Tea (4 page)

FP
, flowery pekoe, is made with leaves rolled into a round or ball shape, and is of medium quality.

PS
, pekoe souchong, has shorter, coarser leaves of medium quality.

S
, souchong, has large leaves rolled lengthwise, and is often used to make China smoked teas; souchong is of medium to high quality.

Broken Leaf

The same designations are used, with the addition of
B
, indicating broken. Broken-leaf teas are not inferior to whole leaf teas; the broken leaves just make the tea stronger. For example, broken orange pekoe is the finest broken-leaf tea and is designated BOP.

Fannings

Designated
BOPF
, fannings are small, flat pieces of broken orange pekoe leaves, used to make strong, robust teas. These teas are not of as high a quality as whole or broken leaf.

Dust

This is essentially the dregs left over from the tea process and includes bits of broken leaves. These are often used in tea bags. Dust is designated with a
D
—for example, BOPD for broken orange pekoe dust. Although CTC tea and dust have particles of about the same size, they have been produced differently. Dust is produced by the orthodox method, while CTC is the result of a mechanized process.

If you can't remember all that when you are at the tea store, just remember that the more letters (for example, SFTGFOP), usually the higher the quality of the tea. In buying tea, as with buying many other things, you get what you pay for. Although cost should not be the final consideration, generally the higher-quality teas command higher prices. But taste is individual, and certainly the best for one person may be far from the best for another.

“There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment
in a chest of tea.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson
(
1803
–
1882
)

LEGENDARY BEGINNINGS

It all began with a single leaf, picked or pulled from a tree over five hundred thousand years ago. Why, on this particular day, did our prehistoric ancestors pull leaves off the tree that we now call
Camellia sinensis
, and put them into a vessel filled with hot water? Why did they choose that particular plant? Depending on whom you ask, it could be happy accident, divine plan, or the result of much trial and error. Fortunately for us, though, they did, and the results have changed the world forever.

It isn't often that scientific theory predates legend, but this is precisely what happens in the history of tea. K. Jelinek, editor of the
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Prehistoric Man
(
1978
), suggests that the first tea was consumed by the time of the early Paleolithic Period (about five hundred thousand years ago). Archeological evidence from that period indicates that leaves of
Camellia sinensis
(the source of all true tea, including white, green, oolong, and black) were placed in boiling water by
Homo erectus
in the area that is now China. The fact that the tea plant is indigenous to many parts of China supports Jelinek's claim.

In contrast, the most popular and best-known legend about the origin of tea dates to about
3000 BCE
, during the time of the mythical Chinese emperor Shen Nung, who is said to be the first ever to taste tea.

According to Chinese mythology, Shen Nung was third in the sequence of divine monarchs called the Three August Ones, legendary rulers from whom all Chinese are said to have descended. The first of these rulers was Empress Nu Wa (also known as Nu-kya), mother of the Chinese people, who used yellow earth to create human beings in the image of gods. She was followed by Fu Xi (also known as Fu-Hsi), who brought knowledge of the Eight Diagrams that allowed the Chinese people to identify and follow heavenly decrees. The third ruler was Shen Nung.

The rule of the Three August Ones represents a special time in Chinese history, an era when ordinary Chinese people lived side by side with the gods. This legendary civilization, the Chinese believe, was the beginning of a people who were superior to all other beings, able to create a culture of unparalleled strength, wisdom, and longevity. Thus, in the earliest stages of Chinese history, the seeds were planted for conflicts that would prove devastating to Chinese civilization five thousand years later—conflicts instigated by the sale of tea. A civilization that believes it is rooted in the divine and that all other civilizations are inferior invites conflict from competition and sets the stage for war.

But war and conflict were the antithesis of what Shen Nung stood for, for his epithet was “Divine Healer.” Scholars of Chinese mythology date the stories told about Shen Nung to sometime between
2838
and
2698 BCE
. He goes by many other names as well, including Yen Ti, Earth Emperor, Fire Emperor, Red Emperor, Divine Husband-man, and Divine Farmer.

Shen Nung is considered the father of traditional Chinese medicine, an ancient practice deeply rooted in Taoism that encompasses the relationships among heaven, earth, and man. His greatest contribution was to bring knowledge of herbs and medicine to the people. Legend says that he tested hundreds of herbs for their beneficial and harmful effects.

The legend of Shen Nung's discovery of tea is an oft-told tale, relating how this mythical emperor once stopped to rest underneath a tea tree during a long journey. Known for the care he took with sanitary matters, Shen Nung was boiling water to drink before he continued on his way. As he sat there, a leaf from the tree above him floated down toward earth, but happened (as things often happen in myth and legend) to fall into his pot of hot water instead. The leaf colored the water, and Shen Nung guessed that something quite magical was happening. Carefully, he took the pot off the fire and, when it cooled, took a few sips of the liquid. As the beverage flowed through his veins, he was filled with a sense of peace and calm.

Of all Shen Nung's accomplishments and of all the herbs he was said to have tested and introduced to the world, it is his discovery of tea for which he is most famous and most revered. That leaf, accidentally drifting into a pot of boiling water, colored not merely the water, but events in China and in civilizations around the globe, bringing passion, peace, and contentment as well as addiction, war, and poverty. But it all began with a simple leaf.

CONFUSING TERMS IN EARLY RECORDS

As the story of Shen Nung illustrates, the beginning of humanity's experience of tea is “steeped” in myth and legend. In the search for an accurate, trustworthy account of tea's early days, the literature of the time seems a logical place to begin. But even there, uncertainty abounds.

There have been many attempts to determine the most ancient references to tea in Chinese literature, but scholars have not come to consensus. Part of the confusion arises from the fact that the ancient Chinese character used to designate tea was also used to refer to other shrubs and plants. A modern analogy would be our imprecise but common usage of the name “daisy” to refer to any number of flowers belonging to the Compositae, or “Daisy” family. Until the time of the T'ang dynasty (
618
–
907 CE
), the character
t'u
was used to refer to tea and other medicinal plants, in particular the plant sowthistle,
Sonchus arvensis
.

One of these early, confusing references occurs in the
Shijing
(
Book of Odes
), said to have been edited by Confucius (c.
550
–
478 BCE
). The entry in question is in Ode Ten, “The Lament of a Discarded Wife,” and reads, “Who says that t'u is bitter? It is as sweet as the tsi.” The word
t'u
, which centuries later referred to tea, most probably referred to sowthistle during the age of Confucius. The word
tsi
was probably used to indicate the small plant shepherd's purse,
Capsella bursa-pastoris
.

Another mention of t'u dates to
50 BCE
and is from a merchant, Wang Piu. His surviving written records include a conversation with a servant in which he speaks of buying (and then boiling) t'u while living in a village in the Szechwan district. The fact that this province, which encompasses the mountain Wutu, was thought to be the birthplace of cultivated tea lends credibility to the possibility that, here, t'u actually did refer to the tea shrub.

Tea is mentioned several times in
Shen Nung's Herbal Classic
, a compilation of writings named in honor of Shen Nung. Written during the Later Han dynasty (
25
–
220 CE
), several centuries after the legendary ruler was thought to have lived, the book, which includes information on an impressive
365
herbs, is called by many names, including
Shen-nong Ben-cao-jin
(
Classic of Herbal Medicine
),
Shen Husbandman
,
The Herbal Classic of the Divine Plowman
, and
Pharmacopoeia of the Heavenly Husbandman
. In actuality, the book was most probably written by many different authors.

Among the better-known passages referencing tea in
Shen Nung's Herbal Classic
is the following: “Bitter t'u is called ch'a, hsuan, and yu. It grows in winter in the valleys by the streams and on the hills of Ichow in the province of Szechwan and does not perish in severe winter. It is gathered on the third day of the month in April and then dried.”

Although the references to tea from the
Herbal Classic
are mentioned frequently in popular literature (as proof that the popularity of tea dates back to times before the Common Era), they were probably not included in the original text, since the character
ch'a
was used in the book to reference tea, and this character did not come into usage until the seventh century, a full
3
,
400
years after the time of Shen Nung, and anywhere from five hundred to seven hundred years after the first distribution of the book named in his honor.