Analysis of the History of Chinese Tea
The development and evolution of tea methods and customs can be roughly divided into several stages:
1. Before Spring and Autumn
Originally, tea received attention for medicinal purposes. Ancient humans directly chewed the fresh leaves of the tea tree to absorb the tea juice and felt fragrant, clear mouth and full of astringent pleasure. Over time, the chewing of tea became a hobby of people. This stage can be said to be the prelude to drinking tea.
With the evolution of human life, the habit of chewing tea leaves has changed to decoction. That is, after washing the fresh leaves, put them in a clay pot and boil them with water, and take the soup with the leaves. The decocted tea, although bitter, has a rich taste, and its flavor and efficacy are better than others. Over time, the habit of decoction and drinking will naturally develop. This is the beginning of tea as a beverage.
However, tea developed from medicinal use to daily beverage, passing through the edible stage as an intermediate transition. That is, tea is used as a dish and boiled as a soup. After the tea is cooked, it is eaten with meals. At this time, the purpose of using tea is to increase nutrition and detoxify as food. "Yanzi Spring and Autumn" records, "Yanzi Xiangjing Gong, eat rice off the millet, fried three-yi five-egg tea"; also in "Erya", the word "kutu" is annotated cloud "leaf can be roasted as a soup drink" In ancient books such as "Tong Jun Lu", there are records that tea, cinnamon ginger and some spices are cooked and eaten together. At this time, the tea utilization method took a step forward, using the cooking technology at that time, and paying attention to the seasoning of the tea soup.
2. Qin and Han Dynasties
Simple processing of tea has begun to appear. The fresh leaves are pounded into cake-shaped tea balls with wooden sticks, and then sun-dried or dried for storage. When drinking,
First mash the tea balls into a pot, pour in boiling water and add onion ginger and orange to taste. At this time, tea was not only an antidote for daily life, but also a food for hospitality. In addition, because Qin unified Bashu (an area where tea drinking was spread earlier in China), it promoted the extension of tea drinking knowledge and customs to the east. In the Western Han Dynasty, tea was already an elegant pastime for the court and officials, and Wang Bao's "Tong Yue" had a record of "buying tea in Wuyang". During the Three Kingdoms period, the style of worshipping tea further developed, and began to pay attention to the cooking method of tea. At this time, the custom of "using tea as wine" appeared (see "Records of the Three Kingdoms. Wuzhi"), indicating that tea drinking was relatively common in central China at that time. In the Jin Dynasty and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, tea has gradually become a common drink from a precious luxury.
3. Sui and Tang Dynasties
Tea leaves are mostly processed into cake tea. When drinking, add condiments to cook soup. With the prosperity of tea affairs, the appearance of tribute tea accelerated the cultivation of tea
With the development of cultivation and processing technology, many famous teas have emerged, and the drinking method has also been greatly improved. Especially in the Tang Dynasty, tea drinking became a common practice, and the way of drinking tea has made great progress. At this time, in order to improve the bitter taste of tea leaves, mint, salt and red dates were added to taste. In addition, special tea-making utensils have been used, and monographs on tea have appeared. The three chapters of Lu Yu's "The Classic of Tea", prepared for tea matters, and also elaborated on the drinking and cooking of tea. At this time, more and more attention was paid to the selection of tea and water, the way of cooking, the tea drinking environment and the quality of tea, and the tea ceremony was gradually formed. From "eating tea porridge" before the Tang Dynasty to when people in the Tang Dynasty regarded tea as "the more numerous and the highest", it was a great leap in my country's tea culture.
"Tea flourished in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty." In the Song Dynasty, the method of making tea changed, which had a profound impact on the way of drinking tea. In the early Song Dynasty, tea leaves were mostly made into group tea and cake tea, which were crushed and cooked with condiments, and some were not added. With the increasing abundance of tea products and the increasingly sophisticated taste of tea, the original color and aroma of tea has gradually been paid attention to, and the condiments have gradually decreased. At the same time, loose tea made by the steaming method has appeared, and it has been increasing. The production of tea is dominated by cakes and loose tea. At this time, the cooking and drinking procedures were gradually simplified, and the traditional cooking and drinking habits had undergone great changes from the Song Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.