handmade tradition.tea.

Europe &Americatea in mania swept across England as

i t had ear l ier spread throughout

France and Hol land. The fi rs t pot

was warmed by the hostess Food

and tea was then passed among

the guests , the main purpose

of the v is i t ing being conversa-

t ion. The most common tea in

Europe is Ear l Grey, named af ter

the Br i t i sh Pr ime Minister in

the 1830's . Today, we normal ly

know Ear l Grey as a Br i t i sh tea .

Dur ing the 1610 the Dutch

not only brought the f i rs t tea

to Europe but a lso the name

by which i t has been known ever

s ince. Great Br i ta in was the last

of the three great sea-far ing

nat ions to break into the Chinese

and East Indian trade routes . Tea

9

Dur ing the t ime, Peter

S tuyvesan was the f i rs t

person to br ing tea to the

colonists of Amerca. These set t lers were

heavy volume tea dr inkers ; they consumed

more tea than a l l of England at that t ime.

This fact led to the Boston Tea Par ty.

The Br i t i sh Government thought that

they could excess ive ly ra ise the tax on

the impor t ing of tea . Instead, the resul t

was an event that led to the Amer ican

Revolut ion. Thomas Sul l ivan of New York

developed the concept of "bagged tea" .

Because he was a tea merchant , he careful l y

wrapped each sample del ivered to

restaurants so they could be eas i l y

considerat ion. He r e c ogn iz ed a marke t -

ing oppor tunity once he f inal l y rea l ized

the restaurants were brewing the samples

" in the bags" to avoid the mess of tea

leaves a l l over ins ide their k i tchens.

A tea bagi s a smal l , porous paper, s i lk or ny lon s ea led bag. 10

Coming f rom the Chinese "wu" or

cal led "black" and "lung" which

means dragon the tea is more

commonly termed "oolong" in the

West. The production of oolong

requires that the leaves be processed

directly af ter picking. Oolong tea is

oxidized and often rolled af ter picking,

al lowing the essential oi ls to

react with the air. Oolong tea is

of ten scented with jasmine f lowers.

It is brewed to be strong, with the

bitterness leaving a sweet af ter taste.

Oolong &BlackTea

7

Black tea , which is a l so red tea as

i t i s commonly known in China.

Black tea i s a resul t of the complete

oxidat ion of the leaf. Black tea was

f i rs t produced in China, the tea

ga ined a inc rea se in popu la r i t y

when the Br i t i sh began to cult ivate

the plant in other countr ies . Black

tea i s the darkest var iety of tea , and

of ten i t ' s the s trongest ; i t i s a l so the

c losest to coffee that you're going to

get . I t ' s a l so the c losest to what most

people are used to as far as tea goes .

W ithout a doubt we've a l l drunk

Lipton before, and a l l Lipton tea

s imply i s b lack tea packaged.

"Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary." ~ Chinese Proverb

White tea i s the uncured and

unoxidized tea leaf. I t i s made

f rom new buds and ver y young and

gent ly dr ied tea leaves . Because of

the careful and l ight process ing, the

leaves reta in a l l their contents of

ant ioxidants . For centur ies , white

tea was the utmost luxur y, and was

reser ved only for the Emperor of

China. Proper ly brewed white tea

has a pale, s l ight ly golden color, not

unl ike white wine. The scent i s l ight

and f resh, and the taste i s mi ld and

s i lky with a subt le, sweet af ter taste.

White & GreenTea

5

Green tea is picked

and quickly heated by

steaming or pan fir ing.

The quality of the leaf is inside.

Green tea has been used as traditional

medicine in areas such as China,

Japan, India and Thailand to help

ever ything Green tea has a short l i fe

span; it doesn't stay f resh long. The

most wel lknown greens come f rom

China and Japan. The f lavors are

grassy, vegetal , nutty, and sweet.

Because the leaf is so delicate, the

tea should be brewed in water that is

wel l below boil ing to help the f lavor.

Each type o f tea i s dr ied and crushed to di f f e r ent cons i s tenc ie s f or f lavor.

Japan&Tea or iginates in China, prob-

ably near the Yunnan/V ietnam

border. In 2737 B.C.E. tea i s

repor ted ly f i rs t discovered in

China by the mythica l second

emperor, Shen Nung, known as

the Divine Healer, when leaves

of the Camel l ia S inensis p lant

dr i f t into a heated open pot of

water. The Tang D ynasty wr i ter

Lu Yu wrote the Cha

J ing or "The Class ic

Tea" which was a ear ly

work on the subject . According

to the Cha J ing tea dr inking

was widespread. Teas produced

in this per iod were mainly

compressed tea br icks which

were of ten used as currency.

tea inChina

Tea use spread to

Japan about the

s ixth centur y. Tea became a dr ink

of the re l ig ious c lasses in Japan

when Japanese pr iests and envoys ,

sent to China to learn about i t s

cul ture, brought tea to Japan.

Ancient recordings indicate the f i rs t

batch of tea seeds were brought by

a pr iest named Saichō in 805 and

then by another named Kūkai in 806.

Tea was used as a s t imulant to keep

monks f rom fa l l ing as leep dur ing

meditat ion. I t became a dr ink of the

royal c lasses when Emperor Saga,

encouraged the growth of tea plants .

Seeds were impor ted f rom China,

and cult ivat ion in Japan began.

(Right Image) Photograph Copyright Motograf ( f lickr.com) 4

The oldest name for tea recorded

in China seems to have been Kia

and the prounciat ion "Ch'a" i s only

found af ter 725 A.D. Al l tea comes

f rom one plant the Camel l ia Sines is .

The di f ferences in the many teas we

have i s in the speci f ic var ieta l that

was used, the local environment the

tea was grown in, and the way i t was

processed. Camel l ia s inensis i s an

evergreen shrub, which can reach

heights of more than thir ty feet but

i s normal ly t r immed for picking.

the tea plant.Ch’a

1

Although tea i s consumed every-

where, i t i s produced only in

cer tain regions where the c l imate and

the soi l are ideal . The foremost tea

regions are in China, Japan,

Taiwan, India and Sr i Lanka.

China and Japan produce some of

the f inest green tea in the wor ld.

Af ter three to f ive years of growth,

i t s leaves may be har vested to make

tea . Today, women const i tute

the major i t y of pickers . They

pick 60 to 70 pounds of f resh

leaves and there i s no machine

that can exceed. These 60 to 70

pounds of f resh leaves produce

approximately 20 pounds of

dr y tea , or 2800 cups of tea .

Tea Farms in Japan and China.A bed of tea ready for picking.

In f o r m a t i o n f o r t h i s b r o c h u r e w a s

brought to you by Sebast ian Beckwith,

Frank Kwei and Alexander Scott of In

Pursuit of Tea; The TeaMuse monthly

newsletter ; Bel l i ss imo Coffee Info-

Group's "P lanet Tea" ; and "Dream

About Tea" of Nor thern Univers i t y.

Thank you.