History of Tea
1. Origin of Tea
Although the word "tea（茶/cha）" is used in various beverages nowadays, tea is originally made from the evergreen evergreen camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze, which is a member of the Camellia sinensis family.
The origin of chia is said to be the mountainous region that straddles the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan in China. Cha tea spread throughout the world and was named after the Chinese language in which it originated, and according to the route of its transmission, it was called Cha in Cantonese overland (to Mongolia and Tibet) and Te in the Fujian language spoken in Xiamen, a trading port, by sea (to Europe).
In Europe, black tea spread mainly in England, and the English word "tea," which means black tea today, is said to have originated from "Te.
There are many historical references to the introduction of tea to Japan, including a record of tea ceremony in the Nihon Kouki, compiled in 815, which is recognized as an official history; a tea garden at Yakuoji Temple, built by Bodhisattva Gyoki; Saicho Shonin planting tea seeds in Sakamoto, Omi; and Eisai Zenji planting tea on Mt. In Japan, tea is called Yama-cha, which means "mountain tea" in Kyushu.
On the other hand, in Japan, there is a type of tea called Yamacha that grows wild in Kyushu, Shikoku, and the central part of Honshu, and different methods of tea making and drinking have been handed down in each area.
2. Tea was medicine at first
In the "Tea Sutra" (compiled around 760) written by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty of China, there is a sentence that reads, "The drinking of tea originates from Shen Nong. It is said that Shen Nong was the founder of Chinese medicine, and that while he was searching for plants suitable for human consumption, he discovered the tea plant, which he used to detoxify as many as 72 poisons in a day.
Tea is said to have first appeared as a medicinal herb in "Shen Nong Hon Chao" written during the Warring States period in China, and tea was first consumed as a medicine in China and became a luxury item during the Song dynasty (960-1279).
In Japan, the character for "tea" is found in the "Wamei Ruijusho" (compiled between 931 and 1481), which is said to be Japan's first Chinese-Japanese dictionary, and there is a story that Zen Master Eisai, founder of the Rinzai sect, brought back tea seeds when he returned from the Sung dynasty and planted them on Mt. Sefuri in Kyushu and gave tea seeds to Shonin Myoe at Kozan Temple in Kyoto for cultivation.
He also presented the "Kissa Yojoki" (compiled in 1214), which describes the effects of tea and its production method, to General Minamoto no Sanetomo, beginning with the famous phrase, "Tea is a herb for curing illness and prolonging life.
Eisai himself played an extremely important role in the development of the tea industry and the spread of tea ceremony by planting tea plants in various regions.
However, tea was still a precious commodity, and its consumption was limited to the imperial court, aristocrats, and other upper classes in the capital.
3. The Spread of Tea Production and Japanese Tea Culture
In the Nanbokucho era (1336), tea plantations spread mainly to temples and temple estates, with Kyoto, Yamato (Nara Prefecture), Ise (Mie Prefecture), Suruga (Shizuoka Prefecture), and Musashi (Saitama,
Tokyo, and Kanagawa Prefectures) being the most famous tea production areas of the time. ( around 1280-1350).
As tea production progressed, the custom of drinking tea spread, and tea drinking and tea fighting (in which contestants compete to win or lose based on how the tea is prepared, or by guessing the place of origin from the aroma and taste of the tea) as a form of entertainment became more popular.
The formalization of chanoyu began. The tea ceremony ritual system was created by Murata Juko (1422-1502), Takeno Jouo (1502-1555), and Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591), and was largely developed as "Wabicha," which became popular among the warlords and, together with tea houses and tea utensils, developed into a complete "tea ceremony(茶道)" in Japanese culture.
In the Edo period (1603-1867), tea production increased and the distribution structure specializing in tea was greatly developed, with distributors spreading from the central cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Edo (Tokyo) to regional cities such as Tsuruga (Fukui Prefecture), Omi (Shiga Prefecture), Ise (Mie Prefecture), Mino (Gifu Prefecture), and Suruga (Shizuoka Prefecture).
The tea industry today is based on a combination of these functions. The tea merchants' centers were called "tea towns," and the names of these towns can still be found in various areas today.
4. Expanding into the World of Tea
Chinese tea, which is believed to have originated in China, was sent back home by Portugal, which had a monopoly on trade with China, from its base in Macao. In the 17th century, the Netherlands, which replaced Portugal as the dominant power in Asian trade, began exporting Chinese tea to The UK, where it was sold in London. (1657)
Tea spread throughout the world in this way, but it was not until the 20th century that tea spread to all corners of the globe. Tea was produced only in China at the beginning of the 19th century, with the exception of Japan, where the Assamese tea plant was discovered in India in 1823, and tea production in Sri Lanka began in 1851.
The first export of Japanese tea was in 1610 when the East India Company exported Japanese tea from Hirado to Europe via Indonesia, and the tea was Kamairi tea from Ureshino (Saga Prefecture).
In 1859, the tea was handed over to Olt and exported to the U.S.A. This was the first export of Japanese tea to Europe via Indonesia.
This was the beginning of Japanese tea exportation in Japan and the birth of women traders.
Exports of Japanese tea have grown steadily since the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States in 1858, and reached a high of 30,100 tons in 1917.
5. Tea manufacturing process
There are various theories about the tea that came to Japan from China, but it is said to be a solid tea (團茶) made by frying tea leaves in a kettle.
In the Kyushu region, there are two types of kettle-fired tea called Ureshino tea and Aoyuricha tea, which are said to have been introduced by Chinese potters.
According to Miyazaki Yasusada's "Agricultural Complete Book" written in 1697, there are four methods of tea production.
1. Steaming method
2. Boiling quickly in boiling water or passing hot water through the tea
3. pouring hot water over the tea leaves to leach them
4. Kettle roasting method
The foundation for the development of Japanese tea manufacturing technology was laid in Kyoto (Uji), where Soen Nagatani established the steamed Uji sencha method (1738), which is considered the ancestor of today's "Sencha" tea. Later, Uesaka Seiwemon invented a method of making high-grade tea from the sprouts of the Tencha garden (1834), and Yamamoto Kahei invented a method of making gyokuro (1835), thus establishing the "Uji method".
In each region, efforts were also made to improve Japanese-style tea manufacturing techniques, which developed into today's tea industry and laid the foundation for the beverage familiar to the common people. As tea exports expanded, tea was promoted as a promising crop, and a typical example of this was the creation of collective tea gardens (Makinohara Tea Garden) by Shizuoka Prefecture's samurai families' vocational aid program.
According to the "Japan National Agricultural Production Table" of tea production in 1877, the total tea production in 26 prefectures from Miyagi, Iwate, Niigata, and Ibaraki in the north to Chiba, Saitama, and Tokyo, and from Tokai, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu in the southwest amounted to approximately 7,700 tons. Incidentally, the population at that time was 35.87 million.
In the early Meiji Era, the Japanese government's basic policy was to improve the quality of green tea, and in response to the global increase in black tea and oolong tea, the government dispatched engineer Motokichi Tada overseas to learn the technology and opened training centers in various parts of the country to promote the tea industry.
After the war, the Japanese tea industry was forced to decline, but after the war, the government actively promoted the industry and established testing and research institutes in order to obtain foreign currency, and in particular, put a lot of effort into black tea.
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