Before talking about the History of Tea let’s talk about Tea. Tea is an important part of our daily life, without which the day does not start, and unless the evening tea is drunk, the day’s cold does not go away. It is also called Ashraf al-Mushrobat i.e., better than all drinks. According to the government’s report for the first quarter (July-September) of the financial year 2021-22, Pakistanis drank tea worth Rs 24.8 billion in three months. But how was this great drink discovered? In today’s article, we will tell you about the history of tea. Where was it discovered, how it reached Europe, and when and how tea cultivation started in India.

History of Tea:

The Story of the Chinese Emperor Shen Ning

The Chinese emperor Shen Ning is credited with the discovery of tea to the Chinese emperor Shen Nung, who, according to Chinese beliefs, was the founder of herbalism and agriculture. He first discovered tea in 2737 BC. Two traditions are very popular in this regard.

According to a legend, Emperor Shen Ning accidentally ate a poison-filled herb during one of his religious journeys, which would make his condition unstable. They will come close to death when a leaf comes flying from somewhere and goes into their mouth. King Shanning chewed the leaf. As soon as he ate this leaf, his health started to improve a little. It was a break from the poison they chewed. This will save their lives. It was tea leaves that saved his life.

But according to another tradition, Emperor ShenNing would sit for some time in the shade of a tree during one of his journeys and ordered his servant to boil water for him to drink. The employee was boiling the water when suddenly a few leaves fell into the boiling water due to a gust of wind, which changed the color of the water. The emperor was very surprised to see this. They decided to drink that water instead of throwing it away. So, when they drank the water, they found it slightly bitter but refreshing. It was the tea leaves that had fallen into the boiling water.

Tea’s Medicinal Origin in Ancient China

No one can be sure how true these two stories are now. But one thing that can be said with certainty is that it is a fact that China was the country where tea was discovered centuries ago, and people started drinking it. Teapots have been discovered in the tombs of the Han Dynasty, which lasted from 206 BC to 220 AD.

But friends, tea was the first to be used as medicine. The people of the Han Dynasty used tea as a medicine. This drink became very popular among the people of China, and it can be gauged from the fact that at the end of the eighth century, a writer named Lu Yu wrote a complete book about tea called The Ch’a Ching, i.e., Tea Classic.

Tea Travel in Japan:

Japanese Buddhist scholars were also visiting China at the same time when tea became China’s national drink in the Tang Dynasty. When he drank this drink, he also liked it very much. They would take tea seeds with them on their way back to Japan. The people of Japan also liked this drink so much that they made it a part of their tradition. Thus, Japanese tea ceremonies started, and they continue to this day.

Tea in Europe:

MyCuris Fellows Was the first Portuguese in Europe to taste this enchanting drink. Because many Portuguese traders and missionaries used to come to Asia, they drank this drink and liked it. On the way back, they used to take this drink as a gift for family and their dear friends.

But when it comes to the tea trade, friends, it was first started by the People of Holland. They began encroaching on Portuguese trade routes to the east in the late 16th century. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, they had established a trading post on the island of Java. In 1606, the first shipment of tea was sent from China to the Netherlands from the island of Java. Tea soon became a fashionable beverage among the Dutch, and from there, it spread to other countries of Europe, but due to its high price in this period, it became only a drink for the rich. Poor people could hardly buy it and drink it. History of tea is continued.

Tea in Britain:

The credit for the popularity of tea in Britain goes to Queen Catherine of Braganza. Catherine was a Princess of Portugal who married Emperor Charles II in 1662. The queen loved tea, so other people also started drinking tea. This foreign woman, queen of Britain from 1662 to 1685, made tea a favorite drink of the British elite.

This was the period when Britain was establishing its colonial domination over other countries of the world. Under the influence of this domination, the practice of tea, among other things, began to flourish in the areas under British control. By 1700, tea was sold 10 times more than coffee in Europe but cultivated only in China. At that time, the tea trade had become profitable, and large ships only transported tea consignments from one country to another.

Taxes on Tea

Its higher price was due to heavy taxes. The first tax on tea leaves was imposed by Britain in 1689. Which was 25 pence in pounds at that time. It was so high that the sale of tea was almost stopped. It was reduced to 5 pence in 1692. This topic needs to be the part of History of Tea.

Tea Smuggling

The British government was indebted due to the Seven Years’ War 1756-1763 with France. British Emperor George III imposed heavy taxes on American colonies to repay the debt. In 1767, Americans were ordered to pay taxes on paper, paint, glass, lead, and tea. The government withdrew the rest of the taxes on the Protest of the Americans, but the tax on tea remained. When tea was taxed, the Americans boycotted the company’s tea, smuggled tea from Dutch companies, and started drinking. Due to this smuggling, the East India Company’s tea export stopped, and tons of tea leaves began to rot in its warehouses.

Tea Act 1773

The British Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773 to get the East India Company out of harm’s loss. Under this Act, the full rights to sell tea in American colonies were given to only one company i.e., East India Company. Additional taxes imposed on the company in the UK were also waived. But Britain did not waive their taxes for the Americans who were buying tea from the same company and selling it in their colonies. So, he had a strong reaction again and came immediately.

Boston Tea Party

Traders in the American city of Boston had formed a secret organization called The Sons of Liberty, The Son of Freedom. On the night of December 16, 1773, dozens of people from this organization boarded three ships parked at the port of Boston. These ships were loaded with tea from the East India Company. The attackers were dressed as NATO Americans and had famous NATO American axes known as Tomahawks.

So, with these axes, they tore three hundred and forty-two boxes of tea, then washed this box and the forty-five tons of tea filled in them, worth about a million dollars in today’s currency, and drowned them in the water. This historical event is remembered as the Boston Tea Party, i.e., tea feast in Boston. The British army attacked the city to avenge this and harassed the common people. After this incident, the American colonies decided to gain independence from British rule. This is how history of tea evolved.

Is Tea Good for Your health?

Along with the talk of taxing tea, there was also a debate in the 18th century about whether drinking tea is good or bad for health … From medical and scientific research in modern times, we now know that drinking three to four cups of tea daily can help to maintain your health, but such information was not available to tea drinkers 250 years ago. In this period, wealthy philanthropists were worried that excessive tea consumption among the working class would lead to weakness and sadness. This debate lasted until the 19th century but ended in the middle of this century. Now, tea is served regularly at business meetings.

Smuggling of Tea from China to India

To complete our history of tea topic let’s talk about its smuggling from China to India. By the middle of the 19th century, Britain had become a strong empire. Which ruled many parts of the world. The British also ruled India. That is why the East India Company was responsible for trading all kinds of commodities from the East. But he had to buy tea leaves from China at an expensive price and then further increase the price of tea by long sea routes. This was why the British wanted to start growing tea in their colonial India.

But how to grow tea was a mystery. Because China kept its cultivation secret. The secret was just with China about how the tea plant grows and gets tea.

In 1848, the East India Company sent one of its spies, Robert Fortune, to China to learn the secret of tea cultivation. Fortune was a trained botanist who knew that a few plants would not work for tea cultivation, but many plants and their seeds would have to be smuggled to India so that tea production could start on a large scale there. But at the same time, it also needed Chinese laborers to help industrially cultivate and produce tea in India.

So, for his mission, Robert Fortune disguised himself as a Chinese businessman and left for China. He turned to the Chinese province of Fujian, where the best black tea grows in the mountains.

This mission of Fortune was successful, and thus, it could smuggle tea plants, seeds, and some laborers to India by saving the eyes of the Chinese authorities. Under his supervision, the East India Company started growing these plants in the Assam region. Thus began the work of tea cultivation in India. Friends, The Chinese people used to drink leaves in boiling water for thousands of years, but the British started adding sugar and milk to this drink.