Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Historical Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
James A. Benn PhD
Professor of Buddhism and East Asian Religions, McMaster University 
Director,  McMaster University Centre for Buddhist Studies 

​1 May, 2021
9:30 - 11:00 am PDT
If we could travel back in time,  we might be rather surprised at what we were offered as “a good bowl of tea.” The process of making tea in China first evolved from simmering fresh leaves in water to simmering processed tea leaves in cake or loose form (roughly Han dynasty through Tang times). During the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE), dried tea leaves were pressed into moulds to form cakes, then were roasted and ground before being simmered in water, sometimes along with other ingredients such as citrus peel and ginger. The result would be a milky looking liquid with a foamy head that was highly prized by connoisseurs. In the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE), cake tea was ground to a fine powder to which a thin stream of very hot boiled water was added and the mixture then whisked to a froth. It is only from the fourteenth century (Ming dynasty) onwards that loose tea was steeped in very hot water in a way that is familiar to us today. These are just methods of making tea as a recreational beverage—it was used medicinally in soups and congee as well.  A bowl of tea, then, was by no means a stable thing. It looked, smelled, and tasted quite different depending on when and where it was made.

In this talk with First Saturday PDX,  Dr Benn will explore what we can know about different methods of making tea in premodern China. We’ll look at famous works of tea literature, read some poems, and look at both rare and everyday examples of teaware.
 
​About the speaker:
James A. Benn received his PhD from UCLA in 2001 and is Professor of Buddhism and East Asian Religions at McMaster University. He studies Buddhism and Daoism in medieval China. To date, he has focused on three major areas of research: bodily practice in Chinese Religions; the ways in which people create and transmit new religious practices and doctrines; and the religious dimensions of commodity culture. He has published on self-immolation, spontaneous human combustion, Buddhist apocryphal scriptures, and tea and alcohol in medieval China in journals such as History of Religions, T’oung Pao, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies and Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. He is the author of Burning for the Buddha: Self-immolation in Chinese Buddhism (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007) and Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007). He is currently working on a translation and study of the Śūramgama sutra, a Chinese Buddhist apocryphon.
Join us after the webinar from 11 - 11:30am in our First Saturday Tea House to further the discussion and online social visiting.  Bring your cup of tea! 
​(Separate  access link for this will be provided in your single registration for this event.)
This presentation is offered via Zoom Webinar:
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Our program series is supported by Portland State University's Institute for Asian Studies, the Northwest China Council and is free and open to the public.