Old Art of Tea – Sequel ІV

The most common tea in Tang times was that made into the shape of cakes, called "tea cakes." Seven steps were required to produce a tea cake -- plucking, steaming, pounding, patting, roasting, piercing and sealing. The job involved first putting the newly harvested leaves in a steamer to steam, then pounding the leaves into paste while they were still hot. The paste was poured into molds after that, and patted into the shape of cakes. The next step was to roast the tea cakes over a fire, followed by using a thin strip of bamboo bark to pierce the dried tea cakes from the center to hold them together. Then the tea cakes were sealed and stored.

Making tea with tea cakes demanded particular care. One first had to roast the cakes to get them dehydrated, then crush them into powder with a grinder, sieve the powder, and finally put the sieved powder into a cauldron to boil.

As well as tea cakes, there also existed coarse tea (cu cha), loose-leaf tea (san cha I and powdered tea (mo cha) in the Tang Dynasty, the different methods of drinking them being elaborated in The Classic of Tea.

On the basis of the development of the tea industry in Tang times, the Song Dynasty (960-1279) saw the scale of manufacture enlarged. The processing techniques grew more sophisticated, and there emerged Dragon and Phoenix Tea Cakes, which later became prized luxury items. The center of tea trading shifted southward, to northern Fujian in southeast China. The base where tea was produced for imperial use also moved, from Guzhu to Jian'ou, Fuiian Province. Loose-leaf tea, which first appeared  in the Tang Dynasty, kept gaining popularity among ordinary people, and teahouses mushroomed. "Tea competitions," became universally popular during the Song Dynasty.

"Tea competitions" date back to the Five Dynasties (907-960), originating somewhere around Jian'an, Fujian Province. Because of Song Dynasty Emperor Huizong's passion for the game and the participation of many of the literati, the pastime soon became a fad across the country. Many literary works of that time mention the game, of which the most famous is Fan Zhongyan's Reply to Zhang Ming's Tea Competition Ode. Generally speaking, there were two types of tea competition. One was mainly pursued by people of the upper classes -- the members of the imperial court and the aristocrats -- who laid down strict criteria, ranging from the selection of tea cakes to the specific procedures of the game. The other was mostly practiced by the lower classes, who took delight in the technical aspects of the game and the sheer pleasure of participation. A vivid scene of such a competition held by a group of town folks can be seen in the painting Tea Competition by Zhao Mengfu, a prominent painter of the following Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368). The procedure went like this: First, the tea- cups were heated with hot water. Then "the paste was concocted," i.e., a certain amount of tea powder was put into the cups according to their sizes. A little cold water was mixed with the tea powder.