Tea for Commonalty in Edo

In the 17th to 19th century, tea was widely drank in Edo which was one of the developed cities in the world at that time. Matcha (fine quality powdered tea), which was preserve of the nobility, started to be drank by wealthy people in Edo, Kyoto and Osaka. The simple processed green tea such as just drying tea under the sun or lightly roasted were drank by commonalty at the time. In the middle of the 18th century, steamed green tea was successfully developed by Souen Nagatani(1681-1778) and other tea farmers in Uji. This tea was sent to a big market Edo, and became popular among the commonalty people. In the middle of 19th century, new type of green tea which has a strong taste and touch of sweetness "Gyokuro" was newly introduced. In tea shops in Edo, started to have varieties of tea. The tea shops started to appear around the sight seeing spots or near the shrines or temples. At the tea shops, beautiful women were serving tea to attract the male guests. Edo era was also the time that tea culture was widely spread to the commonalty, and many famous Haiku or Senryu about tea were also composed in this time.

(Nobuyoshi Mochizuki)