The History of Chinese Tea

It’s a long history of Chinese tea.

5000 years ago, in the Shennong era, tea was first used as medicine.
3000 years ago, the people who lived in the Zhou Dynasty began to cultivate tea trees for human consumption.
2300 years ago, people used tea to make soup and the primitive form of tea cake appeared in the Qin Dynasty.
2000 years ago, the commercialization of tea began in the Western Han Dynasty, and Chengdu became the earliest distribution center for tea in China.
1800 years ago, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, tea was made into brick tea for easier transportation.
1200 years ago in the Tang Dynasty, tea became the national beverage, more and more people start drinking tea at that time. Lu Yu wrote the first book about tea “Classic of Tea” which marked the forming of tea culture.
1000 years ago, in Song Dynasty the tea-making technique improved a lot, and the quality of water became more important than before, there was a fashion of “tea fight” in Song Dynasty.
700 years ago, in the Yuan Dynasty, loose tea cake appeared, which were mainly used by the imperial court. Most of the ordinary people began to drink tea.
600 years ago, in the Ming Dynasty. The emperor Zhu Yuanzhang changed tuancha (pressed tea) to loose tea. The crafts of dark tea, yellow tea and scented tea were formed one after another.
300 years ago, in the Qing Dynasty, Chinese tea became very popular all over the world, and the six major tea categories were formed gradually.