Tea Route

In the fourth century A.D. tea was already a popular drink in China. Tea was developed through three main stages: boiled tea, mashed or beaten tea and infused tea. The three ‘Tea schools’ are indicative of the spirit of their respective ages which correspond to the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties.

In the eighth century tea became a royal beverage adopted by the nobility as an elegant past-time. Poet Lu Yu, at the height of the Tan dynasty, wrote the first book on tea “Ch’a King” or “The Tea Code”.

Tea has always been closely linked with history and as it spread it brought peoples into contact with different religions and philosophies.

In Japan tea was only introduced from the ninth century by a buddhist monk, Saicho. For the Japanese, tea is more than just a drink. The tea ceremony, whose aim is to help the spirit find peace, has effectively straddled centuries and borders.

Via the caravan routes, tea penetrated all Mongol lands, Iran and the Muslim countries and Russia before reaching Europe.

Europe had long periods with no contact with the Orient and therefore got to know about tea relatively late when it was brought by an Arab trader by the name of Suleiman. Marco Polo tells us in his famous book Wonders of the World of the dismissal of a Chinese finance minister as a result of the arbitrary increase to the tax on tea.

But it was not until 1610 that there was a large-scale expansion of consumption of tea in the Western World. The French East India Company established regular relations with the Far East introducing tea into Holland in 1610, to France in 1636 and to England in 1650.

In France, tea very quickly acquired great popularity. Chancellor Séguier, Racine, Countess de Genlis and Cardinal Mazarin were all faithful devotees. Madame de Sévignes' letters tell us that the Marquise de la Sabliere started the custom of taking tea with milk.

In nineteenth century England, tea became the national drink. Queen Victoria initiated afternoon tea at five o’clock. Tea goes down in history again with the famous Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773; the first act of the American War of Independence.

Early in the nineteenth century China was virtually the sole supplier of tea in the world. In 1834 tea plantations were introduced into India and a little later in 1857, into Ceylon and thereafter Asia, Africa and South America followed. The competition between shipowners for the speediest transportation of tea led to races along the Far East shipping routes.