Ways of Tea Preparing

The ways of tea preparing have been constantly changing through the thousands of years in China history along with the variation of people’s knowledge of tea. Due to the diversity of the living habits of multiple nationalities and wide variety of the climates and geographical conditions, many different ways of drinking and preparing have developed throughout the different dynasties.

When the wild tea trees were discovered, the fresh leaves were collected and put into the pot to boil as soup like Chinese medicine and drunk with leaves. Since it tasted bitter and astringent, it was used as medicine. Due to shortage of food, tea leaves were used as food to satisfy hunger first and then used as medicine sometimes.

The Spring and Autumn Period

Tea leaves were cooked as vegetables in the same process of cooking dishes and rice. Though with the adjustment of the dishes, the bitterness was reduced, it was still so bitter that it was called “bitter vegetable”.

Qin Dynasty and Han Dynasties

Tea leaves were processed in special ways so the taste was changed.

As noted in Guangya 广雅, the fresh tea leaves were collected and pressed to a pie shape, roasted on charcoal fire, grounded to powder, then put inside a China pot and added boiled water in. Scallion and ginger were added as flavor just like cooking vegetable soup, which also helped to adjust the bitter and astringent taste, so the soup could be used to serve guests or as medicine.

When it came to the beginning of Tang Dynasty, dates and mint were also added besides scallion and ginger to cover the grass smell.

Lu Yu 陆羽 suggested that other flavors be removed from tea but only keep salt, which basically developed as the boiling tea practice in Tang Dynasty. Salt was added when the water was boiling for the first time. When boiling a second time, one scoop of water was taken out and a bamboo clip was used to stir the soup in circles, then tea powder was added quickly. Once the soup was boiling a third time, then the scoop of water was added back. After it boiled again, it was removed from the fire and put aside still, then the soup could be taken out and put inside a tea bowl. It was best that the soup was not boiled any longer after a third boiling, otherwise, the tea soup would taste too strong.

The practice of adding a scoop of water after a second boiling reminded me of the dumplings cooking at home. The dumplings bulged high after the water boiled fully and flattened all in a sudden after a scoop of water was added in, which was for the purpose of cooling the dumplings a bit and preventing them from breaking due to boiling for too long. Boiling slightly for a longer time could allow the dumpling skin to become chewy and taste better. Boiling tea in Tang Dynasty is similar to boiling dumplings now in the practice of adding a scoop of water, with the tea freshened up while the dumplings increased in texture.

In Northern Song Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of Song dispatched messengers to the Bei Yuan北苑, the Northern Imperial Park, in Jian An, to supervise the production of the imperial exclusive tea “Dragon and Phoenix tea cake 龙团凤饼” with extremely fresh tea buds.

Emperor Renzong of Song loved the Dragon Ball tea so much that he never bestowed tea to the officials easily in the imperial government. Only in the grand service of sacrifice to Heaven and Earth in the south suburbs every year, four officials each from the Zhu Shusheng中书省 “the Palace Secretariat” and the Shumiyuan 枢密院 "the Bureau of Military Affairs'' would be granted one tea pie in total. Ten pies only weighed one Jin斤, sixteen Liang 两, so each pie only one Liang and size Qian钱. Divided by eight officials, each only had two Qian so they treasured it so much that they would rather keep it and pass down to the descendants as family heirloom than drink it. Occasionally showing the tea to the distinguished guests for appreciation even became an extremely honorable courtesy. Ouyang Xiu 欧阳修(renowned historian, calligrapher, epigrapher, essayist, poet, and politician of the Song dynasty) was only bestowed one small piece of Dragon and Phoenix tea cake imperial tea after serving in the imperial court for twenty years.

In the Song Dynasty, salt was not added to the tea soup, with the original aroma, taste and color of the tea more valued. The tea mostly remained pale. The degree of boiling water was key when whisking tea点茶, creating art in tea, which is called “Hou Tang候汤”. Bubbles would float up if the soup was not ready, while the tea leaves would sink if the soup was overdrawn. Therefore, only when the water boiling timing was controlled well could the color, aroma and taste of tea could be fully presented. 

The aesthetics of the preparing way of tea reached an extremely high level in the Song Dynasty. First ground the tea pie to fine powder, then pour boiled water over the tea powder and use the tea whisk to stir the tea quickly so that the tea and water can blend fully. Tea fight斗茶, battling in tea preparing, was very popular in Song Dynasty and was very meticulous in details.

Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty: Sanpao散泡

Ming Emperor Taizu明太祖 Zhu Yuanzhang朱元璋 discarded Luantuan龙团 (the Dragon Circling Tea Cake) and started Sanpao, also named Brewing撮泡 or Pinching瀹饮 more professionally. The process of preparing tea cake was pretty complicated and expensive, while Sanpao was simple and fast, so it popularized soon as the new style of tea customs.

Chakao 茶考, a book about tea by Chenshi陈师 noted that, “Hangzhou people placed fine tea powder inside tea cup and poured boiled water onto it, which was named Brewing 撮泡……”. With the simplification of preparing and drinking tea processes, the authentic taste of tea was more revealed.

The artistic culture of Chaliao茶寮, a small tea house or cabin for people to drink tea in, was very popular in Ming Dynasty. 

Wen Zhenheng 文震亨wrote in Changwuzhi长物志, Masterworks of Chinese Classics, “It’s an essential and primary task for a recluse to find a small cabin inside a mountain, arrange tea set in it, hire a person to serve tea specially so that friends can talk whole day when they visit occasionally or the recluse can stay up through cold nights.”

The way of tea preparation has continued to be Sanpao from the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty since it is natural and simple, revealing the authentic taste of tea. Tea customs are especially sophisticated and popular in Xiamen and Guangzhou, which even has special tea set “Four Treasures of Chao Shan” 潮汕四宝 in Teochew and Swatow.

After thousands of years evolution, the ways of preparing tea in China has become abundant today, such as warm black tea in China pot, White tip silver needle 白毫银针, the silver needles in teacup, Fenghuang Unique Bush 凤凰单丛茶 in Four Treasures of Chao and Shan with fragrant aroma overflowing……

Chen Jiru remarked, “One person gets refreshed while drinking tea alone, is entertained when drinking with a friend, and enjoys the taste when drinking in a crowd.”

A few friends meet together to drink tea, with the same type of tea sometimes prepared in different ways and sometimes with different tea sets.