During a long day spent roaming the forest in search of edible grains and herbs, the weary divine farmer Shennong accidentally poisoned himself 72 times. But before the poisons could end his life, a leaf drifted into his mouth. He chewed on it and it revived him, and that is how we discovered tea. Or so an ancient legend goes at least. Tea doesn't actually cure poisonings, but the story of Shennong, the mythical Chinese inventor of agriculture, highlights tea's importance to ancient China. Archaeological evidence suggests tea was first cultivated there as early as 6,000 years ago, or 1,500 years before the pharaohs built the Great Pyramids of Giza. That original Chinese tea plant is the same type that's grown around the world today, yet it was originally consumed very differently. It was eaten as a vegetable or cooked with grain porridge. Tea only shifted from food to drink 1,500 years ago when people realized that a combination of heat and moisture could create a complex and varied taste out of the leafy green. After hundreds of years of variations to the preparation method, the standard became to heat tea, pack it into portable cakes, grind it into powder, mix with hot water, and create a beverage called muo cha, or matcha. Matcha became so popular that a distinct Chinese tea culture emerged. Tea was the subject of books and poetry, the favorite drink of emperors, and a medium for artists. They would draw extravagant pictures in the foam of the tea, very much like the espresso art you might see in coffee shops today. In the 9th century during the Tang Dynasty, a Japanese monk brought the first tea plant to Japan. The Japanese eventually developed their own unique rituals around tea, leading to the creation of the Japanese tea ceremony. And in the 14th century during the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese emperor shifted the standard from tea pressed into cakes to loose leaf tea. At that point, China still held a virtual monopoly on the world's tea trees, making tea one of three essential Chinese export goods, along with porcelain and silk. This gave China a great deal of power and economic influence as tea drinking spread around the world. That spread began in earnest around the early 1600s when Dutch traders brought tea to Europe in large quantities. Many credit Queen Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese noble woman, for making tea popular with the English aristocracy when she married King Charles II in 1661. At the time, Great Britain was in the midst of expanding its colonial influence and becoming the new dominant world power. And as Great Britain grew, interest in tea spread around the world. By 1700, tea in Europe sold for ten times the price of coffee and the plant was still only grown in China. The tea trade was so lucrative that the world's fastest sailboat, the clipper ship, was born out of intense competition between Western trading companies. All were racing to bring their tea back to Europe first to maximize their profits. At first, Britain paid for all this Chinese tea with silver. When that proved too expensive, they suggested trading tea for another substance, opium. This triggered a public health problem within China as people became addicted to the drug. Then in 1839, a Chinese official ordered his men to destroy massive British shipments of opium as a statement against Britain's influence over China. This act triggered the First Opium War between the two nations. Fighting raged up and down the Chinese coast until 1842 when the defeated Qing Dynasty ceded the port of Hong Kong to the British and resumed trading on unfavorable terms. The war weakened China's global standing for over a century. The British East India company also wanted to be able to grow tea themselves and further control the market. So they commissioned botanist Robert Fortune to steal tea from China in a covert operation. He disguised himself and took a perilous journey through China's mountainous tea regions, eventually smuggling tea trees and experienced tea workers into Darjeeling, India. From there, the plant spread further still, helping drive tea's rapid growth as an everyday commodity. Today, tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world after water, and from sugary Turkish Rize tea, to salty Tibetan butter tea, there are almost as many ways of preparing the beverage as there are cultures on the globe.
Provodeći dug dan u lutanju šumom u potrazi za jestivim zrnevljem i biljkama, umorni seoski vrač, po imenu Šenong, slučajno se otrovao 72 puta. Ali pre nego što je otrov uspeo da ga dokrajči, list mu je upao u usta. Sažvakao ga je i to ga je oživelo, i tako smo otkrili čaj. Ili bar tako glasi drevna legenda. Čaj zapravo ne leči trovanja, ali priča o Šenongu, mitskom kineskom izumitelju zemljoradnje, naglašava važnost čaja u drevnoj Kini. Arheološki dokazi upućuju na to da je čaj prvo tamo kultivisan još pre 6000 godina, to jest 1500 godina pre nego što su faraoni sagradili Velike piramide u Gizi. Ta autohtona kineska biljka je ista ona koju trenutno uzgajamo širom sveta, međutim, prvobitno su je konzumirali veoma drugačije. Jeli su je kao povrće ili su je kuvali sa žitnom kašom. Čaj je tek pre 1500 godina prešao iz hrane u piće, kada su ljudi shvatili da kombinacija toplote i vlage može da stvori složen i iznijansiran ukus od zelenog lišća. Nakon stotina godina varijacije u metodu pripremanja čaja, standard je postao zagrevanje čaja, njegovo pakovanje u prenosive grudvice, mlevenje u prah, mešanje sa vrelom vodom i pripremanje pića koje je nazivano "muo ča" ili "mača". Mača je postala toliko popularna da je iznedrila naročitu kinesku kulturu čaja. Čaj je bio tema knjiga i pesama, omiljeno piće careva i medijum za umetnike. Crtali su ekstravagantne slike u peni od čaja, veoma nalik umetnosti u espreso kafi koju danas možete videti u kafićima. U devetom veku, za vreme dinastije Tang, japanski sveštenik je doneo prvu biljku čaja u Japan. Japanci su vremenom razvili sopstvene originalne rituale za čaj, dovodeći do nastanka japanske ceremonijalne čajanke. A u XIV veku, tokom dinastije Ming, kineski car je izmenio standard od čaja presovanog u grudvice do čaja od gotovog lišća. U tom trenutku je Kina i dalje praktično držala monopol na drveće čaja u svetu, zbog čega je čaj bio jedan od tri suštinska kineska izvozna proizvoda, zajedno sa porcelanom i svilom. Ovo je Kini obezbedilo veliku moć i ekonomski značaj kako se ispijanje čaja širilo svetom. Najozbiljnije širenje je počelo oko ranih 1600-ih kada su holandski trgovci doneli velike količine čaja u Evropu. Kraljici Katarini od Bragance, portugalskoj plemkinji, mnogi pripisuju popularisanje čaja kod engleske aristokratije, kada se 1661. udala za kralja Čarlsa II. U to vreme je Velika Britanija bila u sred širenja svog kolonijalnog uticaja i postajala je nova vodeća svetska sila. A kako je Velika Britanija rasla, zainteresovanost za čaj se širila svetom. Do 1700, čaj u Evropi se prodavao deset puta skuplje od kafe, a biljka je i dalje jedino rasla u Kini. Trgovina čajem je bila toliko unosna da je najbrži jedrenjak na svetu, brod kliper, nastao iz žestoke konkurencije među zapadnim trgovinskim firmama. Svi su se trkali da prvi donesu čaj u Evropu kako bi imali najveći profit. Prvo je Britanija plaćala u srebru sav taj kineski čaj. Kada se to ispostavilo preskupim, predložili su da plaćaju čaj drugom supstancom, opijumom. Ovo je u Kini pokrenulo problem javnog zdravstva jer su ljudi postali zavisni od ove droge. Potom je 1839. kineski zvaničnik naredio svojim ljudima da unište ogromne britanske isporuke opijuma kao poruku protiv britanskog uticaja u Kini. Ovaj čin je pokrenuo Prvi opijumski rat između dve nacije. Rat je besneo uzduž i popreko kineske obale do 1842. kada je poražena dinastija Ćing ustupila Britancima luku u Hong Kongu i nastavili su trgovinu pod nepovoljnim uslovima. Rat je oslabio kineski globalni status za više od jednog veka. Britanska firma Ist Indija je takođe želela da sami uzagajaju čaj i tako još više kontrolišu tržište. Te su zapovedili botaničaru Robertu Forčunu da u tajnoj operaciji ukrade čaj iz Kine. Prerušio se i krenuo na opasan put kroz kineske planinske oblasti čaja, na kraju krijumčareći stabljike čaja i iskusne radnike na čaju u Dardželing u Indiji. Otuda se biljka širila još dalje, doprinoseći ubrzanom usponu čaja do svakidašnje robe. Danas je čaj drugo najkonzumiranije piće na svetu, nakon vode i od slatkastog turskog čaja rize do slanog tibetanskog čaja sa maslacem, skoro da postoji jednak broj načina pripreme ovog pića koliko ima i kultura na svetu.