Tea has been consumed for centuries and has spread across Asia and Europe because of its popularity as a tasteless beverage that could be mass-produced quickly; this early form of tea was called “pu-erh”.
The history of tea is ancient, and the story of its discovery is a rather confusing one. There is evidence of tea use dating back three thousand years, with recent discoveries in Taiwan that point to its first use there too–significantly earlier than in mainland China.
The classical Chinese chronicles do not mention tea until 760 CE, which may mean that the Buddhist monks who brought tea to Japan using knowledge they gained from their travels in India had not yet done so at the time.
The story of tea traces back to 2737 BC when Emperor Shennong unexpectedly found some leaves falling into boiling water. He then drank the beverage to cure his certain illness and thus it became known as “Shennong’s Tea”.
The drinking of tea became popular during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) where it was considered high class and respectful to serve guests with tea instead of alcoholic beverages.
How Tea Arrived In The West?
Tea arrived in Europe via Dutch and Portuguese sailors at the beginning of the 17th century. They had trade relations with China and brought the tea to Britain and Holland at the outset, where it was sold at auctions and became very popular among the aristocracy and the wealthy. The beverage’s initial high price prevented it from circulating among the western population at large.
The tea trade was a significant factor in establishing connections between east and west. In China, tea leaves were used as a substitute for coins. In Europe, tea was used as a symbol of high status and as a stimulus for many technological developments, for instance, the development of fast sail boats such as the “Clipper”, which shortened the time it took to sail from China to Europe and made it possible to provide shipments of fresh tea to the west.
British companies established for the importing of tea, such as the “John Company” and “The East India Trade Company” became trade monopolies, unprecedented in size and power, and were ordained by the royal family and empowered to operate in any way necessary to ensure the continuous supply of this popular drink. At the beginning of the 18th century, with the expansion of tea imports to the west and the consequent decrease in its price, tea became a common product enjoyed by all sectors of the population.
Tea In America: The Boston Tea Party
At the beginning of the 18th century, tea arrived in Northern America, quickly becoming a desirable drink there as well. In New York and Boston, London-style teahouses started developing, where the drink was sold to the general public.
Tea in 1900s and beyond
The early 20th century saw the continued spread of tea culture to western countries and the globalization that was spurred by the British Empire. Tea drinking was a part of many different cultures but it had been especially popular in Britain and America.
These countries became champions of tea as they began to import it on a large scale. In China, decades of turmoil had led to a decline in its tea production, which allowed other countries to take advantage of their lower prices due to oversupply.
As England began selling India teas at an extremely low price, there was a huge increase in the popularity of tea within these other countries. This eventually led to the creation of tea plantations in other countries such as Ceylon, South Africa, and Taiwan.
The 20th century also saw a great wealth of knowledge being made about tea and its health benefits. In 1904, L.E. (Lu Yu) wrote the first book on tea that was published in the West. This sparked a great interest with those who had been previously unfamiliar with the practice of drinking tea. Even though there had been interest in previous centuries before L.E’s writings, it wasn’t until then that people truly began to seek out information about this fascinating drink from Asia..
The development of tea culture in the western world also changed some prevailing beliefs on the health benefits of tea. There was a great deal of suspicion that tea contained carcinogens due to its association with tobacco. In fact, people did not see anything wrong with actually adding tobacco to one’s beverage. For this reason, many manufacturers began to remove the carcinogenic ingredients from their teas and instead marketed them for their unique flavors. This changed perception allowed more people to drink more tea.
Britain became an even greater supporter of tea after World War I. The peace movement that arose during this time popularized whiskey and other alcoholic beverages over tea. This allowed this British product to compete with the other popular beverages of the time. This movement, however, also had adverse effects on tea in Britain.
The government of this country was concerned about people’s health so they severely restricted the amount of food and beverages that were allowed to be imported from other parts of the world (Cerny 154). Countries such as India, who supplied most of their tea, were hit hard by this legislation and saw a great drop in their tea exports.
Tea consumption continued to change until after World War II. By then there had been a great deal of investment in India’s tea production, resulting in India becoming one of the largest producers in all of Asia.
During the 20th century, the source of tea crops spread throughout the world, from Japan to Africa and South America. Towards the end of the 20th century, an additional rise in the western world’s tea consumption occurred and also in evidence was a demand for quality teas.
The rise in tea consumption in the occident results from three primary reasons:
- The rise in popularity of the back-to-nature trend and an aspiration to lead a healthy, simple life. Tea, as a natural drink with evident health benefits, fits in perfectly with this lifestyle.
- A massive immigration of Asians to the west. The Asian immigrants disseminated their strongly based tea cultures in the western countries.
- Western travelers in the east, who brought with them tidings of tea upon their return.
Today the scope of the tea industry’s worldwide economic activity stands at more than three billion dollars a year. Tea is grown and produced in more than 40 countries worldwide.
Every year, more than 2.5 million tons of tea is produced around the world, most of it in Asian countries.
