(Chang Chiung-fang/tr. by Scott Gregory)

Tea--cha in Mandarin, or dei in Taiwanese. Not only does tea bring to mind Zen and poetry, but it also has deep roots in the everyday lives of common people.

TenFu chairman Lee Rie-ho says farmers used to give out red envelopes of cash to laborers at the end of the season so they could "have some tea." Marriage customs, too, involved tea--when a matchmaker introduced a couple, if the man was interested he gives the matchmaker a red envelope under his teacup. When a couple get engaged, they drink sweet tea.

Modern writer Lin Yutang, who grew up in tea-producing Fujian Province, believed tea was a necessity for Chinese. His famous "Three Steepings Treatise" depicts a life as tea--the first steeping is a girl at age 12 (the tea is slightly astringent), the second is her at 16 (the tea's flavor comes to fruition), and the third is after marriage (the tea is past its prime, yet the flavor lingers).

Famous Chinese writer Lao She was also a tea drinker. His Teahouse used a teahouse as a microcosm of society, depicting the changes it was going through.

The most expensive crop

Tea is impressive even when viewed simply as an agricultural crop. High-quality tea can often fetch thousands a catty (600 grams in Taiwan). The champion Taiwanese tea can even fetch over NT$2 million a catty, and orders pour in from all over each year. Not every crop fares so well.

"At least half of its value is cultural," says Tsai Jung-chang, general manager of the Taiwan Lu Yu Cultural Arts Center--tea is a drink that refreshes and awakens the senses and the spirit.

In earlier times, tea was grown in Taiwan and China as a cash crop. China has been following Taiwan's lead in recent years. They are going after the domestic market by going upscale and giving the agricultural product a cultural wrapping. Chan Hsun-hua, the owner of Chiuhutang Tea, has been involved with tea for more than 20 years. He says that Taiwan has always been ahead of the mainland when it comes to tea culture, and will remain so for some years yet.

Taipei Tea Merchants Association head Wang Tuan-kai is the manager of Geow Yong Tea, a family business of four generations and more than 160 years of history. He's clear on the differences between the quality of tea and the culture surrounding it in China and Taiwan: "Taiwanese tea is fine and elegant. The mainland's tea is coarse and primitive." He says that though the two are quite different, the tea cultures of the two sides have common roots, and their present conditions are reflections of economic and social conditions.

Though China's tea culture suffered a blow during the Cultural Revolution and production was set back, it is rapidly catching up. To stay on top, Taiwanese have to establish brand identity and gain recognition for their tea culture. "Just as a Buddha image should be covered in gold, tea needs to be packaged," Wang says. Taiwanese tea should be positioned as a top-shelf item.

"On Drinking Tea"

"In seven cups, loving the perfected flavor, / In one pot, attaining the true meaning, / A thousand empty explications / Are nothing compared to going for tea."--"Going for Tea," by Zhao Puchu, early-Republican-era Buddhist poet.

Tea-drinking in China has changed with the times. Originally, tea was boiled like a medicinal herb and drunk like a soup, leaves and all. It was only in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) that people began to steep the leaves. The small cups and pots commonly used in Taiwan--the "kung-fu tea" method of drinking--date from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 in mainland China, 1683-1895 in Taiwan).

Because of differing local customs and tea-drinking methods, teahouses of various regions have different styles.

Teahouses in Beijing, with their traditional storytellers and crosstalk performances, are places where culture and arts are transmitted to audiences nightly.

In Guangzhou, where tea shops are omnipresent, it is the custom to take tea in the morning. The streets are filled with teahouses, and it has become part of the Cantonese lifestyle to visit one, especially on a weekend or holiday morning.

Cantonese teahouses are places for drinking tea, reading the newspapers, chatting, and exchanging information. Taotao Ju, a teahouse that's been operating for over a century, is packed out with lively crowds on all three floors even during weekdays. Some people drink tea and eat dim sum, some chat, and some have their heads buried in the papers. Many will spend all day there.

Chen Chih-jen, a tea merchant in Guangdong's Fangcun, once invited some local officials for morning tea at a teahouse. Seeing that everyone had had their fill of tea and food and were leisurely reading the papers, he got up to pay the bill. Little did he realize that his guests would resent this move--they felt he was rushing them.

In the Chaoshan area of Guangdong, tea is taken in the kung-fu style, as in Taiwan. It's also customary to take tea with meals. At restaurants, customers first order tea, and hosts always serve tea when entertaining guests. Hotel rooms are even replete with everything needed to make tea.

In Yunnan, where pu-erh tea is produced, the various minority peoples each have their own way of preparing and drinking tea. The Bai people, for example, serve "three-course tea." The first tea is bitter, the second is sweet, and the third is subtle--a reflection of the stages of life.

Indeed, tea is culture and it is life. Sometimes in the midst of life's hardships, one just needs to take a rest and enjoy a cup of tea.