For modern Chinese people, tea is the most ordinary beverage and daily necessity. From social interactions among the upper classes to ordinary commoners, everyone drinks tea; drinking tea and appreciating tea have become essential items in daily life, leisure, socializing, and business activities for Chinese people. However, tea was not initially an ordinary beverage, let alone a daily necessity for common people. In legend, Shennong discovered tea while tasting hundreds of herbs. By the Later Han and the Jin dynasties, the tea trend rose among nobles and temples, but it truly began to普及 to the common people starting from the Tang Dynasty, reaching its peak in the Northern Song Dynasty. During the Tang and Song dynasties, it became an indispensable daily item for everyone, from emperors and generals to平民百姓. Tang Dynasty's Yang Hua in "Shan Fu Jing Shou Lu" said: "One can go without food for several days, but cannot go a single day without tea."

Why did tea only begin to普及 in China during the Tang Dynasty? How did it start to普及? Research by many scholars shows that tea drinking in China began in the Western Han Dynasty, as evidenced by historical records, but during the Western Han period, only the Sichuan region consumed tea. During the Han dynasties, tea, as a specialty of Sichuan, was first transmitted to the capital Chang'an through tributes and gradually spread inland; on the other hand, Sichuan's tea drinking customs spread downstream along the Yangtze River to the middle and lower reaches. Although the custom of drinking tea was already relatively common in the Southern Dynasties period in the south, in northern China, dairy-based beverages were generally valued more than tea drinking, let alone its普及.

During the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty, the northward shift of tea culture was realized. "Feng Shi Wen Jian Ji" also records: "Tea is loved by southerners, but northerners initially did not drink much. During the Kaiyuan period, at Mount Tai's Lingyan Temple, the Great Master Xiangmo vigorously promoted Chan Buddhism. Learning Chan required staying awake and not eating, and both were permitted to drink tea. People carried it with them, brewing and drinking it everywhere. From then on, people imitated each other, and it became a custom." This text confirms that the rise of tea drinking customs in the Tang Dynasty, and tea drinking in the north, which accounted for two-thirds of the national population at the time, was closely related to the spread of Buddhism. Tea drinking became popular through faith in Buddhism. After the Kaiyuan era in the Tang Dynasty, China's "Way of Tea" flourished greatly, and the trend of drinking tea permeated both the court and the common people.

Other records indicating the formation of tea drinking customs by the Mid-Tang period include: "Old Book of Tang · Li Yu Biography": "Tea as a food item is no different from rice and salt; it is a resource for people, with the same custom near and far. It relieves fatigue and thirst, making it hard to part with even for a moment; especially in rural areas, the preference is even stronger." The Song Dynasty inherited the Tang Dynasty's tea drinking trend, becoming increasingly普及. Song Dynasty's Wu Zimu in "Meng Liang Lu" volume sixteen "Ao Pu" records: "These are what households cannot lack daily: firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea." Since the Song Dynasty, tea has become one of the seven necessities upon opening the door.

Therefore, tea as a beverage first began to普及 among the common people in the Tang Dynasty. This was because the social background and conditions of the prosperous Tang Dynasty developed tea culture, and moreover, the southern tea culture普及 to the north, combined with "tea and Buddhism sharing one flavor," facilitated the formation of tea drinking customs. Today, the tea culture atmosphere remains strong in places like Fujian, Guangdong, Sichuan, Yunnan, etc., with numerous tea houses and a rich folk custom of tea drinking. This is not accidental and has its historical reasons for formation. It is believed that various southern regions will lead the development of China's tea culture in the future and influence the development of tea culture worldwide.