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In my first post, I mentioned that I’m a tea lover, and even owned a tea company for several years. I believe that drinking tea can be health and life enhancing, and for that reason, I’ll be writing about tea from time to time. In today’s post, I’m offering an introductory “lesson” in tea. You’ll learn how tea is created and the difference between different types of teas. In future posts from time to time, I plan to discuss how to “use” tea to enhance your wellness and well-being, and want to offer you some basic info on tea as a foundation.
Legend has it that tea was first discovered almost 5000 years when a tea leaf fell into a Chinese emperor’s water and he decided to drink the brew. Today, tea is the second most popular beverage in the world; right after water, and in the USA, where coffee and soft drinks have ruled the non-alcoholic beverage market, enthusiasm about tea is on the rise. Experts in the industry attribute the renewed interest in tea to all the findings about tea and health, the appeal of tea to people looking to relax and revitalize, and to the wide variety of flavorful and high quality teas now available to the sophisticated and health conscious consumer. Because of the similarities to wine, tea is emerging as a non-alcoholic choice for the sophisticated beverage connoisseur.
What is Tea?
Many people are surprised to learn that all true tea comes from one plant, the camellia sinensis, and that not everything that is commonly referred to as tea is really tea.
True Tea?
True tea includes black tea, green tea, white tea, and oolong tea. Other infusions that are commonly referred to as tea, such as peppermint, chamomile, hibiscus, and even the popular red tea or rooibos (roy-bus) are not true tea because they don’t come from the camellia sinensis plant. Technically, all infusions from other plants are referred to as tisanes (tea-zahns). (Some tea experts take this distinction very seriously; I don’t). What is important to know is that true tea contains caffeine, and many tisanes do not, so if caffeine is an issue for you, the distinction between tea and tisane can be meaningful.
The differences between the various types of true tea have do with how the tea is processed. Like wine, differences in flavor and taste of tea have to do with this processing as well as with where the tea was grown, varietal, manufacturing practices, climate conditions, and whether the tea was blended or flavored. All these factors interact to result in hundred, perhaps thousands of types of tea. Tea is most commonly grown in Asia, but is also grown in Africa, South America, Turkey and several other countries. The USA has one working tea plantation located in Charleston, South Carolina.
From Leaf to Cup – manufacturing tea:
Every tea leaf has the potential to become any type of tea. How it’s processed determines the type of tea any camellia sinensis leaf ultimately becomes.
To follow the journey from leaf to cup, imagine that you have a tea plant growing in your backyard, and you pluck a leaf off your plant in order to manufacture some tea to drink. The main steps in the manufacture of tea are:
Withering, rolling, oxidizing, shaping, and drying.
The first step in the manufacture of any tea is withering. Simply put, the after the leaf is plucked, it is allowed to wither slightly in order to reduce the moisture content and to make it easy to manipulate and process further.
For white tea, you simply pluck your tea leaf and allow it to wither and dry. Your tea leaf will keep its color and shrink from the loss of water, but it will retain its natural characteristics otherwise. You’ll have a light and delicate cup of tea. White tea is the least processed of the teas, and some speculate that for this reason, white tea is the healthiest type of tea.
To make any other type of tea, you manipulate your tea leaf. After withering, you roll the leaf. The rolling breaks the cell walls within the tea leaf, and allows the enzymes in the leaf to be exposed to oxygen. This is where the magic occurs. The interaction between the enzymes in the tea leaf and oxygen changes the composition of the tea leaf in a process known as oxidation. Oxidation also changes the color of the leaf; it turns dark, just like a cut apple or potato will oxidize when its enzymes are exposed to air.
For black tea, you would allow the oxidation process to continue until the leaf completely darkens. At that point, roll the leaf into whatever shape you choose and dry the leaf. If you would like green tea instead, your job is to prevent oxidation, and you can do this by heating the tea leaf, either in a pan or steamer. The leaf will stay nice and green. Then you shape the leaf and finally dry it.
If you would like to manufacture oolong tea, you would allow the tea leaf to oxidize partially before shaping and drying it. In a way, oolongs may be seen as a cross between green and black teas and are often the most sophisticated.
When you taste different teas, you’ll notice that your manufacturing process impacted how your tea tastes. White teas tend to be most delicate, green teas tend to offer grassy and vegetal notes, and black teas tend to offer a richer and more robust cup.
Here’s a video from my Good Leaf Tea Company days explaining the differences between true teas.
Source - https://blog.timesunion.com/psychology/tea-intro/134/
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