The history of tea in China

Chinese tea has been around for thousands of years.Chinese tea was first discovered and used as medicine.Then it evolved into a beverage, and further in to part of Chinese culture.

1.Before 8th century B.C., Chinese tea was primarily used as a medicine.
According to legend, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung(神農氏) was sitting beneath a tree while his servant was boiling the drinking water, and then some leaves from the tree blew into the water. Shen Nung, decided to try this drink that his servant had accidentally created. The tree was a Camellia tree, and this drink was later called -- tea.

2.During the Chun, Qin Dynasty, Chinese people chewed tea leaves and enjoyed the taste of tea juicy itself.
In this period, Chinese tea was cooked as soup. Tea leaves were eaten with the soup. Tea leaves were even mixed with food. Ancient Chinese books told that tea was eaten and used with other spices to cook .
During the Qin, Han Dynasty, there were also some simple processing of Chinese tea emerged. Tea leaves were pressed into ball shapes, dried and stored. When served, tea balls were crushed and mixed with green onion, ginger, etc., and then boiled in teapots. This was the point that Chinese tea turned from a medicine into a beverage. Also, it represented the beginning of Chinese tea was used to treat guests.

3.Later during the Tang Dynasty, tea became firmly established as the national drink of China. It became one of the favorite drinks during the late eighth century. A writer called Lu Yu wrote the first book entirely about tea, "Literature of Tea", or Tea Classic. In the meanwhile, tea was first introduced to Japan, by Japanese Buddhist monks who had traveled to China to study. And then tea drinking has become a vital part of Japanese culture(Tea Ceremony).
And also, Chinese tea trading had became extremely busy. Techniques in tea planting and processing advanced in great speed. Lots of famous teas were developed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLtaVoH0WAc

4."Tea became popular in Tang and prospered in Song ". In the beginning of Song Dynasty, Chinese tea was kept in the shape of balls and cakes. When served, tea was crushed and boiled with seasoning material. But as tea drinkers became more particular, they paid more respect to the original shape, color, and taste of tea leaves. Seasoning material phrased out and loose leave tea started to take the center stage.

5.When the Mongol ruled in China, the drinking of tea a symbol of decadence. But it returned to popularity under the native Chinese Ming Dynasty

6.From the Ming Dynasty, tea began to be brewed by steeping cured loose leaves in boiling water. Because the tea was first tried by Europeans, it was this method of making tea that became popular in the West, and remains so to this day. Also under the Ming Dynasty there was many different types of teas, fermented black teas, unfermented green teas, and the semi-fermented variety that it is now known as oolong.

7.After Ming, numerous types of Chinese teas were invented. The Art of Chinese Tea is being perfected continuously. The famous Kung Fu Cha (or Kung Fu Tea) is one of the landmark development of Chinese tea brewing.

introductions of the tea

White tea
Young leaves (new growth buds) that have undergone no oxidation; the buds may be shielded from sunlight to prevent formation of chlorophyll. White tea is produced in lesser quantities than most other styles, and can be correspondingly more expensive than tea from the same plant processed by other methods. It is less well known in countries outside of China, though this is changing with increased western interest in organic or premium teas.
Green tea
The oxidation process is stopped after a minimal amount of oxidation by application of heat, either with steam, or by dry cooking in hot pans, the traditional Chinese method. Tea leaves may be left to dry as separate leaves or they may be rolled into small pellets to make Gunpowder tea. This process is time consuming and is typically done with pekoes of higher quality. The tea is processed within one to two days of harvesting.
Oolong
Oxidation is stopped somewhere between the standards for green tea and black tea. The oxidation process takes two to three days. In Chinese, semi-oxidized teas are collectively grouped as blue tea (青茶, literally: blue-green tea), while the term "oolong" is used specifically as a name for certain semi-oxidized teas.
Black tea/Red tea
The tea leaves are allowed to completely oxidize. Black tea is the most common form of tea in southern Asia (Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.) and in the last century many African countries including Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The literal translation of the Chinese word is red tea, which is used by some tea lovers. The Chinese call it red tea because the actual tea liquid is red. Westerners call it black tea because the tea leaves used to brew it are usually black. However, red tea may also refer to rooibos, an increasingly popular South African tisane. The oxidation process will take between two weeks and one month. Black tea is further classified as either orthodox or as CTC (Crush, Tear, Curl, a production method developed about 1932). Unblended black teas are also identified by the estate they come from, their year and the flush (first, second or autumn). Orthodox processed black teas are further graded according to the post-production leaf quality by the Orange Pekoe system, while CTC teas use a different grading system.
Post-fermented tea
Teas that undergo a second oxidation, such as Pu-erh, Liu'an, and Liubao, are collectively referred to as secondary or post-fermentation teas in English. In Chinese they are categorized as Dark tea or black tea. This is not to be confused with the English term Black tea, known in Chinese as red tea. Pu-erh, also known as Póu léi (Polee) in Cantonese is the most common type of post-fermetation tea in the market.
Yellow tea
Either used as a name of special tea processed similarly to green tea, or high-quality tea served at the Imperial court.
Kukicha
Also called winter tea, kukicha is made from twigs and old leaves pruned from the tea plant during its dormant season and dry-roasted over a fire. It is popular as a health food in Japan and in macrobiotic diets.

environment & classify

Tea is one of the favorite beverages in the world. And today I’ll introduce it from what kind of environment is proper to its grownth, how to make it, its history in the world and in Taiwan, the benefits to our health, and to its developing in the future .

The tea trees are evergreen plant and grow in tropical to sub-tropical climates( moist and foggy environment, the areas must drain well ), the soil is sanded and fine acidic and the altitude is about 600~2000m. Many high quality tea plants grow at elevations up to 1500 m, as the plants grow more slowly and acquire a better flavor. Only the top 1-2 inches of the mature plant are picked. These buds and leaves are called flushes, and a plant will grow a new flush every seven to ten days during the growing season. Tea plants will grow into a tree if left undisturbed, but cultivated plants are pruned to waist height for ease of plucking. Two principal varieties are used, the small-leaved China plant and the large-leaved Assam plant.

http://www.tea-party.com.tw/page02.asp?KindID1=477
http://myweb.hinet.net/home6/taishuanhe/new_page_33.htm
The types of tea are distinguished by the processing they undergo(fermentation). Leaves soon begin to wilt and oxidize if not dried quickly after picking.

The fermentation can be separated into 3 parts: full-fermentation, semi-fermentation, and none- fermentation. The full-fermentation means the tea leaves are oxidizied completely and usually called black tea. The semi-fermentation are contains oolong, pu-erh, blue tea etc. . And none- fermentation is green tea.
http://www.pcchkt.com/ch04.htm

And we also classify teas by the seasons: the spring tea is plucked in spring, the summer tea is plucked in summer…Those teas’ quality vary from the water content or the length of cultivating period.Ordinary people prefer the spring tea and then this kind of tea is much more expensive. But it does not mean that the spring tea is the best . Take summer tea for example, it is commonly made for oolong and black tea.