A BEGINNING GUIDE to TEA Ahhh, the Love of Tea
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A BEGINNING GUIDE TO TEA Ahhh, the love of tea! Hippocrates once was noted as saying: “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food”. A pure simple leaf (Camellia Sinensis) and most of us wonder where did it all begin. That answer is not always factual or simple but I will do my best to explain it and give you some history of our lovely favorite drink, Tea. First the story, you can’t begin to know tea unless you know the history behind the lovely single leaf. The following stories are what I have chosen to share however, do yourself a favor and search to find more interesting stories about tea and it’s beginning. There is a lot of information about tea and the more you know the more you will understand the fascination about it. In ancient China, a long, long time ago (people say 2737 BC) an emperor whose name was Shen Nung was kneeling in front of a fire boiling water, the wind blew and leaves fell from a tree above him and into his boiling water. The scent was intriguing so he took a sip and there it is, tea. The first somewhat recorded history of our lovely brew. If the leaves that fell were actually tea leaves then they had to be unfermented making his drink the first green tea beverage in the history of tea. This is a favorite story of mine, it just sounds mystical and miraculous: An herbalist from the Chinese culture studying herbs and was said to know 100,000 healing properties of them. He was passing the information down to his son however, he was only able to pass on 80,000 of them but told his son to visit his grave in 5 years and the other 20,000 would be there waiting for him. His son did as he was asked and visited his fathers grave site and beside his fathers grave was a tea bush! Tea is said to have over 20,000 healing properties and when you start to delve into the tea you too will see what an amazing beverage it is. My favorite belief is that tea calms the soul and in calming the soul it allows our bodies to rest and heal. These are fun mystical stories and their reality could be questioned, but why? Fables and tales just add that much more of a mystery to our tea. Today we have scientific proof of how good the Camellia Sinensis plant is and more and more, we learn new evidence every day about it. Here are some Tea History Facts: Tea is said to have started in China, through Chinese monks who worshipped the entire process of tea and it was given as gifts. The Japanese Tea is considered to be an offshoot of those gifts. In 1559 a tea merchant shared his tea experience with others. In 1600’s the Dutch East India Trading Company was shipping tea to Europe. 1618 Russians received several chests of tea as gifts. In Europe tea was for the royal and rich, costing over 100 dollars per pound. One of the earliest recorded tea party was in American in 1674. Tea arrived in Canada in 1716 In 1773 Sons of Liberty had their own tea party and threw 32 cases of tea into the Boston Harbor. 1830 India who is responsible for Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiri teas discovered tea already freely growing in the fields. India has over 2,000 tea producers and one of the largest producers of tea. China has 36% of the world production of tea The United States is the least producer of tea at less then 1% Black tea is the most known of all the teas Ezekiel 47:12 and the fruit there shall be for me a and the “LEAF” for medicine One tea bush can yield tea for up to 50 years (or more) You can find 100 tea facts HERE And tea continues through history today. There are also Herbal teas as well but we lovingly refer to those as tisanes (French for herbal infusion) Herbal’s are not a tea at all but basically flowers, herbs, spices and berries combined to serve in hot water similar to a tea. Tea has quite a history as well as a connection that branches out all over the world. I’m just glad it made it to my mug this morning! How Teas Are Created First the leaves are removed from the plant generally by hand. Picked leaves are generally the bud or the bud and the top three leaves. ** I am always brought to remembrance of the people who do the picking and I often wonder what they feel about us. They work long hard hours to bring us these delicate leaves that we consume so freely. The leaves are then sorted and any stem, twig or broken leaves are removed. Laying the leaves out to wilt for several hours begins the process. This allows the leaves to be processed further without crumbling. The next process is where the teas develop their personality. The leaves are twisted, rolled or pressed. This process starts the leaves into oxidation by releasing enzymes and oils into the air. The leaves are then left to rest being laid out and allow the oxygen to mix with the released oils and enzymes. This changes the color of the tea leaves. The length of time that they are to be exposed to this process created the tea that they will become. White Tea – no oxidation, not wilted Yellow Tea – not oxidized, not wilted and allowed to yellow Green Tea – not oxidized, not wilted Oolong – wilted, bruised and partially oxidized Black Tea – Wilted, crushed and fully oxidized Pu-erh – Post fermented and aged, the leaves are next fired; this dries them out and seals in the above processes. **There is also a faster CTC or Crush-Tear-Curl method to produce tea, it has 5 steps but I just wanted to make you aware of it. To me this is more of a tea “dust” and the bottom of the barrel in the tea world. You will mostly find CTC teas in tea bags. After water, tea is the most popular beverage on earth. Tea is consumed in large quantities all over the world, but is likely most popular in Asia. Tea was even discovered in Asia, and most of the world’s tea is still grown in this part of the world, though India is a close second. Chinese mythology dates the discovery of tea back to 2737 BC, when, supposedly, the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung was drinking boiled water under a tree, when a leaf from this tree dropped into his cup. The Emperor decided to try the concoction and found that he loved it. He ordered a large planting of tea trees and a new crop was born. Black Tea Black tea is the most common variety and accounts for about 75 percent of global tea consumption. Like many of the teas here, it’s made from the leaves of the Camellia Sinensis plant, which are typically rolled and fermented, then dried and crushed. Black tea has a slightly bitter flavor and contains the most caffeine—about 40 milligrams per cup. (A cup of coffee has 50 to 100). The strong flavored burnt Sienna colored hot beverage is the most popular type of tea in the West. Either served with a squeeze of lemon or adding milk and a cube of sugar, the cup of black tea is part of daily tea ceremonies that take place worldwide. Black tea is made of heavily oxidized Camellia Sinensis leaves. When served plain, it contains no calories, carbohydrates, or fats. Green Green tea has a more delicate flavor than black. The leaves are dried and heat-treated soon after they’re picked, which stops the fermentation process. It contains about 25 milligrams of caffeine per cup. The lightly oxidized tea has been popular in China, Japan and Korea for centuries. Recently, rumors on its health benefits increased its popularity in the West as well. It has been proven that drinking green tea can lower cholesterol, prevent cancer, increase metabolic rates and be helpful in variety of other conditions and illnesses. The green tea is lightly oxidized, dried, but not fermented. It is usually served plain, without sugar or milk. Since some of the green tea variants taste a bit bitter, it should be brewed in lower temperatures than the boiling point. Oolong Oolong is similar to black tea, but it’s fermented for a shorter time, which gives it a richer taste. It contains about 30 milligrams of caffeine per cup. The traditional Chinese tea is the common companion of Chinese foods such as dim sum and chopsuey in American Chinese restaurants. The oolong tea, black dragon in Chinese, got its name after its long, dark distinguished leaves that look like wild black dragons when brewed. A long process that includes sun drying of the Camellia Sinensis leaves, light oxidization, cooling and drying processes, achieves the unique taste of the oolong tea. The result is a lighter flavor than the popular black tea and stronger than the delicate green tea White These leaves are picked when they’re very young, so white tea has a much milder flavor than any other variety, not to mention less caffeine—about 15 milligrams per cup. Loose tea may also contain more antioxidants than tea in bags, because the leaves are less processed. White tea is more rare and more expensive than the other types of teas mentioned above.