Editing Tea (section)

== Origin and history ==

{{further|History of tea|History of tea in China}}

===Botanical origin===

[[File:Camellia sinensis - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-025.jpg|thumb|Tea plant (''Camellia sinensis'') from ''[[Köhler's Medicinal Plants]]'', 1897]]

Tea plants are native to East Asia and the probable center of origin of tea is near the source of the [[Irrawaddy River]] from where it spread out fan-wise into southeast China, Indo-China and [[Assam]]. Thus, the natural home of the tea plant is considered to be within the comparatively small fan-shaped area between [[Nagaland]], [[Manipur]] and [[Mizoram]] along the [[Myanmar|Burma]] frontier in the west, through [[China]] as far as the [[Zhejiang|Zhejiang Province]] in the east, and from this line generally south through the hills to Burma and [[Thailand]] to [[Vietnam]]. The west–east axis indicated above is about 2,400&nbsp;km long extending from longitude 95°-120°E. The north–south axis covers about 1,920&nbsp;km, starting from the northern part of Burma, latitude 29°N passing through [[Yunnan]], [[Tonkin|Tongkin]], Thailand, [[Laos]] and on to Annan, reaching latitude 11°N.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Saikia |first=Gautam Kumar |date=19 September 2021 |title=Origin And Distribution Of The Tea Plant |url=https://teaorb.com/en-us/blog/origin-of-tea |website=teaorb.com}}</ref>

Chinese (small-leaf) type tea (''C. sinensis'' var. ''sinensis'') may have originated in southern China possibly with hybridization of unknown wild tea relatives. However, since there are no known wild populations of this tea, its origin is speculative.<ref name="Meegahakumbura 1"/><ref name="Meegahakumbura 2"/>

Given their genetic differences forming distinct [[clade]]s, Chinese Assam-type tea (''C. sinensis'' var. ''assamica'') may have two different parentages – one being found in southern [[Yunnan]] ([[Xishuangbanna]], [[Pu'er City]]) and the other in western Yunnan ([[Lincang]], [[Baoshan, Yunnan|Baoshan]]). Many types of Southern Yunnan Assam tea have been hybridized with the closely related species ''[[Camellia taliensis]]''. Unlike Southern Yunnan Assam tea, Western Yunnan Assam tea shares many genetic similarities with Indian Assam-type tea (also ''C. sinensis'' var. ''assamica''). Thus, Western Yunnan Assam tea and Indian Assam tea both may have originated from the same parent plant in the area where southwestern China, Indo-Burma, and Tibet meet. However, as the Indian Assam tea shares no [[haplotype]]s with Western Yunnan Assam tea, Indian Assam tea is likely to have originated from an independent domestication. Some Indian Assam tea appears to have hybridized with the species ''[[Camellia pubicosta]]''.<ref name="Meegahakumbura 1">{{cite journal |last1=Meegahakumbura |first1=MK |last2=Wambulwa |first2=MC |last3=Thapa |first3=KK |display-authors=etal |year=2016 |title=Indications for three independent domestication events for the tea plant (''Camellia sinensis'' (L.) O. Kuntze) and new insights into the origin of tea germplasm in China and India revealed by nuclear microsatellites |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=11 |issue=5 |page=e0155369 |pmid=27218820 |pmc=4878758 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0155369 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1155369M|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Meegahakumbura 2">{{cite journal |vauthors=Meegahakumbura MK, Wambulwa MC, Li MM, Thapa KK, Sun YS, Möller M, Xu JC, Yang JB, Liu J, Liu BY, Li DZ, Gao LM |display-authors=3 |date=2018 |title=Domestication origin and breeding history of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) in China and India based on nuclear microsatellites and cpDNA sequence data |journal=Frontiers in Plant Science |volume=8 |page=2270 |pmid=29422908 |pmc=5788969 |doi= 10.3389/fpls.2017.02270|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Assuming a generation of 12 years, Chinese small-leaf tea is estimated to have diverged from Assam tea around 22,000 years ago, while Chinese Assam tea and Indian Assam tea diverged 2,800 years ago. The divergence of Chinese small-leaf tea and Assam tea would correspond to the last [[Ice age|glacial maximum]].<ref name="Meegahakumbura 1"/><ref name="Meegahakumbura 2"/>

===Early tea drinking===
[[File:Shinno (Shennong) derivative.jpg|thumb|upright|A 19th-century Japanese painting depicting [[Shennong]]: Chinese legends credit Shennong with the invention of tea.<ref name="laura2" />]]

People in ancient East Asia ate tea for centuries, perhaps even [[millennia]], before ever consuming it as a beverage. They would nibble on the leaves raw, add them to [[soups]] or [[Leaf vegetable|greens]], or [[ferment]] them and chew them as [[areca nut]] is [[betel nut chewing| chewed]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Driem |first1=George van |author1-link=George van Driem |title=The tale of tea: a comprehensive history of tea from prehistoric times to the present day |date=2019 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden ; Boston |isbn=978-9004386259 |page=20 |language=en |chapter=The Primordial Origins of Tea}}</ref>

Tea drinking may have begun in the region of [[Yunnan]], where it was used for medicinal purposes. It is believed that in [[Sichuan]], "people began to boil tea leaves for consumption into a concentrated liquid without the addition of other leaves or herbs, thereby using tea as a bitter yet stimulating drink, rather than as a medicinal concoction."{{sfn|Heiss|Heiss|2007|pp=6–7}}

Chinese legends attribute the invention of tea to the mythical [[Shennong]] (in central and northern China) in 2737 BC, although evidence suggests that tea drinking may have been introduced from the southwest of China (Sichuan/Yunnan area).<ref name="laura2">{{Citation| last=Yee| first=L.K.| title=Tea's Wonderful History| publisher=The Chinese Historical and Cultural Project| quote=year 1996–2012| url=http://www.chcp.org/tea.html| access-date=17 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020803115304/http://chcp.org/tea.html |archive-date=3 August 2002 }}</ref> The earliest written records of tea come from China. The word ''tú'' {{Wikt-lang|zh|荼}} appears in the ''[[Classic of Poetry|Shijing]]'' and other ancient texts to signify a kind of "bitter vegetable" ({{lang|zh|苦菜}}), and it is possible that it referred to many different plants such as [[sow thistle]], [[chicory]], or [[Polygonum|smartweed]],{{sfn|Benn|2015|p=22}} as well as tea.{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|pp=264–65}} In the ''[[Chronicles of Huayang]]'', it was recorded that the [[Ba (state)|Ba]] people in Sichuan presented ''tu'' to the [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou]] king. The [[Qin (state)|Qin]] later conquered the state of [[Ba (state)|Ba]] and its neighbour [[Shu (state)|Shu]], and according to the 17th century scholar [[Gu Yanwu]] who wrote in ''Ri Zhi Lu'' ({{lang|zh|日知錄}}): "It was after the Qin had taken Shu that they learned how to drink tea."{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|pp=29–30}} Another possible early reference to tea is found in a letter written by the [[Qin dynasty]] general Liu Kun who requested that some "real tea" to be sent to him.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NT8J5qDjABIC&pg=PR18 |title=All the Tea in China |author=Kit Boey Chow |author2=Ione Kramer |pages=2–3 |publisher=Sinolingua |date=1990 |isbn=978-0-8351-2194-1 |access-date=21 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831072957/https://books.google.com/books?id=NT8J5qDjABIC&pg=PR18&lpg=PR18 |archive-date=31 August 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The earliest known physical evidence<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/archaeologists-discover-worlds-oldest-tea-buried-with-ancient-chinese-emperor-a6805171.html|title=Archaeologists discover world's oldest tea buried with ancient Chinese emperor|work=[[The Independent]]|publisher=Independent Print Limited|access-date=15 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008011801/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/archaeologists-discover-worlds-oldest-tea-buried-with-ancient-chinese-emperor-a6805171.html|archive-date=8 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> of tea was discovered in 2016 in the mausoleum of [[Emperor Jing of Han]] in [[Xi'an]], indicating that tea from the genus ''Camellia'' was drunk by [[Han dynasty]] emperors as early as the second century BC.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Earliest tea as evidence for one branch of the Silk Road across the Tibetan Plateau|volume=6|pages=18955|author=Houyuan Lu|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|doi=10.1038/srep18955|pmid=26738699|pmc=4704058| date=7 January 2016|display-authors=etal|bibcode=2016NatSR...618955L}}</ref> The Han dynasty work "The Contract for a Youth", written by [[Wang Bao]] in 59 BC,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://phys.org/news/2016-01-world-oldest-tea-chinese-emperor.html|title=World's oldest tea found in Chinese emperor's tomb|publisher=[[Phys.org]]|date=28 January 2016|quote=The oldest written reference to tea is from the year 59 BC.|access-date=22 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917190549/http://phys.org/news/2016-01-world-oldest-tea-chinese-emperor.html|archive-date=17 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> contains the first known reference to boiling tea. Among the tasks listed to be undertaken by the youth, the contract states that "he shall boil tea and fill the utensils" and "he shall buy tea at Wuyang".{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|pp=29–30}} The first record of tea cultivation is dated to this period, during which tea was cultivated on Meng Mountain ({{lang|zh|蒙山}}) near [[Chengdu]].{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|pp=30–31}} Another early credible record of tea drinking dates to the 3rd century AD, in a medical text by the Chinese physician [[Hua Tuo]], who stated, "to drink bitter t'u constantly makes one think better."<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AGaTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA28 |title=The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug |author=Bennett Alan Weinberg, Bonnie K. Bealer |page=28 |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-415-92722-2 |access-date=7 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513051901/https://books.google.com/books?id=AGaTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28 |archive-date=13 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, before the [[Tang dynasty]], tea-drinking was primarily a southern Chinese practice centered in [[Jiankang]].{{sfn|Benn|2015|p=42}} Tea was disdained by the [[Northern and Southern dynasties|Northern dynasties]] aristocrats, who describe it as inferior to yogurt.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qmwywEACAAJ&q=slaves'%20drink&pg=PA76 |title=The Jiankang Empire in Chinese and World History |author=Andrew Chittick |pages=75–76 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780190937546}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PASE4LVLzQ0C&q=yogurt&pg=PA22 |title=Culture and Power in the Reconstitution of the Chinese Realm, 200–600 |editor1=Scott Pearce |editor2=Audrey G. Spiro |editor3=Patricia Buckley Ebrey |page=22 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center |year=2001 |isbn=0-674-00523-6}}</ref> It became widely popular during the Tang dynasty, when it spread to Korea, [[Japan]], and Vietnam. ''[[The Classic of Tea]]'', a treatise on tea and its preparations, was written by the 8th century Chinese writer, [[Lu Yu]]. He was known to have influenced tea drinking on a large part in China.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |author=Miranda Brown |date=2 March 2022 |title=The Medieval Influencer Who Convinced the World to Drink Tea—Not Eat It |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/eating-tea? |website=Atlas Obscura}}</ref>

===Developments===
[[File:Tea with ingredients.jpg|thumb|right|Tea with ingredients, China]]

Through the centuries, a variety of techniques for processing tea, and a number of different forms of tea, were developed. During the Tang dynasty, tea was steamed, then pounded and shaped into cake form,{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|pp=39–41}} while in the [[Song dynasty]], loose-leaf tea was developed and became popular. During the [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] and [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] dynasties, unoxidized tea leaves were first stirred in a hot dry pan, then rolled and air-dried, a process that stops the [[Redox|oxidation]] process that would have turned the leaves dark, thereby allowing tea to remain green. In the 15th century, [[oolong]] tea, in which the leaves are allowed to partially oxidize before being heated in the pan, was developed.{{sfn|Benn|2015|p=42}} Western tastes, however, favoured the fully oxidized [[black tea]], and the leaves were allowed to oxidize further. [[Yellow tea]] was an accidental discovery in the production of green tea during the Ming dynasty, when apparently careless practices allowed the leaves to turn yellow, which yielded a different flavour.{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|p=118}}

===Worldwide spread===
{{See also|Arabic tea|Korean tea|Tea in Australia|Tea in France}}
[[File:Gorskii 03992u.jpg|thumb|left|Tea-weighing station north of [[Batumi]], [[Russian Empire]], before 1915]]

Tea was first introduced to Western priests and merchants in China during the 16th century, at which time it was termed ''chá''.<ref name="caff">{{cite book |author1=Bennett Alan Weinberg |author2=Bonnie K. Bealer |title=The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YdpL2YCGLVYC&pg=PA63 |year=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-92722-2 |page=63 |access-date=10 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427034134/https://books.google.com/books?id=YdpL2YCGLVYC&pg=PA63 |archive-date=27 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The earliest European reference to tea, written as ''chiai'', came from ''Delle navigationi e viaggi'' written by Venetian [[Giovanni Battista Ramusio|Giambattista Ramusio]] in 1545.{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|p=165}} The first recorded shipment of tea by a European nation was in 1607 when the Dutch East India Company moved a cargo of tea from [[Macau|Macao]] to Java, then two years later, the Dutch bought the first assignment of tea which was from [[Hirado, Nagasaki|Hirado]] in Japan to be shipped to Europe.{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|p=106}} Tea became a fashionable drink in [[The Hague]] in the Netherlands, and the Dutch introduced the drink to [[Germany]], [[France]], and across the Atlantic to [[New Amsterdam]] (New York).{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|p=169}}

In 1567, Russian people came in contact with tea when the [[Cossacks|Cossack]] [[Ataman]]s Petrov and Yalyshev visited China.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.apollotea.com/tea-articles/tea-history/15-russian-tea-history |title=Russian Tea History |website=www.apollotea.com |access-date=28 May 2019}}</ref> The Mongolian Khan donated to [[Tsar]] [[Michael of Russia|Michael I]] four [[pood]]s (65–70&nbsp;kg) of tea in 1638.<ref name="T">{{cite book |title=[[Great Soviet Encyclopedia]] |publisher=Советская энциклопедия |year=1978 |pages=vol. 29, p. 11 }}</ref> According to [[Jeremiah Curtin]],<ref>Jeremiah Curtin, ''A Journey to Southern Siberia'', 1909, chapter one</ref> it was possibly in 1636<ref>Basil Dymytryshyn, ''Russia's Conquest of Siberia: A Documentary Record'', 1985, volume one, document 48 (he was an envoy that year, but the tea may have been given on a later visit to the Khan)</ref> that Vassili Starkov was sent as envoy to the [[Altan Khan of the Khalkha|Altyn Khan]]. He was given 250 pounds of tea as a gift to the tsar. Starkov at first refused, seeing no use for a load of dead leaves, but the Khan insisted. Thus was tea introduced to Russia. In 1679, Russia concluded a treaty on regular tea supplies from China via [[camel train|camel caravan]] in exchange for furs. It is today considered the ''de facto'' national beverage.

[[File:This print of the Raymond Hugh Mckay Commander. The first vessel direct from China to Hull is published commemorative of her arrival on the 14th October 1843 RMG PW7733.jpg|thumb|The ''Raymond'', Hugh Mckay Commander. The first vessel direct from China to [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] on her arrival on 14 October 1843 with a cargo of tea.]]

The first record of tea in English came from a letter written by Richard Wickham, who ran an [[East India Company]] office in Japan, writing to a merchant in Macao requesting "the best sort of chaw" in 1615. [[Peter Mundy]], a traveller and merchant who came across tea in [[Fujian]] in 1637, wrote, "''chaa'' – only water with a kind of herb boyled in it".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXYFBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT25 |title=Tea: A Very British Beverage |author=Paul Chrystal |year=2014 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-4456-3360-2 |access-date=5 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928000518/https://books.google.com/books?id=lXYFBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT25&lpg=PT25 |archive-date=28 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''Peter Mundy Merchant Adventurer'', 2011, ed. R.E. Pritchard, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford</ref> Tea was sold in a coffee house in London in 1657, [[Samuel Pepys]] tasted tea in 1660, and [[Catherine of Braganza]] took the tea-drinking habit to the English court when she married [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] in 1662. Tea, however, was not widely consumed in the British Isles until the 18th century and remained expensive until the latter part of that period. English drinkers preferred to add sugar and milk to black tea, and black tea overtook green tea in popularity in the 1720s.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Tea |series=[[In Our Time (BBC Radio 4)|In Our Time]] |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004y24y |network=[[BBC Radio 4]] |airdate=29 April 2004 |access-date=7 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411023701/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004y24y |archive-date=11 April 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Tea smuggling during the 18th century led to the general public being able to afford and consume tea. The British government removed the tax on tea, thereby eliminating the smuggling trade, by 1785.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tea.co.uk/page.php?id=98#masses |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090730000451/http://www.tea.co.uk/page.php?id=98 |archive-date=30 July 2009 |title=A Social History of the Nation's Favourite Drink |work=United Kingdom Tea Council}}</ref> In Britain and Ireland, tea was initially consumed as a luxury item on special occasions, such as religious festivals, wakes, and domestic work gatherings. The price of tea in Europe fell steadily during the 19th century, especially after Indian tea began to arrive in large quantities; by the late 19th century tea had become an everyday beverage for all levels of society.<ref name="Lysaght" /> The popularity of tea played a role in historical events – the [[Tea Act]] of 1773 provoked the [[Boston Tea Party]] that escalated into the [[American Revolution]]. The need to address the issue of British trade deficit because of the trade in tea resulted in the [[Opium Wars]]. The Qing [[Kangxi Emperor]] had banned foreign products from being sold in China, decreeing in 1685 that all goods bought from China must be paid for in silver coin or bullion.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Goldstone|first=Jack A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mOu_DQAAQBAJ&q=chinese+european+bullion&pg=PT365|title=Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World: Population Change and State Breakdown in England, France, Turkey, and China, 1600–1850; 25th Anniversary Edition|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-315-40860-6|language=en}}</ref> Traders from other nations then sought to find another product, in this case opium, to sell to China to earn back the silver they were required to pay for tea and other commodities. The subsequent attempts by the Chinese Government to curtail the trade in opium led to war.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China |last=Lovell |first=Julia|authorlink=Julia Lovell |isbn=978-1-4472-0410-7 |year=2012 |publisher=Picador}}</ref>
[[File:MapTea-1907.jpg|alt=World map of tea exporters and importers, 1907|thumb|World map of tea exporters and importers, 1907]]
Chinese small-leaf-type tea was introduced into India in 1836 by the British in an attempt to break the Chinese monopoly on tea.<ref name="Sen" /> In 1841, [[Archibald Campbell (doctor)|Archibald Campbell]] brought seeds of [[Chinese tea]] from the [[Kumaon Kingdom|Kumaun]] region and experimented with planting tea in [[Darjeeling]]. The Alubari [[tea garden]] was opened in 1856, and [[Darjeeling tea]] began to be produced.{{sfn|Mair|Hoh|2009|p=214}} In 1848, [[Robert Fortune]] was sent by the [[East India Company]] on a mission to China to bring the tea plant back to Great Britain. He began his journey in high secrecy as his mission occurred in the lull between the [[First Opium War]] and the [[Second Opium War]].<ref name="Rose">{{cite book |author=Sarah Rose |title=For All the Tea in China |publisher=Penguin Books |pages=1–5, 89, 122, 197 |year=2010 |author-link=Sarah Rose}}</ref> The Chinese tea plants he brought back were introduced to the [[Himalayas]], though most did not survive. The British had discovered that a different variety of tea was endemic to [[Assam]] and the northeast region of India, which was then hybridized with Chinese small-leaf-type tea. Using Chinese planting and cultivation techniques, the British colonial government established a tea industry by offering land in Assam to any European who agreed to cultivate it for export.<ref name="Sen" /> Tea was originally consumed only by [[Anglo-Indians]]; however, it became widely popular in India in the 1950s because of a successful advertising campaign by the India Tea Board.<ref name="Sen">{{cite book |author=Colleen Taylor Sen|title=Food Culture in India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YIyV_5wrplMC&pg=PA26 |year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32487-1 |page=26 |quote=Ironically, it was the British who introduced tea drinking to India, initially to anglicized Indians. Tea did not become a mass drink there until the 1950s when the India Tea Board, faced with a surplus of low-grade tea, launched an advertising campaign to popularize it in the north, where the drink of choice was milk. |access-date=10 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424065113/https://books.google.com/books?id=YIyV_5wrplMC&pg=PA26 |archive-date=24 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The British introduced tea industry to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1867.<ref name="taylor-AU">{{cite web|url=http://www1.american.edu/ted/ceylon-tea.htm|title=TED Case Studies – Ceylon Tea|publisher=American University, Washington, DC|access-date=27 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223084443/http://www1.american.edu/ted/ceylon-tea.htm|archive-date=23 February 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>