A
Brief History of Tea
A
Brief History of Tea
This book is an expansion of the contents of my online tea pages, with a lot of photos. It can be obtained from Seoul Selection, the publishers. See a very kind review of it by Lauren Deutsch in Kyoto Journal.
This
richly illustrated book contains the Chinese text and translations of 3
fundamental texts of Korean Tea culture: ChaBu, Rhapsody to
Tea by Hanjae Yi Mok; ChaSinJeon, A Chronicle of the Spirit of
Tea and DongChaSong, Hymn in Praise of Korean Tea by the Venerable
Cho-ui.
Did you know that all the tea drunk
in the world, no matter whether it is white, green, red, brown,
or black, and no matter where it comes from, is made of the leaves of the
same evergreen tree or bush?
Most people are surprised to hear this, and suddenly realize that although they may drink a lot of tea, they have never really stopped to ask where it came from or how it was made. In the pages that follow I want to take you on a journey through some of what I have learned about tea while living in Korea. To make things easier, I have broken my text into several different parts that you can browse through one after another or read selectively.
Tea-drinking becomes a ceremony
Tea in Korea and Japan with translations of some poems by
the Ven. Cho-Ui
An article comparing the tea classics by Yi Mok and the Ven. Cho-ui
The Korean way of making
(pan-roasted) green tea
(see also this much more detailed description, also illustrated, from 2006)
The Korean way of making oxidized 'paryo-cha' (yellow / red tea ) New in 2010
Panyaro - the Korean Way of Tea
Panyaro - some new pictures from May 2000
Tea in Taiwan and the Oriental Beauty Tea
made in Peipu
(see a series of mostly tea-related photos taken in Ruili at 1000 meters up Mount Ali in 2006)
Tea-making in Taiwan: Ali-shan 2009
Tea-making in Jiri-san, May 2006. Click on a thumbnail to start the slide show. Tea-making at Hwaom-sa, Jiri-san, May 2009
I wrote a series of short articles for the Korea Times in 1999 using and expanding the above materials. I have put all the texts into a single file. Quite a lot is drawn directly from the pages listed above, so be warned, there is a lot of overlap!
Feb. 9 Introduction to Tea
Feb. 24 History of Tea in Korea, China, Japan
March 10 Tea is Good for You
March 24 Early History of Tea
April 7 Tea Green, Oolong, and Red
April 21 Quince Tea and a Poet
May 5 The Grades of Tea and Cool Water
May 19 How Tea is made in the Mountains
June 3 Picking Tea in Chiri-san
June 17 Tea and Temple in Chiri-san
July 3 How to Prepare a cup of Green Tea
Among the many Google groups is one devoted to Tea (but very open to spam)
This Google group offers a lengthy introduction to all aspects of tea: Rec.food.drink.tea FAQ which is part of Chris Roberson's tea page which also contains a large array of links and indicates that the FAQ page also exists in French.
Warren Peltier has a good site devoted to Chinese
tea. The
China Experience introduces Chinese tea simply.
In Taipei there is
what claims to be "the
world's largest tea museum."
The Leaf tea magazine is a fine resource for tea lovers. See my article on Korean teas in Issue 7.
The Wan Ling Tea House
in Shanghai has a well-designed set of pages with plenty of information
on the main kinds of tea and the ways in which it is drunk in modern
China. Their list of links is also very useful.
Pu-er.net is a remarkable site entirely devoted to one particular kind of Chinese tea that is increasingly familiar.
LiveJournal has a puerh tea community; one very useful April 2006 mailing was about tea-shopping in Beijing with photos.
An article from the New York Times explains the delights of drinking Chinese tea gong-fu style.
Cha Dao is the ultimate Tea Blog. In it there is a fascinating article about Lu T’ung and Lu Yü written by Steve Owyoung, THE expert on tea history
The Stash Tea site is commercial but very useful. Their History of Tea is especially worth reading.
CooksShopHere is also a
fine site, with a collection of photos taken during the owners' trips
to tea plantations in Japan and China. The store belongs to Mary-Lou
and Robert Heiss, whose book about Tea The Story of Tea: A Cultural History is listed below.
If looking to buy tea online in the US, or simply interested in tea, the home pages of Upton Tea Imports are surely a good starting point.
Franchia (12 Park Avenue) is an extension of the Hangawi vegetarian restaurant in New York. It specializes in Korean tea and sells online.
The largest stock of teas available for
purchase in Europe is probably that found at the French firm of Mariage
freres with almost 500 different teas listed.
In London, East teas and Postcard teas (they are closely connected) sell and love Korean teas, the first store is either online or physical on Fridays and Saturdays at Borough Market (London Bridge), the second is a shop off New Bond Street. They sell other teas and implements too, of course!
Among Korean tea-makers / masters, Hong Kyeong-Hee (Hyo-am) has his own home
page (only in Korean) with texts of the Classic of
Tea, works by Cho Ui etc and some pictures.
The Korean Tea Culture Society also has its own home pages in Korean.
The Hankook Tea Company (based
in Kwangju) has a complete set of English-language pages (click
on 'English' at the top of the opening page) and has recently opened
its own tea store in Los Angeles: Chasaengwon,3839 Wilshire Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90010. Tel (213) 380-3538.
Here are links to a few other sites (alas, all only in Korean) of good tea producers in Korea:
The Ssangkye Tea Foundation groups
small ('artisanal') producers in the region around Ssangkye Temple in Hwagye,
one of the best tea-producing parts of Chiri-san.
The Ilsong Company produces
tea in the same region of Chiri-san.
Woonsang Tea is likewise based
in this area.
The largest company making tea in Korea is Sulloc
Tea,
(English pages new in 2010) which produces tea in a considerable variety of qualities, some
hand-made and some more industrial. Their main plantations are in Jeju
Island. The same company also owns the Amore Museum (was the Amore-Pacific Museum) in Yongin, south of Seoul, which owns many of the greatest treasures
related to Korean tea.
including the portrait of the Ven. Cho-ui and early copies of his
writings about tea.
Some books about tea
The main problem with books about tea (except for mine and the first one listed below) is that they almost always completely ignore Korea.Manchester, Carole. Tea in the East. New York: Hearst Books. 1996. (Some beautiful pictures, but she never mentions Korea, not even once!)
Engelbert Kaempfer: Exotic Pleasures. Translated...Robert W. Carrubba.Southern Illinois University Press. 1996.
Park Hee-joon. Ch'a han chan. Seoul: Shinorim. 1994. (In Korean)
Lee Ki-yun. Ta-do. Seoul: Taewon-sa. 1989 (In Korean)
The oldest book in English about Chinese tea has the longest possible title: An
account of the cultivation and manufacture of tea in China : derived
from personal observation during an official residence in that country
from 1804 to 1826 : and illustrated by the best authorities, Chinese as
well as European : with remarks on the experiments now making for the
introduction of the culture of the tea tree in other parts of the world (1848). It can be downloaded as a PDF file from the Internet Archive or it can be read through Google Books.