Legend has it that the Chinese
emperor Shen Nung discovered tea nearly 5000 years ago, when a leaf from
a tea bush fell into his bowl of boiled drinking water. The pleasures of
tea were known only in Eastern lands until the early 1600s, when
European traders began bringing it back from Far Eastern ports. At
first, tea was rare and fabulously expensive, and was drunk only by the
wealthy. But by the 1800s, it had become the inexpensive, refreshing and
popular drink it is today. In fact, tea is second only to water as the
world's most popular beverage.
The tea plant is an evergreen that
belongs to the camellia family; it's cultivated on plantations in
tropical and subtropical climates. At one time, nearly all the tea used
in the world came from China. But today, most of tea we drink is
produced in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania.
Of the over 3000 varieties of tea, most take their names from the
area where they are grown. Darjeeling, for example, comes from a region
of the Himalayas of India: Assam is grown in northeastern India. Many
brands of tea are actually blends - the average tea bag may contain 20
to 30 different teas, all carefully selected by a master tea blender.
The variations in flavor among types of tea don't come from differences
in the actual tea plant, which is much the same in all parts of the
world. Flavor differences result from different growing condition -
variations in soil acidity and altitude, for example - and from the
processing method used after harvesting.
When tea is harvested, the top two leaves and a bud are pinched from
the tips of the branches. The fresh green leaves are spread on racks in
a withering loft for 12 to 24 hours, while currents of warm, dry air
remove much of their moisture. Then they're rolled through special
machines and sent to cool, humid oxidizing rooms, where they remain for
20 minutes to an hour (the oxidizing step is omitted for green tea and
shortened for oolong tea). After that, the leaves are dried, graded and
packed for shipment.
Black tea is made from leaves that have been fully oxidized (hence
the dark color); it makes a hearty, rich-colored brew. Green tea is not
oxidized, so the leaves stay green. This type of tea is
delicate-flavored and light in color. Oolong tea most popular in China,
is only partially oxidized. It has a greenish-brown color and makes a
fairly light brew.
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