History of Black Tea

By Mark “Dr. Tea” Ukra, Tea Expert

History of Black Tea

1. It took over 3000 years for tea to become a popular drink throughout China. In the early days of consumption the leaves were picked and boiled in water, to produce a rather bitter brew. The leaves were used as a medicine and also as a pleasurable drink. The popularity of tea was recognized by the imposition of a tax during the Teng Dynasty (600-900 AD). The steamed and dried loose tea-leaves became popular during the Ming Dynasty (1368 -1644).

2. Unfortunately the Chinese merchants realized that this method of green tea did not last long to be sold outside of China. They experimented with the leaves left in the air and then roasting it. This helped them to manufacture black tea, which they could store for longer periods till it reached the markets. The Chinese refer to black tea.

3. Oolong Legend tells us Wu Liang (in and around 1400 AD, during the Ming Dynasty in China), a tea farmer went out picking tea one day, as he did every day in the tea-picking season. After collecting a good load, his eye was caught by a river deer and he stopped to slay the poor animal (sorry to have to report this). Then taking it home to prepare for the weeks worth of meals he forgot about his tea. The next day he found that the tea had started to blacken or as we know today it began to oxidize.

A. Wu Liang became very worried about his tea and perhaps that it might have gone bad. So he began to continue the preparation as he knew, and dried it in the traditional way, by pan firing the tea as was done with the green teas of the day. He made a cup and found to his surprise that it tasted fantastic

B. He taught his neighbors and friends how to make the new tea, and it came to be named after him; language being what it is the Wu Liang became known over the years as Wu Long, and that's why today we know it as Oolong.

4. So, the process of black tea is learned from that of the processing of the oolong teas, and adding additional time to create the blackened leaf, so as to make the tea less perishable for the long journeys to distant lands.

5. China exports 90% of their black teas especially to US markets which use them for iced teas.