History of tea

Legends

The story of the tea started in China, it we believe a legend that dates back in time for more than 5000 years. The oldest legend is linked to the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung (2737-2697 B.C.). “For hygienic purposes, Emperor Shen Nung only drank hot boiled water. Cooks had to permanently boil water, 24/7. Legend says that one day the Emperor entered the kitchen to drink water and, in that moment, a strong wind blow brought inside some leaves and branches from the garden. It is not known if the leaves and branches came from the fire wood or from the wild tea shrubs growing in the region. Anyway, they felt in the boiling water. Before the astonished cooks, the Emperor approached the recipient where the water started to change its color and to smell with an unknown aroma. The Emperor asked the cooks to taste it and, after seeing that they where still alive, he himself tasted the potion.” And so says the legend that the tea era began. It was 2700 B.C., the year when the first tea was prepared.
Some other legend says that Bodhiharma, one of the monks that founded the Zen cult had been meditating for five years in order to reach the “inner awakening”, when he felt asleep, his vigilance being weakened. In order to punish himself and to stay with his eyes wide opened, he took off his eyelids. In the place upon which they felt, a stem grew and transformed itself in a tea shrub.

Another legend says that during the Song dynasty (960-1279), there was an old lady living alone in the Longjing village. The only revenue source for her was the cultivation of 18 tea shrubs. One year, the tea was of poor quality and did not sell. The old lady didn’t know how to get along anymore. One day, an old man came to her house. He closely looked at the grinding stone that laid in some corner. He asked the old lady if she could sell him the grinding stone for 5 silver coins. It was a large amount of money. The old lady accepted it. The old man told her that he’d come a little bit later with some men to pick the grinding stone since it was pretty heavy. Happy for having obtained such a good price for the grinding stone, the old lady cleaned it up from dust and putrefying tea leaves. Where could she put the putrefied leaves? She buried them near the tea shrubs. When the old man came once again, he asked her where she had put the garbage from the grinding stone and the lady told him honestly. The old man was angry and puzzled. But after a few days, a miracle happened! Green buds of an unseen freshness grew from the tea shrubs.
Tea in Europe

Europe Finds out about Tea

While in Japan and China tea cultures where highly developed, information about the new mysterious drink started to come to Europe. Caravan leaders started to mention something about tea, but almost nothing was known about the way to consume it and about its appearance. The first European to enter into contact with the tea and to write about it was Jasper de Cruz in 1560. Portugal, with its technology-advanced fleet, was the first to obtain commercial rights with China. Father de Cruz had tested tea during his first commercial mission to China.

The Portuguese developed a commercial route along which they sent tea to Lisbon, from where Dutch ships transported it to France, the Netherlands and the Baltic countries.

Tea enters Europe

Thanks to the success of the Dutch fleet in the Pacific, tea become fashionable in the Dutch capital, The Hague. This happened especially due to the high price of the tea that became the privilege of the rich. Gradually, imported tea quantities grew and prices began to drop. At first found only in the chemist’s shop along with ginger and sugar, tea could be found in Dutch groceries starting with 1675.

As the tea consumption grew rapidly in the Dutch society, doctors and scholars began the discussion about positive and negative effects of the tea. Known as the “tea heretics”, the general public ignored the great dispute and continued to savor the new drink even though the controversy lasted between1635 and 1657. During this period, France and the Netherlands guided Europe towards tea consumption.