Tea has been consumed throughout the ages as a medicine as well as a beverage. Since the early Joseon Dynasty, tea was considered as Hyangyak(鄕藥). so it has been found in various medical prescritions. ≪Hyangyakjipseongbang(鄕藥集成方)≫, a book which was published during the reign of King Sejong in 1433, has a record of the tea as a part of Hyangyak(鄕藥). Even before the Joseon Dynasty, tea had already been known for its medicinal function based on the literature in ≪Hyangyakjipseongbang(鄕藥集成方)≫. Unfortunately, those reference books were lost, so we don’t know the exact information. According to the book, ≪Hyangyakjipseongbang(鄕藥集成方)≫, tea was frequently used to treat palsy, cephalopathy and skin-related diseases. It is noticeable that tea was consumed as Tang(湯) and Cheong(淸) when taking medicines to treat palsy and cephalopathy. In skin-related diseases like inflammation or boil, tea was often ground into powder and applied to the affected areas. The sterilizing effect of the tea was used. Records of the efficacy and the function of tea as Hyangyak(鄕藥) were found in subsequent medical books. The meaning of tea has expanded further, so it has become common to call it tea that boiling one or two medicinal herbs. That’s why there are so many substitue teas out there today.
Ⅰ. 들어가는 말
Ⅱ. ≪鄕藥集成方≫에 나타난 茶의 활용과 향약(鄕藥)적 가치
Ⅲ. 나가는 말