Agriculture and Environment: Commodities

Overview: Tea (Camellia sinensis)

Tea is the leaves of an evergreen shrub that, according to legend, was first discovered in 2737 B.C. by Chinese Emperor Sheng Nong when tea leaves accidentally blew into a pot of water he was boiling.

Tea was first cultivated in China more than 2,000 years ago. It was first used as a medicine and subsequently for Buddhist ceremonies.

An integral part of Chinese culture
By the fifth or sixth century A.D. it had begun to be drunk for pleasure. Tea consumption spread throughout Chinese culture. In 800 A.D. Lu Yu wrote the first definitive book on tea, the Ch'a Ching (Stash Tea 2002). The three-volume book documented a wide range of tea cultivation, processing, and preparation methods.

Tea's importance as a commodity
By the time of Lu Yu's book, tea was so important that it was taxed. Trade along the Silk Road began to involve such large quantities of tea that the Sung Dynasty (960-1297 A. D.) nationalised the tea trade. That dynasty used tea to barter with nomads for horses. Tea and salt stockpiles were even used to back the Sung Dynasty's paper money.

Japan's introduction to tea
After seeing the value of tea in China to enhance religious meditation, the Chinese Buddhist priest Yeisei introduced tea cultivation and consumption in Japan.

As a result, tea in Japan has always been associated with Zen Buddhism. Tea was embraced almost immediately by the Emperor and spread rapidly from the royal court and monasteries throughout Japanese society.

Used as Mongol money!
The Mongols resisted most Chinese foods with one great exception - tea. Even centuries after the Mongols had been driven from China, special tea plantations were cultivated in the north of China for trade with the Mongolians. This tea was pressed into bricks, which were used as Mongol money until the 1920s.

Rest of the world discovers tea
The first mention of tea outside of China and Japan is said to be by the Arabs in 850 A.D., and they are often credited with first trading tea to Europe via Venice in about 1559. However, because of their navigational skills and navy, the Portuguese claim to have made the first European contact with tea in China; they developed a trade route that brought tea to Lisbon as early as 1515.