Tea Information                                                                                                                                                                                          

"Thank God for Tea!  what would the world do without tea?-how did it exist?  I am glad I was not born before tea."          Sydney Smith, "Lady Holland's Memoir"

The Beginning-China or India?

The beginnings of tea making are shrouded in mystery.  The Chinese legend is that around 2737 A.D. the emperor Chen-Nung was heating water when a wind blew some leaves into the boiling water. The emperor drank this liquid, proclaimed it delicious and shared the secret of this drink made with the leaves of the tea tree (Camellia sinensis).

The first written record of tea was created by Lu Yu. Before his famous treatise on tea; the Cha Jing, tea had been mentioned in literature mostly for medicinal use.

The Indian legend tells of a prince named Darma who became a Buddhist monk.  He took a vow never to sleep to make up for his former sins.  He kept his vow for many years but finally fell asleep.  Upon awakening he was so upset he cut off his eyelids and buried them on the spot.  From this spot a plant grew.  Years later a monk took some if the leaves from the plant and put them in boiling water. It became his only beverage. He took some of the seeds from this plant to sow around his home in the Assam Hills.  From then on these hills were covered with green tea shrubs. 

Tea in the West

The first mention of tea in the West was in the second volume of Ramusio's NaviationieViaggi, published in Venice. "They take of that herb, whether fresh or dry, and boil it well in water.  One or two cups of this decoction taken on an empty stomach removes fever, headache, stomach ache, pain in the side or in the joints and it should be taken as hot as you can bear it.  He said besides that it was good for no end of other ailments which he could not remember, but gout was one of them.  The first positive reference to tea in England is an announcement by Thomas Garvey in September 1658:  "That excellent and by all Physicians approved drink called by the Chinese Tcha, by other nations Tay alias Tea is sold at the Sultaness Head a cophee house in Sweetings Rents by the Royal Exchange London. - Henry Sandon, "Coffee Pots and Teapots for the Collector"

Black Tea, Green Tea, white Tea

Black Tea: Black Tea comes from the leaves of the plant Camellia Sinensis. The leaves for black teas are fully oxidised. The traditional method of producing black tea begins with withering. The plucked leaves are placed on shelves called withering racks, where excess moisture is removed. They are then rolled in special machines that release the leaves' enzymes and juices, which give tea its aroma and taste. Next, the leaves ferment in a room with controlled temperature and humidity; finally they are dried in ovens. More recently some processors have forsaken the traditional method to speed production by using machines that finely chop the leaves, thereby cutting the time for withering and fermenting. Most black teas come from plantations in Africa, India, Sri Lanka and Indonisia

Oolong Tea: Oolong tea is fermented only partially--to a point between black and green. While the leaves wilt naturally, enzymes begin to ferment them. Processors interrupt the fermentation by stirring the leaves in heated pans, then rolling and drying them.

Green Tea: Green tea is made by steaming or otherwise heating the leaves immediately after plucking to prevent the fermentation that makes black tea. Then the leaves are rolled and dried. The leaves of Green tea are not oxidised.

White tea: White tea is simply dried.  Its name comes from the cinder-colored tint of its leaves.

Different varieties of Camellia sinensis grow in different geographic areas and produce leaves that vary from a very small China leaf, perhaps one-half to three-quarters of an inch long, to the Assam leaf, which may be 3 or 4 inches long. Certain varieties are better suited than others for a particular processing method. For example, the China leaf from China and Formosa produces the best oolongs.

Scented and spiced teas are made from black tea. "Scented teas look just like any other tea," says FDA chemist and tea expert Robert Dick, "because the scent is more or less sprayed on. They're flavored with just about anything--peach, vanilla, cherry. The spiced teas, on the other hand, usually contain pieces of spices--cinnamon or nutmeg or orange or lemon peel--so you can see there's something in there."

In brewing, flavor and color come out of the larger leaves more slowly than out of the broken and fine grades. The broken grades, which make up about 80 percent of the total black tea crop, produce a stronger, darker tea.

Tea tastes vary, and one aficionado who squirts lemon in his cup may cringe at the sight of another pouring milk or honey. But no matter how the tea may be doctored, in the United States the odds are overwhelming that it starts out black. Nearly 95 percent of all tea consumed in the US is black, according to the New York City-based Tea Council of the U.S.A.; 4 percent is green, 1 percent oolong, and 1 percent flavored. However with all the new information on the benefits of green tea, this percentage may soon be changing. Click here for information on the health benefits of tea.

That wasn't always the case, and our proclivity for drinking black tea over green or oolong may have been influenced by events in history. Sixty years ago and more, the amount of black and green tea Americans drank was split fairly evenly--each accounting for about 40 percent of the market--with oolong constituting the rest. During World War II, however, the major sources of green tea--China and Japan--were cut off from the United States, leaving us with tea almost exclusively from British-controlled India, which produces black tea. Americans came out of the war drinking nearly 99 percent black tea.  

  In china a tradition exists of pressed teas, which are shaped into a rolled nest, a rounded shingle, or a flat brick.  These pressed teas are dark in color and the top is stamped with a decorative pattern." 

Click here for books to continue your tea journey

Additional Credits:

"Tea: A story of Serendipity by Marian Segal on the FDA Web site

Laura Fronty- "Aromatic Teas and Herbal Infusions"

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