Registered nutritionist Kerry Torrens showcases the many health benefits of this popular drink. Turkey, with 2.5 kilograms (5 lb 8 oz) of tea consumed per person per year, is the world’s greatest per capita consumer. Turkish tea is an important part of that country’s cuisine and is the most commonly consumed hot drink, despite the country’s long history with coffee.
- At first they used seeds from China, but later seeds from the Assam plant were used.
- Assam second flush or “tippy” tea is considered superior to first flush, because of the gold tips that appear on the leaves.
- Oolong and pouchong teas are produced mostly in southern China and Taiwan from a special variety of the China plant.
- In 1669 the English East India Company brought China tea from ports in Java to the London market.
- Tea blending is the combination of different teas together to achieve the final product.
- Chinese from Amoy brought tea cultivation to the island of Formosa (Taiwan) in 1810.
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Only the top 25 to 50 millimetres (1 to 2 in) of the mature plant are picked. Assam second flush or “tippy” tea is considered superior to first flush, because of the gold tips that appear on the leaves. In clinical research conducted in the early 21st century, it was found there is no scientific evidence to indicate that consuming tea affects any disease or improves health. Chinese small-leaf-type tea was introduced into India in 1836 by the British in an attempt to break the Chinese monopoly on tea. In 1841, Archibald Campbell brought seeds of Chinese tea from the Kumaun region and experimented with planting tea in Darjeeling.
However, the number of cups that might be considered optimum over a day will vary from person to person and be dependent on the type of tea you choose. Peter Mundy, a traveller and merchant who came across tea in Fujian in 1637, wrote, “chaa – only water with a kind of herb boyled in it”. Tea, however, was not widely consumed in the British Isles until the 18th century and remained expensive until the latter part of that period. English drinkers preferred to add sugar and milk to black tea, and black tea overtook green tea in popularity in the 1720s. Tea smuggling during the 18th century led to the general public being able to afford and consume tea. In Britain and Ireland, tea was initially consumed as a luxury item on special occasions, such as religious festivals, wakes, and domestic work gatherings.
Petersham Nurseries Teahouse
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- Registered nutritionist Kerry Torrens showcases the many health benefits of this popular drink.
- In the northern Pakistani regions of Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan, a salty, buttered Tibetan-style tea is consumed.
- Tightly rolled gunpowder tea leaves keep longer than the more open-leafed Chun Mee tea.
- In Pakistan, both black and green teas are popular and are known locally as sabz chai and kahwah, respectively.
- Tea became a fashionable drink in The Hague in the Netherlands, and the Dutch introduced the drink to Germany, France, and across the Atlantic to New Amsterdam (New York).
- Alternatively, because tea easily retains odours, it can be placed in proximity to an aromatic ingredient to absorb its aroma, as in traditional jasmine tea.
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The Han dynasty work “The Contract for a Youth”, written by Wang Bao in 59 BC, contains the first known reference to boiling tea. Among the tasks listed to be undertaken by the youth, the contract states that “he shall boil tea and fill the utensils” and “he shall buy tea at Wuyang”. The first record of tea cultivation is dated to this period, during which tea was cultivated on Meng Mountain (蒙山) near Chengdu.
May improve gut health
In 1848, Robert Fortune was sent by the East India Company on a mission to China to bring the tea plant back to Great Britain. The Chinese tea plants he brought back were introduced to the Himalayas, though most did not survive. The British had discovered that a different variety of tea was endemic to Assam and the northeast region of India, which was then hybridized with Chinese small-leaf-type tea. Tea was Tea Spins originally consumed only by Anglo-Indians; however, it became widely popular in India in the 1950s because of a successful advertising campaign by the India Tea Board. Many types of Southern Yunnan Assam tea have been hybridized with the closely related species Camellia taliensis. Unlike Southern Yunnan Assam tea, Western Yunnan Assam tea shares many genetic similarities with Indian Assam-type tea (also C. sinensis var. assamica).
Art Afternoon Tea at Rosewood London
Examples of additions added at the point of consumption include milk, sugar and lemon. In the production of black teas, halting by heating is carried out simultaneously with drying. Without careful moisture and temperature control during manufacture and packaging, growth of undesired molds and bacteria may make tea unfit for consumption. Caffeine makes up about 3% of tea’s dry weight, which translates to between 30 and 90 milligrams per 250-millilitre (8+1⁄2 US fl oz) cup depending on the type, brand, and brewing method. Tea contains small amounts of theobromine and theophylline, which are xanthines and stimulants, similar to caffeine. Its characteristic colour and powerful flavour come from the fermentation or oxidation process by which it’s produced.
Tea bags
Tea blending is the combination of different teas together to achieve the final product. Such teas may combine others from the same cultivation area or several different ones. In 1567, Russian people came in contact with tea when the Cossack Atamans Petrov and Yalyshev visited China. The Mongolian Khan donated to Tsar Michael I four poods (65–70 kg) of tea in 1638. Starkov at first refused, seeing no use for a load of dead leaves, but the Khan insisted.
Early tea drinking
The loose tea is individually measured for use, allowing for flexibility and flavour control at the expense of convenience. Strainers, tea balls, tea presses, filtered teapots, and infusion bags prevent loose leaves from floating in the tea and over-brewing. A traditional method uses a three-piece lidded teacup called a gaiwan, the lid of which is tilted to decant the tea into a different cup for consumption.
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- If buying flavoured tea, check whether the flavouring is natural or a ‘nature-identical’ synthetic.
- Unlike Southern Yunnan Assam tea, Western Yunnan Assam tea shares many genetic similarities with Indian Assam-type tea (also C. sinensis var. assamica).
- English drinkers preferred to add sugar and milk to black tea, and black tea overtook green tea in popularity in the 1720s.
- Ireland, as of 2016, was the second-biggest per capita consumer of tea in the world, after Turkey.
- Many teas are traditionally drunk with milk in cultures where dairy products are consumed.
- What sets the different types of tea apart is the degree of fermentation they undergo – white tea receives the least, then green, oolong and, finally, black tea.
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What sets the different types of tea apart is the degree of fermentation they undergo – white tea receives the least, then green, oolong and, finally, black tea. In Pakistan, both black and green teas are popular and are known locally as sabz chai and kahwah, respectively. The popular green tea is often served after every meal in the Pashtun belt of Balochistan and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the northern Pakistani regions of Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan, a salty, buttered Tibetan-style tea is consumed.
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Tea recipes
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Polyphenols in tea include flavonoids, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and other catechins. The most important chemicals in tea are the tannins, or polyphenols, which are colourless, bitter-tasting substances that give the drink its astringency. When acted upon by an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, polyphenols acquire a reddish colour and form the flavouring compounds of the beverage. Certain volatile oils contribute to the aroma of tea, and also contributing to beverage quality are various sugars and amino acids. The first published account of methods of planting, processing, and drinking came in 350 ce.
