Known throughout Asia as one of China's great treasures, tea is
second only to water as a world beverage. Tea has been linked with
health from the very beginning, and is prized for its ability to
banish fatigue, stimulate the mental powers, and raise the energy
level.
The
Taoist philosophers and Buddhist monks, who did much to promote tea
and improve its cultivation in China, imbued tea drinking with
greater meaning than is applied to any other beverage. Tea drinking
does, in fact, reflect much that is characteristically Chinese, from
the taste itself to the way it is served. Anyone who has tried to
describe the taste of tea will recall having a difficult time. The
flavor is much more subtle than that of coffee or chocolate.
The stimulating
effect of tea brings into harmony two seemingly contradictory
elements - alertness and relaxation. Lu Yu held that tea was the
essence of moderation, and that one should sip it as though it were
life itself, never taking more than three cups at a time. An offer
of a cup of tea is therefore like an invitation to relax and enjoy
the here and now for what it is.
What can be called tea may be made from many plants. Today there are
a multitude of herbal teas on the market and indeed herbal teas have
always been a tradition in China, more for medical than beverage
use. Here we confine the discussion to true tea, made from the leaf
of the plant Camellia Sinensis.
One of the ironies
of history is that this "peaceful" drink should have been such an
important factor in two revolutions - the American Revolution in
1776 and the modern Chinese Revolution, China's long struggle
against foreign imperialism, which began with the Opium Wars of 1840
and 1857 and finally ended in the creation of a new China in 1949.
In the American
Revolution the beverage led to the Boston Tea Party on December 16,
1773, when three shiploads of tea chests were dumped into Boston
harbor. The American colonists regarded the tax on tea as a symbol
for many edicts Britain had imposed on the colonies without
consulting them.
The Opium War grew
out of the drain on Britain's silver supply as Chinese tea gained
popularity in nineteenth century England. To recoup the silver that
was being sent to China to purchase tea, opium was sold to China.
Chinese action against opium importation brought retaliation from
Britain and the Opium War which forced China to legalize sales of
the drug.
China's tea trade
reached its peak in 1886, but her economy was already in a general
decline as a result of unsettled conditions created by the Opium War
and the Taiping Rebellion. India and Ceylon teas began driving
Chinese tea off the world market in the 1860s. By the 1940s India
and Japan were the main tea exporters.
Today China's
production and trade are on the rebound and tea is China's most
valuable agricultural export, and her third largest export commodity
after grain and silk. Recently China has supplied 16 percent of U.S.
imports and 7.7 percent (1984) of Britain's.
Tea
drinking has been gaining popularity in the United States in recent
years. Tea has been descried in various publications as "the newest
chic, a more gracious way to do business than the power breakfast, a
quiet revolution... as people switch from alcohol to tea, from
standing in noisy, crowded bars to sitting in spacious, refined
tearooms."
Most of the best hotels have tearooms, often serving the beverage
with British-style delicacies. They have also appeared on the
streets of many communities, and we were surprised to find a
complete line of teas back would not have thought of tea. U.S.
consumption exceeds 50 billion cups a year.
