All true teas-as distinct from herbal and flower infusions, which afficiandos call tisanes-are made from the leaves of a magnolia-related evergreen tree with the botanical name of Camellia sinensis. Although reaching a height of 30 feet in the wild, on tea plantations (called gardens or estates), the plant is kept as a shrub, constantly pruned to a height of about 3 feet to encourage new growth and for convenient picking.
Tea plants grow only in warm climates but can flourish at altitudes ranging from sea level to 7,000 feet. The best teas, however, are produced by plants grown at higher altitudes where the leaves mature more slowly and yield a richer flavor. Depending upon the altitude, a new tea plant may take from 2 ½ to 5 years to be ready for commercial picking, but once productive, it can provide tea leaves for close to a century.
Tea plants produce abundant foliage, a camellia-like flower, and a berry, but only the smallest and youngest leaves are picked for tea-the two leaves and bud at the top of each young shoot. The growth of new shoots, called a flush, can occur every week at lower altitudes but takes several weeks at higher ones. The new leaves are picked by hand by "tea pluckers," the best of whom can harvest 40 pounds per day, enough to make 10 pounds of tea.
All tea plants belong to the same species-Camellia sinensis-, but local growing conditions (altitude, climate, soils, etc.) vary, resulting in a multitude of distinctive leaves. The way the leaves are processed, however, is even more important in developing the individual characteristics of the three predominant types of tea: green, black and oolong.
Green tea is the least processed and thus provides the most antioxidant polyphenols, notably a catechin called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is believed to be responsible for most of the health benefits linked to green tea. Green tea is made by briefly steaming the just harvested leaves, rendering them soft and pliable and preventing them from fermenting or changing color. After steaming, the leaves are rolled, then spread out and "fired" (dried with hot air or pan-fried in a wok) until they are crisp. The resulting greenish-yellow tea has a green, slightly astringent flavor close to the taste of the fresh leaf.
In black tea production, the leaves are first spread on withering racks and air-blown, which removes about one-third of their moisture and renders them soft and pliable. Next, they are rolled to break their cell walls, releasing the juices essential to fermentation. Once again, they are spread out and kept under high humidity to promote fermentation, which turns the leaves a dark coppery color and develops black tea's authoritative flavor. Finally, the leaves are "fired," producing a brownish black tea whose immersion in hot water gives a reddish-brown brew with a stronger flavor than green or oolong teas.
Oolong tea, which is made from leaves that are partially fermented before being fired, falls midway between green and black teas. Oolong is a greenish-brown tea whose flavor, color and aroma are richer than that of green tea, but more delicate than that of black.
Green tea has always been, and remains today, the most popular type of tea from China where most historians and botanists believe the tea plant originated throughout all of Asia. Why is this so? Perhaps because green tea not only captures the taste, aroma and color of spring, but delivers this delightful bouquet along with the highest concentration of beneficial phytonutrients and the least caffeine of all the teas.
History of Green Tea
Tea was discovered in China and is the stuff of myth and legend. The Chinese are credited most for the development and cultivation of tea and the methods of its early preparation and use.
Tea has played a significant role in Asian culture for centuries as a staple beverage, a curative and a symbol of status. It is not surprising its discovery is ascribed to religious or royal origins. According to Chinese legend, the god of agriculture would chew leaves, stems, and roots of various plants to discover medicinal herbs. If he consumed a poisonous plant, he would chew tea leaves to detoxify the poison. Buddhists believe that the Buddha himself discovered tea.
According to another legend, the story of Green Tea began in 2737 BC when Emperor Shen Nung, who was known at that time as the "Divine Healer", always boiled his water before he would drink it. He had noticed that his subjects who boiled their water before drinking it seemed to have longevity and better health. One afternoon, as he knelt before his boiling water, some leaves from a nearby tree blew into the pot. The Emperor noted a delightful aroma and, upon sipping the beverage, proclaimed it as "heaven sent".
The Chinese are credited most for the development and cultivation of tea and the methods of its early preparation and use. The oldest written record regarding tea appeared more than 2000 years ago in China in a labor contract between a master and laborer where tea was already treated as a saleable commodity. There is no clear record regarding when human beings began consuming tea or if people in ancient times ate tea leaves or drank brewed tea. There is some evidence that tea leaves were roasted in the process.
Tea was an expensive beverage in ancient China. Its use was confined to the wealthy segments of the population. Only in Ming dynasty after the fall of the Mongolian empire in 1368 A.D., tea drinking spread from the elite to the populace. When China was the sea power of the world (1405-1433), tea was among the indispensable supplies for the seamen. The amount of vitamin C in the tea drink consumed by the seafarers at that time was enough to prevent scurvy which would kill many European sailors more than 100 years later, but was essentially unknown to the medical officers assigned to the fleet of more than 27,000 men on their round voyage from China to Africa. In a famous painting titled "Drinking Tea" (a poor English translation of the original elegant title in Chinese, meaning "Tea Tending Event"), which is now on display in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the most admired and envied painter of Ming dynasty, Tang Yin (1470-1523), recorded the traditional method for tea preparation at the time when China was the most prosperous nation on earth. As described in the poem written on the painting, an affluent intellect actually plucked fresh leaves from the tea trees growing on the southern hillside below his house to brew tea. This document recorded the fact that fresh or non-oxidized tea leaves, i.e., green tea, were used in the prosperous Chinese society at least until the latter part of Ming dynasty.
The first shipment of tea to Europe in 1606 by the Dutch East India Company was green tea. Even to this date, the words "Orange Pekoe" printed on the tea bags served in many American and European hotels bears evidence to this fact although these same words are now being used for marketing a high-grade black tea produced in Sri Lanka and in India. In truth, the word "Orange" is the name of the Dutch royal family which had the monopoly in tea trading with China in the early 17th century. The word "Pekoe" is a phonetic spelling of the words "white fine hair" in the Amoy dialect that was used and is still used to describe a physical appearance of a high-grade green tea containing many young leaf buds. "Orange Pekoe" literally has nothing to do with black tea. Black tea does not have "white fine hair" appearance at all. Mass production of black tea in Sri Lanka began in 1869. The global black tea traders simply transposed an established designation for a high-grade green tea to their new products being sold to the unquestioning public. Black tea became popular in Europe since the 19th century and now constitutes about 80% of the tea products sold in the Western world.
Tea drinking was introduced into the USA from Europe as part of the global tea trade and via the Chinese restaurants operated by the Chinese American immigrants from southern China before 1945. As a result, most Americans are more familiar with black tea in tea bags for convenience or oolong (half-black) tea commonly served in the Chinese restaurants. The love for green tea is an acquired taste. Based on the 5000 years of tea civilization and the most recent molecular biology research, a health-conscious person should cultivate the taste for green tea in pursuing a healthy diet and life style provided the food calorie intake is more than adequate. A legend tells how a Chinese emperor of a minority origin was converted from a black tea drinker to a green tea drinker to become one of the longest reigning rulers in the history of China.
Tea plants grow only in warm climates but can flourish at altitudes ranging from sea level to 7,000 feet. The best teas, however, are produced by plants grown at higher altitudes where the leaves mature more slowly and yield a richer flavor. Depending upon the altitude, a new tea plant may take from 2 ½ to 5 years to be ready for commercial picking, but once productive, it can provide tea leaves for close to a century.
Tea plants produce abundant foliage, a camellia-like flower, and a berry, but only the smallest and youngest leaves are picked for tea-the two leaves and bud at the top of each young shoot. The growth of new shoots, called a flush, can occur every week at lower altitudes but takes several weeks at higher ones. The new leaves are picked by hand by "tea pluckers," the best of whom can harvest 40 pounds per day, enough to make 10 pounds of tea.
All tea plants belong to the same species-Camellia sinensis-, but local growing conditions (altitude, climate, soils, etc.) vary, resulting in a multitude of distinctive leaves. The way the leaves are processed, however, is even more important in developing the individual characteristics of the three predominant types of tea: green, black and oolong.
Green tea is the least processed and thus provides the most antioxidant polyphenols, notably a catechin called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is believed to be responsible for most of the health benefits linked to green tea. Green tea is made by briefly steaming the just harvested leaves, rendering them soft and pliable and preventing them from fermenting or changing color. After steaming, the leaves are rolled, then spread out and "fired" (dried with hot air or pan-fried in a wok) until they are crisp. The resulting greenish-yellow tea has a green, slightly astringent flavor close to the taste of the fresh leaf.
In black tea production, the leaves are first spread on withering racks and air-blown, which removes about one-third of their moisture and renders them soft and pliable. Next, they are rolled to break their cell walls, releasing the juices essential to fermentation. Once again, they are spread out and kept under high humidity to promote fermentation, which turns the leaves a dark coppery color and develops black tea's authoritative flavor. Finally, the leaves are "fired," producing a brownish black tea whose immersion in hot water gives a reddish-brown brew with a stronger flavor than green or oolong teas.
Oolong tea, which is made from leaves that are partially fermented before being fired, falls midway between green and black teas. Oolong is a greenish-brown tea whose flavor, color and aroma are richer than that of green tea, but more delicate than that of black.
Green tea has always been, and remains today, the most popular type of tea from China where most historians and botanists believe the tea plant originated throughout all of Asia. Why is this so? Perhaps because green tea not only captures the taste, aroma and color of spring, but delivers this delightful bouquet along with the highest concentration of beneficial phytonutrients and the least caffeine of all the teas.
History of Green Tea
Tea was discovered in China and is the stuff of myth and legend. The Chinese are credited most for the development and cultivation of tea and the methods of its early preparation and use.
Tea has played a significant role in Asian culture for centuries as a staple beverage, a curative and a symbol of status. It is not surprising its discovery is ascribed to religious or royal origins. According to Chinese legend, the god of agriculture would chew leaves, stems, and roots of various plants to discover medicinal herbs. If he consumed a poisonous plant, he would chew tea leaves to detoxify the poison. Buddhists believe that the Buddha himself discovered tea.
According to another legend, the story of Green Tea began in 2737 BC when Emperor Shen Nung, who was known at that time as the "Divine Healer", always boiled his water before he would drink it. He had noticed that his subjects who boiled their water before drinking it seemed to have longevity and better health. One afternoon, as he knelt before his boiling water, some leaves from a nearby tree blew into the pot. The Emperor noted a delightful aroma and, upon sipping the beverage, proclaimed it as "heaven sent".
The Chinese are credited most for the development and cultivation of tea and the methods of its early preparation and use. The oldest written record regarding tea appeared more than 2000 years ago in China in a labor contract between a master and laborer where tea was already treated as a saleable commodity. There is no clear record regarding when human beings began consuming tea or if people in ancient times ate tea leaves or drank brewed tea. There is some evidence that tea leaves were roasted in the process.
Tea was an expensive beverage in ancient China. Its use was confined to the wealthy segments of the population. Only in Ming dynasty after the fall of the Mongolian empire in 1368 A.D., tea drinking spread from the elite to the populace. When China was the sea power of the world (1405-1433), tea was among the indispensable supplies for the seamen. The amount of vitamin C in the tea drink consumed by the seafarers at that time was enough to prevent scurvy which would kill many European sailors more than 100 years later, but was essentially unknown to the medical officers assigned to the fleet of more than 27,000 men on their round voyage from China to Africa. In a famous painting titled "Drinking Tea" (a poor English translation of the original elegant title in Chinese, meaning "Tea Tending Event"), which is now on display in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the most admired and envied painter of Ming dynasty, Tang Yin (1470-1523), recorded the traditional method for tea preparation at the time when China was the most prosperous nation on earth. As described in the poem written on the painting, an affluent intellect actually plucked fresh leaves from the tea trees growing on the southern hillside below his house to brew tea. This document recorded the fact that fresh or non-oxidized tea leaves, i.e., green tea, were used in the prosperous Chinese society at least until the latter part of Ming dynasty.
The first shipment of tea to Europe in 1606 by the Dutch East India Company was green tea. Even to this date, the words "Orange Pekoe" printed on the tea bags served in many American and European hotels bears evidence to this fact although these same words are now being used for marketing a high-grade black tea produced in Sri Lanka and in India. In truth, the word "Orange" is the name of the Dutch royal family which had the monopoly in tea trading with China in the early 17th century. The word "Pekoe" is a phonetic spelling of the words "white fine hair" in the Amoy dialect that was used and is still used to describe a physical appearance of a high-grade green tea containing many young leaf buds. "Orange Pekoe" literally has nothing to do with black tea. Black tea does not have "white fine hair" appearance at all. Mass production of black tea in Sri Lanka began in 1869. The global black tea traders simply transposed an established designation for a high-grade green tea to their new products being sold to the unquestioning public. Black tea became popular in Europe since the 19th century and now constitutes about 80% of the tea products sold in the Western world.
Tea drinking was introduced into the USA from Europe as part of the global tea trade and via the Chinese restaurants operated by the Chinese American immigrants from southern China before 1945. As a result, most Americans are more familiar with black tea in tea bags for convenience or oolong (half-black) tea commonly served in the Chinese restaurants. The love for green tea is an acquired taste. Based on the 5000 years of tea civilization and the most recent molecular biology research, a health-conscious person should cultivate the taste for green tea in pursuing a healthy diet and life style provided the food calorie intake is more than adequate. A legend tells how a Chinese emperor of a minority origin was converted from a black tea drinker to a green tea drinker to become one of the longest reigning rulers in the history of China.
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