The Grand Banquet of Chinese Tea Savoring in the Tang Dynasty

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The Grand Banquet of Chinese Tea Savoring in the Tang Dynasty

Friday, October 9th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

A Nation’s Age-Old Fancy for Tea

Wherever the Chinese go, tea follows. Take to any bystreet of Beijing, Guangzhou or Xi’an, you’re likely to see elderly citizens seated in twos and threes, gathering around a teapot for to enjoy some authentic Chinese tea.

For thousands of years, the Chinese keeps a ceaseless passion for tea, emperors and commoners alike. This obsession was most obvious over 1,000 years ago in the Tang dynasty.

It’s no coincidence that the Chinese Tea Classics – ‘the bible of tea’- was compiled this time.

Tea and the Tang Dynasty Emperors

During Tang dynasty, imperial China was at its peak. With its military keeping the nomadic invaders at bay, and the economy prospering, Tang’s influence was felt far beyond its territory. Without much to worry, The Tang emperor believed it was time to slow down a little.

So the emperors went to enjoy themselves, with tea!

The Grand Event of Chinese Tea Drinking

In the fourth month of each lunar year, a grand banquet would be held in the imperial palace. Invited are only those eminent figures: royal members, high-ranking officials, and foreign ambassadors. No one hoped to miss the best part of the banquet: some of the best Chinese tea China could possibly offer would be served.

Each year, imperial tea plantations several thousand miles away in southern China supply the tea for the grand banquet. Local officials were entrusted to oversee the picking and processing of the Chinese tea. They had to make sure everything was perfect so the best tea could be made.

Once the tea was made ready, it would be on its way for the capital where the grand banquet known as ‘Qingming Banquet’ was to be held.’

Natural spring water fetched from local Zhejiang province streams also travelled with the tea. Only this water could brew the best tea, and the emperor knew it all too well.

The Chinese tea leaves arrived unfermented. So first the tea leaves were baked as workers prepared for the banquet. This helped to extract the moisture out of tea so it would have the refreshing and delicate aroma. Bakers would have to be extremely careful, as the heat could easily destroy the flavor of the tea.

Next, workers grinded the dried leaves, and selected only the smoothest powder for the next step. As strange as it sounds, people of Tang dynasty would actually eat instead of drink tea!

As the water was boiling in the pot, salt was added, and then the powder from the tea leaves. Brew for a few more minutes and the tea was finally ready. Now it was more like a thick soup than a clear Chinese tea brew!

As the Chinese tea was served, and if anyone was hoping to make a request from his emperor, he couldn’t find a better time than this. The tea would be an excellent topic to start from!

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