea's properties as a stimulant were an aid to meditation. This started a revival in tea drinking, and Eisai went on to write the first Japanese book on tea, the Kitcha-Yojoki, or Book of Tea Sanitation.Gradually tea drinking became popular outside religious circles, and the Tea Ceremony came to be regarded as the quintessential expression of social sophistication and elegance.As with the tea preparation and drinking described by Lu Yu, the Ceremony is about much more than just making a hot beverage. The Taoist idea of trying to find beauty in the world was combined with the Zen Buddhist belief that the mundane and particular were of equal importance with the spiritual and universal. Thus the ritual of tea making expressed the quest of greatness in the smallest details of life, and the formalised acts of graciousness and politeness that are integral to the Ceremony are an outward form of an inner belief in the importance of peace and harmony.
This did not happen overnight though, and early tea ceremonies in Japan were often quite boisterous affairs that could include gambling and the consumption of alcohol. But the ceremonies gradually became more and more refined, in large part due to the personalities and influences and three Tea Masters. The last of these, Sen No Rikyu (1522 - 1591), lived for much of his life in Kyoto, where he studied Zen. It was Rikyu who incorporated the essence of Zen into the Tea Ceremony, and it is in the form he developed the Way of Tea (chado) that is practised through the Tea Ceremony to this day. Rikyu himself became the personal Tea Master of the powerful political leader Hideyoshi and was his chief aide, but the close relationship between the two men broke down, perhaps because other men jealous of Rikyu conspired to turn Hideyoshi against him. Eventually Rikyu was obliged by Hideyoshi to commit ritual suicide (seppuku), a more honourable death than being executed. Despite this sad end, Rikyu's sons and grandsons continued to practice the Way of Tea. Today the Urasenke Tea tradition (the largest of the various different Ways of Tea) is headed by grandmaster Zabosai Sen Soshitsu XVI, the sixteenth generation of direct descendants of Riyku to hold this position.
CEREMONIES:
A very formal Ceremony, based on Rikyu's teachings, would take place in a specially built tea room (Sukiya) - usually a small wooden structure with a sloping roof, built with immense care. There is also an anteroom (midsuya) where the tea utensils and washed and arranged, a portico (machiai) where guests wait until summoned to the tea room, and a path through the garden (roji) which connects the two. Inside, the tea room is simple and spare in design, in emulation of a Zen Buddhist monastery.
The walk through the garden to the tea room is the first stage of meditation and breaks the connection with the outside world. Guests are expected to approach silently in order of precedence - samurai warriors were obliged to leave their swords on a rack outside - before bending to enter the tea room through a low door, an act intended to imbue the guests with a sense of humility. The guests then look at the ornaments and the flower arrangement and the tea caddy and kettle before taking their seats. The host then enters from the anteroom, makes a formal greeting, which is returned by the head guest, and proceeds to make the tea. The preparation and receiving of the tea is subject to numerous rituals and uses various different implements, and would doubtless meet with Lu Yu's approval!
But not all ceremonies are so rigid. Tea is practised throughout Japan by people from all walks of life, who have usually learnt it a their local tea club. It is thus a very social activity, and one in which participation by the guests is crucial.Although some Ceremonies are held on special occasion and are very formal and private, others are open to anyone who would like to buy and ticket, and so they are often held as fund-raising or charity events. Nonetheless, there is still an emphasis on harmony, respect, purity and calm. Within its formality is the belief that rigidity and structure can in some senses be liberating and meditative - that freedom and beauty can be found within a strict form - which is at odds with the contemporary western notion that formalism can only restrict art. It should be remembered that the Tea Ceremony is as far removed from everyday methods of tea making in Japan as afternoon tea at the Ritz is from a cuppa from a flask on a construction site in England. It is more like the old-fashioned English tea party, with the hostess using the best china and serving the best snacks, and polite chit-chat being made. Even now though most tea lovers in Britain have their own rituals - the first cup of the day, the favourite mug, the method of stirring, tea first or milk first - which still illustrate the comfort and peace that can be found in the familiar act of making the perfect cup of tea.
CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA:
In the contemporary era tea is so much associated with the British way of life that it can come as a surprise to learn that it owes much of its popularity here to a foreign princess. While it is not true to say that Catherine of Braganza, the queen-consort of Charles II of England, actually introduced tea to Britain, she certainly had much to do with it becoming a fashionable and widely drunk beverage.
Portuguese traders imported it to their homeland from the East, and its high price and exoticism helped it to become very fashionable in aristocratic circles and at the royal court,where Catherine grew up. By the mid-seventeenth century, it was very popular there.Tea had also gained popularity in elite society in Holland, through Dutch trade in the East, and in neighbouring countries. But at this stage, Britain somewhat lagged behind. The famous English diarist Samuel Pepys first mentioned drinking tea in his diary entry for 25 September 1660. He wrote that he had been discussing foreign affairs with some friends, 'And afterwards did send for a Cupp of Tee (a China drink) of which I never drank before'. Since Pepys was a member of the wealthy and fashionable London set, his failure to mention tea earlier suggests that it was still unusual at this time. This was soon to change. Just a few months before Pepys was writing, in May 1660, Charles II had been restored to the throne after the Commonwealth administration which had been set up by Oliver Cromwell in 1649 collapsed under the weight of its own unpopularity. But Charles II inherited many debts from that government, and soon ran up new ones of his own, and so was desperately short of cash. One solution to this was to marry a wealthy foreign princess and to demand with her a great deal of money or goods as a dowry. After some negotiation, it was agreed that he would marry Catherine, and that her father King John IV of Portugal would provide with her several ships full of luxury goods, some as gifts and some which could be sold to pay off Charles II's debts. These goods included a chest of tea, the favourite drink at the Portuguese court.
Catherine arrived in Portsmouth on 13 May 1662. It had been a long and stormy crossing, and as soon as she arrived she asked for a cup of tea. So rare was it at this time that there was none available; the princess was offered a glass of ale instead. Not surprisingly, this did not make her feel any better, and for a time she was forced by illness to retire to her bedchamber. Eventually though Catherine and Charles II were married, on 21 May 1662. Initially Catherine, a deeply pious Catholic who had been schooled in a convent, found it difficult to fit in at the bawdy and fun-loving English court. But over time she established herself, and as the pre-eminent woman in the kingdom became something of a trend-setter. Although she adopted English fashions, she continued to prefer the cuisine of her native Portugal - including tea. Soon her taste for tea had caused a fad at the royal court. This then spread to aristocratic circles and then to the wealthier classes.
THE LONDON TEA AUCTION :
The London Tea Auction was a grand tradition that lasted 300 years. From the very first event in 1679, until the last sale on 29 June 1998, the London Tea Auction was a regular event that made London the centre of the international tea trade. The first auctions were held by the East India Company, which at the time held the monopoly for the import of tea (and other goods) from China and India. They were held at the headquarters of the Company on Leadenhall Street. The building was decorated with reliefs of ships, sailors, fish and a large coat of arms, and swiftly became known as East India House.
Auctions were held roughly quarterly, and tea was sold 'by the candle'. This meant that rather than allowing bidding to go on for an unlimited length of time, a candle was lit at the beginning of the sale of each lot, and when an inch of the candle had burnt away, the hammer fell and the sale was ended. In the late seventeenth century tea was not always the star of the show, as the auctions sold other goods, primarily fabrics, which the Company had brought back from the East. But by the early eighteenth century, tea was so popular that the London Tea Auction came into its own. It was something of a riotous affair. An anonymous tea dealer, writing in 1826, described the noise and confusion of an auction taking place at East India House: 'To the uninitiated a Tea sale appears to be a mere arena in which the comparative strength of the lungs of a portion of his Majesty´s subjects are to be tried. No one could for an instant suspect the real nature of the business for which the assemblage was congregated...'
Things changed in 1834, when the East India Company ceased to be a commercial enterprise, and tea became a 'free trade' commodity. The tea auction had to find a new home - and it was moved from the splendour of East India House, via a brief sojourn at a dance studio, to the newly built London Commercial Salerooms on Mincing Lane. Within a few years, various tea merchants followed the auction and established offices of Mincing Lane, earning it the nickname the 'Street of Tea'.
By the middle of the nineteenth century tea was such a popular beverage that auctions took place monthly, and then weekly, and the tradition of selling 'by the candle' was replaced by more practical methods. Tea was sent from India, China, Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) and Africa for sale at the auction, and as the Auction grew busier and busier, a practice developed of devoting particular days of the week to the sale of teas from each individual country. By the 1950s, a third of all the world's tea was bought through the auction. Once purchased, the tea was sent from the London warehouses either direct to retailers where it was sold loose, or to companies which specialised in blending and packaging. These companies then sold the tea ready packed under various brand names, offering a wide range of choice to tea-drinkers.
HISTORY OF THE TEABAG:
The arrival of tea in Britain in the seventeenth century altered the drinking habits of this nation forever. The late eighteenth century saw black tea overtake green tea in popularity for the first time, which also accelerated the addition of milk. In the nineteenth century widespread cultivation of tea in India began, leading to the imports of Indian tea into Britain overtaking the imports of Chinese tea. And in the twentieth century there was a further development that would radically change our tea-drinking habits - the invention of the tea bag.The purpose of the tea bag is rooted in the belief that for tea to taste its best, the leaves ought to removed from the hot water at the end of a specific brewing period. Then there is the added benefit of convenience - a removable device means that tea can be made as easily in a mug as in a pot, without the need for a tea strainer, and that tea pots can be kept clean more easily. But the earliest examples of removable infusing devices for holding tea were not bags. Popular infusers included tea eggs and tea balls - perforated metal containers which were filled with loose leaves and immersed in boiling water, and then removed using an attached chain.
Needless to say, it was in America, with its love of labour-saving devices, that tea bags were first developed. In around 1908, Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea merchant, started to send samples of tea to his customers in small silken bags. Some assumed that these were supposed to be used in the same way as the metal infusers, by putting the entire bag into the pot, rather than emptying out the contents. It was thus by accident that the tea bag was born!
Responding to the comments from his customers that the mesh on the silk was too fine, Sullivan developed sachets made of gauze - the first purpose-made tea bags. During the 1920s these were developed for commercial production, and the bags grew in popularity in the USA. Made first of all from gauze and later from paper, they came in two sizes, a larger bag for the pot, a smaller one for the cup. The features that we still recognise today were already in place - a string that hung over the side so the bag could be removed easily, with a decorated tag on the end.
While the American population took to tea bags with enthusiasm, the British were naturally wary of such a radical change in their tea-making methods. This was not helped by horror stories told by Britons who had visited the USA, who reported being served cups of tepid water with a tea bag on the side waiting to be dunked into it (an experience which is still not as uncommon in the USA as it should be!).The material shortages of World War Two also stalled the mass adoption of tea bags in Britain, and it was not until the 1950s that they really took off. The 1950s were a time when all manner of household gadgets were being promoted as eliminating tedious household chores, and in keeping with this tea bags gained popularity on the grounds that they removed the need to empty out the used tea leaves from the tea pot. The convenience factor was more important to the British tea-drinker than the desire to control the length of infusion time, hence the appearance of tea bags that did not have strings attached.
THE ORIGINS OF TEA IN THE UK:
A cup of tea is a vital part of everyday life for the majority of people in modern Britain - in fact tea is so integral to our routine, that it is difficult to imagine life without it! But it was not always so; tea was once a luxury product that only the rich could afford, and at one time there was even a debate about whether it might be bad for the health. It was over the course of several hundred years that tea gained its place as our national drink, and only relatively recently that its health-giving properties have been recognised.
TEA AT SEVENTEEN CENTURY LONDON COFFEE HOUSES:
The fashion soon spread beyond these elite circles to the middle classes, and it became a popular drink at the London coffee houses where wealthy men met to do business and discuss the events of the day. But the tea that was being drunk in those seventeenth century coffee houses would probably be considered undrinkable now. Between 1660 and 1689, tea sold in coffee houses was taxed in liquid form. The whole of the day's tea would be brewed in the morning, taxed by a visiting excise officer, and then kept in barrels and reheated as necessary throughout the rest of the day. So a visitor to the coffee house in the late afternoon would be drinking tea that had been made hours before in the early morning! The quality of the drink improved after 1689, when the system of taxation was altered so that tea was taxed by the leaf rather than by the liquid.
TEA FOR WEALTHY:
Some coffee houses also sold tea inloose leaf form so that it could be brewed at home. This meant that it could be enjoyed by women, who did not frequent coffee houses. Since it was relatively expensive, tea-drinking in the home must have been largely confined to wealthier households, where women would gather for tea parties. Such a party would be a genteel social occasion, using delicate china pots and cups, silver tea kettles and elegantly carved tea jars and tea tables. All the equipment would be set up by the servants, and then the tea would be brewed by the hostess (aided by a servant on hand to bring hot water) and served by her to her guests in dainty cups. Both green and black teas were popular, and sugar was frequently added (though like tea, this was an expensive import); in the seventeenth century though, it was still unusual for milk to be added to the beverage. We can imagine then that while seventeenth century men were at the coffee houses drinking tea and exchanging gossip, their wives gathered at one another's homes to do exactly the same thing - just in a more refined atmosphere!
MILK IN FIRST..?
Certainly for much of the twentieth century, methods of preparing tea were still the subject of some snobbery: in a letter to Nancy Mitford (a social commentator and great satirist of upper class behaviour), the author Evelyn Waugh mentions a mutual friend who uses the expression 'rather milk in first' to express condemnation of those lower down the social scale. Nowadays the 'milk in first or tea in first' debate is altogether more light-hearted, but nonetheless everyone has his or her preferred method of making tea. Tea has for centuries been a beverage at the very heart of social life in Britain - for millions of people today, just for Dr Johnson nearly 250 years ago, tea amuses the evenings, solaces the midnights and welcomes the mornings.
http://www.tea.co.uk/a-social-history
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