26 Shortfeature

SHORT FEATURE

A. SOUMYA RAO

AKING up with a hot cup of tea is Windeed princely; but to be woken up in the early morning in the middle of a sweet dreamy sleep, hustled up to run an errand to purchase tea leaves is cruel. That’s the cruelty I had to endure today morning, when my loving mother, in the zeal to watch her favourite tearjerker soap opera yesterday night forgot to replenish Have you ever wondered about the living silly people who think the Earth is just tea in time. condition of the milkman, whether their 6000 years old regardless of the progress children study or are they forced to do of science. So the real story we are yet to If it was just me, it would have been menial labour?” know. easy to counsel with firm voice “No chai today; drink milk and keep your mouth He was an idealist who wanted to Tea, tee, teh, thea, theneer, teo, the’, shut”; but obviously not my father. see the world as just and equal. Perhaps tee-soppu, chya, sha, herbata, chai – the Without his customary, not one but two not a man for these times, or is he? list goes on. The origin of the word tea cups of piping hot aroma-effusing chai Tea, an aromatic beverage, is could be traced back to ‘Te’ in Amoy as soon as he wakes up, he cannot move prepared by pouring hot or boiling water language spoken in Fujican province from his bed or finish the ‘big job’. He has over cured leaves of tea plants Camellia and Taiwan and ‘Cha’ is derived from to be given his tea or else...No option but sinensis. A legend credits 10th century Cantonese in Guangzhou. to rush to the shop and get the tea before Emperor of China, Shennong with the It was smuggled out of China by the he woke up. discovery of tea. The story goes that he British who sent spies to China during the I hurried to the shop at the end of asked his courtiers to boil water before ensuing gunpowder and tobacco wars. our street. Ram kaka’s shop is open even drinking to avoid illness. The Emperor The British forced Indian farmers to grow before the sun is up. Perhaps he knows was taking his usual morning stroll in opium and bartered the intoxicant with that mothers have such pressing needs the garden when he saw a cauldron with the Chinese for tea. A fierce war ensued early in the morning quite often. Beaming a light brown liquid. Apparently some following which the British realized they cheerfully, he handed me our brand of leaves from a nearby tea tree had fallen needed another source of tea. Tea then tea packet even before I had the chance into it. The liquid caught the Emperor’s came to be planted in the Assam plains to open my mouth. May be the fond attention and he decided to drink it. He from which we derive the Clonal Assam twinkling in his eye or the rustic slang he was taken by the aroma and taste of this tea (Camellia sinensis assamica). Whether used triggered memories. concoction and decided to make more of it is the Clonal Assam, Bergamot (Earl the liquid. Thus was born the beverage, Grey), the Oolong served in Yixing purple I suddenly recalled my high school which is today popular all over the world. clay teapots (it gets better at every sip, teacher, Master Sisugoswami. One day in Another account says Bodhidharma I assure you!), or the jasmine, lemon/ all earnest he persuaded us to appreciate lemon masala (it’s intoxicating indeed!) the toil of multitudes that provides us accidentally fell asleep after meditating continuously in front of a wall, and on and of course the green and black tea – the our humble morning tea. He said “hard variants are mindboggling. labour and toil of many are hidden unseen waking up, he seethes with rage and cuts in every cup of tea that you drink. Do you his eyelids which fall to the ground and Needless to say, more tea is consumed know how strenuous it is to pluck the tea grow into tea bushes. all over the world than coffee, chocolate, leaves, one by one, in the hot sun? How Though not much into myths myself, soft drink and alcohol combined, next much hard labour goes in to curing the I will tell you about my friend “Captain” only to water! Be it Britain, Japan, China, fresh leaves into tea that you can savour? who would remark that there are still Arabia, UK or anywhere, tea has been SCIENCE REPORTER, JANUARY 2015 26 SHORT FEATURE

Myanmar has tea percent households in India consume tiffin breaks, old men in groups, bantering pickles called tea, which is the cheapest beverage in the over how their daughters-in-law and Laphet while world after water. wife always give them bitter tea with no sweeteners, it is the tea stalls that provide Tibetans have Tea is well known and ultimate for its Umami taste: combination of sweet, sour, refuge. buttery salty tea bitter and salty. To explore the unique The humble tea doesn’t burn holes with butter of Yak’s characteristic of tea, let’s go a bit scientific. in the pocket. Train stations are filled milk. Chemists and biologists have fathomed a with chaiwallahs screaming at the top of variety of chromosomal differences, lots their voice and offering endless cups of the symbol of social gathering, cultural of polyploidy of tea strains. Thus, we steaming hot tea to weary travellers. heritage and status. It is universal and derive the unique flavours and aromas Tea almost became our national eliminates the difference between the rich of tea. Tea has catechin, antioxidants, and poor. Catherine of Braganza perhaps drink; perhaps it may soon. The former flavonoids, aminoacids, vitamins, and Deputy Chairman of the Planning initiated the royal evening tea-session and several polysaccharides. the Japanese ceremonial tea is a tradition Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia that goes far back in history. To top that, it has theopylline and was inclined to declare tea as the National caffeine that alerts our senses in the Drink in April 2013. If India and Pakistan are divided by morning. a boundary, the pleasant Kashmiri Noon Walking with these trains of Chai, with its pink tinge, milky flavour The widespread and universal thoughts, as I neared my home, my with pistachios and cardamom unites popularity of green and black tea is on favourite aroma, sweet, familiar, people. Ireland, the highest per capita the account of their ability to protect unmistakable, wafted and enveloped me. consumer of tea, has its famous Lyon’s against cardiovascular disease and other Apparently, it turns out that mother had and Barry’s tea outlets. health benefits. Consumption of green tea opened another rather expensive pack has gone up, as the hyped urban media of Darjeeling tea set aside as a gift for a Britain serves cream tea that is promotes it as a slimming agent. Who colleague of father’s, fearing that I would named for the scones, clotted cream and wouldn’t agree to lose an inch off their be late and father would wake up. jam served with it. Legend has it that tummies, if all that they had to slog is but I’m used to fights between the two when tea was introduced to England, sip green tea. On a serious note, scientists drinking it became a status cult. The over the smallest of things and could have found that tea kills potent harmful sense the portent of things to come. I wealthy decided to add milk and cream viruses such as herpes virus simplex 1, to it. quietly grabbed my ebullient hot tea mug 2 and T1 virus within a few minutes in and rushed out to the veranda relishing Myanmar has tea pickles called laboratory animal tests. every sip as a tribute to all tea-lovers out Laphet – a delicacy eaten with roasted Globalisation and the emergence there. sesame seeds, crispy fried beans, peanuts of the nouveau-rich class has spurred and fried garlic chips. Tibetans have the emergence of coffee outlets – where buttery salty tea with butter of Yak’s milk. Ms A. Soumya Rao is currently pursuing her anything can happen over a cup of coffee, Masters degree in Plant Biology at the National But read my lips, nothing matches if you are ready to pay through your nose. Institute of Science Education and Research, the consistency and excellence of Indian But for money-starved college students it Bhubaneswar. She is a DST-INSPIRE fellow. masala chai served with crispy hot is the ‘chai-sutta’ ritual. From office-goers Address: School of Biological Sciences, National pakodas on a pleasant rainy day. In fact, dropping by tea-stalls to escape from Institute of Science Education and Research, Inside India is the largest producer and consumer hectic work and equally hectic bosses, Institute of Physics campus, Sachvalaya marg, PO: of black tea in the world. According to the security guards relaxing on the small Sainik School, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha-751005; ORG-India Tea Consumption Study, 83 glass after their shifts are over, teachers on Email: [email protected]

27 SCIENCE REPORTER, JANUARY 2015