A (very) Brief History of Tea

Part 1 – Made in China

Tea has been around a long time. Most people in the U.S., when they think of tea (if they do), will place tea in the context of Victorian England such as tea and crumpets; or the colonization of the United States such as Boston Tea Party and so forth. The more enlightened among us may be aware of the connection to the Orient, remembering the Tea Ceremony in the Karate Kid Part II perhaps. Tea however has roots much further back than most can imagine.

The popular myth surrounding the origin of Tea begins with the Second Emperor of China, Shen Nung, who as it happens is also credited with inventing agriculture and medicine. The legend goes that sometime around 2737 B.C. while drinking a pot of boiled water, some leaves from a nearby tree fell into the pot. Being pleased with the color and aroma, he tasted it. Finding the taste delightful, he drank it and was surprised by it’s restorative properties.

There are a couple things about this legend I’d like to point out. First, 2737 B.C. was a long time ago. A really long time ago. Some perspective: Stonehenge was brand-spanking new; The Great Pyramids of Egypt were just getting a little age on them (5 or six hundred years or so; The people in Europe were just learning to make pottery and the like; and in the Americas, the inhabitants were still in the Stone Age. Second, how thirsty do you have to be to drink your water after something has fallen in it? These days’ foreign objects floating in your drink will get it sent back to the kitchen. But I degress…

Whether the legend is true or not, the fact is that tea has been consumed in China for thousands of years, with some records referring to Tea dating back to the 10^th Century B.C. A book called “A Contract With a Servant”, written in 59 B.C. by Wang Bao, contained  instructions on buying and preparing Tea. By this time, although an extravagance of the Chinese elite, Tea had become a part of the diet and appears to have been a valuable commodity.

During the Tang Dynasty, around 760 A.D., Chinese writer Lu Yu wrote the Cha Jing, or the Classic of Tea. This book was one of the earliest treatises on the production of tea, from cultivating the plants to preparing the beverage. Unlike today, Tea was produced in bricks, rather than in leaf form. This simplified, or perhaps even encouraged, the use of Tea as currency. Traditional currency, such as coins, became less and less valuable as one travelled further and further from the center of the Empire.

In the mid 13^th Century, a new method of preparation emerged. For centuries, tea leaves had been steamed and compressed. During the Sung Dynasty, Tea leaves were roasted and then crumbled, creating the ancestor of today’s Loose Leaf Teas.

Next: Part 2 - I think I’m Turning Japanese.