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TEA (Chinese cha, Amoy dialect t€)
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See also:TEA (See also:Chinese cha, See also:Amoy See also:dialect t€) , the name given to the leaves of the See also:tea See also:bush (see below) prepared by decoction as a beverage . The See also:term is by See also:analogy also used for an infusion or decoction of other leaves, e g. camomile tea; and similarly for the afternoon See also:meal at which tea is served . See also:Historical.—The See also:early See also:history of tea as a beverage is mainly traditional . The lack of accurate knowledge regarding the past of the See also:Chinese See also:Empire may possibly some See also:day be supplied, as See also:European scholars become more able to explore the unstudied stores in the See also:great Chinese See also:libraries, or as Chinese students ran-See also:sack the records of their See also:country for the facts of earlier periods . It may then be learnt who made the first See also:cup of tea, who planted the earliest bushes, and how the See also:primitive methods of manufacture were evolved . In the meantime knowledge on the subject is mingled with much that is obviously mythical and with gleanings from the casual references of travellers and authors . According to Chinese See also:legend, the virtues of tea were discovered by the See also:Emperor Chinnung, 2737 B.C., to whom all agricultural and medicinal knowledge is traced . It is doubt-fully referred to in the See also:book of See also:ancient poems edited by See also:Confucius, all of which are previous in date to 550 B.C . A tradition exists in See also:China that a knowledge of tea travelled eastward to and in China, having been introduced 543 A.D. by Bodhidharma, an ascetic who came from See also:India on a missionary expedition, but that legend is also mixed with supernatural details . But it is quite certain, from the historical narrative of Lo Yu, who lived in the Tang See also:dynasty (618-906 A.D.), that tea was already used as a beverage in the 6th See also:century, and that during the 8th century its use had become so See also:common that a tax was levied on its See also:consumption in the 14th See also:year of Tih Tsung (793) . The use of tea in China in the See also:middle of the 9th century is known from Arab See also:sources (See also:Reinaud, Relation See also:des Voyages, 1845, p . 40) .
From China a knowledge of tea was carried into See also:Japan, and there the cultivation was established during the 9th century
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See also:Seed was brought from China by the See also:priest Miyoye, and planted first in the See also:south See also:island, Kiushiu, whence the cultivation spread northwards till it reached the high limit of 390 N
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It is somewhat curious that although many of the products of China were known and used in See also:Europe at much earlier times, no reference to tea has yet been traced in European literature See also:prior to 1588
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No mention of it is made by Marco See also:Polo, and no knowledge of the substance appears to have reached Europe till after the See also:establishment of intercourse between See also:Portugal and China in 1517
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The Portuguese, however, did little to-wards the introduction of it into Europe, and it was not till the Dutch established themselves at See also:Bantam early in the 17th century that these adventurers learned from the Chinese the See also:habit of tea drinking and brought it into Europe
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The earliest mention of tea by an Englishman is probably that contained in a See also:letter from Mr Wickham, an See also:agent of the See also:East India See also:Company, written from Firando in Japan, on the 27th See also:June 1615, to Mr See also:Eaton, another officer of the company, See also:resident at See also:Macao, and asking for " a pot of the best sort of chaw." How the See also:commission was executed does not appear, but in Mr Eaton's subsequent accounts of See also:expenditure occurs this See also:item—" three See also:silver porringers to drink chaw in."
It was not till the middle of the century that the See also:English began to use tea, and they also received their supplies from See also:Java till in 1686 they were driven out of the island by the Dutch
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At first the See also:price of tea in See also:England ranged from £6 to £ro per lb
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In the Mercurius Politicus, No
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435, of See also:September 1658, the following See also:advertisement occurs:— " That excellent and by all Physitians approved China Drink called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations See also:Tay, See also:alias Tee, is sold at the Sultaness See also:Head, a cophee-See also:house in Sweetings Rents, by the Royal See also:Exchange, See also:London." See also:
See also:Pepys's often-quoted mention of the fact that on the 25th September 166o, " I did send for a cup of tee, a China drink, of which I never had drunk before," proves the novelty of tea in England at that date
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In 1664 we find that the East India Company presented the See also: In 1703 orders were given for " 75,000 lb Singlo (green), ro,000 lb imperial, and 20,000 lb bohea." The average price of tea at this See also:period was 16s. per lb . As the 18th century progressed the use of tea in England rapidly increased, and by the See also:close of the century the See also:rate of consumption exceeded an average of 2 lb per See also:person per annum, a rate in excess of that of to-day of all See also:people except those of Mongol and Anglo-Saxon origin . The business being a mono-poly of the East-India Company, and a very profitable one, the company at an early See also:stage of its development endeavoured to ascertain whether tea could not be grown within its own dominions . Difficulties with China doubtless showed the advisability of having an See also:independent source of See also:supply . In 1788 See also:Sir See also:Joseph See also:Banks, at the See also:request of the directors, See also:drew up a memoir on the cultivation of economic See also:plants in See also:Bengal, in which he gave See also:special prominence to tea, pointing out the regions most favourable for its cultivation . About the year 182o Mr See also:David See also:Scott, the first See also:commissioner of See also:Assam, sent to See also:Calcutta from Kuch See also:Behar and See also:Rangpur--the very districts indicated by Sir Joseph Banks as favourable for tea-growing —certain leaves, with a statement that they were said to belong to the See also:wild ,tea-plant . The leaves were submitted to Dr Wallich, See also:government botanist at Calcutta, who pronounced them to belong to a See also:species of See also:Camellia, and no result followed on Mr Scott's communication . These very leaves ultimately came into the See also:herbarium of the Linnean Society of London, and have authoritatively been pronounced to belong to the indigenous Assam tea-plant . Dr Wallich's attribution of this and other specimens subsequently sent in to the genus Camellia, although scientifically defensible, _ unfortunately diverted See also:attention from the significance of the See also:discovery . It was not till 1834 that, overcome by the insistence of See also:Captain See also:Francis See also:Jenkins, who maintained and proved that, called by the name Camellia or not, the leaves belonged to a tea-plant, Dr Wallich admitted " the fact of the genuine tea-plant being a native of our territories in Upper Assam as incontrovertibly proved." In the meantime a See also:committee had been formed by See also:Lord William See also:Bentinck, the See also:governor-See also:general, for the introduction of tea culture into India, and an See also:official had already been sent to the tea districts of China to procure seed and skilled Chinese workmen to conduct operations in the Himalayan regions . The discovery and reports of Captain Jenkins led to the investigation of the capacities of Assam as a tea-growing country by Lord William Bentinck's committee . See also:Evidence of the abundant existence of the indigenous tea-See also:tree was obtained; and the directors of the East India Company resolved to See also:institute an experimental establishment in Assam for cultivating and manufacturing tea, leaving the See also:industry to be See also:developed by private enterprise should its practicability be demonstrated . In 1834 the See also:monopoly of the East India Company was abolished and an era of rapid progress in the new industry began . In 1836 there was sent to London 1 lb of tea made from indigenous leaves; in 1837 5' lb of Assam tea were sent; in 1838 the quantity sent was 12 small boxes, and 95 boxes reached London in 1839 . In 1840 there were grown, and offered at public See also:auction in Calcutta early the following year, 35 packages, chiefly green teas, stated to have been manufactured by a See also:chief of the Singpho tribe aided by the government establishment . In the same auction See also:catalogue were included 95 packages, " the produce of the Government Tea See also:Plantation in Assam," many of which See also:bore the Chubwa See also:mark, one well known to this day . This auction is most interesting as being the first of British-grown tea, and it included about 6000 lb . It is of See also:interest also for the reference to the Singpho tribe, who are even now in small See also:numbers in the same See also:district, where they still produce in a primitive manner tea plucked from the indigenous trees growing in their jungles . In See also:January 1840 the Assam Company was formed to take over the early tea See also:garden of the East India Company, and this, the premier company, is still in existence, having produced up to 1907 no less than 117,000,000 lb of tea and paid in dividends £1,360,000 or 730 per cent. on See also:capital . It 'is no longer the first company in extent of yield, as the Consolidated Tea and Lands Company produced in 1907 about 15,000,000 lb of tea, besides other products . The introduction of Chinese seed and Chinese methods was a See also:mistake, and there seems little See also:reason to doubt that, in clearing See also:jungle for tea planting, See also:fine indigenous tea was frequently destroyed unwittingly in order to plant the inferior China variety . The period of unlearning the Chinese methods, and replacing the Chinese plants, had to be lived through . Vicissitudes of over-See also:production and inflation came to interfere with an even course of success, but the industry developed and has increased enormously . From its point of origin in Assam, it has gradually spread to other districts with varying commercial success . The aggregate See also:total of capital of the tea-producing companies in India and See also:Ceylon now amounts to about £25,000,000 . The Dutch were rather earlier than the English in attempting to establish tea growing in their eastern possessions . A beginning was made in Java in 1826, but probably because of the even more marked See also:influence of Chinese methods and Chinese plant, the progress was slow and the results indifferent . Of See also:late years, however, by the introduction of fine Assam seed and the See also:adoption of methods similar to those in use in India, a marked improvement has taken See also:place, and there seems little reason to doubt that, with the very See also:rich See also:soil and abundant cheap labour that the island of Java possesses, the relative progress there may be greater in future than in any other producing See also:land . Somewhere about 186o the See also:practical commercial growing of tea was introduced into the island of See also:Formosa . The methods of cultivation and manufacture followed there differ in manyways from those of the other large producing countries, but the industry has been fairly successful throughout its history . Attempts were repeatedly made to introduce tea culture in Ceylon, under both Dutch and British authority . No permanent success was attained till about 1876, when the disastrous effects of the coffee-leaf disease forced planters to give serious attention to tea . Since that period the tea industry has developed with marvellous rapidity, and now takes first See also:rank in the See also:commerce of the island . Several plantations have been successfully put out both by the See also:Russian government and private enterprise in the See also:Caucasus, but it is doubtful whether they could exist See also:long but for the high rate of duty on tea entering See also:Russia from See also:foreign countries . See also:Natal has now about 5000 acres under tea giving a fairly large yield, but of quality not highly esteemed outside of South See also:Africa, where it benefits to the extent of 4d. per See also:pound of See also:protection in the See also:tariff . A small plantation exists in South Carolina under circumstances not conducive to See also:financial success on a large See also:scale of production .
Attempts at tea growing have been made in the See also:West Indies, See also:Brazil, See also:Australia, Nyassaland, See also:Mauritius, the Straits Settlements, Johore, See also:Fiji and at See also:San See also:Miguel in the See also:Azores without marked success
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In addition to favourable conditions of soil and See also:climate, abundant cheap labour is an See also:absolute See also:necessity if satisfactory commercial results are to be obtained
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See also:Botany.—The tea bush or tree is a member of the natural order Ternstroemiaceae and is closely allied to the well-known ornamental See also:shrub the camellia
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As cultivated in China it is an See also:evergreen shrub growing to a height of from 3 to 5 ft
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The See also:stem is bushy, with numerous and very leafy branches; the leaves are alternate, leathery in texture, elliptical, obtusely serrated, strongly veined and placed on See also:short channelled See also:foot-stalks
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The See also:flowers are See also: Later Linnaeus established two species, viz . Thea Bohea and Thea viridis, and it was erroneously assumed that the former was the source of See also:black teas, while Thea viridis was held to yield the green varieties . In 1843, however, Mr See also:Robert See also:Fortune found that, although the two varieties of the plant existed in different parts of China, black and green tea were produced from the leaves of the same plant by varying the manufacturing processes . Sir See also:George See also:Watt (See also:Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, vol. xxxii.) describes with ample illustrations the recognized varieties, placing all of them under Camellia Thea, with the following subdivision: B . „ Bohea . C . „ Stricta . D . „ Lasiocalyx . Of the foregoing, the teas of commerce are derived almost entirely from the varieties Viridis and Bohea . The Assam Indigenous, in its two sub-races of Singlo and Bazalona, and the See also:Manipur, originally found wild in the jungles of the native See also:state of that name, have, with various intermixtures and crossings, been used to See also:cover the greatest areas of all the more See also:modern planting in India, Ceylon and Java . The great See also:size A . Variety Viridis: races 1 . Assam Indigenous . 2 . Lushai . 3 . Naga Hills . - 4 . Manipur . 5 . See also:Burma and Shan . 6 . Yunnan and Chinese . of leaf when fully developed (4 to 9 ins. in length and 2 to 32 in breadth) has made them in demand because of the heavy yields . From the variety Bohea, or from hybrids of descent from it, came the China teas of former days and the earlier plantings in India grown from imported China stock . The • leaves of this variety are generally, roughly speaking, about See also:half the size of those of the Assam Indigenous and Manipur sorts . The bush is in every way smaller than the Assam types . The latter is a tree attaining in its natural conditions, or where allowed to grow unpruned in a seed garden, a height of from 30 to 40 ft. and prospering in the midst of dense moist jungle and in shady sheltered situations . The Bohea variety is See also:hardy, and capable of thriving under many different conditions of climate and situation, while the indigenous plant is See also:tender and difficult of cultivation, requiring for its success a close, hot, moist and equable climate . In See also:minute structure it presents highly characteristic appearances . The under See also:side of the See also:young leaf is densely covered with fine one-celled thick-walled hairs, about I mm. in length and •ois mm. in thickness . These hairs entirely disappear with increasing See also:age . The structure of the epidermis of the under side of the leaf, with its contorted cells, is represented in fig . 3 . A further characteristic feature of the cellular structure of the tea-leaf is the abundance, especially in grown leaves, of large, branching, thick-walled, smooth cells (idioblasts), which, although they occur in other leaves, are not found in such as are likely to be confounded with or substituted for tea . The minute structure of the leaf in See also:section is illustrated in fig . 4 . See also:Constant controversy has existed as to what is the actual See also:original home of the tea-plant, and probably no one has given to the subject more careful study than See also:Professor Andreas Krassnow, of Kharkoff University . By order of the Russian government, he visited each of the great tea-growing countries,and the results of his observations were published in a book entitled On the Tea-producing Districts of See also:Asia . He holds the See also:opinion that the tea-plant is indigenous, not to Assam only, but to the whole See also:monsoon region of eastern Asia, where he found it growing wild as far See also:north as the islands of See also:southern Japan . He considers that the tea-plant had, from the remotest times, two distinct varieties, the Assam and Chinese, as he thinks that the period of known cultivation has been too short to produce the See also:differences that exist between them . See also:Chemistry.—What may be termed the chemistry of production, viz., that See also:relating to soils, See also:manures, manufacturing processes, &c., has of See also:recent years received great attention from the scientific experts appointed in India and Ceylon to assist and See also:guide the tea planters . The chemistry of the completed teas of commerce does not appear to have been subjected to adequate scientific study . There cannot be said to be any See also:standard or recognized See also:analysis . Many such have been made, and they may be found in chemical See also:text-books of high authority, but they are defective because of the lack of commercial knowledge in association with the chemical skill . More attention seems to have been given to the See also:matter in the See also:United States of See also:America and in See also:Germany and Russia than in England, but the See also:infinite variety of samples known to the commercial See also:expert, and the impossibility of standardizing those in such a manner as to make readily recognizable what the chemist has treated, renders most of the recorded analyses of uncertain value . There seems to be no relationship between the commercial value and the analysis, the arbitrary See also:personal methods of the expert tea-taster being controlled by factors that chemistry does not appear to See also:deal with . One reason may be that analyses are generally made of tea liquors produced by distilled See also:water, which is the very worst possible from the point of view of the commercial expert or in domestic usage . The See also:principal chemical constituents of tea of practical interest are: See also:caffeine, See also:tannin and essential oil, on which depend respectively the physio- logical effects, the strength and the flavour . The commercial value appears to depend on the essential oil and aroma, not on the amount of caffeine, tannin or See also:extract . The following is suggested as a typical analysis of an average See also:sample of black tea:— Per cent . Albuminous matters 24 Gummy matters 4 See also:Cellulose 20 See also:Chlorophyll and See also:wax 2 Caffeine . 3 Tannin lo Essential oil . 0.75 See also:Resin 3 See also:Mineral matter (ash) 6 Moisture 7 Extractive matter 20.25 See also:Ioo Also a trace (I to •2 per cent.) of boheic See also:acid, a See also:vegetable acid See also:peculiar to tea . The amount of tannin found in green teas appears to be leaf, full size . about half as much again as in black, and the former always yield Tea ") . Out of that total, Great See also:Britain consumed only about less moisture, doubtless because of the harder fibre produced by the 5,000,000 lb, against a consumption of 126,000,000 lb of China tea method of manufacture and the frequent use of a facing See also:medium . A large percentage of moisture found in any sample would indicate improper See also:condition . At the stage of final firing, tea is supposed to be desiccated as completely as possible, and it is then sealed up to exclude See also:air entirely . It is, however, most liable to absorb moisture upon subsequent exposure . Caffeine (formerly known as theine) is the See also:alkaloid of tea, and is identical with that of coffee, See also:guarana, See also:mate and See also:kola See also:nut . It is closely allied to theobromine, the alkaloid of See also:cocoa, and also to uric acid . In large quantities it is a See also:poison, but in smaller quantities it acts as a stimulant . It exists in greater percentage in See also:Indian and Ceylon teas than in those from Java, and is lowest in China and Japan teas . Tannin is a hardening and astringent substance, and in large quantities impairs digestion . Prolonged infusion increases the amount extracted . The essential oil of tea is of a citron yellow See also:colour; it is lighter than water and possesses the distinctive odour of tea . Extract varies from 26 to 40 per cent., and is no guide to quality . Ash averages 5.7 per cent., about half of which is soluble in water . About 8 per cent. of ash is See also:proof of See also:adulteration . Commercial.—There is probably no See also:article of large consumption the commerce in which has been so revolutionized during a single See also:generation .
In 1877, except to the initiated, tea meant China tea
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India and Java were producing a little, but practically for use only in Great Britain and See also: 121,202 39,778,000 only . Formosa 79,858 20,300,000 India 531,808 240,411,000 (Burma) 1,498 2 3,249,000 Shan States (mostly pickled tea) 1 16,000,000 Ceylon . . 390,000 170,527,000 Java . . 45,000 26,215,000 Natal . 5,000 2,750,000 726,601,000 The quantity from China includes about 16,000,000 lb imported from India, Ceylon and Java, and worked up with China teas into bricks and tablets . The modern developments of production and consumption have rendered the subject of China tea one of subordinate interest, except to studen |