100 things challenge - 46: Tea!
Mar. 7th, 2013 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
birdienlTea. It's such an obvious part of our lives. We drink it, we enjoy trying out new flavours, we make icons about it... But the history of tea, at least in the Western world, is relatively recent. It wasn't until the mid 17th century that tea made it's way to Europe and it did not become really popular until around 1750.
Tea finds it's origins in southeast Asia. The oldest records of drinking tea come from China with records dating back to the 10th century BC. There's even a Chinese legend recounting the discovery of tea. In this legend, Shennong, the legendary Emperor of China is drinking a bowl of boiled water, when the wind blows a few leaves into it. Shennong is pleased with the taste and restorative properties of the new drink. The earliest use of tea in China was probably as a medicine, but it slowly became a staple drink for daily use. The first known book with instructions on preparing tea was written in 59 BC.
The first mention of tea in Western sources comes from the work of Marco Polo, who mentions tea taxes when he describes his travels through China. It is known tea was consumed by for example Portugese missionaries and merchants in their Asian settlements, but they probably did not bring it back with them to Europe. This did not happen until the early 17th century, when a ship from the Dutch East Asia company brought tea to Amsterdam. The drink enjoyed a brief period of popularity in the mid 17th century, mainly in France.
The import of tea into Britain, nowadays the quintessential home of tea culture, started around the 1660s, when king Charles II married the Portugese princess Catharina of Braganze, who brought with her the habit of drinking tea. From the court is spread as a popular drink to the upper classes of British society. But it became popular among the 'masses' by a strange turn of events. Merchantships would deliver fabric from Britain to East Asia, but the ships would return only half-full. Thinking tea would be a good return cargo, the East India Company started a campaign to popularize the drinking of tea and thus make the trade in it viable.
Between 1690 and 1750 tea importation escalated and by the mid 18th century tea had the popularity in Britain which it has today!
Tea finds it's origins in southeast Asia. The oldest records of drinking tea come from China with records dating back to the 10th century BC. There's even a Chinese legend recounting the discovery of tea. In this legend, Shennong, the legendary Emperor of China is drinking a bowl of boiled water, when the wind blows a few leaves into it. Shennong is pleased with the taste and restorative properties of the new drink. The earliest use of tea in China was probably as a medicine, but it slowly became a staple drink for daily use. The first known book with instructions on preparing tea was written in 59 BC.
The first mention of tea in Western sources comes from the work of Marco Polo, who mentions tea taxes when he describes his travels through China. It is known tea was consumed by for example Portugese missionaries and merchants in their Asian settlements, but they probably did not bring it back with them to Europe. This did not happen until the early 17th century, when a ship from the Dutch East Asia company brought tea to Amsterdam. The drink enjoyed a brief period of popularity in the mid 17th century, mainly in France.
The import of tea into Britain, nowadays the quintessential home of tea culture, started around the 1660s, when king Charles II married the Portugese princess Catharina of Braganze, who brought with her the habit of drinking tea. From the court is spread as a popular drink to the upper classes of British society. But it became popular among the 'masses' by a strange turn of events. Merchantships would deliver fabric from Britain to East Asia, but the ships would return only half-full. Thinking tea would be a good return cargo, the East India Company started a campaign to popularize the drinking of tea and thus make the trade in it viable.
Between 1690 and 1750 tea importation escalated and by the mid 18th century tea had the popularity in Britain which it has today!
