Legends Tea was identified in Southwest China over four thousand years ago. Ancient Chinese sources like the
Classic of Tea and the
Shennong Ben Cao Jing credit
Shen Nong, a mythical patron of medicine and agriculture, as the first person to discover the effects of tea in China. He was known to have tasted numerous leaves to determine if they could be used as food or medicine.
The early dynasties 11th to 7th century BCE Chinese sources mention a drink called
tu (荼 "bitter herb"). While some have seen these mentions as indicating that tea was being consumed at this time, we cannot be sure that this was
Camellia sinensis. The question of the identity of
tu is a much debated one among modern scholars. The
Erya, a Chinese dictionary dated to the 3rd century BCE, records that an infusion of tu, which it defines as a "bitter vegetable". Records also indicate that ritual worship during the Zhou dynasty included ceremonies led by officials which used "bitter herb" drinks. The herb was considered an exotic plant from southern China, so it was offered as tribute to the emperor and was served to the nobles. In the third century BCE, tea is mentioned as an alternative to wine. Xia Zhong's
Treatise on Food states "since Jin dynasty, the people of Wu (now
Suzhou city) cooked tea leaves as food, and called it tea broth". From the end of the
Spring and Autumn period in the Early
Western Han dynasty the "bitter herb" was used as a table vegetable food, often drunk in a soup with onions, ginger and other additives. In 2016, the discovery of the earliest known physical evidence of tea from the mausoleum of
Emperor Jing of Han (d. 141 BCE) in
Xi'an was announced, indicating that tea from the genus
Camellia was drunk by
Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE) emperors as early as the 2nd century BCE. The first recorded cultivation of tea during the Han is dated to the era of
Emperor Xuan (53–50 BC), when tea was planted on Meng Mountain, east of
Chengdu where many Buddhist monasteries grew and processed
Mengding Ganlu tea (Sweet Dew tea), sending some of it to the emperor as tribute tea. Tea was set against wine as a beneficial drink, with wine being 'violence and intoxication' and tea 'freshness and purity'. Before the Tang dynasty, refined tea was consumed as a social drink (as opposed to as a food) mainly by the upper classes. It continued to be used as a vegetable and herb soup by commoners, especially in the south. For the elites, tea was used as a medicinal health drink, a sacrifice, tribute, for ceremonial purposes or as an energizing drink. Refined expensive teas or "tribute teas" like
Mengding Ganlu were not available to the masses during this early period. Tea production grew, especially in Meng Mountain region (in
Sichuan) and in Fuliang (
Jiangxi). Also during this period, artisans produced hundreds of examples of tea art, such as poems, drawings, songs, and literature. Tea houses and tea shops were also established during this time. According to Victor H. Mair, "the monks cultivated tea, drank it for meditation, while studying, and during ceremonies, offered tea to the Buddha, presented it as a gift to visitors, sold it, and sent it as tribute to the imperial court, which in turn reciprocated."
The Classic of Tea The Classic of Tea (
Chájīng, c. 760–762 CE) was a significant contribution to the evolution of tea culture during the Tang dynasty. An important work of literature by tea connoisseur
Lu Yu, the book provides an extensive overview of Tang tea culture and industry. Detailed standards also emerged for judging the color, aroma, and taste of tea. Tea art, the tea gatherings, and tea houses continued to increase in popularity. Knowledge of proper tea making was considered a gentlemanly pursuit, along with other skills like
calligraphy,
painting, and poetry. They required large numbers of warhorses to fight battles with invading northern nomadic Liao, Jin, and Xixia. Tea literature was prolific at this time. Another important work was
Record of Tea by
Cai Xiang. The emperor had also grown up as a poor tenant farmer and had also spent some time as a Buddhist monk. He thus preferred the simpler and less time-consuming way of making loose leaf teas than the more expensive and ostentatious whisked tea style, which was also much more difficult and expensive to process. His imperial decree quickly transformed the tea-drinking habits of the Chinese upper classes, who soon took to drinking loose leaf tea. Cake tea was further criticized by the emperor's son,
Zhu Quan, who was a connoisseur of tea. Zhu's
Tea Manual (茶谱,
Chá Pǔ) argued that cake tea / wax tea ruined the true flavor of tea which could only be experienced by brewing pure tea leaf in its natural form. He also promoted a refined style of taking tea which required six pure elements: quiet hills, clear spring water, pure tea, relaxed heart, clean teaware and the company of virtuous people.
New teaware The arrival of the new method for preparing elite tea also required the adoption of new vessels and tools, such as: • The
tea pot or tea brewing bowl was needed so that the tea leaves could be
steeped separately from the drinking vessel for an
infusion of proper concentration. •
Tea caddies and containers also became necessary to preserve freshness, flavor and aroma. • Smaller drinking cups or bowls, in lighter colors and often decorated with designs. These cups were better suited to the lighter color of the steeped tea liquor and aided in smelling the aroma of fresh tea. • Smaller tools like spoons for tea leaves and strainers to keep leaves out of one's cup when pouring tea.
Teawares made with a special kind of
purple clay (zisha) from
Yixing went on to develop during this period, now known as
Yixing zisha teapots. Purple clay's structure was porous and retained heat well. New types of porcelain teawares also became popular during the Ming, such as
Jingdezhen porcelain, which was popular in the imperial court and widely patronized by the emperor. The late Ming dynasty also saw a transition towards a
market economy that exported
porcelain worldwide at scale. During the reign of the
Wanli Emperor (1572–1620), the
kilns at Jingdezhen became the main production centre for large-scale
porcelain exports to Europe, many of which were teaware pieces or sets that were valued by the upper classes in Europe.
Tea literature During the Ming, teaware and tea utensils became important luxury goods for the elites and upwardly mobile classes. There was also a thriving publishing industry writing books on the appropriate elite etiquette surrounding elegant and refined pursuits such as tea. One of the most of important of these works which discusses Ming era tea culture was
Eight Discourses on the Art of Living (
Zun Sheng Ba Jian) by
Gao Lian (late 16th century)
, a work that in turn heavily influenced the widely popular
Treatise on Superfluous Things (Zhang wu zhi) of
Wen Zhenheng (1585–1645)
. The Ming elite drank tea in a more subdued fashion than their Song counterparts. They preferred peace and quietude in the countryside. Drinking tea was something for small gatherings or a solitary pursuit. This aesthetic is captured in the works of famous Ming artists like the painter
Tang Yin and the writer and tea master Lu Shusheng. In the early 16th century, this process was mastered by the tea-makers of
Anhua county,
Hunan. They discovered how to replicate this
fermentation by piling leaves together in a hot and humid room for some time, which led to the growth of microorganisms. This type of tea was initially only processed to sell to Tibetans and northern nomadic tribes.
20th century , Hunan, ca.1900–1919. During the late 19th century, the
British Empire and the
East India Company succeeded in growing and processing tea in the Indian regions of
Darjeeling and
Assam. They relied on an
Indian strain of tea as well as Chinese tea specimens and seeds clandestinely extracted from China by the efforts of the Scottish botanist
Robert Fortune. Several Chinese tea growers and processors were also paid to aid in this venture. This revolution in the global tea trade meant that Qing China lost its monopoly on tea as the crop began to be produced worldwide. As such, by the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese tea was no longer the
cash crop it had once been for the Qing empire.
Taiwanese tea production developed extensively throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, and Taiwanese tea began to be exported internationally. Taiwan remained a small tea producer in the 19th century which focused on
oolongs like
Dong Ding tea. During the
Japanese occupation, the Yuchi Black Tea Research Institute focused on hybridizing commercial tea varieties with Taiwan's indigenous varieties. The tea industry continued to expand into the late 20th century. After the
Chinese Civil War, more Chinese migrated to Taiwan, bringing more Chinese tea culture and knowledge with them. Today, the Taiwan tea industry remains an important source of unique Chinese teas. Under
Chinese Communist Party chairman
Mao Zedong's rule (1949–1976), China was mostly isolated from global markets.) exploded in popularity, becoming a common practice throughout the
Sinophone world and beyond. The practice of making tea in small covered cups or pots, using many repeated infusions and drinking in small teacups was a local practice which developed during the 19th century in southern Chinese provinces like
Fujian (in the Wuyi mountains region) and
Guandong (
Chaozhou area). During this time, the Taiwanese
Ten Ren Tea group entered the mainland Chinese market and became one of the most important players in China's tea market, promoting gongfucha throughout the mainland. A revitalization of the traditional tea house throughout China has been spurred on by the introduction of new designer tea houses that cater to the young urban population. Chinese tea culture is now also being exported to western nations, with popular brands selling high end Chinese tea and gongfu teaware. == Preparation and consumption ==