To correct it, Britain began exporting opium to China. After China tried to ban opium, Britain launched the midth century Opium Wars to force the trade to continue. Although the wars achieved their stated goal, British merchants began to worry about the viability of continuing to rely on tea from the Chinese market.
Indian tea production quickly outstripped that of China, and China lost its long-standing monopoly on the international tea trade. Although tea is consumed by people from every sector of society, most tea connoisseurs tend to be middle-aged business people, intellectuals or artists. For a full transcript of the above video that includes Chinese characters , pinyin , and English translations, click here. Other utensils such as tea tongs are optional. The more complicated the ceremony, the more utensils are likely to be involved.
Normally, tea ceremonies are run by a host who begins by steeping loose leaf tea in water in a gaiwan or teapot, and then pouring it through a tea strainer into a tea pitcher to filter out bits of tea leaf.
Next, the host pours tea from the pitcher onto teacups. Instead of serving this first batch of tea to guests, the host generally pours it out onto the tea table, allowing it to drain into a bucket underneath. This is done to wash the tea cups and also because tea from the first pour is thought to be too strong to drink. This process is then repeated, except that the tea is served to those present instead of being discarded. After being served, guests should either thank the host verbally or express thanks by tapping their bent index and middle fingers on the tea table.
This custom is most common in southern China and is said to have originated during the Qing dynasty — CE , when the Qianlong Emperor , who was traveling in disguise, poured tea for a servant. Therefore, he tapped the table with two bent fingers instead. It is possible to spend a great deal of money collecting expensive tea leaves and fine tea accessories, especially Yixing teapots. Certain wealthy individuals use their knowledge of tea culture to impress friends and gain prestige.
That said, not everyone you encounter in China is going to be a tea connoisseur. Drinking tea made from tea bags is uncommon in China.
Contrary to popular belief, the differences in taste and color seen in different types of Chinese tea are not due to the use of different kinds of tea leaves. Rather, they are due to differences in the production and manufacturing process.
The type of tea produced is determined by the level of oxidation the tea leaves are allowed to undergo before the process is stopped by heating the leaves. Chinese teas are classified according to their level of fermentation. The more fermented the tea, the stronger its taste. New teashops sprung up across the nation, and a number of important books on tea culture were published. In the early s, the U.
And finally, over the last few decades of economic reform, the black tea movement has returned to its place of origin: China. As high-quality black teas from the Wuyi Mountains have risen to fame, Chinese people have also re-embraced drinking black tea on its own, with boiling water.
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Forgot your password? Send Email Cancel. Tea has been one of the loyal components of Chinese leisure for centuries. The Chinese are the largest consumer of tea in the world drinking 2. That is India, where people drink yearly 1. Sichuan and Yunnan are believed to be the first tea-producing areas in the world. Its origin is involved in romanticism. According to Chinese legend , the emperor Shen Nung discovered tea accidentally. He was in the mountains collecting herbs, sat under a Camellia tree to rest and boiled some water to drink.
Then, some leaves fell into its hot water and tea was discovered. Less known than the legendary Silk Road , during centuries, tea drew a rough trade route at more than 2, kilometres length that meandered around the Sichuan Mountains. Known as the Ancient Tea Horse Road, it served for the exchange of tea for horses between the fertile regions of Sichuan and Yunnan with Tibet. It was travelled by dozens of muleteers on foot that walked in caravans with the mules loaded with tea and returned on horseback.
Not so long ago, the refreshing drink, or the desire of it, led to the war between the United Kingdom and China, to It was the nineteenth century.
China had tea. The United Kingdom wanted tea, but the Chinese did not want British products, they wanted to be paid only in silver. Then Britain decided to trade something that people liked: opium. Soon the consumption of opium caused havoc in China, and in the Emperor ordered to destroy the cargo with the drug that had arrived.
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