source: https://doi.org/10.7892/boris.46266 | downloaded: 26.9.2021 THEMAGAZINE egional eye The Tale of Ancient Chinesewisdomtellsusso. Butwhatelsedothehistorybooksreveal? Tea awakensthemindandarousessenses, butcalmstheheart. by by THEMAGAZINE george van driem /photographyby luke duggleby egional eye village inYunnan province. early morning at Jingmai early morningatJingmai Picking tea leaves in the Picking tealeavesin the 247 THEMAGAZINE egional eye THEMAGAZINE egional eye

oon after the Portuguese Escorial bearing various gifts, pain in the sides or joints, whilst made landfall in and the first item they presented drinking it as hot as you can in 1542, the first accounts were to the king was a porcelain bear it. He said that, moreover, sent back to Europe, saying cup. this stuff was good for countless that people in the Far East The Jesuit priest escorting the other ailments, most of which drank hot water. These early Japanese emissaries explained to In 1610, small he could not even remember, reports created a stir in Europe, Phillip II that the cup was used quantities of tea though gout was one of them. where hot beverages such as for drinking rice . To this leaves as well as If the stomach feels bloated and tea, and cocoa were still the king replied, “How is that? Japanese green heavy from having over-eaten, quite unknown. The Western Do they not drink hot water?” powder tea in then drinking just a bit of this amazement about the drinking The escort explained to the king, earthenware jars decoction will help digest the of hot water became the very first “Yes, but the Japanese also make food in a short time. It is so dear topic of conversation when the wine”. Then the king inquired, were brought and highly valued that nobody first Japanese embassy in the West “Do the Japanese drink hot to Holland via travels without it.” opened in Europe on November water only in wintertime?” Batavia, as Jakarta The word sent by Jesuits 14th, 1584. To this the priest replied that was then called, from Japan had an even greater At the time, Phillip II was they always drank hot water. by the Dutch East impact, and the first tea leaves the king of both Portugal and This confirmation of the many India Company. themselves came to Europe not Spain. After months at sea, four Portuguese reports about the by way of the , but emissaries from Japan travelled drinking of hot water in the Far directly from the Far East. The overland to the royal residence East amazed the Iberian king. Portuguese word for tea, cha, is northwest of Madrid. The The eye-witness account taken directly from the Japanese Japanese diplomats entered the continues: “And it is not word. Writing on October 14th, 1564 from what today is 248 without reason that the king was Oita prefecture in northeastern 249 surprised, for verily the Japanese Kyushu, the Portuguese Jesuit drink hot water both in the Luís d’Almeida became the first summer and in the winter, and European to describe powdered in the winter they sometimes or : drink it chilled with snow.” “It is the custom amongst All the parochial European the noble and wealthy Japanese, astonishment about hot water when they receive a visitor of somehow came to overshadow any consequence, that upon his the news about tea itself. The parting they will show him their Portuguese Jesuits did send most precious pieces of ceramics reports home about tea and its as a final show of affection: these properties, but it took quite being all vessels with which they some time for the Occidental drink a certain finely ground audience to take notice. herb, which they have the The very first mention of custom of drinking and which is tea did not reach Europe by way delicious and which is called chà. of the high seas, but via the Silk The way to drink it to place half Road. A Venetian text published a nutshell of the powder of this in 1559 records the account finely ground herb in a porcelain of a Persian merchant named cup and then mix it up with the Chaggi Memet, who spoke of very hot water and then drink it.” a plant which he called “the It would take nearly half a chai of Cathay”. He reported century before tea would first that this plant was exceedingly be brought to Europe. In 1610, popular in : small quantities of tea leaves as “They boil this herb, dried well as Japanese green powder tea or fresh, in water. Taking one in earthenware jars were brought or two cups of this decoction to Holland via Batavia, as Jakarta on an empty stomach alleviates was then called, by the Dutch Palaung ethnic minority tea pickers in Myanmar leave their village A tea picker in . fever, headache, stomach ache, East India Company. for the steep slopes to pick tea. THEMAGAZINE egional eye THEMAGAZINE egional eye

Tamil tea pickers in Haputale, Sri Lanka return from a morning of picking tea leaves and have them weighed and collected by an estate employee. THEMAGAZINE egional eye THEMAGAZINE RAVELegional eye

n 1634, the Dutch East India Company established a presence in Burma. In 1680, the Dutch abandoned Burma, at the same time that the Dutch had just been driven from Formosa (modern Taiwan) and had begun scaling down their In the verdant presence in Siam. Instead the region of Asia that “Lords Seventeen” or Heren XVII, forms the native who ran the Dutch East India habitat of the tea Company from its Amsterdam tree, indigenous headquarters, decided to peoples originally concentrate on the more profitable trade with Japan, chewed pickled tea China, Indonesia, India and leaves or used tea Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka). as a finely-chopped It was during the Burmese vegetable. years of the Dutch East India Company that Philippus Baldaeus reported Dutch mariners in Asia regularly eating

boiled tea leaves on board their Villagers from all over the area come to give offerings to the monks of the ships as a salad, dressed with monastery before praying to the tea tree and the spirit of Lawi Seng. 252 253 vinegar, oil and pepper. The Pickled tea plays a pivotal role Dutch seamen learnt this crude in Burmese ritual culture. but satisfying dish in Burma, Litigants, having settled a civil where to this day pickled tea suit in bygone days, used to sit leaves, or lephet, are eaten. This down together and eat pickled is but one example of how tea tea leaves in a ritual known as was eaten for centuries before lephet sa, literally “eating tea.” ever being imbibed as an The large wicker baskets used . for carrying pickled tea leaves In the verdant region of Asia on one’s back are known as lephet that forms the native habitat ton, or “lephet carrying basket.” of the tea tree, indigenous The distribution of pickled tea peoples originally chewed packets is an important custom pickled tea leaves or used tea known as lephet htou’cha, which is as a finely-chopped vegetable. performed to invite people to a Once a year local Palaung people in Myanmar celebrate a festival at the monastery on top of Lawi Seng mountain. It is Only later did tea come to be marriage or other ceremony. here where they worship a tea tree believed to have grown from the first ever tea seeds that were given to the local served as a soup. Native tribes people by a Burmese king over 800 years ago. of northeastern India, upper he eating of pickled tea Burma and southwestern China is part of mainstream have long practised the custom Burmese culture, but the practice of pickling and fermenting is also shared by many other The Burmese practice of eating pickled tea leaves, adopted by Dutch tea leaves inside of bamboo ethnic minorities in Burma mariners in the 17th century, dates to hoary antiquity. Tea was eaten internodes or buried in pots or and minority nationalities for centuries before tea was ever imbibed as an infusion. wrapped in plantain leaves in in the Chinese provinces of the ground and eating the tea as and Yunnan. In this a condiment or just chewing the part of southwestern China, the tea leaves as a quid. practice of drinking tea as a soup gradually evolved into drinking Here the local people scramble to grab offerings In Burma, the original given to the ancient tea tree to take home for good way of consuming tea still tea as a flavoured infusion. luck and, as women aren’t allowed to enter the shrine, fight from the other side of the fence. remains the most widespread. The story goes that, once THEMAGAZINE egional eye THEMAGAZINE egional eye

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Tea pouring ceremony at an old tea house on Qinghefang street in China. THEMAGAZINE egional eye

upon a time, an ancient Chinese many traditions of the ancient health benefits. In other words, the commodity in the West. pronounced just like Dutch thee. emperor named Shennong was Chinese art of tea, Japanese tea eating tea leaves, as the Burmese Their main port of trade was In Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the outside boiling water under a culture attained new heights of still do and as their ancestors did the Chinese port city of Amoy, Lock, published in 1711, tea occurs tree. It so happened that the refinement and elegance. in ancient times, may be quite more commonly known today in canto iii: tree under which he sat was a Centuries later, good for you. by its Mandarin name Xiamen. tea tree. From its boughs a few The practice was first isolated from coffee in In 1742, Vincent la Chapelle If you have never heard how “Close by those , for leaves fell into his cauldron of of drinking 1821, and theine was extracted invented a recipe for a crème au the Dutch word thee is ever crown’d with flow’rs, boiling water. Upon imbibing, from tea in 1827. By 1838 it thé in the second edition of his pronounced, just go to Amoy. Where Thames with pride he discovered tea to be an unadulterated tea had become firmly established five-volume cookbook Cuisinier Ask a true son of the soil how surveys his rising tow’rs... invigorating and salubrious was first cultivated that both caffeine and theine moderne. In 1860, the Parisian to say “tea” in his own native Here thou, great Anna! whom tonic. Like most fables, the in Zen monasteries, were one and the same natural tea merchant Henri Mariage dialect of Minnan three Realms obey, account is imaginary. This event where an infusion substance with exactly the same invented a tea-flavoured Chinese, and you will hear him Dost sometimes counsel take is supposed to have transpired of tea leaves was molecular formula. In modern chocolate, which he christened say “tea” just as it is now still — and sometimes tea.” sometime between 2737 and taken as an aid to times, researchers around the chocolat des mandarins. In 1986, pronounced in Dutch. 2698 bc, during the reign of maintain mental world, especially in Japan, Richard Bueno and Kitti Cha Whether Dutch mariners Likewise, in Gray’s Trivia, Emperor Shennong, who is also have discovered the beneficial Sangmanee opened a Parisian tea heard the Hokkien word for published in 1720, the word tea is a Chinese ancestor god. alertness during long properties of the antioxidants salon offering an array of dishes the first time in Amoy or in used to rhyme with pay. By 1750, In reality, the earliest meditation sessions. contained in tea. These of the new cuisine au thé. Java, where many Hokkien the pronunciation of English tea historical mention of Shennong substances act as the scavengers of The macrobiotic chef Patricio communities lived and thrived, had changed to rhyme with sea. is the Shiji “historical record”, free radicals in our bodies, and Garcia de Paredes, based at the remains a mystery. The Dutch compiled by the grand historian so retard the process of aging. Kushi Institute in Japan, has word thee was adopted as The author and photographer will Sima Qian between 109 The bioflavonoids, , developed numerous tea recipes, English tea in the 17th century. release a comprehensive book on the history bc y A tea factory worker stands with and 91 . B this time the sacks of fermented tea inside a and thearubigins popularised in Switzerland by Originally, English tea was of tea in spring 2015. tea factory in Myanmar. in tea have been found to Peter Oppliger. Sri Lanka enjoys 256 inhibit many forms of cancer, an abundance of fresh succulent 257 Discs and bricks of pu’er tea being processed. mythical Emperor Shennong of tea leaves was taken as an aid to reduce cholesterol and prevent tea leaves. Most are turned had not been around for over maintain mental alertness during hardening of the arteries. into fully shredded, completely two millennia. The historical long meditation sessions. As an These natural phytochemicals oxidised . However, reality is far more fascinating. orphan, the scholar Lu Yu (733- exhibit a spectrum of beneficial modern Ceylonese tea cuisine Originally, Chinese did not 804 ad) was first exposed to tea physiological properties which incorporates freshly picked tea even have a specific character to when he was adopted by a Zen cutting-edge research is currently leaves in magnificent new dishes. designate tea. monk of the Longgai monastery enabling us to understand. We It is time once again to eat tea. The leaves of Camellia in Jingling in province. may now infer that Zen monks sinensis were first used by other The modern ideogram for tea, used tea as a meditation aid not ortuguese chá is taken ethnolinguistic communities in chá, first appears in the famous just because of the caffeine that it directly from Japanese the area between northeastern Cha Jing Classic of Tea, and Lu contained. cha. Yet French thé, Swedish te, India, Burma and southwestern Yu appears to have invented the The benefits of drinking tea German Tee, Italian tè, Spanish té, China as a condiment, chewed as character specifically to denote differ from one type of tea to Finnish tee and Sinhalese te a quid and taken as a medicine. tea as an infusion. another. Green tea is claimed all derive from the Dutch When the Chinese adopted tea, to be the most healthy, but black word thee. The first mention the character tu denoted any of hinese as well tea has its own health benefits. of tea in a Dutch source dates a number of bitter medicinal as the fine implements, Green and lightly fermented from 1596. herbs, ranging from tea Camellia porcelains and lovely celadon contain a range of In the celebrated travelogue sinensis to the sow thistle Sonchus vessels used to prepare and serve catechins, amongst which Itinerario, tea is mentioned by its oleraceus. Only later did tea come tea attain an unparalleled degree is the Japanese name cha. This is hardly to be consumed as a refreshing of sophistication during the Song most famous. Black teas on the surprising because its author, Jan tonic and a medicinal elixer, dynasty (960-1279 ad). It is other hand contain compounds Huygen van Linschoten, had usually flavoured with salt, during this period that powdered called theaflavins. sailed on Portuguese ships to ginger, garlic and other spices. green tea was first developed The health benefits of green Japan for many years as a Dutch The idea of drinking and that tea was introduced to tea and black tea differ, and spy, many say. But, cha did not unadulterated tea only came into Japan. Once tea arrived in the today the newest findings of become the Dutch word for tea. vogue during the Tang dynasty Japanese archipelago, tea culture biomedical research on the The Portuguese were the (618-907 ad natural compounds in tea show first Westerners to discover ). The practice underwent its own evolution as Pu’er tea, a variety fo fermented was first cultivated in Zen practices were adapted to native that fresh unprocessed tea leaves and describe tea, but the Dutch dark tea produced in Yunnan, is broken off the brick and monasteries, where an infusion sensibilities. Whilst retaining have a whole other set of distinct were the first to commercialise brewed by adding hot water.