2737 B.C.
There are two principal versions of the very origins of the worlds most popular beverage and each is as romantic as the other. The first legend states that the second emperor of China, Shen Nung, a respected scholar and herbalist, discovered tea when, whilst resting under a tea tree, tea leaves blew into his cup of hot water. The second legend claims that Darma, a devoted Buddhist, vows to spend seven sleepless years contemplating the Buddha. During his fifth year as he succumbed to drowsiness he carelessly picked a few leaves from a nearby tea tree and began to chew. He was so revived by this experience he was able to complete his vigil. Myth or not the consumption of tea from this time is well accepted amongst scholars.
206 B.C. – 220 A.D.
The first written reference to tea is when a Chinese surgeon recommends it for increasing awareness and alertness. There is, however, some confusion surrounding these early records as the Chinese character for tea is the same as that of sow thistle, the distinction coming in the pronunciation. An emperor of the Han Dynasty decreed that the character for tea should be pronounced cha.
400-600
Demand for tea as a medicinal beverage rises in China and cultivation processes are developed. Many tea drinkers add onion, ginger, spices, or orange to their teas. Plantations are established in the Yangtse river valleys and tea is further popularized by being gifted to emperors and appearing in taverns, wine stores and noodle houses.
400
Now called Kuang Ya in the Chinese dictionary, tea and its detailed infusion and preparation steps are defined.
476
Turkish traders bargain for tea on the border of Mongolia.
593
Buddhism and tea journey from China to Japan. Japanese priests studying in China carried tea seeds and leaves back.
618-907 Tang Dynasty
Known as the “golden age of tea”, tea becomes a popular drink in China for both its flavor and medicinal qualities. It is during this time (725 A.D.) that tea inherits its own character (in the Chinese language) by removing one vertical stroke from the existing character:
It is during this time that the cultivation and preparation of tea becomes highly ritualised with the young female tea pluckers forbidden from eating garlic, onions and strong spices in case they should taint the tea in any way!!
729
The Japanese emperor serves powdered tea (named hiki-cha from the Chinese character) to Buddhist priests. It is widely accepted that at this time there were no tea plants in Japan so it is presumed that this tea was brought from China.
780
First tea tax imposed in China. The Chinese poet-scholar Lu Yu writes the first book of tea titled Ch’a Ching (The Classic of Tea) in timely alignment with the Taoist beliefs. The book covers the plants origins as well as detailed ancient Chinese tea cultivation and preparation techniques.
805
Buddhism and tea devotion spreads further. The Japanese Buddhist saint and priest Saicho and monk Dengyo Daishi bring tea seeds and cultivation and manufacturing tips back from China and plant tea in the gardens of the monastery.
810
Tea from Daishi’s garden is served to the Emperor Saga and he enjoyed this new beverage so much that he decreed that tea cultivation be established in the five provinces near the capital.
960-1280 Song Dynasty
Chinese tea drinking is on the rise, as are elegant teahouses and teacups carefully crafted from porcelain and pottery. Drinking compressed tea cakes (cakes were made by using a binding agent and pouring into a mould) which are then powdered and frothed (by whisking into boiled water) or tea scented with flowers (such as jasmine, lotus and chrysanthemum) is widespread in China while earlier flavorings(such as ginger orange peel and cloves) fall by the wayside. It is said that the elixir was brewed seven times using the same tea. Zen Buddhism catches on in Japan via China and along come tea-drinking temple rituals among the monks to aid concentration whilst meditating. However, it is worth noting that at this time diplomatic relations between the two countries deteriorated and tea was abandoned by the Japanese court.
1101-1125
Chinese Emperor Hui Tsung becomes tea obsessed and writes about the best tea-whisking methods and holds tea-tasting tournaments in the court. While “tea minded,” so the story goes, he doesn’t notice the Mongol take over of his empire. Teahouses in garden settings pop up around China.
1191
Japanese Buddhist abbot Eisai, a devout Zen Buddhist, brings tea seeds from China and plants them around his Kyoto temple. At this time the ancient Chinese tea drinking rituals become unfashionable in Japan and are replaced with a complicated and unique ritual, still used in Japan today, whereby the ceremony and behaviour are designed to allow quiet contemplation to promote spiritual harmony between host, guest and indeed the universe. This ceremony is known as Cha-no-yu(literally hot water tea)
1206-1368 Yuan Dynasty
During the Mongol take over of China, tea becomes a commonplace beverage but never regains its high social status.
1211
Japanese Buddhist abbot Eisai writes the first Japanese tea book Kitcha-Yojoki (Book of Tea Sanitation).
1280
Mongolia takes over of China and since the Emperor of Mongol isn’t a “tea believer” tea drinking dies down in the courts and among the aristocracy. The masses continue to indulge.
1368-1644 Ming Dynasty
At the fall of the Mongol take over, all teas consumed in China are green teas (generally in the form of powdered tea cakes), at this time tea exports are really booming and the method of oxidising (involving fermentation and baking) teas to enable longer journeys of export is discovered and hence black tea is born. The process of steeping whole tea leaves in cups or teapots becomes popular.
1422-1502
Tea’s status as both a drink and ceremony elevates to an art form and almost a religion.
1484
Japan's shogun Yoshimasa encourages tea ceremonies, painting, and drama.
1589
Europeans learn about tea when a Venetian author credits the lengthy lives of Asians to their tea drinking.
1597
Tea is mentioned for the first time in an English translation of Dutch navigator Jan Hugo van Linschooten's travels, in which he refers to tea as chaa. Europeans hear about tea again when Portuguese priests spreading Roman Catholicism through China taste tea and write about its medicinal and taste benefits.
1610
The Dutch bring back green tea from Japan (although some argue it was from China). Dutch East India Company market tea as an exotic medicinal drink, but it’s so expensive only the aristocracy can afford the tea and its serving pieces.
1618
Chinese ambassadors present the Russian Tsar Alexis with many chests of tea.
1635
Tea catches on in the Dutch court.
1637
Wealthy Dutch merchants’ wives serve tea at parties.
1650
The Dutch introduce several teas and tea traditions to New Amsterdam, which later becomes New York.
1658
The first tea is sold via auction in London, England at Garraway's Coffee House.
1662
When Charles II takes a tea-drinking bride (Catherine Braganza of Portugal),she brings with her, as part of her dowry, a chest of tea - tea becomes so chic that alcohol consumption declines amongst aristocratic circles.
1664
English East India Company brings the gift of tea to the British king and queen. The British take over New Amsterdam, name it New York, and a British tea tradition ensues.
1666
Holland tea prices drop to $80-$100 per pound.
1669
English East India Company monopolizes British tea imports after convincing British government to ban Dutch imports of tea and due to high prices and a voracious appetite for tea from the masses a lucrative black market is established, smuggling tea from Holland.
1670
The Massachusetts colony is known to drink black tea.
1680s
Tea with milk is mentioned in Madam de Sévigné’s letters. The Duchess of York introduces tea to Scotland.
1690
The first tea is sold publicly in Massachusetts.
1697
The first known Taiwanese cultivation and export of domestic tea takes place.
Late 1600s
Russia and China sign a treaty that brings the tea trade across Mongolia and Siberia and it is during this time that camels, heavily laden with tea, would be gathered in a circle at the centre of which a fire would be built, the men sleeping between the fire and the camels. As a result of this process the teas became infused with the smoke from the fire which led to the tea we call Russian Caravan today.
1702-14
During Queen Anne’s reign, tea drinking thrives in British coffeehouses.
1705
Annual tea importation to England tops 800,000 pounds.
1706
Thomas Twining, of the famous tea family, serves up tea at Tom’s Coffee House in London.
1717
Tom’s Coffee House evolves into the first teashop called the Golden Lyon. This establishment quickly builds a reputation, principally for serving both men and women in the shop (at the time it would have been considered extremely risqué for women to associate themselves publicly with men – given their taste for snuff and dirty jokes!).
1723
British Prime Minister Robert Walpole reduces British import taxes on tea.
1735
The Russian Empress extends tea as a regulated trade. Russian tea-drinking customs emerge, which entail using tea concentrate, adding hot water, topping it with a lemon, and drinking it through a lump of sugar held between the teeth.
1765
Tea easily ranks as the most popular beverage in the American colonies.
1767
The Townshend Revenue Act passes British Parliament, imposing duty on tea and other goods imported into the British American colonies. A town meeting is held in Boston to protest the Townshend Revenue Act, which leads to an American boycott of British imports and a smuggling in of Dutch teas.
1773
At this time, in protest of the inordinately high taxes, British ships were prohibited from unloading their precious cargo. In Boston after several weeks of general unrest a band of local men, dressed as Native Americans (or Mohawks) boarded the Dartmouth and over the next few hours they threw 340 chests of tea overboard into the harbour. This became known as the Boston Tea Party and the resulting closure of Boston harbour by British troops marked the start of the War of Independence and also a decided move towards coffee drinking in the American marketplace.
1778
Before the indigenous Assam tea plants is identified, British naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, hired by the East India Company, suggests that India grow plant and cultivate imported Chinese tea. For 50 years, India is unsuccessful.
1784
Parliament further reduces the British import taxes on tea in an effort to end the smuggling that accounts for the majority of the nation's tea imports.
1785
11 million pounds of tea are brought into England.
1797
English tea drinking hits a rate of 2 pounds per capita annually, a rate that increases by five times over the next 10 years.
1815-1831
Samples of indigenous Indian tea plants are sent to an East India Company botanist who is slowly convinced that they are bona fide tea plants.
1826
English Quaker John Horniman introduces the first retail tea in sealed, lead-lined packages.
1830
Congress reduces U.S. duties on coffee and tea and other imports.
1833
By an act of the British Prime Minister Charles Grey (the second Earl Grey), the East India Company loses its monopoly in the trade with China, mostly in tea. It is during this time that the Chinese government is believed to have tried to court favour with Earl Grey by gifting him tea blend with bergamot oil. This unique blend still carries his name today!
1835
The East India Company starts the first tea plantations in Assam, India.
1837
The first American consul at Canton, Major Samuel Shaw, trades cargo for tea and silk, earning investors a great return on their capital and encouraging more Americans to trade with China.
1838
The first tea from Indian soil and imported Chinese tea plants is sold. A small amount is sent to England and quickly purchased due to its uniqueness.
1840s
American clipper ships speed up tea transports to America and Europe.
1840s and 50s
The first tea plants, imports from China and India, are cultivated on a trial basis in Sri Lanka (Ceylon).
1840
Anna the Duchess of Bedford introduces afternoon tea, which becomes a lasting English ritual comprising of delicate sandwiches, exquisitely baked cakes and, of course, tea!!
1849
Parliament ends the Britain's Navigation Acts, and U.S. clipper ships are allowed to transport China tea to British ports. Tea wholesaler Henry Charles Harrod takes over a London grocery store and grows it into one of the world's largest department stores.
1850
Londoners get their first peak at a U.S. clipper ship when one arrives from Hong Kong full of China tea.
1856
Tea is planted in and about Darjeeling, India.
1859
Local New York merchant George Huntington Hartford and his employer George P. Gilman give the A&P retail chain its start as the Great American Tea Company store. Hartford and Gilman buy whole clipper shipments from the New York harbor and sell the tea 1/3 cheaper than other merchants.
1866
Over 90 percent of Britain's tea is still imported from China.
1869
The Suez Canal opens, shortening the trip to China and making steamships more economical. In a marketing effort to capitalize on the transcontinental rail link fervor, the Great American Tea Company is renamed the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. A plant fungus ruins the coffee crop in Ceylon and spreads throughout the Orient and Pacific, giving a hefty boost to tea drinking.
1870
Twinings of England begins to blend tea for uniformity.
1872
The Adulteration of Food, Drink, and Drugs Act deems the sale of adulterated drugs or other unlabeled mixtures with foreign additives that increase weight as punishable offenses.
1875
A new British Sale of Food and Drugs Law calls adulteration hazardous to personal health and increases its legal consequences to a heavy fine or imprisonment.
1876
Thomas Johnstone Lipton opens his first shop in Glasgow, using American merchandising methods he learned working in the grocery section of a New York department store.
1890
Thomas Lipton buys tea estates in Ceylon, in order to sell tea at a reasonable price at his growing chain of 300 grocery stores.
Late 1800s
Assam tea plants take over imported Chinese plants in India and its tea market booms. Ceylon’s successful coffee market turns into a successful tea market.
1904
Englishman Richard Blechynden creates iced tea during a heat wave at the St Louis World Fair. Green tea and Formosan (Taiwanese) tea outsells black tea by five times in the U.S.
1908
New York tea importer Thomas Sullivan inadvertently invents tea bags when he sends tea to clients in small silk bags, and they mistakenly steep the bags whole.
1909
Thomas Lipton begins blending and packaging his tea in New York.
1910
Sumatra, Indonesia becomes a cultivator and exporter of tea followed by Kenya and parts of Africa.
1913
Afternoon tea takes on an additional dimension with the introduction and popularization of a risqué dance from Argentina known as the Tango. It becomes incredibly fashionable in Britain to incorporate these two high society fads and the Tea Dance is created.
1914-2007
After rationing during the first great war and as a result of the invention of the tea bag tea becomes an entirely different commodity with the overwhelming majority of people choosing their tea products based on price and convenience.
2007
Teatreetea enters marketplace and attempts to convince the public that quality tea really is a joy to behold!!!