Drinking arts in the Sung Dynasty

There were two different kind of teas drank during the Sung dynasty. One is solid tea(Pian Cha or Yuengao Cha)and another one is loose leaf tea. Both teas were used for drinking after finely grounded. The high-grade Yangaocha was tribute to the imperial court. The process of making Yangaocha was very complicated and needed special skill. Moreover, extra process was added such as flavoring or molding the design of dragon. As this tea gets excessively fancy, it lost the value for true enjoyment, and became something to show one's power or status. Early Song dynasty, tea was whisked with spoon, but by reading "Daguanchalun" or "Chajin" we can see the change to the bamboo whisk. Japanese Buddhist priest "Eisai" came back to Japan after the study of Buddhism end of the Song dynasty. He introduced powdered tea which he brought back from China and show the way to drink to Japanese people. That is why our style of tea ceremony is so similar to the drinking style of Song dynasty. In China, end of the Song dynasty, grinned tea was already very popular. To increase the production to match the large demand of tea, water power was used for grinding tea. They were also sold on the streets. There was even a record in "Tonqing muhualu" about the vender who were selling this powdered tea on the street. This kind of tea was probably drank simply by adding hot water. In the cities, Chasi,the place for drinking tea became popular. People enjoyed tea game "toucha" there, and also enjoyed different kind of tea. Various unique teas called "Quyichatou" were also sold in there. . During the Song dynasty, the habit of tea drinking had begun taking root among the common people, and tea was already playing important role in people's everyday life. Tea industry remarkably prospered during this time.

(Miwako Saitou)