Everything about Tea

For the fertilization of tea gardens, Soya-bean cakes or other varieties of organic manure are generally used, and seldom chemical fertilizers. When pests are discovered, the affected plants will be removed to prevent their spread, and also to avoid the use of pesticides.

The season of tea-picking depends on local climate and varies from area to area. On the shores of West Lake in Hangzhou, where the famous green tea Longjing (Dragon Well) comes from, picking starts from the end of March and lasts through October, altogether 20-30 times from the same plants at intervals of seven to ten days. With a longer interval, the quality of the tea will deteriorate.

A skilled woman picker can only gather 600 grams (a little over a pound) of green tea leaves in a day.

The new leaves must be parched in tea cauldrons. This work , which used to be done manually, has been largely mechanized. Top-grade Dragon Well tea, however, still has to be stir-parched by hand, doing only 250 grams every half hour. The tea-cauldrons are heated electrically to a temperature of about 25^oC or 74^oF. It takes four pounds of fresh leaves to produce one pound of parched tea.

The best Dragon Well tea is gathered several days before Qingming (Pure Brightness, 5th solar term) when new twigs have just begun to grow and carry "one leaf and a bud." To make one kilogram (2.2 lbs) of finished tea, 60, 000 tender leaves have to be plucked. In the old days Dragon Well tea of this grade was meant solely for the imperial household; it was, therefore, known as "tribute tea".

For the processes of grinding, parching, rolling, shaping and drying other grades of tea various machines have been developed and built, turning out about 100 kilograms of finished tea an hour and relieving the workers from much of their drudgery.

Tea-Producing Areas

Tea is produced in vast areas of China from Hainan lsland down in the extreme south to Shandong Province in the north, from Tibet in the southwest to Taiwan across the Straits, totaling more than 20 provinces. These may be divided into four major areas:

The Jiangnan area

It lies south of the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River, and is the most prolific of China's tea-growing areas. Most of its output is the green variety; some black tea is also produced.

The Jiangbei area

This refers to a large area north of the same river, where the average temperature is 2-3 Centigrade degrees lower than in the Jiangnan area. Green tea is the principal variety turned out there, but Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, which are also parts of this area. produce compressed tea for supply to the minority areas in the Northwest.

The Southwest area

This embraces Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Tibet, producing black, green as well as compressed teas. Pu'er tea of Yunnan Province enjoys a good sale in China and abroad.

The Lingnan area

This area , consisting of the southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and taiwan, produces Wulong tea, which is renowned both at home and abroad. There are three popular varieties of Indian Tea Assam North Bengal Teas Nilgiris Darjeeling Two varieties of manufactured tea are popular in India. These are Black Tea (99%) Green Tea (1%Tea words

Tea Time Napkin Etiquette By Tamera Bastiaans

Informal teas allow for small paper napkins, which can be placed on the tea plates or the tea table (in a buffet situation). If you accidentally slop a little tea into your saucer, it is acceptable to use the paper napkin to soak it up by laying it across the saucer and then removing it to a waste basket. Napkins should be unfolded and placed on your lap where they reamin until tea is over.

Formal teas are a little different. Linen napkins are preferrable but not required, esp. napkins that match the color of the table cloth. These can also be folded and placed on the tea table or the tea plate. There are many tea table lay outs available ( try Emily Post's Book of Etiquette.) If you are having tea at tables and you are being served, the wait staff will often place the napkin on your lap for you. (They do this at our favorite tea house in Pasadena!)

Once the napkin has been removed from the plate or table, it should be unfolded and placed across your lap. Do not blot or wipe your lipstick on a linen napkin. Use a tissue to blot your lipstick before you begin to eat. Also, never use a napkin as a handkerchief. If you are seated at a table, you are never to put the napkin back on the table until tea is over. If you must leave the table and are going to return, you place the napkin on the seat of your chair. When everyone has finished tea and the hostess signals the end of tea time by picking up his or her napkin.

At the end of the tea, the napkin is not refolded, but is simply picked up by the center and placed loosely to the left of the plate.

Conclusion

Tea comes in many varieties. Common tea such as black tea contains little antioxidant and about 1/3 the amount of caffeine compared to coffee. Green tea has about 1/5 to 1/3 the caffeine content, but contains a good amount of antioxidants. Decaf tea also contains caffeine, although much less than regular tea and also less than decaf coffee. Caffeine is a known stimulant and a pro-aging compound. The negative effect of caffeine in tea outweighs any health benefits. While researchers continue to point to the cancer prevention effect of tea, we continue to caution the fact that for cancer prevention, there are better ways. Non-herbal tea contains caffeine, which we all know are potent stimulants and can, and do, upset the autonomous nervous system. For anti-cancer properties of tea, you should consider taking antioxidants from whole foods and supplement with nutritional factors like grape seed extract. There are many other ways to obtain antioxidants other than from non-herbal tea. Herbal tea is an exception because it does not contain caffeine. Detox herbal tea should be taken regularly to detoxify and tonify the body.

Anyone with high blood pressure or weak cardiovascular system should avoid caffeine, which rules out both green and black tea. Other than herbal tea and herbal detox tea, both of which contain no caffeine, the only other liquid to be consumed is pure filtered water. Another option, however, is to purchase the decaffeinated varieties of tea. Even so, it is to be noted that even decaf tea contains up to 2.5% of caffeine, about half of what can be found in regular tea.

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