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.
一整天在樹林裡 找尋可食的穀物和藥草 疲勞的神農意外讓自己中毒 72 次 在毒物可能結束他的生命之前 一片葉子飄進他的嘴裡 他咀嚼後感覺好多了 這就是人類發現茶的起源 至少古老傳說是這樣來的 其實茶不能解毒 但是神農的故事 這位中國神話中的農業創史人 點明了茶在古老中國的重要性 考古學證據顯示茶最早在中國種植 已經是 6,000 年前的事了 比法老建古夫金字塔 還要早 1,500 年 原本的中國茶樹 和現在世界上各地種植的是同一種 然而起初是用非常不同的方式取用 以前茶被當成蔬菜食用 或是和穀物一起煮成粥 茶從食物變飲品是在 1,500 年前 當時大家發現熱氣和水氣結合 可以從翠綠茶葉中 提煉出豐富多變的味道 經過數百年製茶方式的變化 標準程序變成加熱茶葉 包裝成可攜帶的餅狀 磨成粉狀 和熱水混合 製成的飲料稱為末茶 由於末茶變得很受歡迎 中國茶文化因而興起 茶是書籍和詩歌的主題 是皇帝最愛的飲料 也是藝術家的媒材 他們會用茶畫出不可思議的圖案 很像現在咖啡廳裡 會看到的咖啡拉花藝術 在九世紀唐朝時期 一位日本僧人首次將茶樹帶到日本 後來日本人發展出 自己獨特的飲茶儀式 創造出日本茶道 十四世紀在明朝時期 中國皇帝改變了標準 將茶餅變換成鬆散茶葉 當時中國在實質上 還是獨佔世界上的茶樹 讓茶成為中國三大基本出口貨物 連同瓷器和絲綢 茶帶給中國 很強大的權力和經濟影響力 同時飲茶也傳遍世界各地 飲茶普及 大約是在 17 世紀早期 荷蘭商人大量帶茶到歐洲 很多人歸功於布拉甘薩的凱薩琳皇后 這位葡萄牙的顯赫女性 讓茶在英國貴族間風行 就在 1661 年 她嫁給國王查爾基二世時期 當時大英帝國正在擴張殖民地 成為握有世界主導權的新角色 在大英帝國成長之際 飲茶興趣傳遍世界 到了 1700 年 歐洲賣的茶比咖啡貴上十倍 而茶樹還是只種在中國 因為賣茶十分有利可圖 世界最快的帆船「飛剪船」 就是在西方商船強烈競爭之下誕生 所有船隻都想搶先帶茶回歐洲 為了得到最大的利潤 一開始,英國都用銀 來支付中國茶錢 直到真的太貴了 他們提議用另一種財貨鴉片來換茶 此舉造成中國廣泛的健康問題 因為大家都染上了毒癮 到了 1839 年 一位中國官員命令人民 催毀大量的英國鴉片 做為宣示抵抗 英國對中國的影響 這個舉動造成兩國之間 第一次鴉片戰爭 戰火南北延燒中國海岸 直到 1842 年 戰敗的清朝將香港割讓給英國 並以不平等條約繼續交易 戰爭削弱了中國在世界的聲望 超過一世紀之久 英國東印度公司也希望能自己種茶 進而控制市場 所以他們任命植物學家福鈞 在一次秘密行動中從中國偷茶 他喬裝打扮、趟上險途 在中國綿延的山區 走私茶樹和資深茶農 到印度大吉嶺 從那裡開始,這種植物愈傳愈遠 茶葉快速成為日常生活所需之一 時至今日,世界飲品量中 茶位居第二,僅次於水 從甜的土耳其紅茶 到鹹的西藏酥油茶 備茶的方式幾乎就和 世界的文化種類一樣多元