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The chronology of tea;
THE JOURNEY OF TEA THROUGH TIME / THE CHRONOLOGY OF TEA

According to Chinese tradition, tea was discovered by Emperor Shen Nung in 2737 BC. The Emperor had a habit of boiling his drinking water. Tea was discovered when some tea leaves, carried by the wind, fell into the Emperor's boiling teacup, and he enjoyed its rich and appealing aroma. The only tea produced at that time was "green" tea.

In 1027 BC, King Wen, the founder of the Zhou Dynasty, accepted tea as a tribute from the leaders of the Sichuan region.

You are referring to the statement by the classical Chinese philosopher Laozi, who lived between 600-517 BC, that tea is "liquid jade foam," and that it is an indispensable component of the elixir of life. According to historical records, Laozi spoke of tea with great reverence and considered it an important symbol in Chinese philosophy, particularly in Laozi's teachings, in the pursuit of harmony and longevity.

Confucius, who lived between 551-479 BC, is documented as a tea drinker, symbolizing the tea-drinking habit of an influential figure in ancient China. The first drying processes developed in the 3rd century BC mark a period when tea was generally brewed from fresh leaves. However, now the leaves can be dried and ground into powder.

Liu Kun, a military leader in the Qin Dynasty between 221-206 BC, wrote a letter to his nephew requesting "real tea" to uplift his spirit. While there are stories of the first use of tea as a beverage in the 10th century BC, its exact origins are uncertain. The earliest recorded instance of tea consumption occurred in China, where the earliest records of tea consumption date back to the 10th century BC.

A slavery contract dating from 74-49 BC specifies tasks involving the purchase and preparation of tea.

In 59 BC, Wang Bo provided instructions in his book on how to buy and brew tea.

206 BC - 220 AD (Han Dynasty): The emperor specifies a characteristic that distinguishes the correct pronunciation of the word tea – "Cha" – from other herbs.

220 AD: The renowned physician and surgeon Hua Tuo wrote "Shin Lun," a work describing the ability of tea to improve mental functions.

420-588 AD: Wong Mong, a government official during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, is described as someone who couldn't live without tea. His tendency to offer his guests excessive amounts of tea was nicknamed "the flood."

476-542 AD: Tea was traded with Turkic peoples.

542: The Legend of Ta Mo or Bodhidharma. Ta Mo or Bodhidharma, an Indian Buddhist master, is known for bringing Buddhism to China and founding the Zen School. He is said to have discovered the virtues of cha by cutting his eyelids to stay awake during meditation.

589-618 AD: Sui Dynasty. During this period, tea was introduced to Japan by Buddhist monks.

661 AD: The first historical record documents an ancestral tea offering, describing a ritual of offering tea to the spirit of King Suro, the founder of the Geumgwan Gaya Kingdom.

618-907 AD: Tang Dynasty. By this time, tea had become a universal beverage. Brick tea was made by steaming fresh leaves and then grinding them into cakes. The cakes could be stored for a long time and could be broken off in pieces and boiled as needed. Early forms of tea ceremony developed. Tibet and India traded in tea. A special character for the word "tea" was developed during the Tang Dynasty. Tea also spread to Korea and Japan during this period.

729: Emperor Shomu of Japan serves tea to 100 nuns in his palace.

780 AD: Lu Yu, known as the father of tea, publishes the Cha Ching (or Tea Classic), summarizing everything known at the time. Tea drinking is transformed into an art with specific rituals. China is the world's largest empire and conducts tea trade with most of its neighbors. In the early ninth century, Kukai, the patriarch of Shingon Buddhism, brings tea from China to the Japanese court in the form of bricks. The first tax on tea is imposed in China.

805: By order of the Japanese emperor, Buddhist monk Saicho spends three years visiting Buddhist temples in China and returns to Japan with tea seeds. A year later, another monk, Kukai, also returns with tea seeds.

960-1280 Sung Dynasty. During this period, tea production and preparation changed completely. Before this time, the leaves were steamed after harvesting and then pressed to make tea. However, during this period, instead of steaming, the leaves began to be roasted and crushed, which is the origin of today's loose leaf tea. Tea was flavored with ingredients such as onions, pickle juice, ginger, and orange peel. Some brick teas, especially those presented to the emperor, were perfumed with extracts of camphor, musk, or other spices, although the people in tea-producing regions generally drank unscented tea. Ceramic products related to tea were of legendary beauty, and the first tea rooms were built.

1101-1126: Emperor Hui-tsung was a ruler who devoted time and resources to searching for new types of tea, often preferring unscented "white tea." Under his influence, scented teas were eventually abandoned. Meanwhile, appreciation for leaf tea spread among the literati. The leaves were ground into a powder and brewed by whisking them in bowls, much like brick tea.

1012: Cai Xiang is born. He becomes the tea commissioner of Fujian Province and is widely regarded as the most skilled tea expert of his time. During this period, "tea tasting" becomes a popular pastime among government officials.

1191: Zen Buddhism is reintroduced to Japan by the monk Eisai upon his return from a visit to China. In 1211, Eisai wrote "Kissa Yōjōki" (How to Stay Healthy by Drinking Tea), Japan's first two-volume book on tea.

1200-1253: Dogen, a student of Aeisai (Eisais), is considered the founder of Soto Zen Buddhism. Dogen was passionate about drinking tea.

1280-1368: Mongol invasion of China (1279) - Yuan Dynasty period. Tea drinking is discouraged.

1285: Marco Polo records the dismissal of the Chinese Minister of Finance for arbitrarily increasing tea taxes.

1368–1644: The Ming Dynasty – a period of Chinese cultural revival. Tea once again became a popular beverage. During the Ming Dynasty, experimentation with different types of tea took place: fermented black teas, unfermented green teas, and semi-fermented varieties now known as oolong. Within these categories, countless different varieties were explored.

In 1391, the Ming court issued a decree stating that only loose tea would be accepted as a "gift." Consequently, loose tea production increased, and processing techniques improved. Soon, most tea was distributed in whole leaf, loose form and brewed in earthenware pots.

1422-1502: The Japanese tea ceremony takes center stage. First created by a Zen monk named Murata Shuko, this ceremony, called "Cha-no-yu," literally means "tea with hot water," and celebrates the mundane aspects of daily life.

1600: The East India Company was founded in England, based on a charter granted by Elizabeth I. This was a significant step towards making tea a global product.

1610: The Dutch East India Company brought tea to Europe. By the beginning of the 17th century, tea had reached Europe via Dutch and Portuguese sailors.

1636: Tea was introduced to Georgia via tea sent by the Russian Tsar to Altan Khan.

1644: The Dutch were the first to introduce tea to England.

1650: Peter Stuyvesant became the first person to bring tea to America, offering it to colonists in the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (later renamed New York by the English).

1657: By this time, tea began to appear in German pharmacies, but it was not well-regarded outside coastal regions such as Ostfriesland.
September 25, 1660: The famous English diarist Samuel Pepys mentioned drinking tea for the first time in his diary.

1662: Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II, brought the tea habit to Great Britain, but it wasn't until the 19th century that tea was consumed as widely in Britain as it is today. Tea was known in France from 1636, experiencing a brief period of popularity in Paris around 1648.

1738: Soen Nagatani developed Japanese sencha tea, a roasted form of unfermented green tea. Today, it is the most popular type of tea in Japan.
December 16, 1773: A political protest in Boston Harbor involved dumping all the tea from British East India Company ships. This event led to the creation of the famous Boston Tea Party.

1826: A new feature was introduced in the tea trade. The Englishman John Horniman began selling tea in sealed packages. He also developed a machine that produced packages containing larger quantities of tea.

1836: The British introduced tea cultivation to India and Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka).

1867: Initially, seeds from China were used, but later seeds from the clonal Assam plant were used. Until recently, only black tea was produced.

1750: Tea experts traveled from China to the Azores and planted jasmine and mallow alongside tea to enhance the tea's aroma and unique characteristics.

1832: Jill Jacobson, the Dutchwoman who founded and championed tea in Indonesia, brought approximately seven million tea seeds from China, along with 15 Chinese tea planters, tea production experts, and box makers. Chinese authorities were so angry that they put a bounty on her head.

1867: The first tea rolling machine was invented by the Englishman James C. Kimmond. Modern mechanization of tea production began in 1872. Following this event, the successful development of primary tea processing and tea refining machines accelerated the mechanization of the tea industry. Furthermore, the invention of several other machines in Japan in the early 20th century marked the beginning of the "electrified tea farming era."
1868-1912: Towards the end of the Meiji period, machine production of green tea was introduced and began to replace hand-made tea.

1869: Coffee rust attacks the highly productive coffee plantations in Ceylon and is almost completely destroyed during the 1877-78 invasion. This leads to a rapid shift to tea production.

1900: Before the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed, the last camel caravan carrying tea from China to Russia left Beijing.

1904: Ricard Blechynden invented iced tea at the St. Louis World's Fair.

1906: Japanese university scholar Okakura Kakuzo introduced the Japanese tea ceremony and the history of tea in Japan to the West by writing "The Book of Tea".

1908: American tea merchant Thomas Sullivan began distributing samples of his tea in Chinese silk bags. Consumers realized they could leave the tea in the bag and reuse it with fresh tea.

1925: Tea plantations begin in the Keriochi High Plains of Kenya.

1990s: Canned iced tea, sold in aluminum containers, becomes common in grocery stores across the United States. Fruit-flavored iced teas begin to be sold in bottles to compete with soda.

2000s: Research into the effects of green tea on the human body confirms its health benefits. A widespread resurgence in green tea consumption occurs in the Western world.

2000-2025: During these years, hundreds of tea factories worldwide, various types of tea, herbal teas, and blended teas will be produced, these teas will be marketed in teabag form, demand for tea will increase, importing tea will incur significantly high customs costs, there will be a large amount of low-quality products on the market, and the tea industry will continue to grow at a massive pace.