The Fascinating History of Chinese Tea

The story of tea in China stretches back thousands of years, a rich tapestry woven through ancient legends, agricultural innovations, and evolving cultural practices. From its humble beginnings as a wild plant consumed for sustenance to its current status as a beloved global beverage, tea's journey through Chinese history is truly captivating.

Ancient Roots: From Food to Medicine

Legend has it that tea's discovery dates back to the mythical 神农 (Shén nóng) in prehistoric times, around five thousand years ago. The tale of Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs is well known, and it's said that tea was among them. The adage "Tea as a drink originated with Shennong and became known during the time of Duke Zhou of Lu" reflects this ancient connection.

However, like other crops, tea's journey from its wild state to the cultivated plant we know today was a long one, beginning in the Neolithic era when agriculture took root. Initially, tea leaves were likely eaten as a food source, supplementing the limited sustenance gained from early farming. People would boil foraged wild fruits, vegetables, young leaves (including tea), and grains together – perhaps an early form of a "stew." While tea provided a stimulating and thirst-quenching effect, it also led to hunger pangs, a result of the interaction between tea polyphenols and alkaloids with the digestive system. Consuming too much could even lead to "tea drunkenness."

The Botanical Story: Where Did Tea Originate?

The tea tree itself existed long before recorded history. The exact origin of the tea tree has been debated, with theories ranging from an Indian origin to multiple origins. However, the most compelling evidence points to southwestern China as the true birthplace of tea.

The way we enjoy tea today – processing fresh tea leaves and steeping them in hot water – involves three key elements: the tea plant variety, the processing techniques, and the methods of consumption.

The Evolution of Tea Plant Varieties

Early tea plants, like other plants, reproduced sexually through seeds, resulting in unique genetic combinations in each new plant. Ancient people often categorized these naturally occurring varieties by their geographical location, as seed exchange between regions was minimal due to the difficulties of transportation.

Around 200 BC, with advancements in agricultural technology, asexual reproduction methods gradually emerged. Grafting, known poetically as "鹤膝" (hè xī crane's knee), became a way to propagate tea plants by inserting stems or buds into soil or water until they rooted. This method ensured greater consistency in the tea's characteristics. Cultivating superior varieties that could be offered as tribute to the emperor became highly desirable.

During the Song Dynasty, the production of small dragon ball tea (小龙团 xiǎo lóng tuán), intricately decorated small tea cakes, became popular. The pursuit of perfection led to increasingly refined and smaller cakes, with some tribute teas weighing less than an ounce. Emperor 宋徽宗 (Sòng Huī zōng), a renowned tea connoisseur, even mentioned a rare "white tea" in his treatise Treatise on Tea (大观茶论 Dà guān Chá lùn). This "white tea" was different from the modern white tea we know and was incredibly rare, with only a few tiny cakes made from it. This rare tea was likely an albino variety, a natural mutation of the tea plant. Emperor Huizong's era is often seen as the peak of tea culture in ancient China.

Modern tea breeding has moved beyond simply introducing and cultivating existing varieties. Today, various techniques like selection breeding, crossbreeding, mutation breeding, and even biotechnology and genetic engineering are used to develop high quality, high yield tea varieties – advancements that were unimaginable to ancient farmers. The establishment of tea seed banks in the 20th century has further expanded the diversity of tea varieties available today, driving innovation in the tea industry.

The Development of Tea Processing Methods

Over 4,000 years ago, during the time of Shennong, people likely consumed fresh tea leaves directly. Gradually, they began boiling fresh leaves to make a soup. This practice continued into the Tang Dynasty, where "tea porridge" was a common dish. Even in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Yanzi (晏子春秋 Yàn zǐ Chūn qiū), there's a record of Yanzi, the prime minister of Qi, eating "tea vegetables" (茗菜 míng cài), which likely referred to simple, coarse tea consumed as food.

The true beginnings of tea processing emerged during the Wei Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms period. People started using heat to alter the characteristics of tea, such as sun-drying, baking, and making compressed tea cakes for easier consumption. However, these early teas still retained a strong grassy flavor. This led to the development of steaming, the precursor to modern 蒸青 (zhēng qīng) (steamed green tea).

By the Tang Dynasty, the technique of steaming tea and pressing it into cakes was well established. The revered 陆羽 (Lù Yǔ) meticulously documented this process in his Classic of Tea (茶经 Chá jīng): "Sunny day, pluck it, steam it, pound it, shape it, bake it, string it, seal it, the tea is dry." In simpler terms: pick, steam, shape, and dry. Lu Yu's Classic of Tea, though concise, remains a foundational text in tea culture.

While the Song Dynasty continued the tradition of compressed tea cakes, with elaborate tribute teas like the dragon and phoenix cakes, the pursuit of such intricate and resource-intensive methods, which often involved washing, cooling, and pressing, potentially compromised the tea's quality. This eventually led to the rise of loose leaf tea (散茶 sǎn chá), with processing methods similar to today's steamed green tea. Although compressed tea dominated the Tang and Song Dynasties, innovation in loose leaf tea production never ceased. Lu Yu himself mentioned various forms of tea, including coarse tea, loose tea, powdered tea, and compressed tea. Historical records from the Song Dynasty also refer to both compressed and loose leaf tea.

This period of transition continued until the Ming Dynasty. Emperor 朱元璋 (Zhū Yuán zhāng) issued a decree abolishing the production of dragon ball tea, officially making loose leaf tea the mainstream. This sparked a surge of innovation in tea processing. The pan firing method (炒青 chǎo qīng), which was initially just an innovation, gradually matured and became the most significant change in ancient Chinese tea processing. We still use this method today for many green teas. If the pan fried leaves weren't rolled promptly and were left to pile up for too long, they would turn yellow, leading to the development of yellow tea (黄茶 huáng chá) during the reign of Emperor Muzong in the Ming Dynasty.

The tea for horses policy during the Tang and Song Dynasties fostered a reliance on tea in the border regions. The challenges of transporting tea over long distances often led to spoilage due to moisture and exposure to the elements. This inadvertently led to the development of dark tea (黑茶 hēi chá) with its distinct flavor profile, starting in the mid Ming Dynasty.

Similar to modern white tea (白茶 bái chá), texts from the Ming Dynasty, such as Tian Yiheng's (田艺蘅 tián yì héng) Small Notes on Boiling Tea (煮茶小品 Zhǔ chá Xiǎo pǐn) and Supplement to the Tea Compendium (茶普外集 Chá pǔ Wài jí), mention sun drying as the superior method for preserving the tea's natural freshness and aroma.

In the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, drawing inspiration from the sun drying of white tea and the oxidation principles observed in green tea (turning red when drying is delayed after rolling) and dark tea (fermenting and turning black), black tea (红茶 hóng chá) production was inspired. Starting with Lapsang Souchong (正山小种 Zhèng shān Xiǎo zǒng) in Chong'an, Fujian, black tea began its 400 year journey to global prominence.

By this time, five of the six major tea categories we know today – green, yellow, dark, white, and black – had emerged. The sixth, oolong tea (乌龙茶 wū lóng chá), appeared somewhat ambiguously, much like the feeling many have when first encountering it. Wang Caotang's (王草堂 wáng cǎo táng) Tea Discourse (茶说 Chá Shuō) describes a processing method similar to modern oolong, but pinpointing its exact origin is less important than recognizing its current vitality. Oolong tea continues to evolve with new tea plant varieties and advancements in processing technology, constantly reshaping our understanding of tea.

The Evolution of Tea Consumption

Humans initially used tea as food, then as medicine, before it gradually became primarily a beverage around the Western Han Dynasty. While eating tea leaves might have some drawbacks from a modern scientific perspective, the practice persists in some southwestern regions of China, such as the bamboo tube tea and pickled tea enjoyed by certain ethnic minorities.

The medicinal uses of tea are well documented in ancient texts. For example, Hua Tuo (华佗 huà tuó) of the Eastern Han Dynasty mentioned tea's benefits in his Dietary Classic (食经 Shí Jīng). The Shennong Ben Cao Jing (神农本草经 shén nóng běn cǎo jīng) described tea as having a bitter taste but beneficial for thought, reducing sleep, lightening the body, and improving eyesight. The Records of Strange Things (述异记 Shù Yì Jì) from the Northern and Southern Dynasties noted its ability to keep people awake and enhance memory. These early descriptions focused largely on the physical effects of caffeine.

Starting in the Western Han Dynasty, tea began to acquire an association with the aristocracy. Wang Bao's (王褒 wáng bāo) Tong Yue (僮约 tóng yuē) mentions "buying tea in Wuyang," suggesting that tea was becoming a common drink among the literati and officials, likely too expensive for the common people. Tea became recognized as one of the refined arts alongside music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, and tea.

Its popularization was inevitable. In feudal society, scholars and officials who faced setbacks in their careers often brought upper class customs, including tea drinking, to the common people. The rise of Buddhism, with its emphasis on meditation, also contributed to the spread of tea cultivation and consumption in monasteries. Many famous teas with historical significance were created by monks.

The Tang Dynasty, a period of economic and cultural prosperity, saw widespread tea consumption among scholars and the general populace, fueled by Lu Yu's Classic of Tea. The custom of tea drinking also spread to the northwestern border regions through the tea-horse trade and to Tibet through royal marriages like that of Princess Wencheng.

The Song Dynasty witnessed a further surge in tea's popularity. The saying "firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea – no day without tea" originated in this era. Records from the Tea Compendium (茶录 Chá lù) indicate that tribute teas were often scented with borneol, while commoners did not add it during processing to preserve the tea's natural aroma, sometimes adding fragrant herbs during brewing – possibly marking the early stages of scented tea (花茶 huā chá). The Tea Manual (茶谱 Chá pǔ) also lists various flowers like osmanthus, jasmine, rose, and plum blossom that could be used to make tea. Jasmine tea (茉莉花茶 Mò lì huā chá), beloved by many today, originated during the Xianfeng reign of the Qing Dynasty.

The relative affluence of the Tang and Song Dynasties led to significant advancements in tea brewing equipment, rituals, and even the philosophical aspects of tea, profoundly influencing the emergence of Japanese tea culture. The steeping methods developed after the Ming Dynasty continue to be used today.

In modern times, tea has become an indispensable part of our lives. With unprecedented material wealth, our appreciation for tea culture extends beyond mere physical needs, representing a yearning for a particular lifestyle. It's certain that tea culture will continue to flourish and evolve in the future.