Tea had its genesis in China untold centuries ago but its early history is lost in the obscurity of China's venerable antiquity and for the most part is traditional. Everything known of its beginning is so inextricably intertwined with things patently mythical and fabulous, that we can only vaguely surmise which is fact and which is fancy. Probably it will never be known when tea was first used as a beverage nor how it was discovered that tea leaves could be treated and used to make a palatable drink. It is equally doubtful whether we will ever know with anything like reasonable accuracy when and how the cultivation of the plant began. Just as coffee has been known and used as food and drink in Ethiopia since time out of mind, so, too, the Chinese have known the tea plant and have used its leaves for food and beverage purposes from time immemorial.

　The legendary origin of tea as taken from Chinese sources dates back approximately to 2737 B.C. The earliest reliable reference is contained in a Chinese dictionary dated about A.D.350. In the years between, a few possibly authentic and many supposed references to tea are to be found. The word "supposed" is used for good reason since the present appellation ch`a 茶 was not given to tea until the seventh century of our era. Prior to this time the Chinese used the names of several other shrubs in their mention of tea. Of the borrowed names, t`u 荼 was the one most frequently used until the time of the T`ang dynasty, A.D. 620-907, when t`u reverted to its original meaning of "sow thistle" and ch`a came into being. Then again, so great is the similarity between the characters ch`a 茶 and t`u 荼 that it suggests a close etymological relationship and inspires some with the idea of a direct derivation of ch`a from t`u. Consequently it will be readily understood that any attempt to trace the early story of tea through ancient records has been extremely difficult, a primary difficulty being the impossibility of determining when many of the early writers meant tea instead of some other shrub.

Legendary Origin in 2737 B.C

　The Chinese have dramatized the vague and obscure advent of tea by ascribing it to the reign of a legendary emperor, Shen Nung, called the“Divine Healer”who lived about 2737 B.C.“This,” says Samuel Ball with a sympathetic understanding of the Eastern habits of thought,“is not so much from the vanity of assigning it to a high antiquity, as to a king of courtesy sanctioned by ancient usage and oral tradition, which ascribes the discovery of numerous medicinal plants, and of tea among the rest, to Shen Nung.”(*1)

　In Shen Nung's Pen ts`ao, or Medical Book, a reference reads: “Bitter t`u is called ch`a hsuan, and yu. It grows in winter in the valleys by the streams, and on the hills of Ichow ［in the province of Szechwan ］, and does not perish in severe winter. It is gathered on the third day of the third month ［in April］ and then dried.”Another reference mention the tea leaf as“good for tumors or abscesses that come about the head, or for ailments of the bladder. It dissipates heat caused by the phlegms, or inflammation of the chest. It quenches thirst. It lessens the desire for sleep. It gladdens and cheers the heart.”The Pen ts`ao of Shen Nung has been offered time and time again as a proof of the great antiquity of tea. To the popular mind this seems a prima facie case for here, it may be argued, is a quotation from an author who flourished as far back as 2700 B.C. What a great pity to destroy such an enchanting myth, even though historical accuracy compels its destruction! Shen Nung's book was not actually written in its earliest form until the Neo-Han dynasty, A.D.25-221, the tea reference being added after the seventh century when the word ch`a came into use. This was thirty-four hundred years after the time of the fabled emperor to whom the authorship of the book is ascribed.

Alleged Confucian Tea Reference

　This is but one of the great errors which has crept into the literature of tea. A still greater one－greater because it is more persistent and has received a wide circulation on account of the fame and popularity of its supposed author－ attributes a tea reference to the Shih Ching, or Book of Odes, edited by Confucius about 550 B.C. The supposed allusion occurs in Ode Ten,“The Lament of a Discarded Wife,”in Part Three of the Odes of Pei, and reads: “Who says that t'u is bitter? It is sweet as the tsi.” Many orientalists are agreed that no reference to tea or to the tea plant was intended in this quotation, nor elsewhere in the entire work. James Legge,1815-97, an English missionary, whose translation of the Shih Ching ranks high in scholarship, translates the character t'u as “sow thistle,”a vegetable, and tsi as “shepherd's purse,” making the passage read,

Who says that t'u is bitter?

It is sweet as the shepherd's purse. (*2)

　In the Ch'a Ching, ca. A.D. 780, the first book on tea, Lu Yu, its author, has the reference read, “Who says that t'u is bitter?” Another passage in Lu Yu's work reads, “Chin and t'u are as treacle.”Lu Yu states that the character t'u in the Confucian quotation indicates a vegetable was meant, pointing out that the “grass,”not the “tree”radical was used, and that tea was is regarded as a tree. A corrupt form of the Confucian quotation has occasionally appeared, reading, “Who was it asserted that ch'a is bitter?”Obviously, since ch'a was not in use before A.D. 725, interpreting this quotation in this manner is not justifiable. There is one more possible reference of 500 B.C. even after this questionable Confucian reference has been dismissed as unworthy. It is quoted by Bretschneider, who Dr. Cohen Stuart,the eminent Dutch botanist, characterizes as an amateur Sinologue. The quotation is in the Yen Tsu Ch'un Ch'iu and mentions ming ts'ai, or “ming [tea] vegetable,”as an article of food in the time of Yen Ying, a contemporary of Confucius, but whether the tea plant was meant is problematical. (*3)

　Over four centuries later, about 50 B.C., Wang Piu, in his Contract with a Servant, speaks of buying t'u from Wutu and of boiling it. It is barely possible this may be a dependable reference to tea. Wutu is a mountain situated in Szechwan, a province which was to become celebrated as the birthplace of the tea industry. Moreover, tea is said to have been first cultivated in the Szechwan district and several oriental scholars consider the t'u mentioned in Wang Piu's work to be a direct reference to tea. The inference that tea was grown there in the days of Wang Piu is not therefore unreasonable.

The Gan Lu Legend

What is sometimes considered as evidence of the early cultivation of tea in the Szechwan district is to be found in the legend of Gan Lu. The legend,which curiously is not in any of the principal Chinese works on tea,is that Gan Lu, whose family name was Wu-Li-chien, returned from Buddhistic studies in India during the Later Han dynasty, A.D. 25-221, bringing with him seven tea plants which he planted on Meng Mountain, in Szechwan. Whatever foundation the legend may possess in fact, it has the support of an allegory on tea in the Ch`a P`u published long afterward, to the effect that tea was first brought to imperial attention during the After-Han dynasty, A.D. 221-263. This might conceivably refer to Gan Lu's seven tea plants. Samuel Ball on the other hand,dismisses the Ch`a P`u as designedly too full of poetic anachronisms to have any authoritative value.

Possible Third-Century Notices

After the third century of the Christian Era the mention of tea becomes more frequent and seemingly more reliable. Although the Pen ts`ao of Shen Nung, of which mention has already been made, was written in the Neo-Han dynasty, A.D.25-221, the earliest forms of this work did not mention tea. The tea references were added, as previously stated, some three centuries later. However, Shin Lun by Hua T'o, a celebrated physician and surgeon who died A.D.220, contains a possible reference. It reads, "To drink k'u t'u [bitter t'u ] constantly makes one think better." Another reference is in Chen Shou's History of the Three Kingdoms.Sun Hao, A.D.242-283, the ruler of Wu, according to this work, secretly gave ch'uan, or tea, to Wei Yao, one of his generals whose capacity for wine was only two shengs.(*4)

Earliest Credible Mention

In the fourth century, we find Liu Kun, d. A.D. 317, a general of the Chin dynasty, writing to his nephew Liu Yen, the governor of Yenchow in the province of Shantung, that he felt aged and depressed and wanted some real t`u. Further notice of the tea drink, when it must have been drunk much after the fashion of the boneset tea of our grandfathers, is to be found in the Shi Shuo, written in the fourth century. "Wang Mang, father-in-law of the Emperor Hui Ti, "says the Shi Shuo," was much given to drinking t`u. He would set the beverage before his friends, but they, finding it too bitter, generally declined, feigning some indisposition."

The Erh Ya, an ancient Chinese dictionary annotated by Kuo P`o, celebrated Chinese scholar, about A.D. 350, gives the first recognizable definition of tea under the name of kia, 槓, or k`u t`u, 苦荼, adding, "A beverage is made from the leaves by boiling." The same work states the earliest gathering of the leaves was called t`u 荼, and the latest, ming, 茗. This reference in the Erh Ya is accepted by many authorities on tea history as the earliest credible record of tea cultivation. As revised by Kuo P`o it forms the basis for the oft-published statement that the tea plant was first cultivated about A.D. 350. The tea drink of Kuo P`o's time was a medicinal decoction －and probably a bitter one－ of unprepared green tea leaves, but its aroma attracted favorable attention, for Pau Ling-hui, a Chinese authoress, wrote of it under the title Fragrant Ming. Mention of the tea drink is also found in the Chin Shu, a history of the Chin dynasty, where the statement is made that the governor of Yangchow, Huan Wen, A.D. 312-373, was frugal; he only put down seven receptacles for tea and fruit when he dined.

Some light on the manufacturing process of the period, and on the medicinal drink made from tea, is to be found in an extract from the Kuang Ya, a dictionary by Chang I, of the Later Wei dynasty, A.D. 386-535, which states that the leaves were plucked and made into cakes in the district between the provinces of Hupeh and Szechwan; the cakes were roasted until reddish in color, pounded into tiny pieces, and placed in a chinaware pot. Boiling water was then poured over them, after which onion, ginger, and orange were added.

Tea Becomes an Article of Trade

By the fifth century tea had become an article of trade. In The Family History of Chiang, of the Northern Sung dynasty, A.D.420-479, we read that Chiang Tung called attention to the fact that the sale of vinegar, noodles, cabbage,and tea in the west garden was a reflection upon the dignity of the government.(*5) In his will, the Emperor Wu Ti, A.D.483-493, indicated his fondness for tea, and stipulated that he did not want posthumous offerings of cattle; only cakes,fruit, tea, dried rice, wine, and dried meat. Wang Su, A.D. 464-501, held a contrary opinion of the tea drink. In Hou Wei Lu, the record of the Later Wei dynasty, it is recorded that he pronounced tea much inferior to kumiss. The custom of reserving special teas for imperial use began about this time, for we find the Wu Hsing chi, by Shan Ch`ien-Chih, of the Northern Sung dynasty, A.D.420-479, stating, "Twenty lis [ a li is 705 yards ] west from the city of Wucheng, in the province of Chekiang, there is the Wen mountain, on which grows the tea reserved to the emperor as tribute tea."

Tea Used for Beverage Purposes

Late in the sixth century, the Chinese generally began to regard tea as something more than a medicinal drink. Its use as a refreshing beverage was epitomized by the poet Chang Meng-yan, of the Chin dynasty, A.D. 557-589, in his poem On the Chengtu Terrace [in Szechwan].“Fragrant t`u,”he wrote,“superimposes the six passions: the the taste for it spreads over the nine districts.”(*6) The transition of the tea drink at this time from medicinal to beverage uses is confirmed by the author of the Kuen Fang P`u. Tea, according to this account, was first used as a beverage in the reign of Wen Ti, of the Sui dynasty, A.D. 589-620, and was acknowledged to be good, though not much esteemed. Tea continued in high repute as a remedy, however, for the “noxious gases of the body, and as a cure for lethargy.”

First Tea Book and First Tea Tax

THE FIRST TEA BOOK,A.D.780

While tea propagation become more general in sixth century, itwas not until A.D. 780 that the horticultural and other aspects of　tea growing were first published in an exclusive work on tea. In this year, Lu Yu, a noted Chinese author and tea expert, wrote the _Ch`a Ching_, or Tea Classic, at the request of the tea merchants. It treats, among other things, of the qualities and effects of the beverage. In an allegory, the book quotes one of the emperors of the Han dynasty as saying: "The use of tea grows upon me surprisingly: I know not how it is, but my fancy is awakened and my spirits exhilarated as if with wine." This makes it evident that the tea drink had progressed in Lu Yu's time from the earlier rank decoction of unprepared green tea leaves into a more inviting infusion. With suggested methods to improve the manufactured leaf came better beverage quality in the drink, making the use of certain ingredients, such as spices, no longer necessary for improving its flavor. The art of tea making also showed progressive improvement, for Lu Yu stresses the choice of water and the degree to which it should be boiled. So widespread, in fact, had the use of tea become at this period that the Government made it the subject of an impost in the first year of Tih Tsung, A.D. 780. This was the earliest tax on tea. It probably met with opposition, for it was soon abolished, but in the fourteenth year of the same reign, A.D. 793, we find the duty reimposed.

The introduction of tea into general use may be said to have taken place in the two centuries between the reign of the Emperor Wen Ti, of the Sui dynasty, A.D. 589-620, to whose reign the author of the Ch`a P`u ascribes the first use of the beverage, and the reign of Tih Tsung in the T`ang dynasty, when the first tea duty was levied. One account of the manner of preparing it in this period is supplied by two Arabian travelers who visited China about A.D. 850. The travelers speak of tea as the common beverage of China and tell how the Chinese boil water and pour it scalding hot upon the leaf, adding, "The infusion preserves them from all distempers."(*7) It is evident the Chinese of the ninth century infused the leaf much the same as to-day, and that they continued to regard it as possessing medicinal properties.

Whipped Tea Makes Its Appearance

By the time of the Sung dynasty, A.D. 960-1280, tea, according to the Kuen Fang P`u, was used throughout all the provinces and whipped tea had made its appearance as the fashionable mode among tea exquisites. The dried leaf was ground to a fine powder and whipped in hot water with a light bamboo whisk. Salt definitely disappeared as a flavoring agent, and the beverage was, for the first time, enjoyed for its own delicate flavor and aroma. The enthusiasm of tea epicures now became lyrical and was reflected in the social and intellectual intercourse of period. New varieties were eagerly sought, and tournaments were held to decide their merits. The Emperor Hwei Tsung, A.D.1101-26, who was extremely artistic in temperament, counted no cost too great for the attainment of new and rare varieties. A dissertation on the twenty kinds of tea by this royal connoisseur specifies the "white tea" as of the rarest and most delicate flavor. Elaborate tea houses appeared in all of the cities, and in the temples Buddhist priests of the southern Zen sect, founded in India by Bodhidharma,(*8) and brought by him to China in A.D. 519, gathered before the image of Bodhidharma and drank tea in solemn ceremonial from a single bowl. One or two centuries later, in the Ming dynasty, A.D.1368-1644, the second book on tea appeared, the Ch`a P`u, by Ku Yuan-ch`ing, a Chinese scholar. This work has been judged of slight historical value.

Moot Question of Tea's Origin

To repeat the opening sentence of this chapter, tea had its genesis in China. There is ample corroboration of this view as far as the creation of the industry and the adoption of tea as a beverage are concerned. Speaking from a botanical point of view, however, the subject presents other aspects, and for many years controversies raged among scientific men and scholars as to whether the tea plant originated in China or in India. Plants of the China variety had been painstakingly carried to India for a long time after the native assamica was found there in 1823, and there are ancient stories of how tea came to China from India. Indeed, there are to-day those who believe the Chinese must have obtained the plant for cultivation from a source outside of China. Samuel Baildon, who wrote extensively on the tea industry of India in the 'seventies, was an active proponent of the idea that tea was indigenous only to India; his theory being that the plant was introduced into China and Japan from India some twelve hundred years ago. He argued there was but one species of tea －the Indian－ and that the inferior growth and smaller leaves of the China tea were the result of the transportation of the plant far from home into an uncongenial climate and into unfavorable conditions of soil and treatment.(*9)

Dr. C. P. Cohen Stuart, former botanist of the Thee Proefstation of Buitenzorg, Java, in his scholarly essay on the origin of tea, makes an exhaustive examination into the literature dealing with the wild tea plant found on the borderlands of China －the mysterious Tibetan mountain walls and the scarcely explored jungles of southern Yunnan and Upper Indo-China. In this region, according to Dr. Cohen Stuart, we must expect the solution, if one is obtainable, of the primary problem in tea history －the origin of the tea plant. The French colonies in Further India also furnish evidence of supplying important clues as to the origin of tea. Dr. Cohen Stuart declares that it is not anticipating too much to suspect that here, close to the heart of Mother Nature's first tea garden, lies hidden the answer to this age-old enigma.(*10)

Mother Nature's Tea Garden

MONKEYS GATHERING TEA IN CHINA

Mother Nature's original tea garden was located in the monsoon district of southeastern Asia. Many other plants now grow there, but specimens of the original jungle, or wild, tea plant are still to be found in the forests of the Shan States of northern Siam, eastern Burma, Yunnan, Upper Indo-China, and British India. Consequently,the tea plant may be said to be indigenous to that portion of southeast Asia which includes China and India. The political boundaries of the various countries where wild tea has been found are purely imaginary lines which men have traced to mark the states of India, Burma, Siam, Yunnan, and Indo-China. Before any thought was given to dividing this land into separate sates, it consisted of one primeval tea garden where the conditions of soil, climate, and rainfall were happily combined to promote the natural propagation of tea.

Contemporary Chinese records establish that tea cultivation began in the interior province of Szechwan about A.D. 350, gradually extending down the Yangtze valley to the seaboard provinces. The author of the Ch`a P`u, however, writing at a much later date, A.D.1368-1628 assigns the first discovery of tea to the Bohea Hills, partly in deference to prevailing popular opinion and partly, perhaps, to give greater eclat# to his story by connecting it with one of the most celebrated and widely known tea districts in China. During the T`ang dynasty, A.D. 620-907, tea cultivation spread through the present provinces of Szechwan, Hupeh, Hunan, Honan, Chekiang, Kiangsu, Kiangsi, Fukien, Kwangtung, Anhwei, Shensi, and Kweichow. Hupeh and Hunan tea plants became famous for quality, and tea from these plants was reserved for the emperor.

Early legends, thought to be inspired by Buddhist priests, relate that monkeys were used to gather the tea leaves from inaccessible places. Sometimes they were trained for the work; or, when seen amongst the rocks where the tea bushes grew, the Chinamen would throw stones at them. The monkeys, becoming angry, would break off branches of the tea bushes and throw them down at their tormentors.

After the cultivation of tea had spread through the provinces, it came to the attention of travelers from other shores, and China became the fountainhead whence tea culture spread to other countries. The first of these was Japan.

"Monkeys Gathering tea in China".

Yeisai and a page of the Kitcha Yojoki, thefirst japanese tea book, ca A.D. 1200.

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