Tea is drunk in many countries around the world. In each country, the tea party has its own characteristics. But China is the birthplace of this drink.

Already in the Han dynasty used tea as medicine. In the years of the Tang began to use tea as a drink. While tea is usually prepared in the form of bricks, before pouring it milled in a mortar. During the song dynasty in the use of the included leaf tea and tea powder (fluffed with whisk a small amount of water), and the tea party turned into a delicious pastime, the top of which was a Song dynasty tea ceremony. This variant maker borrowed the Japanese, later including it in his tea ceremony.

Tea culture in China began to fade in the XIII century, this is due to the Mongol invasion, which were forgotten by many cultural achievements. Only in the era of the Ming dynasty tea culture was revived, but on a different basis: the Chinese have moved to a fully leaf tea, which insisted in hot water. It is with this tea and its preparation method met the Europeans.

A serious blow to the Chinese culture in General and tea in particular have become political upheavals of the XVIII—XIX centuries, the opium war, then the war and revolution of the first half of the twentieth century. All these events led to the fact that China, until the first half of the nineteenth century produced almost all the tea coming into the world market, completely Continue reading →