August 2005 |
|
Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / BeveragesThe History of TeaPage 2: The Evolution Of Tea Culture In China & Japan |
The Evolution of Tea Culture in China and Japan
The tea plant probably originated in the region that today comprises Northern India, Tibet and southwest China. Prehistoric man made a relish from the leaves and also used it for medicinal purposes. Tea plant cultivation in China began about 4,000 years ago. Later Chinese traders may have traveled throughout these regions and encountered people chewing tea leaves. From these journeys, people all over China learned about tea.
By 350 B.C.E., tea drinking was common in China, and many grew the plant in private gardens. Tea was thought of as a medicinal drink in China until late in the sixth century.
 |
Not until the Tang dynasty (618 to 907 C.E.), often referred to as the Classic Age of tea, did consumption move beyond medicinal purposes to a social beverage. Tea became characterized as China’s national drink. Several different preparations were used to make tea, including the addition of onion, ginger, orange or peppermint. Different preparations of teas held different medicinal purposes, although by this time tea was primarily thought of as a beverage in spite of the acknowledgement of its purported healing properties. |
A brick of compressed tea leaves. |
During this time, compressed bricks of tea leaves were first softened by fire and then grated into boiling water. Milk and sugar were never added to tea, although both were available and used in other foods. A government-imposed tea tax is further evidence of the beverage’s growing popularity.
In 780 C.E., Chinese merchants commissioned a Buddhist monk, Lu Yu (733 to 804 C.E.), to write the Ch’a Ching, Classic of Tea treatise, to extol the virtues of tea. It included the proper tea making process:
- After being plucked on a sunny day, the tea leaves must be baked over an even fire, with no wind. After baking, they should be placed in a paper bag to cool. When completely cold, the leaves can be ground. (Tea was not brewed from whole leaf until the 1300s.) Then spring water should be heated to just under the boiling point and a pinch of salt added. Then bring it to a second boil, and stir only the middle portion of the liquid. Steep the ground tea leaves in this water in each cup individually and drink before it cools. The first and second cups taste the best, and more than four or five cups should not be consumed.
The skill of making tea properly was highly valued in China, and an inability to make tea well, and with elegance, would cause disgrace. Making tea was an honor, and only the lord of the house was allowed this privilege and duty. Lu also describes types of tea, uses and the benefits of drinking it. More importantly, he imbued the writings with a spiritual aesthetic that reflected Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian religious thought. The tea ceremony served as a metaphor for expressing the harmony and simplicity that not only ordered but also streamed throughout the entire universe.
Tea was a drink of the working people and the aristocracy, and was often drunk while entertaining both casually and formally. Visitors were served tea, prepared by the lord of the house. Although consumed universally throughout China, tea was identified primarily with the southern and central provinces, where it played an important role in betrothals. It was the symbol of new marriages, as it was said that both tea bushes and new families must grow from a new seed.
In the Sung dynasty (960 to 1280 C.E.), known as the Romantic Age of tea, poetry and artistic references to tea abounded. A precursor to the Japanese tea ceremony to come, the most popular method of preparation involved grinding delicate tea leaves into a green powder in a stone mill and whipping it into hot water with bamboo whisks, creating a frothy drink. Formal tea-tasting parties were held, comparable to modern wine tastings, where the proper vessel was important.
 |
During this period, Chinese culture significantly influenced and impacted art, politics and religion in the Far East. A Zen Buddhist monk, Saicho, is credited with introducing tea to Japan in the late 8th or early 9th century. While studying in China, Saicho became exposed to tea and brought back seeds to start growing it at his monastery. Other monks realized that it could enhance their meditative practices and followed suit, and over time small tea plantations sprouted up at secluded monasteries. Later, tea was elevated to an art, really just an extension of the Zen philosophy’s purity of form. However, due to isolation, tea’s popularity did not blossom until the thirteenth century. |
| Powdered green matcha tea, which creates a frothy beverage, is used for tea ceremonies. |
At this time in Japan, as in China, people only drank tea in powdered form (matcha). Inspired by Buddhist spiritual philosophy, this marks the origin of the Japanese Tea Ceremony or Chanoyu (literally, “the hot water for the tea”), in which the making and serving of tea is carried out through an elaborate set of procedures, each movement learned over years of study and requiring great skill and poise.
Continue To Page 3: The Modern Steeping Custom Emerges & Tea Entices The
West
Return To Article Index At The Top Of The Page
© Copyright 2005- 2009 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Images are the copyright of their respective owners.
 |
|
Spread The Word: Each icon below links to a site where you can bookmark, share and comment on this article:
 |