Tea

Tea is a caffeine containing beverage, an infusion made by steeping the dried leaves or buds of the shrub Camellia sinensis in hot water. In addition, tea may also include other herbs, spices, or fruit flavours.

The word "tea" is also used, by extension, for any fruit or herb infusion; for example, "rosehip tea" or "camomile tea". In cases where they contain no tea leaves, some people prefer to call these beverages "tisanes" or "herbal teas" to avoid confusion. This article is concerned with the 'true' tea, Camellia sinensis.

Table of contents

1 Cultivation and classification 1.1 Divisions of tea by processing technique 2 Processing of black tea 3 Varieties 4 Blends and additives 5 History 5.2 Tea creation myths 5.3 Origin and dissemination of tea 5.4 Patriotism, supply and demand 6 The word tea 7 Tea culture 8 Tea preparation 9 Quotes 10 See also 11 External links

Cultivation and classification

Tea is grown primarily in Mainland China, India, Pakistan Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Japan, Nepal, Australia, Argentine and Kenya. (Note that in the tea trade, Sri Lanka and Taiwan are still referred to by their former names of Ceylon and Formosa, respectively.)

Divisions of tea by processing technique

The four main types of tea are distinguished by their processing. Camellia sinensis is an evergreen shrub whose leaves, if not quickly dried after picking, soon begin to wilt and oxidize. This process resembles the malting of barley, in that starch is converted into sugars; the leaves turn progressively darker, as chlorophyll breaks down and tannins are released. The next step in processing is to stop the oxidation process at a predetermined stage by removing the water from the leaves via heating. The term fermentation was used (probably by wine fanciers) to describe this process, and has stuck, even though no true fermentation happens (i.e. the process is not driven by microbes and produces no ethanol).

Tea is traditionally classified into four main groups, based on the degree of fermentation undergone:

• White tea - young leaves (new growth buds) that have undergone no oxidation; the buds may be shielded from sunlight to prevent formation of chlorophyll.
• Green tea - The oxidation process is stopped after a minimal amount of oxidation by application of heat, either with steam, a traditional Japanese method, or by drying on hot pans — the traditional Chinese method).
• Oolong (烏龍茶) - whose oxidation is stopped somewhere in-between that of green tea and black tea.
• Black tea - substantial oxidation. The literal translation of the Chinese word is red tea, which may be used by some tea-lovers. Black tea is further classified as either orthodox or CTC. Unblended black teas are also identified by the estate they come from and the flush (first, second or autumn).

Unusual variations - There are several tea preparations available which do not fit into the usual nomenclature:

• Pu-erh (普洱茶) - Sometimes considered a subclass of black tea, pu-erh is a very unusual product. Pu-erh is sometimes described as double-fermented: the second "fermentation" may be action of microbes and mouldss. While most teas are consumed within a year of production, pu-erh can be over 50 years old. The tea is often steeped for long periods of time or even boiled (Tibetans are known to boil it overnight). Pu-erh is considered a medicinal tea in China.
• Yellow tea - is used either as a name of high-quality tea served at the Imperial court, or of special tea processed similarly to green tea, but with a slower drying phase.
• Chong Cha (虫茶) - literally "worm tea", this brew is made from the seeds of tea shrubs instead of the leaves. It is used in Chinese medicine for coping with summer heat as well as for treating influenza symptoms.
• Kukicha or winter tea - made from twigs and old leaves Pruneed from the tea plant during its dormant season and dry-roasted over a fire. Popular as a health food in Japan and in the macrobiotic diet.
• Lapsang souchong (正山小种 or 烟小种) from Fujian, China, is a black tea which is dried over burning pine, thereby developing a strong smoky flavour.
• Rize Tea - strong black tea produced in Turkey, with distinct taste and specific preparation, including preheating, served with sugar.

• After the harvest, the leaves are first withered by blowing air on them.

• Then black teas are processed in either of two ways, CTC (Crush, Tear, Curl) or orthodox. The CTC method is used for lower quality leaves that end up in tea bags and are processed by machines. This method is efficient and effective for producing a better quality product from medium and lower quality leaves. Orthodox processing is done either by machines or by hand. Hand processing is used for high quality teas. While the methods employed in orthodox processing differ by tea type, this style of processing results in the high quality loose tea sought after by many connoisseurs.

• Next, the leaves are oxidized under controlled temperature and humidity. This process is also called fermentation, though no fermentation takes place. The level of oxidation determines the quality of the tea. Since oxidation begins at the rolling stage itself, the time between these stages are also crucial factors in the quality of the tea.

• Then the leaves are dried to arrest the oxidation process.

• Finally, the leaves are sorted into grades according their sizes (whole leaf, brokens, fannings and dust), usually with the use of sieves. The tea could be further sub-graded according to other criteria.

Varieties

Black tea is usually named after the region of origin: Darjeeling, Assam, Ceylon, etc. Most green and oolong teas, however, have kept their traditional Japanese or Chinese names: Genmaicha (玄米茶), Houjicha (焙じ茶), Pouchong (包種茶), etc. White teas produce a delicate liquor that often retains a slight residual sweetness. Green tea and black tea both have antioxidants, but different kinds. Green tea has a majority from catechins, particularly epigallocatechin gallate, whereas black tea has a greater variety of flavonoids. Oolong tea falls in between. It is not clear that the quantity or type of antioxidants present have any effect whatsoever on health. White tea, the very young tea leaves, is often considered another type, although on occasion people group it in with green due to the lower amount of processing.

All types are sold as either "single" teas, meaning just one variety, or as blends.

Adulteration and falsification are serious problems in the global tea trade; the amount of tea sold worldwide as Darjeeling every year greatly exceeds the annual tea production of Darjeeling, which is estimated at 11,000 metric tonnes.

Blends and additives

Almost all teas in tea-bags and most other teas are blends. Though recently with improvements in the dry freeze technique and the improved infusion method, tea powder and condensed tea essence that only needs hot or cold water to make a cup of tea are sold. Blending may occur at the level of tea-planting area (e.g.Assam), or teas from many areas may be blended. The aim of blending is a stable taste over different years, and a better price. More expensive, more tasty tea may cover the inferior taste of cheaper tea.

There are various teas which have additives and/or different processing than "pure" varieties. Tea is able to easily receive any aroma, which may cause problems in processing, transportation or storage of tea, but can be also advantageously used to prepare scented teas.

• Jasmine tea is spread with jasmine flowers while oxidizing, and occasionally some are left in the tea as a decoration. Many other flowers, including roses and other fragrant blooms, are used as flavouring in tea in China.
• Earl Grey is usually a mix of black teas, with essence of the citrus fruit bergamot added.
• Spiced teas, such as the Indian chai, flavored with sweet spices such as ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, clove, indian bay leaf and sometimes nutmeg are common in southern Asia and the Middle East.
• Touareg Tea - strong green tea with Nana mint, prepared in desert areas northerh Africa and Middle East.
• Jagertee is a tea with rum added.

• In one story, Gautama Buddha is said to have discovered tea, when a falling tea leaf happened to land in his cup one day as he sat meditating in a garden.
• Another story has it that Bodhidharma cut his eyelids off so that he wouldn't fall asleep while meditating, and the first tea plants sprang up from the ground where he flung the severed eyelids.
• In yet another story Shennong (the legendary Emperor of China and founder of Chinese medicine) was on a journey, when a few leaves from a wild tea tree fell into his hot water. He tasted the mixture out of curiosity and liked its taste and its restorative properties. He then found that tea leaves eliminated numerous other poisons from the body. Because of this, tea is considered one of the earliest Chinese medicines.

Origin and dissemination of tea

Historically, the origin of tea as a medicinal herb useful for staying awake is unclear. The use of tea as a beverage drunk for pleasure on social occasions dates from the Tang Dynasty or earlier. For its later uses, see below.

The first Europeans to encounter tea were Portuguese explorers visiting Japan in 1560. Soon imported tea was introduced to Europe, where it quickly became popular among the wealthy in France and the Netherlands. English use of tea is attributed to Catherine of Braganza (Portuguese princess, consort of Charles II of England) and dates from about 1650.

Patriotism, supply and demand

The Boston Tea Party was an act of uprising in which Boston residents destroyed crates of British tea in 1773, in protest against the tax on tea. The high demand for tea in Britain caused a huge trade deficit with China. The British set up their own tea plantations in colonial India to provide their own supply. They also tried to balance the trade deficit by selling opium to the Chinese, which later led to the First Opium War in 1838-1842.

Prior to the Boston Tea Party, residents of Britain's North American 13 colonies drank far more tea than Coffee. In Britain the exotic drink from the Americas, Coffee, was far more popular. After the protests against the various taxes, Americans stopped drinking tea as an act of patriotism. Similarly, Britons slowed their consumption of coffee.

The word tea

The Chinese character for tea is 茶, but it is pronounced differently in the various Chinese dialects. Two pronunciations have made their way into other languages around the world. One is 'te' which comes from the Minnan dialect spoken around the port of Amoy. The other is 'cha', used by the Cantonese dialect spoken around the ports of Canton and Hong Kong, as well as in the Mandarin dialect of northern China.

Languages that have Te derivatives include Armenian, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Latvian, Malay, Tamil, Singhalese, Spanish, Yiddish, and scientific Latin.

Those that use Cha derivatives include Hindi, Japanese, Persian, Portuguese, Albanian, Czech, Russian, Turkish, Tibetan, Arabic, Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Greek, Romanian, and Swahili.

It is tempting to correlate these names with the route that was used to deliver tea to these cultures, but this correspondence does not follow. For example, most British trade went through Canton, which uses cha.

In Ireland, or at least in Dublin, the term "cha" is sometimes used for tea, and "char" was a common slang term for tea throughout British Empire and Commonwealth military forces in the 19th and 20th centuries, crossing over into civilian usage. Recently in the United States, many coffee houses have begun to serve a milky, sweet, spiced tea called "chai", loosely based on Indian recipes but much less spicy.

Tea culture

Drinking tea is often a social event. Tea is also drunk throughout the day and especially in the morning to heighten alertness - it contains theophylline and caffeine (sometimes called "theine").

In India, the world's second largest producer, tea is popular all over North India as a breakfast and evening drink. Popularly called chaai, it is served hot with milk and sugar. Almost all the tea consumed is black tea.

In China, at least as early as the Song Dynasty, tea was an object of connoisseurship, and formal tea-tasting parties were held, comparable to modern wine tastings. As much as in modern wine tastings, the proper vessel was important; the white tea used at that time called for a dark bowl in which the tea leaves and hot water were mixed and whipped up with a whisk. The best of these bowls, glazed in patterns with names like oil spot, hare's fur, and tortoise shell, are highly valued today. The rituals and the traditional dark pottery were adopted in Japan beginning in the 12th century, and gave rise to the Japanese tea ceremony, which took its final form in the 16th century.

In Britain and Ireland, "tea" is not only the name of the beverage, but of a late afternoon light meal, called that even if the diners are drinking beer, cider, or juice. Frequently (outside the UK) this is referred to as "high tea", however in the UK high tea is an evening meal. The term evidently comes from the meal being eaten at the "high" (main) table, rather than the smaller table common in living rooms.

In Sri Lanka, tea is served in the English style, with milk and sugar, but the milk is always warmed.

There are several tea ceremonies which have arisen in different cultures, the most famous of which are the complex, formal and serene Japanese tea ceremony, and the commercial, crowded and noisy Yum Cha.

Specific tea culture developed in the Czech Republi
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