The Boston Tea Party

Author: Wikipedia
Original Source: Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party was an act of direct action by the American colonists against Great Britain in which they destroyed many crates of tea bricks on ships in Boston Harbor. The incident, which took place on Thursday, December 16, 1773, has been seen as helping to spark the American Revolution.

On Thursday, December 16, 1773, the evening before the tea was due to be landed, Captain Roach appealed to Governor Hutchinson to allow his ship to leave without unloading its tea. When Roach returned and reported Hutchinson's refusal to a massive protest meeting, Samuel Adams said to the assembly, "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country".

As though on cue, the Sons of Liberty thinly disguised as Narragansett Indians and armed with small hatchets and clubs, headed toward Griffin's Wharf (in Boston Harbor), where lay Dartmouth and the newly-arrived Beaver and Eleanour. Swiftly and efficiently, casks of tea were brought up from the hold to the deck, reasonable proof that some of the "Indians" were, in fact, longshoremen. The casks were opened and the tea dumped overboard; the work, lasting well into the night, was quick, thorough, and efficient. By dawn, over 342 casks or 90,000 lbs (45 tons) of tea worth an estimated £10,000 had been consigned to waters of Boston harbor. Nothing else had been damaged or stolen, except a single padlock accidentally broken and anonymously replaced not long thereafter.

Tea washed up on the shores around Boston for weeks. Attempts were made by the citizens of Boston to carry off some of the tea. A small number of small boats were rowed where the tea was visible, then beating it with oars to render it unusable.

The fourth East India Company ship carrying tea did not arrive with the other three because it had run aground in Provincetown. All fifty-eight tea chests were salvaged and put onto a fishing schooner, which arrived safely in Boston and into Bostonian's teapots.

Tasseography

Author: Crystal Links
Original Source: Tea Leaf Reading

The art of reading tea leaves is referred to as Tasseography (or Tasseomancy) and is a divination or fortune-telling method that in western tradition interprets patterns in tea leaves. The term also refers to the reading of coffee grounds, especially in the Middle Eastern tradition. The term has also been applied to the reading of wine sediments. The term derives from the French word tasse (cup), which in turn derives from the Arabic tassa (cup). Tasseography, otherwise known as tasseomancy or tassology, is the art of tea leaf reading. "Tasse" or "tass" is an Arab root, meaning small cup or goblet.

The beverage, Tea, is linked with herbology part of alternative healing. People who seek answers through various forms of divination, such as tea leaf readings, are often healing their issues.

Tea leaf reading is an ancient practice interpreting patterns made by tea leaves in the cup. In addition to the reading of tea leaves, the tradition of tasseography includes the reading of coffee grounds and wine sediments. Although tasseography is commonly associated with Gypsy fortunetellers, the tradition of tea leaf reading arises independently from Asia, the Middle East and Ancient Greece.

Modern tasseography has also been associated with the Scottish, Irish and cultures throughout Eastern Europe.

The significance of the ubiquitous, cross cultural and historical pervasiveness of tea, coffee and sediment reading may be related to the primal human desire for understanding the self. Just as psychological analysis grew prodigiously during the Victorian era, tasseography became popularized as a parlor game. But the practice distinguishes itself from amorphic fortune telling, mystical, occult or other magical activities. Specifically, tasseography is not an application of magic, but rather a tool for tapping into the subconscious by applying meditation to pattern recognition and symbolism.

Tasseography can be a powerful meditative tool providing insights into the reader's subconscious. The significance of symbolism in psychological study finds theoretical foundation from Plato through Carl Jung.

From a modern sociobiological standpoint, procedures such as drinking from the opposite hand, may coordinate left and right brain activity to stimulate creative problem solving. Common sense indicates that slowing down to focus and organize one's own thoughts is an effective problem solving methodology.

The process of tasseography stimulates the imagination to create individualized interpretations and solutions. Tea leaf reading is a fun, healthful and creative way to listen to yourself and open your psychic abilities.

In certain western circles that take this form of divination seriously, it is considered ill-advised for one to attempt tasseography using tea from a cut-open tea bag, to substitute loose coffee in place of tea, or to use a symbol dictionary.

Matcha Green Tea - Part 1

Author: Aiya America
Original Source: Matcha Tea

What is Matcha?
Matcha is the oldest variety of shade-grown Japanese green tea, traditionally used in Zen Buddhist ceremonies for over 800 years. Ground into a fine, jade-green powder using granite grinding wheels, Matcha is whisked with water to create a unique, beautiful and richly flavorful drink.

Today, Matcha is also being used as the raw material in green tea flavored products, including ice cream, gelato, smoothies, lattes and chocolates.

History
According to 3rd Century A.D. Japanese literature, green tea was first used as an elixir to remedy swelling, fever and other symptoms. The Japanese envoy is thought to have introduced green tea seeds to China during the Tang Dynasty to be used by nobility and Buddhist clergy as a medicinal tonic.

In 1191, the Japanese Zen Buddhist monk Eisai returned from China with a new way to drink green tea. He poured the stone-ground powdered tea into hot water and stirred it together – just like today’s Matcha – then consumed it as a beverage rather than as a medicine.

Recreational tea drinking in Japan later spread beyond the nobility to the samurai class. The samurai, sworn protectors of their retaining lords, eventually developed a green tea ritual meant to bring peace and harmony to their often violent lives.

Health Benefits
Unlike regular green tea leaves, which are removed when brewed, Matcha leaves are whisked with water and consumed entirely. This ensures that Matcha drinkers consume a higher concentration of green tea antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fibers.

Matcha also contains high amounts of L-theanines – a unique set of natural amino acids found almost exclusively in green tea – as well as tea caffeine theophylline. Together, these substances are thought to help provide increased mental clarity and energy.

Tea in Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

Author: Upton Tea
Original Source: History of Tea in Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

The plantation industry in Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka, began in 1825 with the widespread planting of coffee. Between 1839 and 1840, tea seed and plants were sent to the Royal Botanic Gardens in the Kandy district, but these early arrivals were largely ignored for the more lucrative coffee craze that had seized the region. However, this booming industry came to a dramatic halt in 1869 when a leaf disease known as the "coffee rust" spread rapidly throughout the countryside -- reaching every coffee district within the span of five years. While the plantation owners desperately cleared and replanted coffee at a remarkable rate, the disease continued to spread unhindered.

During the next twenty years, in a frantic effort to avoid financial ruin, planters in Ceylon converted their decimated acreage to tea; it was a remarkable effort that involved the wide-scale uprooting and burning of millions of infected coffee bushes. Perhaps the rapid cultivation of tea in Sri Lanka was aided most by the knowledge and experience of their fellow Indian tea planters.

Within the span of a few years, tea processing factories -- most resembling nothing more than shacks constructed from mud and wattle walls and floors -- sprang up across the island of Ceylon. Fresh-picked tea leaves were withered in separate sheds and hand-rolled on long, grooved tables before undergoing fermentation. Inside the factory building, lines of charcoal-burning ovens were situated across the mud floor, and it was over these ovens that the tea leaves were fired or dried.

Although many influential and successful planters were responsible for transforming Ceylon from ruined a coffee-producing region to one famous worldwide for its tea, nearly all of their names have been forgotten except for one -- Thomas Lipton. Already a millionaire grocer by the time he looked into tea prospects in Ceylon in 1888, Lipton decided that the best way to make money in the lucrative European tea market was to eliminate the costly middlemen and develop a direct source for tea. Because the economic effects of the coffee blight were still drastically affecting Ceylon, Lipton naturally chose this island as the inexpensive source for his tea.

Lipton's genius was not in the area of growing tea but rather in the marketing and distribution of the final product, and his tireless capacity to invent and popularize clever slogans and effective advertising campaigns are legendary. It is a testament to Lipton's remarkable force of character and business acumen that his name alone is often included in any popular discussion of Ceylon tea.

Under the watchful eye of Lipton and other business tycoons, there were 380,000 acres of tea by 1900, and steady increases resulted in 600,000 acres by the late 1960's. Today, most of the same land that was converted from coffee continues a thriving international tea industry.

Irish Tea Traditions

Author: Brenda Hyde
Original Source: Tea Time Traditions

Ireland is the largest tea consumer per capita than any country in the world. They take their tea VERY seriously! You won't find a convention, work meeting or other event that does not allow for a morning or afternoon tea break on the schedule! The slang for tea is "cha" in Ireland and the rich and poor alike love tea time.

Tea was first imported to Ireland in 1835 where it became popular with the weathly crowd, but it wasn't until later in the mid 1800s that it spread to the rural people and all of Ireland was hooked. Small grocers were opened in the towns and villages and they started exchanging butter and eggs for tea and sugar.

In Gaelic "cupan tae" mean cup of tea, and the Irish make it a strong cup. Irish tea is blended to be mixed with a lot of rich milk-up to 1/3 of the cup for some. The custom is to add the milk to the tea cup first, then pour in the tea. Irish breakfast tea is often a strong blend of Assam and Ceylon and most people would only drink it for breakfast, though the Irish love it strong and would use this blend all day long. Even during the traditional Irish wake, after a family member has passed away, it's expected that a pot would be continously boiling to make tea for company.

Irish tea is served generally three times a day; 11:00 in the morning, 3:00-5:00 for afternoon tea and a high tea at 6:00 pm, serving as the evening meal. Many think of high tea as formal or fancy, but it's actually a working man's tea that serves as a meal. Afternoon tea is the more "fancy" of the three teas-the one with scones, breads, jam, curds and other dainties.

Tea in India

Author: Bamboo Tea House
Original Source: Tea as a Way of Life - The History of Tea in India

The credit for creating India's vast tea empire goes to the British, who discovered tea in India and cultivated and consumed it in enormous quantities between the early 1800's and India's independence from Great Britain in 1947. The Scottish adventurer, Robert Bruce, discovered tea plants growing in Assam in the 1820's. At this time, no one thought that tea existed in India, however Major Bruce discovered the plants growing wild in the jungles controlled by the tribal chiefs.

In 1834, a British tea committee was appointed to investigate the possibility of cultivating tea in India. After a thorough investigation and study of the crop, the first commercial batch of tea ever produced outside of China came from Assam in 1839. The first contract for Indian teas between 500 and 1,000 chests was issued by London brokers at that time.

Two of India's major teas are the Darjeeling and the Assam. India's famed Darjeeling is named after the summer capital of the Government of Bengal, where tea is cultivated at altitudes of 4,000-10,000 feet in the Darjeeling hills. India's other major tea, Assam is named for the district in which it is grown, which lies in northeast India along the border between India and Burma. This region produced more black tea than any other area in the world, with the exception of some parts of China. Assam tea which is strong, dark and rich is a component of many standard blends, including Irish Breakfast.

Tea in China

Author: Andy Gilchrist (http://www.AskAndyAboutClothes.com)
Original Source: The History of Tea

Tea is first mentioned in Chinese writing in 222 AD as a substitute for wine, and in a circa 350 AD Chinese dictionary.

By the third century AD tea was being advocated for its properties as a healthy, refreshing drink and the benefits of tea drinking, but it was not until the Nobility of the Tang Dynasty (618 AD - 906 AD) made tea fashionable, that tea became China's national drink

As the demand for tea rose steadily, Chinese farmers began to cultivate tea rather than harvest leaves from wild trees. Tea was commonly made into roasted cakes, which were then pounded into small pieces and placed in a china pot. After adding boiling water, onion, spices, ginger or orange were introduced to produce many regional variations.

Tea consumption spread throughout the Chinese culture.

In 780 A.D., Lu Yu wrote the first definitive book on tea, the “Ch'a Ching”. He was orphaned and raised by scholarly Buddhist monks in one of China's finest monasteries. However, as a young man, he rebelled against the discipline of training. In mid-life he retired for five years into seclusion. Drawing from his vast memory of observed events and places, he codified the various methods of tea cultivation and preparation in ancient China. The vast definitive nature of his work projected him into near sainthood within his own lifetime. Lu Yu is known as the "Tea Saint”.

The book inspired the Zen Buddhist missionaries to create the form of tea service that would later be introduced to imperial Japan as the Japanese tea ceremony, Chanoyu. The spread of tea cultivation throughout China and Japan is largely accredited to the movement of Buddhist priests throughout the region.

960-1280 Sung Dynasty. Tea was used widely. Powdered tea had become common. Beautiful ceramic tea accessories of dark-blue, black and brown glazes, which contrasted with the vivid green of the whisked tea, were favored.

1101-1125 Emperor Hui Tsung wrote about the best ways to make whisked tea. A strong patron of the tea industry, he had tournaments in which members of the court identified different types of tea. Legend has it that he became so obsessed with tea he hardly noticed the Mongols who overthrew his empire. During his reign, teahouses built in natural settings became popular among the Chinese.

1206 - 1368 Yuan Dynasty. Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan conquered Chinese territories and established a Mongolian dynasty in power for more than a century. Tea became an ordinary drink, never regaining the high status it once enjoyed.

1368-1644 Ming Dynasty. People again began to enjoy tea. The new method of preparation was steeping whole leaves in water. The resulting pale liquid necessitated a lighter color ceramic than was popular in the past. White and off-white tea-ware became the style of the time.

Indian legends credit that the practice of tea drinking was begun in honor of Bodhidharma (ca. 460-534). Bodhidharma was a monk and the founder of the Ch'an (or Zen) sect of Buddhism. Born near Madras, India, he traveled to China in 520.

The Indian legend tells how in the fifth year of a seven-year sleepless contemplation of Buddha he began to feel drowsy. He immediately plucked a few leaves from a nearby brush and chewed them, which dispelled his tiredness. The bush was a wild tea tree.

Tea in Japan

Author: Andy Gilchrist (http://www.AskAndyAboutClothes.com)
Original Source: The History of Tea

Buddhist monks introduced the ritual drinking of tea into Japan from China in the sixth century.

It wasn't until 1191 that tea really took hold in Japan with the return from China of the Zen priest Eisai (1141-1215). Eisai, the founder of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism in Japan, introduced powdered tea and tea seeds that he brought back with him from China. The tea seeds were planted by his friend the priest Myoe (1173-1232) at the Kozanji temple in the hills northwest of Kyoto.

As a result, he is known as the "Father of Tea" in Japan.

Tea was elevated to an art form with the creation of the Japanese ritual tea ceremony ("Cha-no-yu"), a ritual for the preparation, serving, and drinking of tea. The ceremony became institutionalized during the Kamakura period (1192 – 1333 AD) when tea was taken by Zen Buddhist monks to keep them awake during meditations.

The word Chanoyu, or Cha-no-yu, means hot water for tea --cha, tea (from Middle Chinese) + no, possessive particle + yu, hot water.

Chanoyu is an expression of Zen Buddhism, and its formalities are derived from the simple and practical manners of the Buddhist monks' daily activities in monasteries

Each art form in Japan is represented by a "way" that is a tradition and a way of life pertaining to the respective art form. Popular "ways" in Japan include the way of flowers, the way of incense, the way of calligraphy, the way of poetry, the way of the sword, the way of self-defense, and Chado, the way of tea. Chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony, is the vehicle through which Chado is manifested.

Several prominent tea masters contributed to the development of Chanoyu.

The tea master Sen Rikyu (1522-1591) developed WABICHA or the style of tea that reflects a simple and quiet taste. From Zen traditions Rikyu established the four guiding principles of Chanoyu: wa (harmony), kei (respect), sei (purity), and jaku (tranquility).

A special form of architecture (chaseki) developed for "tea houses", based on the duplication of the simplicity of a forest cottage. A separate tea room (“cha-shitsu”) in Japanese homes is constructed so that one enters on your knees to show humility. The cultural/artistic hostesses of Japan, the Geisha, began to specialize in the presentation of the tea ceremony.

The Legendary Origins of Tea

Author: Stash Tea
Original Source: The History of Tea

The story of tea began in ancient China over 5,000 years ago. According to legend, Shen Nung, an early emperor was a skilled ruler, creative scientist and patron of the arts. His far-sighted edicts required, among other things, that all drinking water be boiled as a hygienic precaution. One summer day while visiting a distant region of his realm, he and the court stopped to rest. In accordance with his ruling, the servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from the near by bush fell into the boiling water, and a brown liquid was infused into the water. As a scientist, the Emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing. And so, according to legend, tea was created. (This myth maintains such a practical narrative, that many mythologists believe it may relate closely to the actual events, now lost in ancient history.)