The Classic Art of Tea: Some interesting facts for tea drinkers.

There are lots of big fans of tea drinking. Not only just normal tea with milk and sugar, people love tasting all kinds of teas; green teas, flower tea's, fruit tea, herbal tea and so on and so forth. Today I went to a small Chinese grocery store near were I live and spent a whole load of time choosing some different types of teas

Basically I  love tea, and I know I have left it a while since my last blog because I've been working on something really interesting which is taking longer that I thought. So in the mean time I thought I would write out some interesting info about one of my favorite things; Tea! ^.^

In "The Art Of Tea Drinking", Olivia Yang opens with the words; "The Chinese People are without a doubt the ones who best understand the nature of tea". It's very difficult to exaggerate the importance of tea in Chinese culture. At various points throughout history, China's national drink (that's tea) has been designated as the state currency and used instead of cash.

The Origins of Tea

Emperor Chen Nung

While references to tea in Chinese literature go back approximately 5,000 years, the origins of tea's use as a beverage is unclear. Ancient folklore places the creation of the brew at 2737BC, when a camellia flower drifted into the cup of Emperor Chen Nung's boiled drinking water. However most scholars credit a reference found in Erh Ya, an ancient Chinese dictionary, dated about 350BC. 

Originally tea was valued for its medicinal qualities. It has long been known that tea aids digestion, which is why many Chinese people prefer to consume tea after their meal. Another interesting side effect for smokers is that tea hastens the discharge of nicotine from the body. The elevation of tea drinking to an art form began in the 8th Century, with the publication of Lu Yu's "The Classic Art of Tea". The highly esteemed poet and former Buddhist priest had strict notions about the proper procedure for brewing, steeping and serving tea. For example, only water from a slow moving stream was acceptable and the tea leaves had to be placed in a porcelain cup. The perfect milieu for enjoying the finished product was in a pavilion next to a water lily pond in the company of a desirable woman. To be fair, this guy's work also contained several practical tips for manufacturing tea, many of which are still used today! 

A statue of Lu Yu, who lived in China during the 8th Century

In the centuries following the publications of Yu's work, tea's popularity spread rapidly throughout China. Not only did tea drinking become a fitting subject for book and poems; Emperors bestowed gifts of tea worldwide to grateful recipients. Later, teahouses began dotting the landscape. While the Chinese haven't developed a ritualistic ceremony surrounding tea-drinking resembling the Japanese tea ceremony, they have a healthy respect for its role in their daily lives. 

Types of Tea

One plant, many different types of tea.

Lots of tea aficionados are surprised to learn that all tea comes from the same source; the Camilla Sinensis Bush. While there are indeed hundreds of different varieties of Chinese Teas, most fall into four basic categories. Reputed to provide the most health benefits, White Tea is made from immature tea leaves that are picked shortly before the buds have fully opened. Green Teas are not fermented during processing, and thus retain the original color of the tea leaves. The most famous green tea is the expensive Dragon Well tea, grown in the hillsides of Hanghou. Also know as red tea, Black Teas are made from fermented leaves, which accounts for its darker color. Popular varieties of black tea include Bo Lei, a Cantonese tea often drank with dim sum - and luk on, a much milder tea favored by the elderly. Finally Oolong Tea is partially fermented, resulting in black - green tea. Examples of Oolong tea include Soi Sin, a bitter tasting tea brewed in the Fukien province. 

There is also a fifth category known as "Scented Tea" made by mixing various flowers and petals with green of Oolong teas. The best known among these is Jasmine tea. White tea that's made with unripened tea leaves that are still covered with a downy, silvery fuzz, is becoming quite popular also. 

While most of us have neither a pavilion or a lily pond conveniently situated in our back garden, we can still indulge our penchant for this centuries old beverage. With a little practice it's easy to brew the perfect cup of tea. Budding fortune-tellers who eschew tea bags can hone their skills in the art of tasseomancy (reading tea leaves). 

Tasseomancy

The art of reading tea leaves is referred to as Tasseography (or Tasseomancy) and is a divination or fortune-telling method that in western tradition interprets patterns in tea leaves. The term also refers to the reading of coffee grounds. The term derives from the French word tasse (cup), which in turn derives from the Arabic tassa (cup). Tasseography, otherwise known as tasseomancy or tassology, is the art of tea leaf reading. "Tasse" or "tass" is an Arab root, meaning small cup or goblet.

Tea leaf reading is an ancient practice.

The beverage, Tea, is linked with the herbology part of alternative healing. People who seek answers through various forms of divination, such as tea leaf readings, are often healing their issues.

Tea leaf reading is an ancient practice interpreting patterns made by tea leaves in the cup. Although tasseography is commonly associated with Gypsy fortunetellers, the tradition of tea leaf reading arises independently from Asia, the Middle East and Ancient Greece.

Modern tasseography has also been associated with the Scottish, Irish and cultures throughout Eastern Europe.