History
The tea history starts in ancestral age, on Chinese territory. Between legends that recount the birth of this aromatic drink, the most famous tells that its roots date from 5000 years ago, at the time of the Sheng Emperor, popularly known as the Divine Healer. When trying to find a solution to the frequent outbreaks in his Kingdom, the Emperor created a law that obliged the people to boil the water before they drunk it.
One day, when he was resting under a tree, he left is cup of water cool a little, and noticed that some leaves had fallen in the water, adding a brown color. He tried it and found out that this drink had a pleasant flavor, and so he started promoting this drink to his people.
Many centuries later, between 618 - 906 a.C., during the T’ang, Dynasty, the tea was already considered the national drink in China. By the year 780 a.C, the Buddhist monk Lu Yu wrote Ch’a Ching, where in three chapters, he describes the methods of farming and the spirituals and ceremonial traditions of tea.
Some time after, the consumption of tea starts to spread to West, trough Central Asia and Russia. Nevertheless, it was only after the first quarter of the XVI century, when the Portuguese arrived at the Far East, that the tea was brought to Europe, starting to be known and sold in the all Continent.
Curiously, the tea only arrives to England in 1652, by the hand of the portuguese Catarina de Brangança. Daughter of the King D. João IV and the Queen D. Luísa de Gusmão, the princess marries with the King Charles II, and she introduces to the English people, she’s favorite drink – the Tea – which will become the most popular drink in the Royal Court, and later on, among all the upper class.
Nevertheless, it was only around the year 1830 that this tradition was completely implemented by the English people, with the help of the Duchesse Bedford that considered the “five o’clock tea”, a chance to show her precious pieces of porcelain and silver. As a consequence, were created protocols to serve the tea, and recipes to harmonize, like toast with butter, jelly or honey, scones, muffins, cakes and a big variety of biscuits and bread.
If you whish for a good cup of tea in China, please just ask: 茶
Tea ≠ Infusion ≠ Tisane
It’s usual to use the word tea referring to infusions and herbal tisanes, but in fact, tea it’s an infusion of dry leaves from a specific plant, Camellia sinensis, native from China.
The Camellia sinensis, allows production of several different teas, white tea, green tea, black tea and red tea, according with the farming conditions, the harvest, and the leaves preparation and storage.
The infusions and tisanes are obtained by immersion of several plants, leaves, roots and seeds, directly into boiling water. It’s an excellent way to take the best advantage of their benefits.
The infusion is prepared by dropping boiling water over the herbs inside a recipient, and leaving it to rest for some minutes.
The tisane is a type of infusion, which consists in adding medicinal herbs to boiling water, in a closed recipient, for 5 or 6 minutes, and then remove it from the heat and leave it covered to rest for 15 minutes. The tisane is ready to be consumed, after being strained.
Thus, what we usually call “tea” is actually an infusion, except for the infusions that are made with the tea plant, Camellia sinensis.
