1. Western Zhou Dynasty
The origin of tribute tea can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. Ba Zhi, the National Records of Huayang, records that after the combination of Zhou Wuwang and Sichuan ethnic groups in BC, the tea produced in Bashu was listed as a tribute. "Scholars plant five grains, sacrifice six livestock, and accept silkworms, hemp, fish, salt, copper, iron, red lacquer, tea honey, giant rhinoceros, pheasant, white elegance and yellow powder." This is the earliest record that the princes in history gave tea as a tribute to the son of heaven.
2. Tang Dynasty
Gongcha was formed in the Tang Dynasty. There are two forms of tribute tea system in Tang Dynasty. One is that the imperial court chose a state with excellent tea quality to pay tribute, and the other is that the imperial court chose a tea-producing area with unique ecological environment, concentrated output and excellent quality. The imperial court directly set up a tribute tea garden to make tribute tea.
At that time, the famous tribute tea was "ancient bamboo and purple bamboo shoots" suggested by Lu Yu after tasting it. In addition to ancient bamboo and purple bamboo shoots, Changzhou Yangxian Tea, Zhoumu Hongkeng Tea, Zhou Shu Tianzhu Tea, Xuanzhou Yashan Tea, Raozhou Fuliang Tea, Western Zhou Lingxi Tea, Zhou Xiabi Sharp Tea, Jingzhou Tuanhuang Tea, Zhunzhou Mengding Tea and Fuzhou Fangshan Luya are all excellent tribute teas.
3. Song Dynasty
Tribute tea in Song Dynasty developed greatly on the basis of Tang Dynasty. In Song Dynasty, drinking tea became the fashion of the whole society, and tea parties, tea banquets and tea fights prevailed. In the Song Dynasty, in addition to retaining the ancient Zhushan Tribute Tea Garden in the Tang Dynasty, during the Song Taizong period, an official baking was built in Fu 'an, Fujian Province, specializing in the production of Longfeng cake tea, among which the most famous tribute tea was the Phoenix Mountain Screen Beiyuan.
Since then, Beiyuan Gongcha has produced more exquisite teas such as Miyun Dragon and Ruiyun Like Dragon on the basis of Longfeng Group Tea, among which Longfeng Group wins the most snow, leaving only the tea heart of carefully selected mature buds with dragons wrapped on it, which is extremely exquisite. Throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, there were as many as forty or fifty kinds of tribute teas in Beiyuan.
4. Yuan Dynasty
In the Yuan Dynasty, the royal tea garden and official baking left by the Song Dynasty were still preserved. In the third year of Yuan Dade (1299), the tea garden 120 set up a baking bureau in Siquxi, Wuyi, with thousands of bakers.
5. Ming dynasty
In the Ming Dynasty, fried green bud tea appeared, while steamed green cake tea gradually decreased. Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, thought that the cakes and teas carefully made by the Dragon and Phoenix Troupe consumed both labor and national strength, so he ordered "to stop making the Dragon Troupe and only adopt buds to advance". At this point, tea farmers in tribute tea areas began to pay tea taxes again, and the tribute tea system established since the Tang Dynasty no longer exists.
6. Qing dynasty
In the Qing dynasty, the origin of tribute tea was further expanded, and there were tribute teas in Jiangnan and Jiangbei. Among tribute teas in Qing Dynasty, Dongting Biluochun Tea, West Lake Longjing Tea, Junshan Maojian Tea and Pu 'er Tea were all selected by the emperor himself. Among them, "Biluochun" has been handed down to this day as a tribute tea given by Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty.