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Tea is the ultimate mental & medical remedy and has the ability to make one’s life more full and complete”
Zen Buddhist Eisai Myoan: How to Stay Healthy by Drinking Tea. (AD 1211)

Given the year, i.e. AD1211 in which the Black Tea specialty book “How to Stay Healthy by Drinking Tea” was composed, one would wonder how far the history of Black tea runs into. The briefest answer to break you free of the contemplation is “very far, as far as the History of China itself” And the history of China runs into no less than 5000 years.

Zen Buddhist Eisai Myoan

Eureka Moment: luck favors the prepared mind
The in-depth answer would make you curioser and curioser as “Alice In Wonderland”. The discovery of Black tea is believed to be a fortunate accident. But then the accident wouldn’t have taken place at all, if not for the keen eye of the legendary botanist Shen Nong, emperor of China (2737-2699 BC).
Discovery of Black Tea was a Eureka moment as the accidental discovery of world’s first antibiotic, Penicillin thanks to the keen eye of the Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming (AD1881-1955) was. The legend has it a few leaves that had blown into a pot of water boiled for the emperor turned the boiled water from being colorless to a reddish tint. Having seen the coloration caused by the fresh green leaves of the nearby tree, ever the botanist, emperor pounced upon the chance of tasting the water to determine the qualities of the green leaf.

Shen Nong — the father of agriculture and medicine. Illustrated by Jessica Chang/ET staff, www.theepochtimes.com

Black tea by any other name would taste as sweet
Though the modern world is unable to ascertain to veracity of the legend, the green tea leaf that made a beverage of Red tea has since then become popular throughout the East & West. Though the beverage of tea unsweetened with milk is popularly called Black tea in the western word today, most possibly following the fashion of calling unsweetened coffee as black coffee, in Asia & especially in Africa & Middle East, it is called Red tea.

The world’s first botanist
History of China records that emperor Shen Nong discovered, tested, analyzed & recorded hundreds of herbs for the benefit of his nation & his land. He is credited with the title of “father of Chinese herbal medicine” as if the title of “discoverer of green tea leaf” wouldn’t do.

Shen Nong bencao jing [Shen Nong’s Classic of Root & Herb]

What’s in a Name?
Everything, your good name is everything. But then Shan Nong was a name like no other. Nobody could have been better named than Shan Nong meaning Divine Farmer. The Chinese methods in recognizing potential farmlands & cultivation are credited to Shan Nong. Harnessing resources, inventing the plough & yoking beasts too are believed to be introduced by the emperor. Then again the name Shan Nong is immortalized by the popularity of Tea, no matter how you call it, Black Tea, Red tea or Green tea.

Popularity of Black tea following the glorious name
Such a glorious name as Shan Nong wouldn’t be called in vain. Tea was set into the path of undying popularity by Shan Nong. According to the “Tea & Coffee Trade Journal” September 1, 1995, a professional journal, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world next to plain water.

A statue of Lu Yu, the father of tea located in Xi'an, China

First ever treatise on Black tea
The first treatise on Tea, “Tea Classic” was composed as far as back in 760 CE & 780 CE by a Chinese poet named Lu Yu. The treatise consisted of ten chapters tilted Origin, Tea Tools, Manufacture, Tea Wares, Brewing, Drinking Tea, Anecdotes, Places, Omission & Diagrams, The book was translated into English in 1974 (ISBN 0-316-53450-1).

First treatise on Black tea in Japan
The first treatise on Tea in Japan was inscribed by the founder of Zen Buddhism, Japanese Buddhist priest Myoan Eisai following his return from China where he studied philosophy & religion. Seno Tanaka, Sendo Tanaka & Edwin O. Reischauer in their book “The Tea Ceremony” published in year 2000 narrates: In January 1211 he wrote the first treatise on Tea in Japan, Kissa Yojoki or Tea Drinking Is Good for the Health, a small booklet of twenty pages in praise of Tea. In his short treatise Eisai, strongly recommended tea as a cure for five types of disease: loss of appetite, paralysis, beriberi & sickness from tainted water. Tea, he added, is a remedy for all disorders & this was perhaps the main reason for consequent popularity of tea-drinking.

The Finest Black Tea in the World, Ceylon Tea of Sri Lanka

The Finest Black Tea in the World:Ceylon Tea
The finest Black Tea of the world is Ceylon Tea produced in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Holidays Nuwara Eliya, the capital of Black Tea production of Sri Lanka is located at a height of 1800 meters above the sea level in the one & only mountain mass set right in the central zone of the drop pearl shaped tropical island of Sri Lanka. While the product of Black Tea in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka is called high grown Ceylon Tea, the product of Black Tea from the southern zone surrounding Sri Lanka Holidays Galle of lower altitude, is called low grown Ceylon Tea.

Tags: Ceylon Tea, Sri Lanka Holidays

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 26th, 2012 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Sri Lanka Holidays, ~Ceylon Tea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.