China's Tea Culture (Part 1)



The Origin of Tea

 
There are seven things that Chinese people are concerned about in their daily lives: "firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea." Even though tea is last on the list of people's daily necessities, it has quite a significant history and cultural connotation, as the Chinese people have long had the tradition of "having a cup of tea after a meal." China is the origin of tea and tea culture, and tea has thus accompanied the Chinese nation for 5000 years. As stated in a couplet, "A cup of spring tea temporarily keeps a guest, a simple and clean life inspires one to become immortal." Offering guests a cup to tea is a fine Chinese tradition. So today let us talk about "tea."
 
Regarding the origin of tea, there is a Chinese legend about Shennong, a mythical ruler in the early days of Chinese civilization. "When Shennong was looking for medicinal herbs he tasted hundreds of kinds of herbs and grasses. One day he encountered 72 poisons, but then used tea as a detoxifying antidote." As the legend goes, ancestor Shennong had a belly that was transparent like crystal. No matter what he ate, he could see it very clearly through his transparent belly. At that time, people were living in primitive conditions and ate everything raw, such as fish, meat, vegetables and fruit, so illness was very common. The legend says that in order to help people, Shennong tasted all kinds of herbs and vegetation, and then he discovered what happened in his body after he ate various kinds of foods. He traveled over mountains and rivers all year long.
 
One day Shennong saw a kind of plant with green leaves and white flowers, and he ate the leaves. After he ate them, he noticed something strange happening in his stomach. The leaves not only moved all around, up and down in his stomach and cleaned up all the food he had eaten, but they also left a fragrant taste in his mouth and a feeling of freshness. Shennong was extremely happy to discover the detoxifying effect of the leaves. He believed that the discovery of tea was bestowed upon him by heavenly gods as their appreciation for his kindness in trying to find medicinal herbs to treat people's illnesses in his old age. Shennong was grateful to the heavenly gods, and he became even more diligent in collecting medicinal herbs. From then on, whenever he got poisoned when tasting herbs, he used the green leaves for detoxification. Since the green leaves played the role of a doctor (to check and clean up his stomach), Shennong called the green leaves "cha" (examine). Later, people changed the character to "cha" (tea). This is how tea was discovered.
 
Because "tea" can quench one's thirst, refresh oneself, and neutralize poison, tea trees were collected and grown in later years. They were viewed as a kind of herb for maintaining good health outside of medicinal herbs.
 
Gradually "tea" became well-known, and, aside from using it as a form of medicine, people also used it as an item of tribute, a dish or a kind of beverage. Through modifications in different dynasties, we have the tea of today. In summary, tea was a beneficial medicine discovered by the ancestor Shennong, a reward bestowed upon him by heaven as a form of appreciation for his kindness towards people. Gods arranged for Shennong to discover tea to make it beneficial for humanity.
 
The Development of Tea
 
After tea was discovered, people went through several developmental stages in its application. Today we make a beverage use boiling water to make tea from tea leaves. In ancient times, our ancestors used tea only as a medicine. At that time, people cut off branches from wild tea trees, picked the tips of the leaves, boiled them in water, and then drank the water. This is what people called "porridge tea." The tea made this way was very bitter and was therefore called "bitter tea" at the time.
 
By the time of the Qin and Han Dynasties, people developed  a new method of “half tea half beverage” to prepare and use tea. They did not boil fresh tea leaves. Instead, they baked "tea cakes" on the fire, then ground them to dust. Boiling water was added to make tea. They mixed scallion, ginger, and orange into it, and called it "baked tea."
 
In the Tang and Song Dynasties, people made tea cakes. When they had tea, they first broke a tea cake, ground it finely and put it through a sieve, placed the fine tea in a cup, and poured boiling water into it. Tea culture gained in popularity rapidly at this time. Gradually "tea drinking" became "tea tasting." Also popular were tea banquets that were held at the royal palace, in temples, and among scholars. The atmosphere at a tea banquet was usually solemn and elegant and followed strict rules of etiquette. The tea served had to be of high quality, and the water had to be from well-known springs. The tea set used also needed to be precious and of a rare quality. The tea banquet usually began with the host personally mixing the tea, or overseeing the mixing of the tea, to show respect to the guests. This was followed by presenting the tea, receiving the tea, smelling the tea, appreciating the color of the tea, and tasting the tea. After three rounds, people would begin to comment on the tea, appraise the fine moral qualities of the host, enjoy the scenery, and chitchat or write prose or poems.
 
By the Ming Dynasty, people usually poured water directly into a tea pot or a tea cup with loose tea leaves in it, making tea drinking simpler and more convenient. As time went on, people became more and more conscious of the fast pace of life and started to do things with efficiency in mind. Some people started to drink instant tea, or for health reasons they drank health tea, either ordinary tea or decaffeinated tea. However, most people were just "drinking tea" instead of "tasting tea."





中华茶文化 (上)
 
（一）茶的起源
 
中国人有“关门七件事，柴、米、油、盐、酱、醋、茶”。“茶”虽被排在人们日常生活必需品的最后一位，但却由于中国人“饭后一碗茶”的习惯由来已久，而使它有著更为深远的历史和文化内涵。华夏民族是茶的原产地和茶文化的发祥地，因此茶也陪伴中华民族走过了5000年的历程。“一杯春露暂留客，两腋清风几欲仙”。客来敬茶是中华民族的优良传统。今天我们就来谈谈“茶”。
 
茶的起源，在我国历来流传著关于神农的传说：“神农尝百草，日遇七十二毒，得茶而解之。”相传我们华夏的祖先神农氏，有一个水晶一样透明的肚子，无论吃下什么东西，他都能透过自己的水晶肚看得清清楚楚。那时候，人们正处于生活的原始状态，无论鱼肉瓜果都是活吞生吃，闹病是可想而知的。传说中的神农为了帮助人类，就利用自己的水晶肚尝遍百草，看看各种食物吃了之后会在自己的肚子里发生什么变化。
 
他长年累月地跋山涉水，有一天，当神农看到一种绿叶白花的树时，就吃了这种树的叶子。说也奇怪，当他吃下叶子之后，发现自己的肠胃里起了奇妙的变化。这些叶子不仅在自己的肠胃里上下流动，把已经吃过的食物洗涤得干干净净，而且吃后口中生香，感觉甘甜鲜美。这种叶子解毒作用的发现，使得神农欣喜异常。神农氏认为茶的发现是天神感念他年迈心善、采药治病之苦，所以赐他玉叶以济众生，于是神农在感激上苍的同时更加辛勤地去采集草药。以后，每当他在尝草遇毒时，就用这种绿叶解毒。因为这种绿叶能够像一位医生一样在神农的肚子里检查洗涤，神农就称这种绿叶为“查”，后来人们将“查”字改写为“茶”字。这就是茶的最早发现。
 
由于“茶”，有解渴生津、提神醒脑、利尿解毒等作用。此后茶树渐被发掘、采集和引种，被人们用作百草之外的一种养生之妙药。如此“茶”渐渐被人们所熟知，除了用作药以外，人们还供作祭品，当作菜食和饮料。又经过不同朝代的改良，而有了我们今天所尝的茶的滋味。所以说，茶是我们的祖先神农发现的良药，是神农氏一心为民的善心感动了上苍而得到的回报。神有意让神农发现茶而留给后人，造福人类。
 
（二）饮茶的发展
 
茶叶被我们的祖先发现以后，对它的利用方式先后经历了几个阶段的发展演化，才进展到如今天这种“开水冲泡散茶”的饮用方式。
 
在远古时代，我们的祖先仅仅是把茶叶当作药物。那时人们从野生的茶树上砍下枝条、采下芽叶，放在水中烧煮，然后饮其汁水，这就是原始的“粥茶法”。这样煮出的茶水，滋味苦涩，因此那时称茶为“苦荼”。
 
到秦汉时，人们创造了“半茶半饮”的制茶和用茶方法，即不直接烧煮鲜叶，而将制好的茶饼在火上炙烤，然后捣碎研成细末，冲入开水，再加葱、姜、橘子等调和，称之为“烤茶”。
 
到唐宋时期，人们把茶制成茶饼，饮茶时先将团茶敲碎，碾细，细筛，置于盏杯之中，然后冲入沸水，这就是所谓的“研膏团茶点茶法”。而且饮茶之风大盛，并且随著文化的发展，“饮茶”逐渐变成了“品茶”。当时皇宫、寺院以及文人雅士之间还盛行茶宴，茶宴的气氛庄重，环境雅致，礼节严格，且必用贡茶或高级茶叶，取水于名泉、清泉，选用名贵茶具。茶宴的内容大致先由主持人亲自调茶或亲自指挥、监督调茶，以示对客人的敬意，然后献茶，接茶，闻茶香，观茶色，品茶味。茶过三巡之后，便评论茶的品第，称颂主人道德，以及赏景叙情、行文做诗等等。
 
到了明代，直接在壶或盏中沏泡条形散茶，这样的饮茶方式使人们对茶的利用简单而方便了。但也随著时代的变迁，人们也越来越注重快节奏的生活，一切从效率出发，一部份人饮用即冲即饮的速溶茶，或为了治病保健的需要，饮用含茶或不含茶的保健茶，大多人是在“饮茶”而不再“品茶”了。