Tea History in The World
THE HISTORY OF THE TEA
The Tea History of the World
The Buddhist priests in China played a significant role in establishing and spreading the tea culture and they drank lots of tea to prove their existence as super humans by enduring long periods of lack of sleep and they made the tea almost the symbol of Buddha sect. The priests who wanted this sect to be spread within country and abroad, helped the tea become widely common in China and the neighboring countries in a short time. Therefore the tea has become the cultural plant of China, as well as the most commonly consumed drink.
The leaves of the tea, which rather grows as wild plants on the plateaus and mountains of China and India, are processed by hand to prepare tea in various ways. The mountainous locations where tea is grown as a wild plant are the tropic and semi-tropic regions with high temperature and plenty of rain.
The tea agriculture was started in Japan in A.D. 805 with the influence of the applications in China. The books published in Japan in A.D. 593 contain the first information on the tea and the first significant book on tea was published in 1200.
The tea plant was brought by the German Natural Scientist Andreas Cleyer in 1684 from Japan to Java for the first time. J. L Jacobson, who is known to be the father of the tea industry in Indonesia, helped the tea agriculture become common in Java as of 1827.
The tea agriculture in Sri Lanka was started during 1870s as the coffee products were greatly damaged as the result of coffee rust disease, while it was started in Uganda, Nyasaland and Kenya in 1900s. The cultivation of the tea plant in USA and the activities to spread the tea agriculture were attempted between 1890-1915 under the guidance of Dr.Charles U. Shepard. As the tea production required high workforce capacity in addition to high costs, the tea requirement in the USA was fulfilled by importation instead of production.
Arabs met with tea as of A.D. 850. Venetian, British and Portuguese people met with tea for the first time in 1559, 1598 and 1600 years respectively. The tea was brought by Dutch people to the Europe in 1610 for the first time and it was also given as gift by the Chinese Embassy in 1618 to the Tsardom in Moscow. Europe and Soviet Union did not pay the attention the tea deserved for a long time, which is to some extent caused by the explanations and articles of some physicians stating that the tea was just a plain plant without benefits, which is commonly found everywhere. Moreover, in 1650 some physicians and priests in Germany and Netherlands stated that the tea had to be banned as it was harmful for health, and it was the reason the Chinese people were so weak and thin. On the other hand the French physicians effectively defended the tea between 1671-1685 years by stating that it had benefits, and they played an important role in introducing and spreading tea with their observations and experiences.
The widespread usage of the tea in United Kingdom among the people happened around the same period with Netherlands, France and Germany. In United Kingdom during 1650s, the tea was drunk at the coffee houses visited by nobles as a kind of medication or treatment method. The club visiting traditions in London caused the tea consumption habit to become widespread. The announcements about the tea was seen on the gazettes published in London in 1658 for the first time. Drinking the high quality Chinese tea which had beneficial effects for human health was recommended to the people in such gazette announcements. The spreading of the tea consumption in parallel with the coffee and wine consumption increased the income of British government and taxes were started to be collected at places where the tea and coffee were sold and drunk. But copper, brass and even leather money began to be used at the coffee houses because of the lack of money with small values. Most of these types of highly elaborate money had Turkish Sultan’s picture, who was defined as Grand Murad. Some of them are displayed at the museums in London.
On the other hand the tea drinking habit became common in United Kingdom among the women with the influence of the princess of the Portuguese who married with Charles II in 1662 and tea was more frequently offered during the meetings. This princess is known as the first queen that drank tea in United Kingdom.
All coffee houses were closed in United Kingdom in 1675 because of various reasons and the Kingdom prohibited the tea from being sold or consumed. But this prohibition was lifted after a short time; the tea drinking habit quickly became widespread and the number of tea stores in United Kingdom increased quickly and the tea has become a loved public drink.
The Tea History of the World
The Buddhist priests in China played a significant role in establishing and spreading the tea culture and they drank lots of tea to prove their existence as super humans by enduring long periods of lack of sleep and they made the tea almost the symbol of Buddha sect. The priests who wanted this sect to be spread within country and abroad, helped the tea become widely common in China and the neighboring countries in a short time. Therefore the tea has become the cultural plant of China, as well as the most commonly consumed drink.
The leaves of the tea, which rather grows as wild plants on the plateaus and mountains of China and India, are processed by hand to prepare tea in various ways. The mountainous locations where tea is grown as a wild plant are the tropic and semi-tropic regions with high temperature and plenty of rain.
The tea agriculture was started in Japan in A.D. 805 with the influence of the applications in China. The books published in Japan in A.D. 593 contain the first information on the tea and the first significant book on tea was published in 1200.
The tea plant was brought by the German Natural Scientist Andreas Cleyer in 1684 from Japan to Java for the first time. J. L Jacobson, who is known to be the father of the tea industry in Indonesia, helped the tea agriculture become common in Java as of 1827.
The tea agriculture in Sri Lanka was started during 1870s as the coffee products were greatly damaged as the result of coffee rust disease, while it was started in Uganda, Nyasaland and Kenya in 1900s. The cultivation of the tea plant in USA and the activities to spread the tea agriculture were attempted between 1890-1915 under the guidance of Dr.Charles U. Shepard. As the tea production required high workforce capacity in addition to high costs, the tea requirement in the USA was fulfilled by importation instead of production.
Arabs met with tea as of A.D. 850. Venetian, British and Portuguese people met with tea for the first time in 1559, 1598 and 1600 years respectively. The tea was brought by Dutch people to the Europe in 1610 for the first time and it was also given as gift by the Chinese Embassy in 1618 to the Tsardom in Moscow. Europe and Soviet Union did not pay the attention the tea deserved for a long time, which is to some extent caused by the explanations and articles of some physicians stating that the tea was just a plain plant without benefits, which is commonly found everywhere. Moreover, in 1650 some physicians and priests in Germany and Netherlands stated that the tea had to be banned as it was harmful for health, and it was the reason the Chinese people were so weak and thin. On the other hand the French physicians effectively defended the tea between 1671-1685 years by stating that it had benefits, and they played an important role in introducing and spreading tea with their observations and experiences.
The widespread usage of the tea in United Kingdom among the people happened around the same period with Netherlands, France and Germany. In United Kingdom during 1650s, the tea was drunk at the coffee houses visited by nobles as a kind of medication or treatment method. The club visiting traditions in London caused the tea consumption habit to become widespread. The announcements about the tea was seen on the gazettes published in London in 1658 for the first time. Drinking the high quality Chinese tea which had beneficial effects for human health was recommended to the people in such gazette announcements. The spreading of the tea consumption in parallel with the coffee and wine consumption increased the income of British government and taxes were started to be collected at places where the tea and coffee were sold and drunk. But copper, brass and even leather money began to be used at the coffee houses because of the lack of money with small values. Most of these types of highly elaborate money had Turkish Sultan’s picture, who was defined as Grand Murad. Some of them are displayed at the museums in London.
On the other hand the tea drinking habit became common in United Kingdom among the women with the influence of the princess of the Portuguese who married with Charles II in 1662 and tea was more frequently offered during the meetings. This princess is known as the first queen that drank tea in United Kingdom.
All coffee houses were closed in United Kingdom in 1675 because of various reasons and the Kingdom prohibited the tea from being sold or consumed. But this prohibition was lifted after a short time; the tea drinking habit quickly became widespread and the number of tea stores in United Kingdom increased quickly and the tea has become a loved public drink.