Publication Date
2009
Categories
The word refers to the plant from the Theaceae family, its processed leaves and leaf buds, its infusion, as well as the social gathering in which the beverage is consumed. It also ended up designating infusions made from other plants used in Europe before its arrival. Of all the other non-European stimulants, tea was the one which took longer to become globalized. For over a millennium (from the 6th to the 17th century) it was used solely in the Sino world.
Tea is made from leaves and leaf buds of the Camellia sinensis plant (L.) Kuntze. The tea culture expanded from China to other countries under its influence, like Korea and Japan, where the plant was cultivated until the 19th century, despite its transplantation to European botanical gardens after 1650. Until the 19th century, Europeans were unaware of its transformation techniques, for which they recruited Chinese technicians. The Portuguese were pioneers in 1816, followed by the English and the Dutch. During the first half of the eighteenth century, the cultivation of the plant spread and the increase in production matched the worldwide growing demand and, along with the transportation revolution and the globalization process, lowered its price and increased the number of its consumers.
The existing transformation techniques resulted from the evolution in its consumption in China. The leaves and leaf buds were first consumed as vegetables and latter on as an infusion. There are five different kinds of tea, due to their different fermentation. There are also variants, such as the Japanese macha and the aromatized and compressed teas.
History
C.1500, it was consumed in ceremonies in China and Japan and was a stimulant in sino-civilisations. Curiously, no mention of tea is known to occur in Portuguese sources before 1548.The first reference was made by Saint Francis Xavier. He did not, however, use the word "tea", which was only used in a printed document in 1565.
This is surprising, for the Portuguese had become acquainted with the beverage in Malacca in 1511. For the Europeans, its bitter taste - which was soon replaced by the sweet taste of sugar, once it became widespread - resembled homemade medicinal remedies. The Portuguese were never really seduced by this beverage, although they did drink it. In Japan, however, there was more interaction: Sen Rikyû is thought to have used catholic liturgy as an inspiration to codify the chanoyu.
Tea consumption in Europe starts in 1650, although it increases after 1720. Until then people drank mostly green tea and macha. Tea was then thought to be an exotic, medicinal and expensive drink. The construction of public places destined to drink tea and socialize, associated to the emerging bourgeoisie, triggered its consumption. In 1720, green teas were replaced by fermented, cheaper ones, which drastically changed their consumption. The East India Company conducted the change: by increasing the import of Chinese tea and making it cheaper, it created more consumers, which drank "black tea" according to the European preferences.
Portugal did not take part in this tendency, for lack of public places destined to drink tea and socialize and also because Portuguese prefer other stimulants such as alcohol and tobacco. The role of Dona Catarina de Bragança in spreading the use of tea is overrated. Although the queen drank it, tea was consumed in England long before. The queen fed this fashion, but it was the duchess of Bedford who created the habit of the afternoon tea in Portugal. For long, tea was thought of as a homemade medicinal remedy, which is why the Portuguese favoured green tea for so long.
With no significant internal consumption, Portugal chose to reexport to Europe, using Macau (which also became the trading post where the Dutch got Chinese tea). Because tea was a monopoly of European commercial companies, England, France and the Netherlands were out of its scope, but Portugal freely supplied the Mediterranean. Whenever a European war made it impossible to communicate with China, Portugal always took advantage of its situation, being used by third parties to trade with Macau in search for tea.
Despite its role in spreading the knowledge about tea, Portugal was never a big tea consumer. After it was used in Brazil as a replacement cultivation, Portugal took the first steps to widespread its consumption. There were no significant results, due to the independence of Brazil, but it increased the commercial exploration of the plant, first in the Azores and latter on in Mozambique.
After several attempts at cultivating the plant in mainland Portugal had failed, it was successfully introduced in São Miguel by the Sociedade Promotora da Agricultura Micaelense (society for the promotion of the agriculture of São Miguel) in 1874, as a reaction to the decrease in orange export to England and the crises it created. In 1875, two Chinese technicians were contracted to teach the art of tea transformation and around 1880 the tea plants were ready to go into production. Due to the natural conditions, the temperate climate and the heavy rains, the production grew, with some crises in-between, caused by the two world wars, until the second half of the twentieth century. By then, the Mozambican tea invaded the Portuguese market and led to a decrease in Azorean tea production and to less cultivated land, which was converted into pasture. Nowadays, plantations are small and the tea it produces is consumed mostly in the archipelago (80%) and in the so called "mercado da saudade", the Azorean diaspora in the New World.
Bibliography:
CUNHA, João Teles e, "Chá - A sociabilização da bebida em Portugal: séculos XVI-XVIII", in Aquém e Além da Taprobama. Estudos luso-orientais à memória de Jean Aubin e Denys Lombard, editados Luís Filipe F. R. Thomaz, Lisboa, CHAM, 2002. Idem, "A via do chá - cultura material e artefactos do Oriente ao Ocidente (séculos III a XVIII), in O Chá da China. Uma colecção particular, Lisboa, CCCM, 2005. ROSA, Paulo, Chá uma bebida da China, Mirandela, João Azevedo Editor, 2004.
Translated by: Dominique Faria.
Tea is made from leaves and leaf buds of the Camellia sinensis plant (L.) Kuntze. The tea culture expanded from China to other countries under its influence, like Korea and Japan, where the plant was cultivated until the 19th century, despite its transplantation to European botanical gardens after 1650. Until the 19th century, Europeans were unaware of its transformation techniques, for which they recruited Chinese technicians. The Portuguese were pioneers in 1816, followed by the English and the Dutch. During the first half of the eighteenth century, the cultivation of the plant spread and the increase in production matched the worldwide growing demand and, along with the transportation revolution and the globalization process, lowered its price and increased the number of its consumers.
The existing transformation techniques resulted from the evolution in its consumption in China. The leaves and leaf buds were first consumed as vegetables and latter on as an infusion. There are five different kinds of tea, due to their different fermentation. There are also variants, such as the Japanese macha and the aromatized and compressed teas.
History
C.1500, it was consumed in ceremonies in China and Japan and was a stimulant in sino-civilisations. Curiously, no mention of tea is known to occur in Portuguese sources before 1548.The first reference was made by Saint Francis Xavier. He did not, however, use the word "tea", which was only used in a printed document in 1565.
This is surprising, for the Portuguese had become acquainted with the beverage in Malacca in 1511. For the Europeans, its bitter taste - which was soon replaced by the sweet taste of sugar, once it became widespread - resembled homemade medicinal remedies. The Portuguese were never really seduced by this beverage, although they did drink it. In Japan, however, there was more interaction: Sen Rikyû is thought to have used catholic liturgy as an inspiration to codify the chanoyu.
Tea consumption in Europe starts in 1650, although it increases after 1720. Until then people drank mostly green tea and macha. Tea was then thought to be an exotic, medicinal and expensive drink. The construction of public places destined to drink tea and socialize, associated to the emerging bourgeoisie, triggered its consumption. In 1720, green teas were replaced by fermented, cheaper ones, which drastically changed their consumption. The East India Company conducted the change: by increasing the import of Chinese tea and making it cheaper, it created more consumers, which drank "black tea" according to the European preferences.
Portugal did not take part in this tendency, for lack of public places destined to drink tea and socialize and also because Portuguese prefer other stimulants such as alcohol and tobacco. The role of Dona Catarina de Bragança in spreading the use of tea is overrated. Although the queen drank it, tea was consumed in England long before. The queen fed this fashion, but it was the duchess of Bedford who created the habit of the afternoon tea in Portugal. For long, tea was thought of as a homemade medicinal remedy, which is why the Portuguese favoured green tea for so long.
With no significant internal consumption, Portugal chose to reexport to Europe, using Macau (which also became the trading post where the Dutch got Chinese tea). Because tea was a monopoly of European commercial companies, England, France and the Netherlands were out of its scope, but Portugal freely supplied the Mediterranean. Whenever a European war made it impossible to communicate with China, Portugal always took advantage of its situation, being used by third parties to trade with Macau in search for tea.
Despite its role in spreading the knowledge about tea, Portugal was never a big tea consumer. After it was used in Brazil as a replacement cultivation, Portugal took the first steps to widespread its consumption. There were no significant results, due to the independence of Brazil, but it increased the commercial exploration of the plant, first in the Azores and latter on in Mozambique.
After several attempts at cultivating the plant in mainland Portugal had failed, it was successfully introduced in São Miguel by the Sociedade Promotora da Agricultura Micaelense (society for the promotion of the agriculture of São Miguel) in 1874, as a reaction to the decrease in orange export to England and the crises it created. In 1875, two Chinese technicians were contracted to teach the art of tea transformation and around 1880 the tea plants were ready to go into production. Due to the natural conditions, the temperate climate and the heavy rains, the production grew, with some crises in-between, caused by the two world wars, until the second half of the twentieth century. By then, the Mozambican tea invaded the Portuguese market and led to a decrease in Azorean tea production and to less cultivated land, which was converted into pasture. Nowadays, plantations are small and the tea it produces is consumed mostly in the archipelago (80%) and in the so called "mercado da saudade", the Azorean diaspora in the New World.
Bibliography:
CUNHA, João Teles e, "Chá - A sociabilização da bebida em Portugal: séculos XVI-XVIII", in Aquém e Além da Taprobama. Estudos luso-orientais à memória de Jean Aubin e Denys Lombard, editados Luís Filipe F. R. Thomaz, Lisboa, CHAM, 2002. Idem, "A via do chá - cultura material e artefactos do Oriente ao Ocidente (séculos III a XVIII), in O Chá da China. Uma colecção particular, Lisboa, CCCM, 2005. ROSA, Paulo, Chá uma bebida da China, Mirandela, João Azevedo Editor, 2004.
Translated by: Dominique Faria.