History of Chinese Tea
Before 200 B.C., ancient Chinese literature talked about tea soup and tea porridge. They probably used fresh leaves. About 2000 years ago, people created tea bricks by breaking, compressing, drying fresh tea leaves. Although the dried tea bricks were convenient for storage and transportation, they tasted quite bitter.
The 7th century (or Tang Dynasty) marked the transition of tea from medicine to daily drink. People discovered that by steaming the fresh leaves and squeezing out the juice, tea became less bitter. Although it was still grassy, the tea-soup was pretty good as a daily drink after adding ginger and salt. Tang Dynasty people prefer metal teacups because precious metals like gold and silver demonstrate one's wealth. There were no teapots. A tea master usually baked tea-bricks on fire, broke, ground, and sift them into powder. Then the tea master boiled tea powder in water. Finally, the tea soup was divided into cups and served.
After about 300 years, China entered the Song Dynasty. During the 12th century, the tea-making technique reached a pinnacle. People discovered a way to reduce the bitterness of tea-bricks to the extent that one can drink the tea without a condiment. The trick was to heat dry tea leaves after they were steamed and squeezed.
Using this technique, tea makers invented loose leave tea and flower tea. However, brick tea was a symbol of quality, wealth, and social status. The Royal Family had a particular patron towards "Dragon and Pheonix Brick." Those were tea bricks made from top quality leaves, shaped into flower or shell shapes, stamped with exquisite patterns, and wrapped in gold or silver foils.
Song Dynasty people were obsessed with tea, from the royal family, scholars, monks to everyday people. To appreciate the elegance, the spirituality, and the flavor of the tea, people frequently attended tea-making competitions and tea latte games. The tea games seem to be a lost art. According to literature and paintings, super fine tea powder was boiled in water and frothed into foams. On top of the foams, tea masters created patterns like Chinese brush painting. At that time, people preferred porcelain tea sets because porcelain can best display the tea latte arts.
It was a fascinating time in Chinese history. If only the emperors paid as much attention to the military as they did towards the arts, the good days would have lasted longer. Song Dynasty ended with Mongols invading and chasing the royal family and their followers into the Pacific ocean. Mongols did not appreciate the Chinese way of tea. They liked their milk tea on horseback. Until the Han Chinese took back the country and started the Ming Dynasty in 1368, The brilliant tea era halted for about one hundred years.
The first Ming Dynasty Emperor probably took the lesson of a luxurious lifestyle destroying a nation. He announced that the royal court would no longer order brick tea. With the royal family choosing loose leaf tea, brick tea gradually phased out. Teapots became popular because brewing loose tea leaves replaced boiling tea powder.
According to the historical records, at least nine types of flower tea existed in Ming Dynasty. People created new flavors by adding condiments like orange juice, lemon juice, honey, milk. There were several dozen condiments to select and combine. Everything you can imagine in a modern tea house seems that the Ming Dynasty people already experimented with them.
Then the Manchurians came in the 17th century and started the Qing Dynasty. The experiments with condiments ended because Manchurian emperors preferred to drink tea as tea.
That tradition lasted until today. Chinese people had been satisfied with pure brewed tea without condiments. After all, one can choose among over 2,000 types of tea leaves in China. Everyone can find their favorite cups of tea.
(Photo Credit: Song Dynasty Painting "Push Tea" by Liu Songnian. http://painting.npm.gov.tw/Painting_Page.aspx?dep=P&PaintingId=14350)
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