Tea and Tea Drinking

By Arthur Reade

The question of the influence of tea, as well as that of alcohol and tobacco, has occupied the attention of the author for some time. Apart from its physiological aspect, the subject of tea-drinking is extremely interesting; and in the following pages an attempt has been made to describe its introduction into England, to review the evidence of its friends and foes, and to discuss its influence on mind and health. An account is also given of the origin of tea-meetings, and of the methods of making tea in various countries. Although the book does not claim to be a complete history of tea, yet a very wide range of authors has been consulted to furnish the numerous details which illustrate the usages, the benefits, and the evils (real or imaginary) which surround the habit of tea-drinking.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Oct 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781473377189

Book preview

Tea and

Tea Drinking

by

Arthur Reade

Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Contents

A History of Tea

PREFACE.

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION OF TEA.

CHAPTER II. THE CULTIVATION OF TEA.

CHAPTER III. TEA-MEETINGS.

CHAPTER IV. HOW TO MAKE TEA.

CHAPTER V. TEA AND PHYSICAL ENDURANCE.

CHAPTER VI. TEA AS A STIMULANT.

CHAPTER VII. THE FRIENDS AND THE FOES OF TEA.

CHAPTER VIII. TEA AS A SOURCE OF REVENUE.

A History of Tea

The history of tea is long and complex, spreading across multiple cultures over the span of thousands of years.

Tea likely originated in China during the Shang dynasty as a medicinal drink. In one popular Chinese legend, Shennong, the legendary Emperor and inventor of Chinese medicine was drinking a bowl of just boiled water, due to a decree that his subjects must boil water before drinking it. This was reportedly some time around 2737 BCE. Then, a few leaves were blown from a nearby tree into his water, changing the colour. The emperor took a sip of the brew and was pleasantly surprised by its flavour and restorative properties.

Another, rather more gruesome legend dates back to the Tang Dynasty. In the legend, Bodhidharma, the founder of Chan Buddhism, accidentally fell asleep after meditating in front of a wall for nine years. He woke up in such disgust at his weakness that he cut off his own eyelids. They fell to the ground and took root, growing into tea bushes. Sometimes, another version of the story is told with Gautama Buddha in place of Bodhidharma. Whether or not these legends have any basis in fact, tea has played a significant role in Asian culture for centuries as a staple beverage, a curative, and a status symbol.

China is considered to have the earliest records of tea consumption, with records dating back to the tenth century BCE. Another early credible record of tea drinking dates to the third century CE, in a medical text by Hua Tuo, who stated that ‘to drink bitter tea constantly makes one think better.’ Laozi (600-517 BCE), the classical Chinese philosopher, described tea as ‘the froth of the liquid jade’ and named it an indispensable ingredient to the elixir of life. Tea production in China, historically, was a laborious process, conducted in distant and often poorly accessible regions. This led to the rise of many apocryphal stories and legends surrounding the harvesting process. For example, one story recounts a village where monkeys pick tea. According to this legend, the villagers stand below the monkeys and taunt them. The monkeys, in turn, become angry, and grab handfuls of tea leaves and throw them at the villagers.

Tea use spread to Japan around the sixth century. Tea became a drink of the religious classes in Japan when priests and envoys, sent to China to learn about its culture, brought tea back to their homeland. Ancient recordings indicate the first batch of tea seeds were brought by a priest named Saichō in 805 and then by another named Kūkai in 806. Seeds were imported from China, and the oldest speciality tea book in Japan, How to Stay Healthy by Drinking Tea, was written by the famous Zen priest Eisai in 1211. Eisai was also instrumental in introducing tea consumption to the warrior class, which rose to political prominence after the Heian Period. Green tea became a staple among cultured people in Japan – a brew for the gentry and the Buddhist priesthood alike. From these beginnings, the Japanese tea ceremony emerged (as a semi-religious social custom), and the modern ceremony has slowly developed under the influence of Buddhist monks.

Thereafter, tea rapidly underwent global expansion, moving from China and Japan, onto Vietnam and Korea – and then to the Western world. The earliest record of tea in a occidental writing is found in the statement of an Arabian traveller; that after the year 879 the main sources of revenue in Canton were the duties on salt and tea. Marco Polo records the deposition of a Chinese minister of finance in 1285 for his arbitrary augmentation of the tea taxes. In 1557, Portugal established a trading port in Macau and word of the Chinese drink ‘chá’ spread quickly, but there is no mention of them bringing any samples home.

Tea was known in France by 1636, and enjoyed a period of great popularity in the late 1640s. Tea first appeared publicly in England during the 1650s (with the marriage of King Charles II to the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza), where it was introduced through coffeehouses. From there it was introduced to British colonies in America and elsewhere. By 1750, its popularity was such that it had become the British national drink.

The drinking of tea in the United States was largely influenced by the passage of the Tea Act and its subsequent protest during the American Revolution. Tea consumption sharply decreased in America during and after the Revolution, when many Americans switched from drinking tea to drinking coffee, considering tea drinking to be unpatriotic. Like America, Tea was also first introduced into India by the British, in an attempt to break the Chinese monopoly on tea. The British, ‘using Chinese seeds, plus Chinese planting and cultivating techniques, launched a tea industry by offering land in Assam to any European who agreed to cultivate tea for export.’ Tea plants were smuggled out of China, and plantations were established in areas such as Darjeeling, Assam, and Ceylon. Tea remained a very important item in Britain’s global trade, contributing in part to Britain’s global dominance by the end of the eighteenth century.

To this day tea is seen worldwide as a symbol of ‘Britishness’, but also, to some, as a symbol of old colonialism. Today, it is grown all over the world, and has been drunk by cultures as diverse as the Aboriginal Australians (who drank an infusion from the plant species leptospermum), the Sri Lankans, and more recently, Africans and South Americans. These latter two areas have recently seen a massive increase in tea production in recent decades, the great majority for export to Europe and North America respectively. Kenya is now the third largest global producer, after China and India, and the largest exporter of tea to the United Kingdom. Surprisingly though, the country which drinks the most tea (at 7.7 kg annual per capita consumption), is Turkey, followed by Morocco (4.3), Ireland (3.2), Mauritania (3.2), and then the United Kingdom at a mere 2.7 kg.

As is evident from this short introduction to tea, it is a beverage with a long and fascinating history. It provides an unparalleled insight into human society, culture and consumption, and continues in its popularity into the present day. It is hoped that the current reader enjoys this book on the subject.

SORTING TEA IN CHINA. Frontispiece.

TEA AND

TEA DRINKING

BY

ARTHUR READE,

AUTHOR OF STUDY AND STIMULANTS

1884.

PREFACE.

The question of the influence of tea, as well as that of alcohol and tobacco, has occupied the attention of the author for some time. Apart from its physiological aspect, the subject of tea-drinking is extremely interesting; and in the following pages an attempt has been made to describe its introduction into England, to review the evidence of its friends and foes, and to discuss its influence on mind and health. An account is also given of the origin of tea-meetings, and of the methods of making tea in various countries. Although the book does not claim to be a complete history of tea, yet a very wide range of authors has been consulted to furnish the numerous details which illustrate the usages, the benefits, and the evils (real or imaginary) which surround the habit of tea-drinking.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION OF TEA.

Introduced by the East India Company—Mrs. Pepys making her first cup of tea—Virtues of tea—Thomas Garway’s advertisement—Waller’s birthday ode—Tea a rarity in country homes—Introduced into the Quaker School—Extension of tea-drinking—The social tea-table a national delight—England the largest consumer of tea.

I sent for a cup of tee—a China drink—of which I had never drank before, writes Pepys in his diary of the 25th of September, 1660. It appears, however, that it came into England in 1610; but at ten guineas a pound it could scarcely be expected to make headway. A rather large consignment was, however, received in 1657; this fell into the hands of a thriving London merchant, Mr. Thomas Garway, who established a house for selling the prepared beverage. Another writer states that tea was introduced by the East India Company early in 1571. Though it may not be possible to fix the exact date, one fact is clear, that it was a costly beverage. Not until 1667