The Story of Tea
The
beginning of tea is the stuff of legends. In one tale, the first tea
grew from the eyelids of a Buddhist monk, Dharuma, who traveled
to China in the 5th century. Unable to stay awake as he
meditated, Dharuma cut off his offending eyelids, and cast them
away. Where they fell a tree grew – The Tea Tree.
The story of tea began in ancient China over 5000 years ago. Sin Nong,
an early emperor was a skilled ruler, creative scientist and patron of
the arts. His far sighted edicts required among other things, that all
drinking water be boiled as a hygienic precaution. One summer day while
visiting a distant region of his realm, he and the court stopped for a
rest. In accordance with his ruling, the servants began to boil the
water for the court drink. Dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the
boiling water, and the water became infused with a brown colour. As a
scientist the emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and
found it very refreshing. And so according to legend tea making was
discovered.
EUROPE’S FIRST TEA DRINKERS
The Dutch were
the first tea drinkers outside Asia. They were the first to establish
trading links with China, early in the 17th century successfully fighting
off the British.
The Trade In Tea
At first, tea in Britain was so
expensive because of the cost of importing it. It could take two years to
bring tea from the East to London. An entire season’s crop could be lost to
flood or disaster before the tea even left the East.
Tea Time And Food
Before the arrival of tea to drink,
meal times for most well-off families were extremely alcoholic. There was
ale even for breakfast.
And the main meal was accompanied by large volumes of beer, liquor and wine.
Diners often drank themselves under the table.
Tea For Everyone
From the earliest days, tea brought
people together. The wealthy, the ordinary and even a poor visited the new
tea gardens that opened in the 18th century London Modeled on a Dutch idea
of taking tea outside, people could walk and be entertained, dine and drink
tea in private summer houses.
Tea was a
great leveler outside London. Servants in Britain’s great houses had tasted
tea, and by the mid 18th century many
servant had their wages calculated to include a tea allowance. Mill owners
and land owners began to provide tea for workers as a more productive
alternative to ale and spirits. Smuggling played an important part in
bringing tea to the masses. Smuggled tea could be had for half the price of
official tea.
A 19th century report – the commission of Excise on Smuggling – estimated that nearly US$ 1.7 million was lost annually in revenues on smuggled tea, an immense sum for that time.
In 1833 the
Last India Company monopoly was ended. Taxes on tea were successively
reduced, new cheaper teas arrived from India, Ceylon and consumption soared.
Tea was now for everyone. A unique blend of necessity, pleasure and luxury.
Tea Growing
Tea begins life in a nursery as a clone. Mother bushes are selected and
pruned to produce long shoots which are cut and propagated in shady beds.
Tea for sale
For many pioneer tea drinkers, their first experience of tea would have been
a ready made brew served in coffee shops, which generally entertained an all
male clientele. The tea wouldn’t have been particularly fresh, or even
pleasant, as barrels of tea served through the day would be prepared in the
morning so that excise men could levy tax on them. And given its fabulous
price, tea was often adulterated or bulked out with leaves, ash, used tea,
and even sheep dung. As tea became more popular, people, women in particular
wanted tea at home.
Taking Tea To Market
Curiosity-and the fact that all the right people were drinking it, including
King Charles II – sold the first tea.
Tea And Health
Tea has always been associated with good health. It was first used in China
exclusively as a medicinal drink. This reputation followed tea to the
Netherlands, where Dr. Decker endorsed its benefits, and on to Britain in
the mid 17th century, where Thomas Garvey would promote the virtues of tea.
Among the
first written references to tea is a 7th century Chinese medical text. Tea
is recommended as treatment for abscesses and ailments of the bladder. It
was also said that tea “gladdens and cheers the heart”.
Teetotalism
In the 19th century, tea was at the center of the Temperance Movement: a
campaign to cut the massive consumption of alcohol that made drunkenness the
normal state of affairs for many people, whatever the time of the day.
From Bags To Big Business
The tea bag-which first appeared in homes in the 1960s-was the biggest change to the way tea was sold.
