In the autumn of 1664, a cargo ship departed from China and arrived in England after experiencing stormy seas. There was a small bag of two pounds and two ounces of Chinese goods on the ship. On the vast Eurasian continent, this kind of plant product had already arrived in several countries through different routes such as the Silk Road. Although they have long been involved in the wave of economic globalization, Chinese people are completely unaware of it. This plant product is tea.

Tea, scientific name Camellia sinensis, first grew in the jungles of the eastern Himalayas. Tea is actually Chinese, among which the English "tea" is the most widely known, the French is "the", the German is "tee", and the Italian is "te". The pronunciation of other countries still favors the Chinese pronunciation of "cha". For example, Turkey says "chay", Poland says "chai", and Thai says "chaa".

The pronunciation seems to be divided into "two factions" headed by t and c. Why? There were two earliest ports for exporting tea in China: Guangzhou and Xiamen. Tea is pronounced "cha" in Cantonese dialect and "te" in Hokkien dialect.

In 1664, Britain imported only two pounds and two ounces of tea. By the early 18th century, tea consumption increased sharply. In 1716, two British cargo ships returned 3,000 tons of tea from Guangzhou, worth 35,085 pounds, accounting for 80% of the total value. In 52 years, the weight has skyrocketed from 1 kilogram to 150,000 kilograms.

According to "Shanxi Foreign Trade Chronicles", Russian businessmen purchased tea in Kyaktu in 1839 for 7 million yuan. Once it was resold in Nizhnygorod (today's Gorky City), it could be sold for 18 million yuan. The Russians even used brick tea as currency, and in the Transbaikal region, locals preferred brick tea to no money when selling goods. Because they believe brick tea can be used in place of money anywhere.

Tea or alcohol? Europeans have their own choices:

Dutch doctor Nicholas Dilks firmly believed in the omnipotence of tea. He recommended that patients drink at least 50 cups of tea a day, the more the better, with an upper limit of 200 cups.

What more people admire is the status and lifestyle represented by tea - in the mid-18th century, servants' wages would be supplemented with special tea subsidies. In 1755, an Italian who visited England once marveled, "Even the average maid drinks tea twice a day."

From the 16th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign to the eighth year of Emperor Yongzheng's reign in the Qing Dynasty, the British East India Company imported 1,250 tons of Wuyi tea. By the 16th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1751), it reached its peak and increased to 8,850 tons, accounting for 63% of the country's tea exports.

On December 16, 1773, when the North American colonies were still under British rule, more than 8,000 people gathered in Boston to protest. That night, 60 "Sons of Liberty" disguised as Indians boarded a tea ship and dumped all 342 boxes of tea from three East India Company ships into the sea. Tea gave birth to the North American War of Independence.

The word "tea" did not appear until the Tang Dynasty. The earliest dictionary "Erya" said that tea is a bitter vegetable. By the Han Dynasty, the characters "Jia" were no longer used, only "Ming" and "tea" were used. What's interesting is that the earliest word for "drunken drunk" is Mingting. Mingting, also known as Guiting, is a kind of weed.

Drinking tea became a trend, and celebrities in the Wei and Jin Dynasties took the lead. Among them, the most conclusive evidence comes from Du Yu's remaining "Ming Fu". In Zuo Si's "Poetry of the Beloved Girl", it is described that the beauties were tired of the tea ceremony: the water vapor stained the white sleeves, and the smoke soaked through the fine cloth.

The tea ceremony originated in the Central Plains. Volume 3 of "Luoyang Jialan Ji" in the Northern Wei Dynasty records a conversation between Wang Su and Emperor Xiaowen who was a fashion book at that time - tea can only be a slave to milk. So "Cheese slave" became a derogatory name for tea before the Tang Dynasty.

The tea ceremony once became a competitive sport. In the Song Dynasty, it was transformed into "tea fighting". We have cricket fighting, cock fighting, dog fighting, bullfighting, and sumo wrestling as a show, but the most magical thing is tea fighting.

Zhao Ji wrote, "Dragon and phoenix tea cake, famous all over the world." Later, Zhu Yuanzhang felt that continuing to play like this was not good for his work, so he issued an order to "discontinue the dragon and phoenix tea cakes, and replace them with loose tea." In an instant, the tea-making process of the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, which had lasted for thousands of years, mainly consisting of group tea and steamed green tea came to an end. As a result, tea, which used to be the main consumer group of the royal family, turned to another direction: catering to more people.

Drinking tea has a long history as an important part of daily life in China. The habit of drinking tea in today's world originated in Sichuan and can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. It was spread to other regions after the Qin Dynasty unified China. This historical development process is recognized by domestic and foreign academic circles.

In ancient China, people pursued drinking tea in an elegant environment. Literati and poets often described their leisurely mood of reciting poems and painting while sipping tea. Su Dongpo even wrote "Tea Cooking Song".

In Sichuan, teahouses are equipped with both tea and bamboo (bamboo chairs are used, and many teahouses are located in bamboo forests), and they are usually bustling with customers. People go there not only to drink tea, but also to seek the atmosphere of a crowded and bustling public life. This may reflect the different tastes and sentiments of the general public and elite literati in daily life.

Tea was originally a leaf. When it first met humans, it was used as a detoxifying medicine. Thousands of years ago, it passed through the hands of the Chinese and became a delicious drink.

Tea entered the palace of Tang Dynasty poets and became the drink of life for nomadic people. Tea was hidden in the monk's luggage and traveled eastward to Japan with Buddhism, where it became a living faith. Tea boarded the cargo ships of the Age of Discovery, and together with porcelain and silk, it satisfied Europeans' imagination of the ancient Eastern countries. Tea enriched the most exquisite and elegant etiquette in British culture and took root all over the world following the footsteps of the Empire on which the sun never sets.

Tea has gone through a long journey, and its life has experienced withering, rebirth, and blooming. Perhaps it is just to remind people who are walking in a hurry that in a life that is fully aware of imperfection, perfection can also be felt in the time of a cup of tea. In the depths of history, tea tells the stories of generations and delivers cultural treasures.

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