Tea has a profound history rooted in both historical events and mythology. The first documented evidence of tea consumption can be traced back to the 3rd century AD in a medical document written by the Chinese physician Hua Tuo. While its origins are shrouded in legend, its surge in popularity is closely connected to real-world economic, social, and political maneuvering.
Botanical Origin
Tea plants originated in East Asia, near the source of the Irrawaddy River, and spread out into southeast China, Indo-China and Assam. The natural home of the tea plant is within a small fan-shaped area between Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram along the Burma frontier in the west. It extends through China to Zhejiang Province in the east, and south through the hills to Burma, Thailand and Vietnam. The west-east axis is about 2,400 km long and the north-south axis covers about 1,920 km.
It is speculated that the Chinese small-leaf type tea may have originated in southern China through hybridization of unknown wild tea relatives, although its origin remains speculative due to the lack of known wild populations. Chinese Assam-type tea may have two different parentages, one found in southern Yunnan and the other in western Yunnan. Many types of Southern Yunnan Assam tea have been hybridized with the closely related species Camellia taliensis. Western Yunnan Assam tea shares genetic similarities with Indian Assam-type tea, indicating that they may have originated from the same parent plant in the area where southwestern China, Indo-Burma and Tibet meet. However, Indian Assam tea likely originated from an independent domestication, as it shares no haplotypes with Western Yunnan Assam tea and appears to have hybridized with the species Camellia pubicosta.
Based on a generation of 12 years, Chinese small-leaf tea is estimated to have diverged from Assam tea around 22,000 years ago, while Chinese Assam tea and Indian Assam tea diverged 2,800 years ago.
Early Tea Drinking
Tea consumption in ancient East Asia began before it was used as a beverage. People consumed tea leaves raw, added them to soups and greens, or fermented and chewed them. The origins of tea drinking are believed to date back to the Shang dynasty in the Yunnan region for medicinal purposes.
According to Chinese mythology, the discovery of tea is attributed to the legendary Shennong in 2737 BC, but evidence suggests that tea drinking may have originated in the southwest of China, particularly in the Sichuan or Yunnan area. The earliest written records of tea come from China, with the word "tú" appearing in ancient texts like the Shijing, referring to a "bitter vegetable" that could have included various plants including tea. The Chronicles of Huayang also mentioned the presentation of "tu" by the Ba people in Sichuan to the Zhou king. Later, in the Qin dynasty, the territories of Ba and its neighboring state Shu were conquered, leading to the spread of knowledge about tea drinking. Another possible early reference to tea can be found in a letter written by General Liu Kun of the Qin dynasty, in which he requests the delivery of "real tea."
Physical evidence of tea was discovered in the mausoleum of Emperor Jing of Han in Xi'an, indicating that tea from the genus Camellia was consumed by Han dynasty emperors as early as the second century BC. The Han dynasty work "The Contract for a Youth" written by Wang Bao in 59 BC, contains the first known reference to boiling tea. It also mentions the first record of tea cultivation, which is dated to this period, during which tea was cultivated on Meng Mountain near Chengdu. Another credible record of tea drinking dates to the 3rd century AD, in a medical text by the Chinese physician Hua Tuo, who stated, "to drink bitter t'u constantly makes one think better." Before the Tang dynasty, tea-drinking was primarily a practice in southern China, but it became widely popular during the Tang dynasty and also spread to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. The Classic of Tea, a treatise on tea and its preparations, was written by the 8th century Chinese writer Lu Yu, who had a significant influence on tea drinking in China.
Developments
Throughout the ages, various methods have been developed for processing tea, as well as different tea varieties. In the Tang dynasty, tea was steamed, pounded, and shaped into cakes. Loose-leaf tea gained popularity during the Song dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming dynasties, unoxidized tea leaves were stirred in a hot dry pan, then rolled and air-dried to maintain a green color. The 15th century witnessed the development of oolong tea, where the leaves are allowed to partially oxidize before being heated in a pan. Western preferences favored fully oxidized black tea, with further oxidization being permitted. The discovery of yellow tea occurred accidentally during the Ming dynasty due to careless practices in green tea production, resulting in yellow leaves and a distinct flavor.
Worldwide Spread
Tea was initially introduced to Western priests and merchants in China during the 16th century, where it was known as "chá". The earliest European reference to tea, written as "chiai", can be found in "Delle navigationi e viaggi" by Venetian Giambattista Ramusio in 1545. The first recorded shipment of tea by a European nation was in 1607 when the Dutch East India Company transported a cargo of tea from Macao to Java. Two years later, the Dutch purchased the first consignment of tea from Hirado in Japan to be shipped to Europe. Tea became a fashionable drink in The Hague in the Netherlands, and the Dutch introduced the drink to Germany, France, and across the Atlantic to New Amsterdam (New York).
In 1567, Russians first came in contact with tea when the Cossack Atamans Petrov and Yalyshev visited China. The Mongolian Khan donated four "poods" (65–70 kg) of tea to Tsar Michael I in 1638. According to Jeremiah Curtin, it was possibly in 1636 that Vassili Starkov was sent as an envoy to the Altyn Khan. He was given 250 pounds of tea as a gift to the tsar. Starkov initially refused, seeing no use for a load of dead leaves, but the Khan insisted. Thus, tea was introduced to Russia. In 1679, Russia concluded a treaty on regular tea supplies from China via camel caravan in exchange for furs. It is considered the de facto national beverage today.
The arrival of tea in England can be traced back to 1615 when Richard Wickham, an East India Company official in Japan, mentioned it in a letter. The drink was observed by Peter Mundy in Fujian in 1637, who described it as "chaa – only water with a kind of herb boiled in it". It was later sold in a London coffee house in 1657, and Samuel Pepys tasted it in 1660. Its popularity increased when Catherine of Braganza introduced the tea-drinking habit to the English court in 1662. However, it wasn't until the 18th century that tea became widely consumed in the British Isles, mainly due to its high cost. The preference for black tea with added sugar and milk overtook the popularity of green tea in the 1720s. Tea smuggling in the 18th century eventually led to wider affordability and consumption. The British government's removal of the tea tax in 1785 marked a significant change. Over time, the price of tea in Europe decreased, especially with the arrival of Indian tea in large quantities, making it an everyday beverage for all levels of society by the late 19th century. The influence of tea's popularity had a significant impact on historical events. The Tea Act of 1773 sparked the Boston Tea Party, which in turn escalated into the American Revolution. The trade deficit issue with Britain due to tea trade led to the Opium Wars. The Qing Kangxi Emperor's prohibition of foreign goods in 1685 necessitated payment for Chinese goods in silver, prompting traders to turn to opium as an alternative commodity for trade. The Chinese government's efforts to restrict the opium trade ultimately resulted in war.
Chinese small-leaf-type tea was brought to India in 1836 by the British in an effort to challenge the Chinese tea monopoly. Archibald Campbell introduced Chinese tea seeds to the Kumaun region in 1841 and began experimenting with tea cultivation in Darjeeling. The Alubari tea garden was established in 1856, marking the beginnings of Darjeeling tea production. In 1848, Robert Fortune was commissioned by the Honourable East India Company to covertly bring back tea plants from China to Great Britain. Although most of the Chinese tea plants introduced to the Himalayas did not survive, the British discovered a native Assam tea variety that was hybridized with the Chinese small-leaf-type tea. Utilizing Chinese cultivation techniques, the British colonial government established a tea industry in Assam by offering land to Europeans for cultivation. Initially consumed predominantly by Anglo-Indians, tea gained widespread popularity in India in the 1950s due to a successful advertising campaign by the India Tea Board. The British also introduced the tea industry to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1867.