One fine day in the year 2327 BCE somewhere in China, Sheng Nung (also Shennong) was boiling some water so that he could drink it. Water was essential but, in those days, was also full of little tiny bad things that could make one ill or make one dead if ingested. Boiling the water killed these little tiny bad things and so Shen Nung had passed a law requiring water to be boiled prior to drinking (something still done in many parts of China today). And Sheng Nung was no slouch. He was, after all, an emperor and a scientist in addition to a great artist, craftsman, musician and doctor not to mention being the inventor of agriculture.
As his water came to a boil, a wind kicked up stirring a nearby tree which dropped some of its leaves in response. Shen Nung watched as a few of these leaves drifted down and settled lightly in his pot of boiling water which promptly took on a dark hue and gave off a most wholesome odor. Curious, the great scientist took a sip of the water. He was delighted by the taste of the hot, dark liquid and its invigorating properties. Shen Nung had drunk the world’s first known cup of tea.
Over 5000 years later, Shen Nung’s discovery (although some Chinese legends attribute this discovery of tea to Buddha) has had a tremendous impact on the world, its history and virtually every culture in that world since that time. But for centuries, only the Chinese were known to drink tea which they called t’u (one can see the phonetic similarity to “tea” and its immediate predecessor t’e of the Amoy dialect). After about 750 CE, tea began to be called ch’a. By the ninth century CE, all of Chinese society from top to bottom drank tea on a daily basis. They considered the beverage to be both a medicinal elixir (which it is) and a pleasurable beverage (which it is). Tea was a precious gift from heaven.
An orphan boy named Lu Yü was raised by Buddhist monks of the Ch’an sect during the T’ang Dynasty (618-902 CE). Lu Yü had done just about everything in his life and had even been a circus clown. He learned about ch’a from a young age and throughout his life observed and preserved myriad methods of tea cultivation. By about 780, Lu Yü preserved this knowledge by writing Ch’a Ching (The Book of Tea), the tea-growers’ bible and the earliest known published treatise on the subject.
Ch’a Ching is, in its own right, a religious scripture written in the distinctive Ch’an style and indeed many consider it on par with Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way). In fact, Lao Tzu was supposedly persuaded to write Tao Te Ching over a cup of tea given him by a wise old customs agent. Lao Tzu referred to tea as “the froth of the liquid jade.” Teas of China at that time were probably much stronger than what exist today. Tea was seen by Ch’an adepts and Lu Yü as a spiritual path outside the body and outside the restraints of time and space. The influence of Ch’an on Lu Yü and the influence of Lu Yü on Ch’an are immeasurable. The influence of tea on both is more immeasurable yet.
Ch’a Ching is dedicated to a beverage with psychoactive properties that brought physical well being and strength coupled with a mental alertness where the sound of dust particles suspended in the air can be heard and everything is meditated on for an eternity that takes place in a split second and a split second that takes place for an eternity. Chinese tea of that time must have been powerful. Lu Yü clearly regarded tea as a sacred drug in his book. Written in ten chapters (and reminding one very much of marijuana growers guides today), the book covers:
1. Origins of tea
2. Tools for plucking and processing tea
3. Methods of plucking and processing tea
4. The twenty-five utensils required for preparing and serving tea
5. Preparing tea by boiling
6. The art of appreciating tea
7. Famous tea drinkers and tea stories
8. Tea-producing districts
9. Preparing and serving tea in simplified manner
10. Directions for creating illustrations of tea procedures
Tea became so popular that news of both the plant and the drink were spreading beyond China’s borders. People came from all over Asia to buy tea and the nation prospered. The emperor praised Ch’a Ching and its author and Lu Yü became a virtual saint and legend in his own time. Tea merchants had little porcelain statues of Lu Yü to which they would pray for a good tea harvest with many thirsty customers ready and willing to buy up as much as the merchants could get hold of. By his death circa 803, Lu Yü was something of a god to the Chinese population.
While we generally consider tea to be a bush, it is a perennial plant like cotton meaning that it grows for years instead of a single spring-to-autumn season so that if enough years pass, the tea plant becomes a tree. Indeed the opening line of Ch’a Ching reads, “The tea plant is a beautiful as well as beneficial tree of the southern regions.” Indeed, the people of India trained monkeys to climb these tea trees that could grow upwards of 130 feet and pluck leaves and drop them for people below to gather. But on tea plantations, the plant is usually kept about a meter high or so hence being more of a bush.
Tea is classified as Camellia sinensis of which there are two primary variants: C. sinensis sinensis and C. sinensis assamica. The sinensis variant has small leaves and originally grew in China. The assamica variant has large leaves and originally grew in part of China but also the Assam region of Northern India and hence its name.
Only the tops of the tea bush are harvested, no more than the top two inches consisting of buds and leaves called the flush. During the growing season, the flush is replenished every week or two.
Tea comes in four types based on the color of the leaves of the flush: white, green, oolong or black. The color is determined by the amount of sunlight the flush receives. Not only does the flavor change considerably between colors but so do the effects of that tea. White leaves had to be carefully shielded from sunlight as they sprouted and grew to prevent the formation of chlorophyll. Green leaves received a slight amount of sunlight to allow the formation of a small amount of chlorophyll and acquires a light green color in the process. Oolong received enough sunlight to turn dark green. Black received maximum sunlight. The flavor was appropriately mild to astringent.
The more slowly the plant grew and with plenty of watering, the more flavor the flush acquired. Hence tea grows best in tropical and subtropical climates with at least 50 inches of rain annually in acidic soils and at elevations of about 5000 feet. After being picked, the leaves are heated to prevent wilting with causes oxidation of the leaf. The presence of the chlorophyll promotes the oxidation process and so the different color teas are heated at different rates. Improper heating and moisture could cause a toxic fungus to form on the tea rendering it unfit for any use.
The tealeaf begins life loaded with an antioxidant called catechins. Antioxidants inhibit oxidation via the absorption of free radicals, i.e. unpaired electrons in the outer shell that are reactive and cause chain reactions such as combustion, rust or aging. Antioxidants absorb the free electron thereby halting the process. Catechins are part of an antioxidant family called flavonoids that that have been shown to reduce heart failure, stroke, cancer, inflammation, allergic reaction, viral infection, diarrhea and diabetes. Oddly, it is not the absorption of flavonoids by the body that causes the antioxidation benefits but rather the act of eliminating flavonoids from the body, which sees it as a foreign substance, triggers the response with an increase in the uric acid levels in the blood resulting in a purge of a wide variety of undesirable or foreign compounds in the body including carcinogens, mutagens and free radicals responsible for harmful chain reactions and aid in slowing down the death of the body’s cells. Since brain cells do not grow back and loss of them can cause permanent dementia, the consumption of tea staves off such degenerative brain diseases as senility by greatly slowing down the oxidation process responsible for cell death.
As the leaf is exposed to sunlight, it undergoes photosynthesis which induces that leaf’s biochemistry to manufacture chlorophyll which makes it a better receptor to sunlight while reducing its risks—similar to people getting a tan. Chlorophyll is high in tannin content. After a leaf is plucked, it begins to slowly wilt due to the release of certain enzymes in the leaf. As the wilting process progresses, the chlorophyll breaks down and the leaf turns dark, releasing the tannins. Tannins give tea a bitter or astringent quality. Hence, darker teas are more astringent because they contain more cholophyll and therefore more tannins. White tea is unoxidized, green is slightly oxidized, oolong is semioxidized and black is fully oxidized. Tannins are useful for the prevention of hemorrhoids and diarrhea. Tannins also promote hemostasis which promotes healing.
Wilting is controlled by the application of heat in the form of steam or pan firing. Immediate application of heat after picking deactivates the enzymes and slows down the wilting process—called fermentation in the tea industry. The more oxidation a leaf has, the less catechins but the more tannins. Both are beneficial to the body and mind.
Tea also contain as alkaloids as theophylline which inhibits asthma, bronchitis and various types of inflammation. Theophylline also improves renal blood flow (i.e. blood flow through the kidneys). Tea contains theobromine, a psychoactive alkaloid also found in cacao, that increases serotonin and dopamine levels causing feelings of pleasure, contentment and enjoyment (“theobroma” means “food of the gods”). Both theophylline and theobromine stimulate the heart. Theophylline is a close relative to another alkaloid called theine but when found in coffee is called caffeine. It also stimulates the heart but acts more upon the central nervous system stimulating it into alertness and driving off drowsiness or sluggishness. Tea has only about half as much caffeine as coffee per serving despite erroneous factoids that say it has more. Tea also contains calcium fluoride which promotes bone and tooth growth by yet again absorbing and halting oxidation processes in the bones and teeth.
The mythical origins of the tea bush from Chinese lore holds that Bodhidharma, the founder of the Ch’an sect, fell asleep during meditation and, upon awakening, was so disgusted with his slow progress that he tore off his eyelids and threw them on the ground and two tea bushes promptly sprang up. Ch’an Buddhism went to Japan where it became known as Zen. The first monk to bring tea seeds into Japan was Saicho in 805. Saicho, a native born Japanese who journeyed to China to study the Tiantai doctrines of the Buddhist monk Chi-i, returned to Japan and founded Tendai Buddhism and the adherents of that sect refer to him as Dengyo Daishi. In fact, Tendai Buddhism has had a huge impact on Japanese religious life and outlook. Although not Zen, Dengyo brought a lot of Zen into Tendai, perhaps the fondness and fascination of tea being one of those.
. Where can I get some? Is it available in Australia?
