Tea

1. china, the Homeland of Tea

Of the three major beverages of the world – tea, coffee and cocoa – tea is consumed by the largest number of people.

China is the homeland of tea. It is believed that China has tea – shrubs as early as five to six thousand years ago, and human cultivation of teaplants dates back two thousand years.

Tea from China, along with her silk and porcelain, began to be known the world over more than a thousand years ago and has since always been an important Chinese export. At present more than forty countries in the world grow tea with Asian countries producing 90% of the world's total output.

All tea trees in other countries have their origin directly or indirectly in China. The word for tea leaves or tea as a drink in many countries are derivatives from the Chinese character “cha”. The Russians call it “cha'i”, which sounds like “chaye” (tea leaves) as it is pronounced in northern China, and the English word “tea” sounds similar to the pronunciation of its counterpart in Xinmen (Amoy).

The Japanese character for tea is written exactly the same as it is in Chinese, though pronounced with a slight difference. The habit of tea drinking spread to Japan in the 6th century, but it was not introduced to Europe and America till the 17th and 18th centuries. Now the number of tea drinkers in the world is legion and is still on the increase.

2. The Categories of Tea

Chinese tea may be classified into five categories according to the different methods by which it is processed.

1)Green tea: Grean tea is the variety which keeps the original colour of the tea leaves without fermentation during processing. This category consists mainly of Longjing tea of ZhejiangProvince, Maofeng of Huangshan Mountain in AnhuiProvince and Biluochun produced in Jiangsu.

2)Black tea: Black tea, known as “red tea” (hong cha) in China, is the category which is fermented before baking; it is a later variety developed on the basis of the green tea. The best brands of black tea are Qihong of Anhui, Dianhong of Yunnan, Suhong of Jiangsu, Chuanhong of Sichuan and Huhong of Hunan.

3)Wulong tea: This represents a variety half way between the green and the black tea, being made after partial fermentation. It is a specialty from the provinces on China's southeast coast: Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan.

4)Compressed tea: this is the kind of tea which is compressed and hardened into a certain shape. It is a good for transport and storage and is mainly supplied to the ethnic minorities living in the border areas of the country. As compressed tea in black in colour in the its commercial form, so it is also known in China as “black tea”. Most of the compressed tea is in the form of bricks; it is, therefore, generally called “brick tea”, though it is sometimes also in the form of cakes and bowls. It is mainly produce in Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Yunan provinces.

5)Scented tea: This kind of tea is made by mixing fragrant flowers in the tea leaves in the course of processing. The flowers commonly used for this purpose are jasmine and magnolia among others. Jasmine tea is a well-known favourite with the northerners of China and with a growing number of foreigners.