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Speaker 1: the link in the show notes. Welcome to the I
Speaker 1: Can't Sleep Podcast, where I help you drift off one
Speaker 1: fact at a time. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster, and
Speaker 1: today's episode is about the history of tea. Thank you
Speaker 1: Heather Lemora for sponsoring today's episode. The history of tea
Speaker 1: spreads across many cultures throughout thousands of years. The tea plant,
Speaker 1: Camellia senensis, is both native and probably originated in the
Speaker 1: borderlands of China and northern Myamar. One of the earliest
Speaker 1: accounts of tea drinking is dated back to China's Shang dynasty,
Speaker 1: in which tea was consumed in a medicinal concoction. One
Speaker 1: traditional method of preparing tea involves steeping loose tea leaves
Speaker 1: in a tea pot and straining them into a cup,
Speaker 1: a practice that became common in Europe following the introduction
Speaker 1: of tea by Chinese traders. An early credible record of
Speaker 1: tea drinking dates to the third century AD, in a
Speaker 1: medical text written by Chinese physician Uato. It first became
Speaker 1: known to the Western world through Portuguese priests and merchants
Speaker 1: in China during the early sixteenth century. Drinking tea became
Speaker 1: popular in Britain during the seventeenth century. To compete with
Speaker 1: the Chinese monopoly on tea, the British East India Company
Speaker 1: introduced commercial tea production to British India. Tea consumption likely
Speaker 1: began in Yunnan Province during the second millennium BC as
Speaker 1: a medicinal concoction. From there, the use spread to Sichuan,
Speaker 1: and it is believed that there for the first time,
Speaker 1: people began to boil tea leaves for consumption into a
Speaker 1: concentrated liquid without the addition of other leaves or herbs,
Speaker 1: thereby using tea as a bitter yet stimulating drink, rather
Speaker 1: than as a medicinal concoction. In Chinese legend, sometime around
Speaker 1: two thousand seven thirty seven BCE, Emperor Shinang was drinking
Speaker 1: a bowl of just boiled water because of a decree
Speaker 1: that his subjects must boil water before drinking it. A
Speaker 1: few leaves were blown from a nearby tree into his water,
Speaker 1: changing the color, and the emperor took a sip of
Speaker 1: the brew and was pleasantly surprised by its flavor and
Speaker 1: restorative properties. A variant of the legend tells that the
Speaker 1: emperor tested the medical properties of various herbs on himself,
Speaker 1: some of them poisonous, and found tea to work as
Speaker 1: an antidote. Chinang is also mentioned in Lu Yu's famous
Speaker 1: early work on the subject, The Classic of Tea. A
Speaker 1: similar Chinese legend states that Chinang would chew the leaves, stems,
Speaker 1: and roots of various plants to discover medicinal herbs. If
Speaker 1: he consumed a poisonous plant, he would chew tea leaves
Speaker 1: to counteract the poison. The Chinese have consumed tea thousands
Speaker 1: of years. The earliest physical evidence known to dad found
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen comes from the mausoleum of Emperor Jing
Speaker 1: of Han in Chi'an, indicating that ta was drunk by
Speaker 1: Han dynasty emperors as early as the second century b c. E.
Speaker 1: The samples were identified as t from the genus Camelia,
Speaker 1: particularly via mass spectrometry and written records, suggests that it
Speaker 1: may have been drunk earlier. People of the Han dynasty
Speaker 1: used tea as medicine, though the first use of tea
Speaker 1: as a stimulant is unknown. China is considered to have
Speaker 1: the earliest records of tea consumption, with possible records dating
Speaker 1: back to the tenth century b C. Note, however, that
Speaker 1: the current word for tea in Chinese only came into
Speaker 1: use in the eighth century a d. There are therefore
Speaker 1: uncertainties as to whether the older words used are the
Speaker 1: same as t. The word too appears in Shijing another
Speaker 1: ancient texts to signify a kind of bitter vegetable, and
Speaker 1: it is possible that it referred to several different plants,
Speaker 1: such as so thistleed chicory, or smartweed, including tea. In
Speaker 1: the Chronicles of Huayang, it was recorded that the Ba
Speaker 1: people in Sichuang presented to to the Jo King. The
Speaker 1: state of Ba and its neighbor Shu were later conquered
Speaker 1: by the Chin, and according to the seventeenth century scholar
Speaker 1: Gu yong Wu, who wrote in the riji Ulu, it
Speaker 1: was after the Chin had taken Shu that they learned
Speaker 1: how to drink tea. The first known reference to boiling
Speaker 1: tea came from the Han dynasty work The Contract for
Speaker 1: a Youth, written by Wang Bao, where among the tasks
Speaker 1: listed to be undertaken by the youth, he shall boil
Speaker 1: tea and fill the utensils, and he shall buy tea
Speaker 1: at Wu Yong. The first record of cultivation of tea
Speaker 1: also dated it to this period, when tea was cultivated
Speaker 1: on Meng Mountain near Chengdu from the Tong to the
Speaker 1: Qing dynasties. The first three hundred and sixty leaves of
Speaker 1: tea grown here were picked each spring and presented to
Speaker 1: the emperor. Even today, its green and yellow teas, such
Speaker 1: as the Manging Ganlou tea, are still sought after. An
Speaker 1: early credible record of tea drinking dates to two hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty a d in a medical text Shi Lun
Speaker 1: by Huatuo, who stated to drink bitter too constantly makes
Speaker 1: one think better. Another possible early reference to tea is
Speaker 1: found in a letter written by the Qin dynasty general
Speaker 1: Lu Kun. However, before the mid eighth century Tong Dynasty,
Speaker 1: tea drinking was primarily a Southern Chinese practice. It became
Speaker 1: widely popular during the Tong Dynasty when spread to Korea, Japan,
Speaker 1: and Vietnam. During the Tong Dynasty in China, tea was
Speaker 1: prepared differently than it is today. Instead of steeping tea
Speaker 1: leaves in hot water, the tea was boiled with various
Speaker 1: ingredients such as ginger, onions, and spices to create a
Speaker 1: savory broth. It was not until the Song dynasty that
Speaker 1: the practice of steeping tea leaves in hot water became popular. Laojia,
Speaker 1: the classical Chinese philosopher, was said to describe tea as
Speaker 1: the frosts of the liquid jade and named it an
Speaker 1: indispensable ingredient to the elixir of life. Legend has it
Speaker 1: that Master Lao was saddened by society's moral decay, and
Speaker 1: sensing at the end of the ynasty was near, he
Speaker 1: journeyed westward to the unsettled territories, never to be seen again.
Speaker 1: While passing along the nation's border, he encountered and was
Speaker 1: offered tea by a customs inspector Namedhin she Y. She
Speaker 1: encouraged him to compile his teachings into a single book
Speaker 1: so that future generations might benefit from his wisdom. This
Speaker 1: became known as the Dao de Jing, a collection of
Speaker 1: Lauja's sayings. Tong dynasty writer Liu Yu's cha Jing, The
Speaker 1: Classic of Tea, is an early work on the subject.
Speaker 1: According to Cha Jing, tea drinking was widespread. The book
Speaker 1: describes how tea plants were grown, the lee processed, and
Speaker 1: tea prepared as a beverage. It also describes how tea
Speaker 1: was evaluated. The book also discusses where the best tea
Speaker 1: leaves were produced. Teas produced in this period were mainly
Speaker 1: tea bricks, which were often used as currency, especially further
Speaker 1: from the center of the empire, where coins lost their value.
Speaker 1: These were made by compressing tea leaves into a dense,
Speaker 1: round shape that was easy to transport and store. The
Speaker 1: cakes were valued based on their weight, and they could
Speaker 1: be traded for other goods or used to pay taxes.
Speaker 1: During the Song dynasty, production and preparation of all tea changed.
Speaker 1: The tea included many loose leaf styles to preserve the
Speaker 1: delicate character favored by court society, and it is the
Speaker 1: origin of to day's loose teas. In the practice of
Speaker 1: brood tea, a powdered form of tea also emerged. Steaming
Speaker 1: tea leaves was the primary process used for centuries in
Speaker 1: the preparation of tea. After the transition from compressed tea
Speaker 1: to the powdered form, the production of tea for trade
Speaker 1: and distribution changed once again. The Chinese learned to process
Speaker 1: tea in a different way. In the mid thirteenth century,
Speaker 1: tea leaves were roasted and then crumbled rather than steamed.
Speaker 1: By the Yuan and Ming dynasties, unfermented tea leaves were
Speaker 1: first pan fried, then rolled and dried. This stops the
Speaker 1: oxidation process, which turns the leaves dart and allows tea
Speaker 1: to remain green. In a fifteenth century Oolong tea, where
Speaker 1: the tea leaves were allowed to partially ferment before pan
Speaker 1: frying was developed. Western taste, however, preferred the fully oxidized
Speaker 1: black tea, and the leaves were allowed to ferment further.
Speaker 1: Yellow tea was an accidental discovery in the production of
Speaker 1: green tea during the Ming dynasty, when apparently sloppy practices
Speaker 1: allowed the leaves to turn yellow, which yielded a different
Speaker 1: flavor as a result. Tea production in China historically was
Speaker 1: a laborious process conducted and distant and often poorly accessible regions.
Speaker 1: This led to the rise of many apocryphal stories and
Speaker 1: legends surrounding the harvesting process. For example, one story that
Speaker 1: has been told for many years is that of a
Speaker 1: village where monkeys pick tea. According to this legend, the
Speaker 1: villagers stand below the monkeys and taunt them. The monkeys,
Speaker 1: in turn become angry and grab handfuls of tea leaves
Speaker 1: and throw them at the villagers. There are products sold
Speaker 1: today that claim to be harvested in this manner, but
Speaker 1: no reliable commentators have observed this firsthand, and most doubt
Speaker 1: that it happened at all. For many hundreds of years,
Speaker 1: the commercially used tea tree has been in shape more
Speaker 1: a bush than a tree. Monkey picked tea is more
Speaker 1: likely a name of certain varieties than a description of
Speaker 1: how it was obtained. In thirteen ninety one, the Hongwu
Speaker 1: Emperor issued a decree that only loose tea would be
Speaker 1: accepted as a tribute. As a result, tea production shifted
Speaker 1: from cake tea to lease leaf tea, and processing techniques advanced,
Speaker 1: giving rise to the more energy efficient methods of pan
Speaker 1: firing and sun drying, which were popular in Jiannan and Fujian, respectively.
Speaker 1: The last group to adopt loose leaf tea was a Literati,
Speaker 1: who were reluctant to abandon their refined culture of whisking
Speaker 1: tea until the invention of oolong tea. By the end
Speaker 1: of the sixteenth century, loose leaf tea had entirely replaced
Speaker 1: the earlier tradition of cake and powdered tea. During the
Speaker 1: Suay dynasty in China, tea was introduced to Japan by
Speaker 1: Buddhist monks. Tea use spread during the sixth century AD.
Speaker 1: Tea became a drink of the religious classes in Japan
Speaker 1: when Japanese priests and envoys sent to China to learn
Speaker 1: about its culture brought tea to Japan. Ancient recordings indicate
Speaker 1: the first batch of tea seeds were brought by the
Speaker 1: priest named Saicho in Ato five and then by another
Speaker 1: named Kukai in eight o six. It became a drink
Speaker 1: of the royal class. When Emperor Saga encouraged the gre
Speaker 1: tea plants, seeds were imported from China and cultivation in
Speaker 1: Japan began. In eleven ninety one, Zen priest Asi introduced
Speaker 1: T seeds to Kyoto. Some of the T seeds were
Speaker 1: given to the priest Mioi Shonen and became the basis
Speaker 1: of ug T. The oldest teas specialty book in Japan,
Speaker 1: Kisa Yojogi How to Stay Healthy by Drinking Tea, was
Speaker 1: written by Asi. The two volume book was written in
Speaker 1: twelve eleven, after his second and last visit to China.
Speaker 1: The first sentence states T is the ultimate mental and
Speaker 1: medical remedy and has the ability to make one's life
Speaker 1: more full and complete. A Si was also instrumental in
Speaker 1: introducing tea consumption to the warrior class, which rose to
Speaker 1: political prominence after the Hayon period. Green tea became a
Speaker 1: staple among cultured people in Japan, a brew for the
Speaker 1: gentry and the Buddhist priesthood alike. Production grew and tea
Speaker 1: became increasingly accessible, though still a privilege enjoyed mostly by
Speaker 1: the upper classes. The tea ceremony of Japan was introduced
Speaker 1: from China in the fifteenth century by Buddhists as a
Speaker 1: semi religious social custom. The modern tea ceremony developed over
Speaker 1: several centuries by Zen Buddhist monks under the original guidance
Speaker 1: of the sen no Rikiu. In fact, both the beverage
Speaker 1: and the ceremonies surrounding it played a prominent role in
Speaker 1: feudal diplomacy. In seventeen thirty eight, sun Nagatani developed Japanese
Speaker 1: sencha literally simmered tea, which is an unfermented form of
Speaker 1: green tea. It is a most popular form of tea
Speaker 1: in Japan Today. The name can be confusing because sencha
Speaker 1: is no longer simmered. While sencha is currently prepared by
Speaker 1: steeping the leaves in hot water, this was not always
Speaker 1: the case. Sencha was originally prepared by casting the leaves
Speaker 1: into a cauldron and simmering briefly. The liquid would then
Speaker 1: be ladled into bowls and served. In eighteen thirty five,
Speaker 1: Kahei Yamamoto developed gyokuro literally jeweled do by shading tea
Speaker 1: trees during the weeks leading up to harvesting. By the
Speaker 1: twentieth century, machine manufacturing of green tea was introduced and
Speaker 1: began replacing handmade tea. The first historical record documenting the
Speaker 1: offering of tea to an ancestral god describes a rite
Speaker 1: in six sixty one AD in which a t offering
Speaker 1: was made to the spirit of King Tsuro, the founder
Speaker 1: of the Gumgwang Keeya kingdom. Records from the Gauryo dynasty
Speaker 1: show that ta offerings were made in Buddhist temples to
Speaker 1: the spirits of revered monks. During the Josun dynasty, the
Speaker 1: royal Ye family and the aristocracy used tea for simple rights.
Speaker 1: The day tea rite was a common daytime ceremony, whereas
Speaker 1: the special tea rite was reserved for specific occasions. Toward
Speaker 1: the end of the Josun dynasty, commoners joined the trend
Speaker 1: and used tea for ancestral rites, following the Chinese example
Speaker 1: based on ju Cheese text formalities of family stoneware was common,
Speaker 1: Ceramic more frequent, mostly made in provincial kilns with porcelain
Speaker 1: rare imperial porcelain with dragons the rarest. The earliest kinds
Speaker 1: of tea used in tea ceremonies were heavily pressed cakes
Speaker 1: of black tea, evland of age purer tea. In China, however,
Speaker 1: importation of tea plants by Buddhist monks brought a more
Speaker 1: delicate series of teas into Korea, and the tea ceremony
Speaker 1: gring tea, jacksol or jungno is most often served. However,
Speaker 1: other teas such as biosorum chen, rachen ujan Okchen, as
Speaker 1: well as native chrysanthemum tea or mugwar tea may be
Speaker 1: served at different times of the year. The earliest record
Speaker 1: of tea in a more occidental writing is said to
Speaker 1: be found in the statement of an Arabian traveler that
Speaker 1: after eight seventy nine the main sources of revenue and
Speaker 1: canton were the duties on salt and tea. Marco Polo
Speaker 1: records the deposition of a Chinese minister of finance in
Speaker 1: twelve eighty five for his arbitrary augmentation of the tea taxes.
Speaker 1: In fifteen fifty seven, Portugal established a trading port in Macau,
Speaker 1: and word did the Chinese drink chaw spread quickly, but
Speaker 1: there is no mention of them bringing any samples home
Speaker 1: In the early seventeenth century, a ship of the Dutch
Speaker 1: East India Company brought the first green tea leaves to
Speaker 1: Amsterdam from China. Tea was known in France by sixteen
Speaker 1: thirty six. It enjoyed a brief period of popularity in
Speaker 1: Paris around sixteen forty eight. The history of tea in
Speaker 1: r Ushe could also be traced back to the seventeenth century.
Speaker 1: Tea was first offered by China as a gift to
Speaker 1: Tzar Mikhael First in sixteen eighteen. The Russian ambassador tried
Speaker 1: the drink, he did not care for it and rejected
Speaker 1: the offer, delaying tea's Russian introduction by fifty years. By
Speaker 1: sixteen eighty nine, tea was regularly imported from China to
Speaker 1: Russia via a caravan of hundreds of camels, traveling the
Speaker 1: year long journey, making it a precarious commodity at the time.
Speaker 1: Tea was appearing in German apothecaries by sixteen fifty seven,
Speaker 1: but never gained much esteem except in coastal areas such
Speaker 1: as aust Friesland. Tea first appeared publicly in mainland Britain
Speaker 1: during the sixteen fifty where was introduced through coffee houses.
Speaker 1: From there it was introduced to British colonies in America
Speaker 1: and elsewhere. Tea taxation was a large issue. In Britain,
Speaker 1: tea smuggling thrived until the repeal of tea's tax in
Speaker 1: seventeen eighty five. In Holland, tea drinkers had to pay
Speaker 1: for an annual license per person. Tea was first introduced
Speaker 1: to Europe by Italian traveler Giovanni Battisto Ramusio, who in
Speaker 1: fifteen fifty five published Voyages and Travels containing the first
Speaker 1: European reference to tea, which he calls Chai katai. His
Speaker 1: accounts were based on second hand reports in the polities
Speaker 1: of the Gulf of Aden, Yemen and Somolia. Portuguese priests
Speaker 1: and merchants in the sixteenth century made their first contact
Speaker 1: with tea in China, at which time it was termed cha.
Speaker 1: The first Portuguese ships reached China in fifteen sixteen, and
Speaker 1: in fifteen sixty Portuguese missionary GASPARDA Cruz published the first
Speaker 1: Portuguese account of Chinese tea. In fifteen sixty five, Portuguese
Speaker 1: missionary Luyomeida published the first European account of tea in Japan.
Speaker 1: Commercial production of tea was first introduced into India by
Speaker 1: the British in an attempt to break the Chinese monopoly
Speaker 1: on tea. The British, using Chinese seeds plus Chinese planting
Speaker 1: and cultivating techniques, launched a tea industry by all offering
Speaker 1: land in a psalm to any European who agreed to
Speaker 1: cultivate tea for export. Tea was originally only consumed by
Speaker 1: Anglicized Indians. It was not until the nineteen fifties that
Speaker 1: ta grew widely popular in India through a successful advertising
Speaker 1: campaign by the India Tea Board. Prior to the British,
Speaker 1: the plant may have been used for medicinal purposes. Some
Speaker 1: ciged the sungeevani plant as the first recorded reference of
Speaker 1: tea use in India. However, scientific studies have shown that
Speaker 1: the sungeevine plant is in fact a different plant and
Speaker 1: is not related to tea in a psalm. There is
Speaker 1: evidence of pre modern medicinal use of tea among the
Speaker 1: Singfo and Comtea tribes. However, commercial production of tea in
Speaker 1: India did not begin until the arrival of the British
Speaker 1: East India Company at which point large tracts of land
Speaker 1: were converted for mass tea production. India was the top
Speaker 1: producer of tea for nearly a century, but was displaced
Speaker 1: by China as the top tea producer in the twenty
Speaker 1: first century. Indian tea companies have acquired a number of
Speaker 1: iconic foreign tea enterprises, including British brand Tetley. Most of
Speaker 1: the Indian tea garden owners have focused on exports to
Speaker 1: markets like Europe and Russia, while very few have focused
Speaker 1: on building their own brands, such as Makaibari, Dharmsala Tea
Speaker 1: Company and a few others. While India is the largest
Speaker 1: consumer of tea worldwide, the per capita consumption of tea
Speaker 1: in India remains a modest seven hundred and fifty grams
Speaker 1: per person annually. Recently, consumption of green tea has seen
Speaker 1: a great ubsurge across the Cities and regions such as
Speaker 1: Kongra which were known for their green tea production historically,
Speaker 1: have seen a resurgence of their green teas in the
Speaker 1: domestic market. Taiwan is famous for the making of Oolong
Speaker 1: tea and green tea, as well as many Western styled teas.
Speaker 1: Bubble tea or jen Ju naichad is black tea mixed
Speaker 1: with sweetened condensed milk and tapioca. Since the island was
Speaker 1: known to Westerners for many centuries as Formosa short for
Speaker 1: the Portuguese Illa Formosa or Beautiful Island, tea grown in
Speaker 1: Taiwan iss often identified by that name. As an attempt
Speaker 1: to circumvent its dependence on Chinese tea, the East India
Speaker 1: Company sent Scottish botanist Robert Fortune to China to purchase
Speaker 1: and bring out of China tea plants, which were then
Speaker 1: taken to India. With the exception of a few plants
Speaker 1: which survived in established Indian gardens, most of the Chinese
Speaker 1: tea plants Fortune introduced in the northwestern provinces of India
Speaker 1: perished due to the British preference and fashion for a strong,
Speaker 1: dark tea brew, which was discovered to be best made
Speaker 1: from the native varieties of tea plant in India a
Speaker 1: some subspecies. It proved more important for the development of
Speaker 1: production there. However, the technology knowledge that was brought from
Speaker 1: China was instrumental in the later flourishing of the Indian
Speaker 1: tea industry. In Assam and Sri Lanka from nineteen forty
Speaker 1: to nineteen fifty two, tea was rationed, but coffee was exempted.
Speaker 1: The drinking of tea in the United States was largely
Speaker 1: influenced by the passage of the Tea Act and its
Speaker 1: subsequent protests during the American Revolution. Tea consumption sharply decreased
Speaker 1: in America during and after the Revolution, when many Americans
Speaker 1: switched from drinking tea to drinking coffee, considering tea drinking
Speaker 1: to be unpatriotic. The American specialty tea market quadrupled in
Speaker 1: the years from nineteen ninety three to two thousand eight,
Speaker 1: now being worth six point eight billion dollars a year.
Speaker 1: Specialty tea houses and retailers also started to pop up
Speaker 1: during this period.