Tea Culture

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Tea Culture

Trade. Since ancient times the Chinese have appreciated the speedy, well-built horses raised by people called barbarians, who lived outside the Great Wall and who enjoyed Chinese teas, together with silk, porcelain, and other products. During trade these people did not want to accept any bills of exchange issued by the Tang government (618-907) or paper money invented by the Song court (960-1279) as payment. Tea bricks, used in trading with Tibet, had been one of the first international monies; tea was among the goods used to pay for foreign horses. This trade became so significant that the influential Horse and Tea Commission, a government agency, was created especially to control it. A monopoly was held by the Chinese empire over the tea trade, which continued in the following centuries; the Chinese also developed new tea flavorings to please their barbarian customers.

Contest. In Song times homes were normally halls of meditative silence. When friends came for tea, it was a joyous, noisy occasion with animated conversation, gossip, jokes, and laughter. The Song people loved tea parties. Parlor games were popular during this dynasty, and teatime was the perfect time for playing them. One of the most popular luxurious games of the upper classes was Ta Cha, or Tea Contest. Although Tang people invented this game, the Song revived and played it with a passion. During the Tea Contest an arbitrator was first designated, then each participator in turn prepared an unnamed tea of his choice with pure water brought from special springs. The goal of the game was for each player to guess where the different teas had been grown; winners obtained costly prizes offered by the host. The finding of an unknown tea or tea-water source was a guarantee of social achievement in addition to a good opportunity for showing one’s wealth.

Customs Spread. Tea customs in the Song period were widespread throughout the empire. When a visitor arrived, he passed through a gate into the house compound and slowly walked along a stone path, taking time to view a beautiful garden. He continued in to the south-facing entrance hall of the mansion, where many servants busily removed his fur-trimmed outer clothes and straightened his long gown. He was then accompanied at a leisurely pace to the honor hall. A courteous host, informed by his servants of the visitor’s arrival, stood in the hall to welcome the guest. (If a person came to the hall without prior notice, he could be put off by the servants saying, “Master does not have any time today, please come another day and he’ll invite you to tea.”) Host and guest bowed to each other, rather than shaking hands, in front of the tea table, which symbolized Chinese hospitality.

Table. Song tea tables were taller than modern coffee tables and similar in height to dining tables. Large enough to seat four to six people comfortably, rectangular tea tables varied in style and price, from the intricately carved, ornately decorated lacquered tea tables of the aristocracy to the ordinary bamboo tea tables of the poor. After bowing in greeting, the host and guest seated themselves on oppo-site sides of the tea table. In northern China during cold winters, however, people liked to sit on cushioned, heated beds made of brick. Custom called for the host to present tea when everyone had been seated.

Master. The Song people were among the most knowledgeable tea drinkers in Chinese history. Since they spent huge amounts of money buying quality teas, they did not waste it and prepared it seriously. Rich families hired a permanent Tea Master, who was in charge of buying good teas, obtaining pure tea water, and preparing tea for the family and guests. It was prestigous to employ a Tea Master on the household staff. Since many merchant families could not afford a full-time Tea Master, they hired Traveling Tea Masters, most of whom were former monks. No matter who made the tea, nor the financial situation of the host, all guests felt honored, and teacups were always put before each person deferentially with two hands. Teacups were not to be more than four-fifths full. A host often provided guests with salted nuts and seeds, sweetmeats, or fruit, but no host was required to serve any food.

Servant Boys. Since tea was important in the daily life of the Chinese, tea servants were important members of every mansion’s family. Tea boys collected water, oversaw its boiling, and prepared and gave hot towels to guests so they could freshen up and wash their hands. Tea maids gauged the tea leaves, supplied finger foods, and cared for the teapots and teacups. Since separation of the sexes was characteristic of daily life in dynastic China, dinner parties, tea parties, and other social congregations were segregated along gender lines. Gentlemen hosted men-only parties. Ladies were restricted to women’s areas. This severe sepa-ration of the sexes did not, however, apply to tea servants, who were allowed to go to any quarters of large mansions. Tea boys were the only male servants permitted to go into the women’s quarters, and they were often paid by the master to spy on the women’s activities. Since the system worked both ways, smart tea boys often earned good money through undercover work.

Teacups. Song teacups did not have handles; when boiled tea was poured into them, the sides became hot and could not be touched. When the teacups were only four-fifths full, how-ever, the rim remained a little cool and could be grasped with

the index finger and thumb in a crab grasp. In this manner, people could drink hot tea without burning either their lips or fingers and, more important, people could hold the teacup tightly to prevent spilling any liquid.

Finger Guard. The deft Chinese, who used chopsticks to eat, did not have any problem mastering the crab grasp, but rich mandarins, who wore finger guards, had difficulties in handling teacups. Women’s feet were bound at birth to show that they did not need to work and to make them more attractive; wealthy men tried to make their fingernails grow for similar reasons. Frequently, these fingernails might grow as long as six inches in length. Because these long nails were particularly fragile, people had to wear scabbard-like fmgerguards made of gold or silver and coated with valuable jewels. As the hands moved, the fmgerguards touched each other, making a continuous clicking sound.

Guest Leaving. Before a guest’s departure, a host usually served a final, simple, symbolic cup of tea. This demonstration of good manners implied that the guest’s company was so enjoyable that it was a pity he could not stay longer. However, a polite guest understood his host’s implication and did not drink any of this tea. When the guest stood up and was ready to leave, he politely said to the host, “Thank you very much for the tea,” although he had not drunk any.

Language. A perfect example of both the impact and reputation of tea on the Chinese language is the emotional comparison of good deeds to “handing out tea on a hot day.” Acquaintances even welcomed each other by asking “Have you already drunk tea?” instead of “How are you?” The Song people often said, “It’s as welcome as a teahouse fire!” This aphorism alludes to the fire burning for tea water in every teahouse, which was a nice place to be on chilly days. References to tea were ubiquitous in the speech of the Song people, who used tea for estimating the amount of time it took to accomplish a task. “It occurred in less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea” became the customary way of saying “rapidly.” A man who was looking for his friend in a teahouse might be told, “He left the time it takes to drink a cup of tea,” which meant “He has just left.” “As big as a tea kettle” and “the size of a teacup” were employed by Song people to describe volume measures in the same way European and American cooks use cup and spoon measures.

Names. In Song times custom dictated the serving of tea as a sign of good manners, and each tea bore a name that indicated its proper use. Instead of using the flowery names of teas, simple terms for politeness were employed. The first wel-coming cup of tea presented to a guest was called “Greeting Tea.” Tea served to Buddha was named “Sacrificial Tea.” New neighbors often received a welcoming gift of tea and tidbits called the “Enjoyment at New Neighbors Tea.”

Cult. Tea, traded under tight government control, was still a luxury in Song times, and its use had not become essential in poor households by the end of the dynasty. The cult of tea expanded greatly, however, in company with other refined arts of life. Tea production became more commercialized at the end of the Song empire.

Mongols. Long before their occupation of China the Mongols had enjoyed drinking tea. Their only wealth was tied to the ownership of horses. As early as the Tang Dynasty, Mongols exchanged horses for Chinese goods and tea. When loose tea emerged in the Song Dynasty to replace solid ball and cake tea, Mongols were perhaps the first people to adopt it. Although the original taste was hardly pleasant, it did not discourage the Mongols from drinking a kind of tea (milk tea) called barbarian drink, which the Chinese could never have endured. The Mongols boiled mare’s milk to pasteurize it and put in the tea leaves simultaneously to make a drink that satisfied their love for both flavors.

Flower-Scented Tea. The Ming people (1368-1644) had great passion for flowers; irrespective of shape or color, they were appreciated. The Ming flower cult had a great impact on improvements made to teas, and for the first time flower-scented teas appeared. Although they were invented at least as early as the Tang Dynasty, scented teas were made with prohibitively expensive essential oils and were actually reserved as Imperial Tribute Teas. The intelligent Ming people hit upon the fresh idea of scenting tea with plentiful, cheap flowers.

Servant’s Tea. Good scented teas are a gracious combination of smell and taste, which is their typical characteristic. Because of this unusual duality, scenting can either increase or mask the taste of tea. Scenting was so often used to disguise the taste of inferior teas that the upper classes of the late Ming Dynasty scorned the practice, calling jasmine tea “servant’s tea.”

Commoner’s Tea. Before the creation of the tea bag several centuries ago, Ming drinkers prepared tea by infusing whole leaves, a technique known to most Western tea drinkers. The drinkers put tea leaves into a porcelain teapot the same size as a large apple. The small size of this pot represented the high price of tea. After boiling water was poured into the pot, the leaves were infused for the time it took to inhale and exhale three times, and then the tea was poured through a sieve made of bamboo into the china cups to warm them. After a few minutes the tea was poured back into the teapot, where the leaves were again infused for the same length of time as before. After the leaves had been adequately infused, the tea was ready to drink. The teapot was never supposed to be refilled more than two times, although in poor families the leaves were infused several times. Simply prepared Ming-style tea became commoner’s tea, and Tea Masters of the Tang dynasty were no longer needed.

Arrangements and Treats. In Ming times beautiful, craftily arranged flowers always dignified tea tables; in addition, a great assortment of sweets was served. Since the Ming people liked sugar, sweet foods began to replace salty foods on tea tables. For the first time the Ming people dunked finger foods into their cups of tea, setting a model Europeans would copy with special tea biscuits. Sweet pastries and candied fruit were dunked in hot tea to sweeten it, but many Ming did not think this sugaring proved sufficient and usually added yellow lump sugar. Dates were the most common addition to green tea, immediately scenting and sugaring it nicely. It was a sign of respect to put a few luxurious dates in a guest’s china cup.