Chinese Tea History

According to Lu Yu, the writer of the book "Tea Classics" during the Tang Dynasty, Chinese tea has enjoyed a history of more than 4000 years.

Historically, tea¡®s origins date back to around 2700 BC. It is thought to have first been discovered in the mountainous areas of China¡®s far western Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. It was originally taken as a detoxifying medicine though it grew to great social prominence during the Tang (620-907 AD) and Song (960-1279 AD) Dynasties. In addition to tea¡®s attributed health benefits, the high level of "tea culture" was appealing to people outside of China as well. Since the fifth century AD, tea has been exported by land and sea throughout Asia before it reached Europe in 1610. It was Dutch traders that first brought tea to Europe but the British who greatly developed it, transplanting it to India in the early 1800¡®s.

Tea was used as offerings in the West Zhou, vegetables in the Spring and Autumn period, and medicine in the Warring period. Later in the West Han dynasty, it became a major commodity. During the 300 years between the Three Kingdoms period and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, especially in the latter era, Buddhism was extremely popular. The Buddhists applied tea to relieve sleep in Za-zen, so tea trees spread along valleys and around Buddhist temples. That is why people say tea and Buddhism accompanied each other during their development in China. Till the Tang Dynasty, tea became popular with the common people. In the Ming Dynasty, tea trade began to play an important role in the government's economic plans and the "Tea and Horse Bureau" was set up to supervise the tea trade.

There are three basic categories of tea which differ according to the manner in which they are produced. Green, Oolong and Black teas each have their respective subcategories such as white, yellow, light or heavily fermented, or compressed. The diverse environmental conditions in which the plants are grown, the age and number of leaves used, and the final appearance of the leaves also contribute to creating the enormous variety of products on the market.

World-wide, tea is consumed more than any other liquid except for water. People of all ages have historically enjoyed the infusion from the Camellia Sinensis tree as a beverage as well as for its medicinal properties. Modern research has shown that tea does indeed have many health affecting qualities; and numerous publications extolling the benefits of tea have contributed to the tremendous growth in its consumption in the U. S.

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