2023-05-08 23:00:00
The history of tea in India contains all the ingredients of a good detective novel. A legend, a well-kept secret, a groom who wants to please his sweetheart, a thief, intrigues, a war, a conquest, and so on and the most incredible.
So, are you hooked? Let’s go for a soap opera in 4 episodes, to be found on Tuesday in lepetitjournal.com. In this first episode, we move away from India to discover the origins of tea, in China.
The origin of tea, a sleeping Chinese prince…
THE legends are pretty, wherever they come from. With regard to tea, they portray a Chinese emperor or a Buddhist prince, amazed, who by the subtlety of the aroma of a tea leaf dropped into his boiled water, who by the energizing virtues of the leaf in question.
In the 3rd millennium BC, Chinese Emperor Shennong, who was trying to taste plants of all kinds (with the risks involved in these experiments), would have dipped his lips in water in which had infused a leaf fallen from the tea tree under which he had dozed off. Finding the beverage delicious, he adopted it.
Other legends speak of a Buddhist Prince who, to fight once morest the sleep that won him during his peregrinations, would have tried drink and would have been amazed. The magic leaves allowed him to fight once morest falling asleep.
Another version, Indian this time, tells regarding the same story with a prince who left India to bring Buddhism to China and sought to ward off sleep. A medical text from the year 220 even advises drinking it to “think better”.
… and merchant dynasties
All these legends attest to theorigin of the tea plant in this triangle of Southeast Asia between the North of Burma, the South-West of China and the North-East of India. They also emphasize theancient habit of boiling water to make it safe to drink. It also seems that the drink became daily from the third century. That tea became a princely and then aristocratic drink there under the Tang dynasty (618/907) then under the Song dynasty (960/1279) is attested by archeology.
Tea was traded with neighboring nations and enjoyed for its therapeutic properties. It was reputed to relieve fatigue and strengthen the will. From the Song period, tea in brick or more and more pulverized was used as a currency of exchange, especially with the peoples of the North. The Mongols traded it for meat and ate it rather salty and spicy.
When the history of tea intersects with that of porcelain
After the Mongol conquest, the ebb of the invaders or their acculturation and the recovery of the Empire, the Ming dynasty brought the little leaf up to date. The tea is tasted then as today. Cups and teapots appear to infuse the precious leaves. The history of tea intersects with that of porcelain. As a result, products from China are increasing. Today we would talk regarding soft power.
The renown of the Middle Empire is in fact due to its unique productions and the mastery of its exchanges. Whether it’s silk, tea or porcelain, China controls the entire chain, from production to delivery. The first European travellers, including Marco Polo, returned dazzled by all these splendours brought back by caravan to Venice, the gateway to the West.
We will have to wait for the Renaissance and the Great Discoveries for tea to gain other territories….
Next episode: “European discovery”
Originally from China, tea was introduced to Europe by settlers at the time of the Great Discoveries. The Portuguese then the Dutch, by bringing back the little sheet of their wanderings, will launch a real passion in England…
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