Visit
|
Visit |
THE ADVENTURE OF TEA
The Tea Route
By: India Tea
In the fourth century AD, tea was already a popular drink in China. “Te” developed through three main stages: boiled tea, mashed or beaten tea and infused tea. The three “Tea Schools” are indicative of the spirits of their respective ages, which correspond to the Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties.
In the eighth century, tea became a royal beverage adopted by the nobility as an elegant pastime. Poet Lu Yu, at the height of the Tang Dynasty, wrote the first book of tea. Tea has always been linked to history and as it spread it brought peoples into contact with different religions and philosophies. The Indian History has a mention about how Marco Polo, the great traveler, carried tea from China to the court of the famous Indian Emperor Harsha Vardhana.
In Japan, tea was mainly introduced by the ninth century Buddhist monk, Saicho. For the Japanese, tea is more than just a beverage. The tea ceremony, whose aim is to help the spirit find peace, has effectively straddled centuries and borders.
Via the caravan routes, tea penetrated all Mongol lands, Muslim countries and Russia before reaching Europe. Since Europe had long periods with no contact with the Orient, it therefore got to know about tea relatively late when it was brought by an Arab trader named Suleiman.
It was not until about 1610 that tea really started a large-scale expansion of consumption in the Western World. The East India Company established relations with the Far East, introducing tea into Holland first in 1610, then to France in 1636 and finally to England in 1650.
Tea has been the cause of more than one war, but the most important single war was probably the American War of Independence. This was brought about by a single act, now called “The Boston Tea Party” and occurring on the 16th of December, 1773.
Early in the nineteenth century, China was virtually the sole supplier of tea in the world. In 1834, tea plantations were introduced into India and a little later, in 1857, in Ceylon and thereafter Asia, Africa and South America. As the cultivation of tea spread, the competition between ship owners for the speediest transportation of tea led to races along the far East shipping lanes. This was the origin of the great “Tea Clipper” races. Tea was now a worldwide beverage.
 TeaTalk |
 info@teatalk.com |
Prepared by and property of:
"The Tea Man"
May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written consent
of: "The Tea Man"
Copyright © February 1996