A Short History of Tea

Tea is one of the most widely consumed drinks in the world, second only to water in many estimations, yet its origins lie in a single plant and a long history of cultivation and trade. All true tea, whether green, black or oolong, is produced from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to parts of East and South Asia. The differences between the various kinds of tea arise not from different plants but from how the harvested leaves are treated after picking, particularly the extent to which they are allowed to oxidise before being dried.

According to a well-known Chinese legend, tea was discovered by the mythical emperor Shen Nong, who is said to have been boiling water when leaves from a nearby bush drifted into his pot, producing a fragrant and refreshing drink. Such stories are charming but cannot be treated as history, and the true beginnings of tea drinking are lost in the distant past. What is reasonably certain is that tea was being consumed in China long before it became known elsewhere, and that over many centuries it developed from a medicinal preparation into an everyday beverage enjoyed for its taste. In its early use, tea was valued for its supposed benefits to health and alertness, and only gradually did the pleasure of drinking it come to matter as much as any medicinal effect. This slow change in the way tea was regarded helped to turn it from a rare remedy into a drink woven into ordinary daily life.

By the time of the Tang dynasty, tea had become firmly established in Chinese culture, and it was during this period that the scholar Lu Yu composed a famous work devoted entirely to the subject. This book described the cultivation of the plant, the preparation of the drink and the equipment involved, and it helped to raise tea drinking to the level of a refined art. From China the custom spread to neighbouring regions, and it took particularly deep root in Japan, where Buddhist monks are thought to have carried tea seeds and drinking practices back from their travels. In Japan the preparation and serving of tea eventually developed into an elaborate and highly ritualised ceremony.

Tea remained largely unknown in Europe until comparatively recent times. It was European traders operating in Asia who first brought the leaf westward, and Dutch merchants are generally credited with being among the earliest to import it in significant quantities during the seventeenth century. At first tea was an expensive luxury available only to the wealthy, and it was regarded by some as an exotic novelty of doubtful value. Gradually, however, it gained acceptance, and in Britain in particular it would become extraordinarily popular, eventually being regarded as a national drink.

The growing British appetite for tea had far-reaching consequences that extended well beyond the dining table. For a long period almost all the tea consumed in Britain was purchased from China, and this trade created serious economic and political tensions. In an effort to reduce their dependence on Chinese supplies, the British sought to grow tea within their own empire, and large plantations were established in parts of India, notably in the Assam region, where a variety of the plant suited to the local conditions was cultivated. These developments transformed India into one of the world's major tea-producing countries, and the plantations there were worked by large numbers of labourers under conditions that were often extremely harsh. The organisation of this industry on such a scale showed how a simple domestic habit in one country could reshape agriculture and society in another, thousands of miles away.

The way tea was prepared and enjoyed varied considerably from one society to another. In Britain the practice of adding milk became common, and an afternoon meal centred on tea, accompanied by light food, developed into a recognised social occasion. In other parts of the world tea was drunk plain, or flavoured with spices, or prepared in strong and heavily sweetened forms. These differing customs reflect the way in which a single imported product could be absorbed into local tastes and traditions, taking on a distinct character in each place it reached.

Today tea is grown in many countries with suitable climates, including China, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya and others, and it supports the livelihoods of enormous numbers of people involved in its cultivation and processing. The plant generally thrives in warm regions with plentiful rainfall, and the finest teas are often associated with cooler, higher-altitude areas where the leaves grow more slowly. From its uncertain and legendary beginnings, tea has become a genuinely global commodity, woven into the daily routines and social rituals of societies across the world.