The History of Tea

According to the legend, the discovery of tea happened about 4000 years ago when the emperor – an herbalist and healer- Shen Nung went on one of his expeditions in the south of China. In the late afternoon the emperor was tired and stopped for a break. He boiled his water in a kettle as he knew only boiled water is safe to drink. A sudden wind carried some dried leaves into the kettle and the curious herbalist decided to try the drink. He liked what he tasted and felt energized quickly, so he collected some leaves and began experimenting with them. Of course the leaves where from the tea bush.

It is impossible to know whether there is any truth in this story. But tea drinking certainly became established in China many centuries before it had even been heard of in the west. Containers for tea have been found in tombs dating from the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) but it was under the Tang dynasty (618-906 AD), that tea became firmly established as the national drink of China. It became such a favourite that during the late eighth century a writer called Lu Yu wrote the first book entirely about tea, the Ch'a Ching, or Tea Classic. It was shortly after this that tea was first introduced to Japan, by Japanese Buddhist monks who had travelled to China to study. Tea drinking has become a vital part of Japanese culture, as seen in the development of the Tea Ceremony, which may be rooted in the rituals described in the Ch'a Ching.

Via the caravan routes, tea penetrated all Mongol lands, Muslim countries and Russia before reaching Europe. Since Europe had long periods with no contact with the Orient, it therefore got to know about tea relatively late when it was brought by an Arab trader named Suleiman.

It was not until about 1610 that tea really started a large-scale expansion of consumption in the Western World. The East India Company established relations with the Far East, introducing tea into Holland first in 1610, then to France in 1636 and finally to England in 1650.

Tea has been the cause of more than one war, but the most important single war was probably the American War of Independence. This was brought about by a single act, now called “The Boston Tea Party” and occurring on the 16th of December, 1773.

Early in the nineteenth century, China was virtually the sole supplier of tea in the world. In 1834, tea plantations were introduced into India and a little later, in 1857, in Ceylon and thereafter Asia, Africa and South America. As the cultivation of tea spread, the competition between ship owners for the speediest transportation of tea led to races along the far East shipping lanes. This was the origin of the great “Tea Clipper” races. Tea was now a worldwide beverage.

The origin of the word tea comes from the Fukien province of China (Tee in German, thé in French). In countries like China, Russia, India, Japan, Portugal, the word for tea is cha or chai.

 

How is tea grown?

The tea plant (Camellia Sinensis) grows best in a humid tropical or subtropical climate with plenty of rain. Areas that are well-drained, with a high-acidity sandy loam tend to produce the best teas. Higher elevations also yield better quality, perhaps because the evening coolness causes the leaves to grow more slowly, concentrating their flavor.

There are two important subspecies of the tea plant, the China type and the Assam type. The China type is grown in China, Taiwan, Japan, and parts of Darjeeling, and produces smaller leaves with a softer flavor. The indigenous Assam type is grown in India, Sri Lanka, and throughout the rest of the tea-producing world, producing larger leaves with more strength. Within each subspecies, there are dozens of local varietals created by generations of seed propogation and "clonal" planting using leaf cuttings.

For good quality teas, only the newest growth (two leaves and a bud) is plucked by hand; this process is called "fine plucking." "Coarse plucking" describes the practice of taking three or four leaves with the bud, and while the yield at the end of the day is much higher, the quality is much poorer. As any home gardener knows, repeated tip pinching promotes new growth, so the bushes produce multiple pluckings throughout the year - as few as three in climates with distinct seasonal variability to twelve or more in tropical regions. Raw leaf quality varies greatly with the seasons, and while a given estate may produce dozens of lots of tea each year, only a handful of these may have great flavor.

A typical tea bush may produce over a thousand leaves each year, a seemingly large number until one realizes that a single pound of fully processed tea may contain two to three thousand leaves.

 

The six colors of tea

In the manufacturing process, it’s the oxidation that determines whether tea is white, green, yellow, red (in Europe and Russia it is accustomed to call this tea ‘black’.), oolong (blue-green) or black (pu-erh). This classification goes back to the Ming Dynasty years in China and it is based on the color of the wet processed leaves after having been infused.

The oxidation (or fermentation) happens naturally when the leaf dies (the same process that makes leaves turn in fall), and it is the grower who controls, accelerates, or halts the process depending on the desired tea color.

White, green and yellow teas are in the non-oxidized category; oolong (blue-green), red and black are in the fully oxidized category. Although in the same category, the processing of white and yellow teas is slightly different from green tea. Harvested tea leaves have to be transported quickly to the processing plant so that their oxidation process can be controlled. If it is a green or yellow tea is eng produced, oxidation is prevented by high-heat fixation which destroys the enzymes that are responsible for the oxidation. For blue-green or red teas, varying levels of oxidation are used. Black tea is produced thorough organic fermentation.

 

The purpose of grading tea leaves is not only to create teas that have a uniform leaf density and appearance, but more importantly to separate larger from smaller particles of leaf since they will extract at different rates when brewed.

Grading is often assumed to mean grading for quality, but quality is determined by the taste of the tea, not its appearance. However, the leaf shape and size of the finished tea has much to do with the characteristic flavor of the resulting cup. This is because leaves rolled in a given way adopt a particular flavor that differs from the same leaves rolled in a different fashion. It can also be safely said that the more broken the leaf is, the faster brewing the cup, and typically the more body and pungency the tea will have.

The term "orange pekoe" is often taken to mean a type of tea. Actually, it is a tea industry term that refers only to specific leaf size. Here are some common leaf grades for black teas:

WHOLE LEAF

S./Souchong
A bold, twisting leaf, often light in liquor. China is the most common producer of this grade.

F.O.P. - Flowery Orange Pekoe
A long leaf with a slightly open, "crushed flower" appearance. India is the most common producer of this grade.

O.P. - Orange Pekoe
A thin, wiry leaf with a tighter roll than F.O.P. T. and G. - Tippy and Golden Modifiers that are liberally used with both whole leaf and broken grades to indicate the presence of colorful tips in the dry leaf.

BROKEN LEAF

P. - Pekoe
A curly, large broken grade, typically without visible tip. Sri Lanka is the largest producer of Pekoe grade.

B.O.P. - Broken Orange Pekoe
Small, squarish grade with good body and strength. India produces the best B.O.P.s.

FANNINGS and DUST

F. - Fannings
Smaller than B.O.P., with less keeping quality, and used for commercial tea bags. The name derives from traditional practice in which the broken grades were tossed in front of a fan, and the small particles blown off were called the fannings.

D. - Dust
Smallest grade produced; quick liquoring.

Start with fresh, filtered, cold water

A cup of tea is about 98% water, so using good quality water is imperative for making a great cup of tea. Bottled or filtered water is recommended when old plumbing imparts an unpleasant flavor, or in areas with noticeably chlorinated or hard water. The freshness of the water is important as well for its dissolved oxygen content, which seems to enhance the quality of the extraction. For this reason, never use water from the hot tap or water that has already boiled for a long time.

Preheat the pot

It is important to preheat the pot or cup in which the tea will be steeped. If poured into a cold porcelain vessel, boiling water will immediately drop several degrees, diminishing the extraction. To preheat the pot: as the water is heating in the kettle, pour a little into the pot to warm it; then pour this water off into the drinking cups to warm them.

Type of tea	Teaspoons per cup	Water Temperature	Time for steeping
Black	1	95°C	3-5 min.
Green	1	75-80°C	2-3 min.
White	1	75-80°C	2-3 min.
Yellow	1	75-80°C	2-3 min.
Oolong	1	80-90°C	2-3 min.
Pu-erh	1	95°C	1-5 min.
Herbal	1	100°C	10 min.
Fruit tea blends	1	100°C	8-10 min.
Rooibos	1	100°C	8-10 min.
Honeybush	1	100°C	8 min.

 

Keep tea fresh

The best practice is to buy only what you know will be drunk within six months, and store the tea correctly.

For ideal storage, tea should be kept in a cool place with in an airtight, opaque container. Avoid having the lid left ajar, especially in an area that has moisture or strong aromas (such as a typical kitchen). Do not freeze or refrigerate tea.

Tea is generally good for one or two years after harvesting if it is stored well, and will not typically develop unpleasant flavors with age, but will simply lose the quality it once had. Teas vary greatly as to their rate of staling, with the better quality green teas being the most susceptible --these begin losing freshness even before the year is out.