History of Tea
Health benefits
of Tea
As you would expect with a mythical product,
there are several interesting legends about
the invention of tea. Tea is first mentioned
in a Chinese story from 2700 BC, the time of
Emperor Shen Nung. He is said to have invented
tea during one of his travels around the Chinese
Empire. While taking a short rest, a few leaves
fell off a shrub, straight into his cup of boiling
drinking water. A lovely scent came up from
the cup, and the curious emperor tasted the
drink made by chance. The beverage did not only
have a wonderful taste, but a refreshing, energizing
effect as well. The emperor became so impressed
by the new invention that he began to propagate
the magic shrub. The first Chinese name of tea
was ’te’ which later became ‘chia’.
Europe was introduced to tea in 1610, when
the first tea freight arrived on a Dutch sailing
ship. Tea import was limited for quite a while
because journeys lasted very long. Sometimes
the ships were on the way for nearly a year.
As a result tea became a rather expensive product.
During the 18th century tea become cheaper and
therefore more popular.
Great Britain was the last of the three great
sea-faring nations to break into the Chinese
and East Indian trade routes. This was due in
part to the unsteady ascension to the throne
of the Stuarts and the Cromwellian Civil War.
The first samples of tea reached England between
1652 and 1654. Tea quickly proved popular enough
to replace ale as the national drink of England.
As in Holland, it was the nobility that provided
the necessary stamp of approval and so insured
its acceptance. King Charles II had married,
while in exile, the Portuguese Infanta Catherine
de Braganza (1662). Charles himself had grown
up in the Dutch capital. As a result, both he
and his Portuguese bride were confirmed tea
drinkers. When the monarchy was re-established,
the two rulers brought this foreign tea tradition
to England with them. As early as 1600 Elizabeth
I had founded the John company for the purpose
of promoting Asian trade. When Catherine de
Braganza married Charles she brought as part
of her dowry the territories of Tangier and
Bombay. Suddenly, the John Company had a base
of operations.
Tea mania swept across England as it had earlier
spread throughout France and Holland. Tea importation
rose from 40,000 pounds in 1699 to an annual
average of 240,000 pounds by 1708. Tea was drunk
by all levels of society.
The biggest tea consumers of the world today
are the Irish, followed by the British on the
second place only. But large quantities are
drunk also in Japan and other Asian countries,
such as Turkey, Syria and Iran. In Holland they
drink a larger amount than, for instance, in
India, the United States or Germany.
Cultivation & harvest
A tropical or subtropical climate and fertile
soil are needed to grow tea successfully. The
crop is normally cultivated in hillside plantations,
with the altitude having a considerable bearing
on quality.
Cultivation
The higher tea is grown, the better the quality.
China and India are the world’s main tea-growing
countries, together accounting for about half
of global production.
Harvesting can begin once the tea plant is about
four years old. The leaves are normally picked
by hand, making the harvest an extremely labour-intensive
process. Tea can be harvested at any time of
year, but leaves are at their best in the dry
monsoon season.
The harvest
Tea shrubs can first be harvested when they
are four years old. The manual harvest of the
leaves requires intensive work. In some regions
where labour force is deficient the traditional
manual work is replaced by machines, but the
quality of the tea harvested in this way can
decrease essentially.
Tea harvesting has three techniques: the standard
harvest, when two leaves and one bud are picked,
the medium harvest (three leaves and a bud)
and the raw harvest (four leaves and one bud
on a stem). The finer the harvest is, the better
the tea will be. On the higher located plantations,
otherwise with better conditions for cultivating
quality tea, fine harvest is exclusive.
Tea shrubs live long. Assamica reaches 40 years
on average, while Sinensis can crop for as long
as 100 years.
Production process
After picking, the leaves are processed. The
black tea production process differs from region
to region, but there are always four basic stages:
withering, rolling, fermentation and drying.
During the fermentation process the leaf juice
is exposed to oxygen, which transforms the colour
from green to black. 250 grams of fresh tea
leaves become100 milligram of fresh tea. Green
tea production does not involve a fermentation
stage; after withering, the leaves are steamed.
1. The shrivelling
Shrivelling is the first stage of tea processing.
The leaves are spread and left to shrivel at
25-30°C. The water amount of 75-80% typical
of fresh leaves is thus reduced to 60-70%.
2. The rolling
The leaves shrivelled are then submitted to
rolling for half an hour. While they are smashed,
they gradually obtain their specific taste and
fragrance.
3. The fermentation
In the course of fermentation the broken leaves
are carried into special rooms, in which they
blow air of 25° C and a humidity of 95%.
It is in this stage that the colour of the leaves
changes from bright green to brown and the specific
aroma appears. The length of fermentation (about
four hours) is essential for the final character
of the product.
4. The drying
The process of fermentation ends in the drying
of the leaves. This is done at a temperature
of 95° C, which reduces the moistness of
the tea leaves to 4-6%. In about half an hour
the tea gains its black colour. About 20 kg
black tea can be obtained from 100 kg fresh
leaves.
After the tea gets out of the dryer, it is time
for selection. This is usually done according
to the size, by sieving. Different size bits
are used for thready than for filter teas.
5. Storage and transport
The tea is now ready to be stored and transported.
It is packaged carefully to avoid external influences
occurring during transportation. They use safe
wooden boxes lined with aluminium foil. However
in the tea producing countries poor in timber
they sometimes transport tea in paper sacks.
Origin countries
The main tea producing countries or regions
of the world are:
Assam
Assam of North-India with its 2,000 tea shrubs
is one of the finest tea cultivating areas in
the world. The tea coming from this region is
a strong, corpulent drink with a specific character
and a dark colour.
Darjeeling
The mountainous region of Darjeeling lies at
the foot of the snowy Himalayas, at an altitude
of 2,000 m. The excellent Darjeeling teas are
the common result of the cool, moist climate
and the high location, as well as the outstanding
quality of the air and the soil. This tea is
often called the king of teas. However, due
to the mountainous location of the plantations,
the harvesting period is short; it only lasts
from April to October. The Darjeeling tea is
less strong than the Assam.
Nilgiri
The Nilgiri Mountains in the most southern region
of India are an ideal tea-producing region.
The harvest here is undisturbed throughout the
year. The teas coming from the Nilgiri Mountains
are delicious and fresh, with a soft flavour.
China
A large variety of teas is harvested from the
eighteen tea cultivating regions. The range
of the Chinese teas includes green tea, half-fermented
tea (the so-called ’pure’ tea or
oolong), and, of course, the traditional black
tea. These have different characters, ranging
from the flower-scented teas (like jasmine)
to herb teas and the strong, corpulent drinks.
Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
In this country lying on a completely flat land,
the best tea types are harvested in the eastern
region from late June to early September, and
in the west of the island from early February
to mid March. In the Eastern part of the country
is situated Uva. The dry wind blowing here from
June to September gives a particularly pleasant
taste and flavour to Uva’s tea. Dimbula
of the western region has to face the monsoon
in August and September. The best teas here
are obtained in the dry months, January and
February. In this area, they switched over from
coffee to tea production in 1870. Ceylon teas
have a particularly nice colour, and a wonderful
scent and flavour.
Indonesia
The two main tea-producing islands are Java
and Sumatra. Java produces colourful, scented,
delicious teas. The teas from Sumatra often
have a metallic taste and a poorer quality.
Japan
In Japan, they produce non-fermented green tea
as well as black tea. Japanese tea crops are
almost exclusively consumed within the country,
since Japan has preserved its tea drinking traditions
to the present.
Africa
Tea growing in Africa dates back only
to the early 20th century. The main producers
are Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi. In Kenya, they
grow teas with strong colour and taste, which
are similar to Assam teas. The tea production
of the other two countries is less characteristic
and poorer in quality.
South America
The two most important tea-cultivating
countries are Brazil and Argentina. Most South-American
teas have a neutral character and a specifically
light colour.
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