A Tea Tale

This is my second post about the most popular drinks in the world, following the last post on coffee. It was a tough decision to choose which one should be written first but apparently coffee won by a small margin just based on personal tastes.. Anyhow, it would not be fair not to pay tea its due respect by a post on this blog. So here it is...

History of tea, a drink on top of the list of the most consumed in the whole world, dates back to 2750 BC. Chinese myths tell us that the first sip of tea was an accidental one by Emperor Shen Nung.

While the Emperor, who only could drink boiled water because of his health problems, was sitting as always boiling water under a wild tea tree in the palace garden, a few leaves of tea found their way into the boiling water with some help from the wind. The Emperor, who accidentally became the first man in history to taste boiled tea, was more than content with the experience and thus “tea” was discovered. Although historians decline to agree with the myth for various reasons, the widely accepted version is as above.

Tea picking in China (photocredit:www.epochtimes.com)

There are no written sources available on tea up until 300 BC. As of the date however, we come by a lot of written documentation. For example, a book by a Chinese Doctor dwells on the effects of tea such as concentration building. The Chinese character for tea was pronounced “tu” in the beginning, but as of 2 AD, “cha” replaced it. That is where the pronunciation “chai” of today stemmed from.
 

Until 3 AD, tea was generally prepared from fresh green leaves and mostly used for purposes of healing. In line with rising demand, growing tea took on an organised form and drying and processing systems began to develop. By 4^th and 5^th century AD, tea was no more a drink consumed only by the aristocracy but a drink served at restaurants. The popularity of tea itself helped develop its adjoined sectors. By 4^th and 5^th century, production of tea cups and tin containers for tea keeping were booming.

It was the golden ages of tea during the period of the Tang Dynasty (6-8 century AD); tea consumption was high in every walk of society. In the same period, preparation and serving of tea turned into a detailed ceremony. Emperors of the Tang Dynasty cared highly for tea growing and processing. Strict rules were laid out for the protection of tea quality at the time.

Lu Yu (733-804) wrote the first book on tea known in history. In his book titled “Cha Chang”, he elaborated on numerous subjects concerning tea.

During the Tang Dynasty, tea leaves were first processed through steam baths and later mashed and stuck to each other with the help of plum juice. In the final phase, the paste was molded and dried in the ovens. People used to buy tea in molds and melt them on the fire to use for boiling in powder form.

Production of tea in molds stopped at the time of the Song Dynasty (920-1279). Molds were turned into tea powder beforehand during the period that followed and the powder was boiled in water. The same tea powder could usually be used for boiling approximately for seven times and with full taste too.

Up until the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the whole tea production in China was green tea only. The Ming Emperors altered the way tea was dried in molds and they developed a new technique of drying tea leaves in their original form, just like we do with today’s leaf teas. The new method brought a new understanding to tea processors; however the fact that tea treated this way lost its aroma much quicker resulted in the creation of new tea variations. Hence the black tea and teas with flower-aromas. Initially, people thought that green and black tea came from different plants. But the truth is black tea comes from the same tea plant as green tea. Black tea is just fresh-air dried green tea leaves taking on a copper color because of fermentation and later treated in ovens in order to stop this natural decaying process. At the time, exporting tea to Europe began. Though it was green tea in the first place, later green tea was gradually replaced by black tea.

It was the Chinese who introduced tea to Japan, a rather highly respected authority on the subject, though not as old. The first-known tea drinking in the history of Japan is when Emperor Shomu of China served tea for 100 Buddhist monks in 729. The Japanese who knew nothing of tea started to grow it as of 803 thanks to seeds coming in from China and they did a remarkable job out of it to our day. Suffering from the strained relations between the two countries in the period from 9^th to 11^th century, tea lost its popularity in Japan. However it was not totally forgotten since monks never gave up drinking tea. As of 12^th century, the betterment of neighbour-country relations helped render tea its popularity back in Japan. Buddhist believes and drinking tea developed to give birth to “Cha-no-yu”, the world-famous Japanese tea ceremonies. These ceremonies are essential elements of the Japanese philosophy and aesthetic integrity. They revolve around four main principles; and they are social events which best represent Japanese harmony (between man and nature), respect (for others), purity (of heart and mind) and peace.

Japanese Tea Ceremony (photocredit:www.wikipedia.org)

It still remains a mystery whether it was the Dutch or the Portuguese who introduced tea to European countries in the beginning of 17^th century. Both countries were actively trading in the Chinese Sea at the time. After the Portuguese shipped in the tea to the port of Lisbon, a Dutch firm called “Dutch East India Company” used to distribute it to North European countries and to France. Tea became a popular drink first in Netherlands. However it could not rock coffee off its throne in Italy, France and Germany where it actually did become a widely consumed drink. At the end of 17^th century, tea had become a daily habit only in Russia and England.

Czar Alexis of Russia received tea as a present from China in 1618. That was the first time that tea reached Russia and it succeeded in keeping up its popularity to this day. A tea purchase deal between Russia and China dates back to 1689.

According to official records, the British were introduced to tea in 1658. Thomas Garraway put out for the first time a tender for tea sale in his shop in London between 23-30 September 1658. More than a few buyers lined up in front of his shop thanks to his ad in the paper which read “A brand new special drink from China, full of health”. The very event that triggered the popularity of tea in England was the marriage in 1662 of King Charles II to the Princess of Portuguese, Catherine, who was a tea addict. Tea became an indispensable drink of the British aristocracy and is still one of the most preferred. As of 1670, tea rooms started to open primarily in London and all over England. Thomas Twining opened up a tea room in 1706 in London and thus his tea company, the foundation of which was laid in those days, continued to this day forward as one of the largest tea companies.

A perfect cup of tea (photocredit:www.dreams.metroeve.com)

A very famous tea brand of today, “Lipton”, was founded by Thomas Lipton and thanks to tea imported from Ceylon, finding its way to our tea cups, grew to be one of the biggest tea companies.

Turkish Tea (photocredit:www.istanbul7hills.com)

The word “chai”(original pronunciation of tea in Turkish and Russian) stems from “cha” as I have already mentioned at the beginning. “Cha” from Mandarin Chinese and “te” from Chinese Amoy dialect are the origins for words meaning tea in many countries.

 

For closing up, here is a famous Algerian recipe, cooked with tea:

 

Ingredients (4 servings):

1 kg lamb meat
60 gr. butter
¼ lt. water
1 cinnamon stick
150 gr. almond, peeled
200 gr. powder-like thin sugar (you can use the blender to make sugar thinner)
3 table spoons of orange flower juice (or 9 table spoons of fresh orange juice)
350 gr. red plums (seeds removed)
1 tea pot (1/3 Lt) brewed green tea

 

Cut the lamb in large cubes. Add butter and salt, roast the meat in a deep pan till it is dark brown. Drain and take the meat out of the pan (leave the remaining butter in the pan). Next add the water, cinnamon, almonds, sugar and orange juice to pan with butter. Let cook at high heat and add the lamb next. Cover the pan and let cook at very low heat for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, let the plums soak in the warm green tea. Pour the mixture to the pan and cook for another 10 minutes at very low heat. You may garnish with parsley and serve...

Bon Appétit!