China is the hometown of tea and the source of tea culture in the world. Through a thousand years of history, from the original Shennong tasted a hundred herbs to more and more people will drink tea as a home essential, hospitality preferred beverage, tea has gradually melted into our lives, become an indispensable part of life. So, to understand more about tea, let’s start from the origin of tea. npU Tea Net
From the ancient times of Shennong tasted all kinds of herbs, and today, the modern demand for tea is more and more extensive, “tea to honor the guest” has become the most common hospitality etiquette in life. The custom of drinking tea has been inherited for a long time by various ethnic groups in China. npU Tea Net
Take tea as a beverage, the ancient legend began in the era of the Yellow Emperor. “Shennong Ben Cao Jing” said: “Shennong tasted a hundred herbs, the day encountered seventy-two poisons, and got Tantian (tea) and the solution.” npU Tea
Shennong is Yan Di, one of our ancestors. One day, he tasted a highly poisonous grass when he was boiling water and fainted before the water boiled. I don’t know how long it took, but Shennong woke up in a refreshing fragrance. He struggled to scoop up the water in the pot and drink it, only to find that the boiling water had turned yellowish-green, with a few green leaves floating in it, and that the fragrance was wafting from the pot. A few hours later, the poison in his body was actually relieved! Shennong looked carefully and found that there was a plant right above the pot, and after researching it, he found out more about its function, and finally named it “tea”. How credible this legend of tea is is not known. But one thing is clear, that is, the earliest tea is a medicinal plant, its medicinal function is detoxification. npU Tea Network
Two Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, tea has been spread from Ba Shu to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. By the period of the two Jin and North and South Dynasties, tea had been widely planted, and it gradually became prominent in people’s daily lives, and even the cultural custom of offering tea as a sacrifice appeared in some places. Tea has entered the upper class from the ordinary people, not only monks and Taoists to practice health, in the cultural people at that time, tea has also become their “new favorite”. npU Tea Net
“Tea is emerging in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty”. In the Tang Dynasty, there was a tea saint named Lu Yu. He summarized the experience of tea production and tea drinking through the ages, and wrote the book “Tea Classic”. Lu Yu in the book on the origin of tea, types, characteristics, production method, cooking and steaming, tea utensils, water quality, tea drinking customs, etc. made a comprehensive discussion. At that time, he was also called into the palace and was appreciated by the emperor. The Tang Dynasty was focused on foreign exchanges, economic openness, and thus from various levels on the prosperity of tea culture has contributed to the role. So the Tang Dynasty tea ceremony flourished, but also in the history of the development of tea culture in China opened up an epoch-making significance. npU Tea Net
And then to the Song Dynasty, China’s tea drinking custom reached a higher point, tea has become “home can not be one day without also” one of the daily drinks. The emperor, down to the scholars, there are monographs on tea drinking. At this time, the folk also appeared tea, tea, tea market, tea and other trading, production places. Among its customs, the most characteristic is the tea fight. Fighting tea, not only tea drinking, but also a spiritual and cultural enjoyment, the aesthetic value of tea drinking to a new height. At the same time, tea products are no longer just a single tea group, cake tea form, has appeared loose tea, tea. At this time, the tea culture has already presented a prosperous scene, and spread to countries around the world. npU Tea Net
Ming and Qing dynasties, tea processing and production and drinking customs have been greatly improved. Especially after entering the Qing Dynasty, tea export has become a formal trade route, and the number of sales among countries began to increase. At this time, the stir-frying method of tea production was widely promoted, so the “brewing method” replaced the previous “decoction method”, which is the method of tea drinking we use today. Ming Dynasty also emerged a large number of poems and paintings about tea, literary works and monographs, tea and drama, opera, riddles and other folk cultural activities integrated, tea culture also has a deeper level of development. npU Tea Network
Development to modern times, with more and more varieties, drinking more and more diverse, tea has become popular all over the world, one of the health drinks, a variety of tea as the theme of cultural exchanges are also widely carried out in the world, the importance of tea and tea culture is also increasingly significant. Tea has become one of the beautiful ways of leisure, adding more poetry and picturesque for people’s life, loved by people from all walks of life. npU Tea Net
Source: knowledge of tea bubble tea tasting tea illustrated npU tea net