According
to Chinese mythology, in 2737 BC the Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung, scholar
and herbalist, was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled
drinking water. A leaf from the tree dropped into the water, and Shen
Nung decided to try the brew. The tree was a wild tea tree. From the
earliest times tea was renowned for its properties as a healthy,
refreshing drink. By the third century AD many stories were told and
written about tea and the benefits of tea drinking, but it was not until
the Tang Dynasty (6818 - 906 BC) that tea became China's national drink.
Later,
tea drinking was spread throughout China and Japan. This dispersion is
largely accredited to the movement of Buddhist priests throughout the
region.
The first
mention of tea outside China and Japan is said to be by the Arabs in 850
AD. They were reputed to have brought it to Europe via the Venetians
circa 1559. However, the Portuguese and Dutch claim the credit of
bringing tea to Europe. The Portuguese opened up the sea routes to China
as early as 1515, and Jesuit priests traveling on the ships are reputed
to have brought the tea drinking habit back to Portugal. The Dutch
sailors manning the ships were said to have encouraged the Dutch
merchants to enter the trade and had set up regular shipments of tea to
ports in France, Holland, and the Baltic coast in 1610.
England
entered the trade via the East India Company, or the John Company as it
was known, in the mid to late 17th Century. Thomas Garway was among the
first to trade tea in Britain. He offered it in dry and liquid form at
his coffeehouse in Exchange Alley in the City of London, holding his
first public sale in 1657. In 1660, Garway issued a broadsheet selling
tea as "wholesome, preserving perfect health until extreme old age, good
for clearing the sight," able to cure "gripping of the guts, cold,
dropsies, scurveys" and claiming that "it could make the body active and
lusty." Also in 1660, Charles II, the Merry Monarch, brought tea into
fashion. After he married Portuguese Princess Catherine, who brought a
large chest of tea as part of her dowry, tea because the rage at court.
During this time, tea was taken green, without milk or sugar, from
Chinese bowls of blue and white porcelain, and hot water poured onto the
leaves in oriental style from red-brown stoneware pots.
By the
middle of the 18th century, tea had replaced ale and gin as the drink of
the masses and became Britain's most popular beverage. Along
with the popularity of tea rose the popularity of the tea ceremony.
Although the Chinese and Japanese tea ceremonies long preceded the
English teas. The Japanese Tea Ceremony transformed tea drinking into a
complex art form. The Irish-Greek journalist-historian Lafcadio Hearn
wrote from personal observation, "The Tea ceremony requires years of
training and practice to graduate in art...yet the whole of this art, as
to its detail, signifies no more than the making and serving of a cup of
tea. The supremely important matter is that the act be performed in the
most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner
possible". The cultural/artistic hostesses of Japan, the Geishi, began
to specialize in the presentation of the tea ceremony. "Tea Tournaments"
were held among the wealthy; nobles competed among each other for rich
prizes in naming various tea blends. In
England, tea ceremony, whether high or low, focuses on conversation.
Conversation is accompanied with proper tea paraphernalia, including a
tea service of porcelain or silver and a tea caddy complete with
compartments for different varieties of tea, a crystal blending bowl,
and, most importantly, a lock against pilferers.
