Know Your Tea
Know Your Tea
Tea is a beverage made by steeping processed leaves, buds and/or twigs of the tea bush, Camellia sinensis, in hot water for a few minutes. There is only one true tea plant: the Camellia sinensis. There are four basic types of true tea: white tea, green tea, oolong tea and black tea. The difference is in the processing. This can include oxidation, heating, drying and the addition of other herbs, flowers, spices and fruits.
Tea is a natural source of the amino acid theanine, methylxanthines such as caffeine and theobromine and polyphenolic antioxidant catechins. It has almost no carbohydrates, fat or protein. It has a cooling, slightly bitter, astringent flavor.
The term herbal tea usually refers to infusions of fruit, herbs, leaves, roots, bark or other parts of a plant or some plants. Herbal teas usually contain little or no Camellia sinensis.
Camellia sinensis is an evergreen plant and grows in tropical to sub-tropical climates. In addition to tropical climates (at least 50 inches of rainfall a year), it also prefers acidic soils. Many high quality tea plants grow at elevations up to 1500 meters (5,000 ft), as the plants grow more slowly and acquire a better flavor. Only the top 1-2 inches of the mature plant are picked. These buds and leaves are called flushes and a plant will grow a new flush every seven to ten days during the growing season.
Tea plants will grow into a tree if left undisturbed, but cultivated plants are pruned to waist height for ease of plucking.
Two principal varieties are used, the small-leaved China plant (C. sinensis sinensis) and the large-leaved Assam plant (C. sinensis assamica). There are about six varieties grown in different areas of the world.
These types of tea are distinguished by the processing they undergo. Leaves of Camellia sinensis soon begin to wilt and oxidize if not dried quickly after picking. The leaves turn progressively darker because chlorophyll breaks down and tannins are released. This process, enzymatic oxidation, is called fermentation in the tea industry although no true fermentation happens (that is, the process isn’t microorganism-driven). The next step in processing is to stop the oxidation process at a predetermined stage by heating, which deactivates the enzymes responsible. With black tea this is done simultaneously with drying. Without careful moisture and temperature control during its manufacture and thereafter, fungi will grow on tea. This form of fungus causes real fermentation that will contaminate the tea with toxic and sometimes carcinogenic substances and off-flavors, rendering the tea unfit for consumption.
Tea is traditionally classified based on the producing technique :
Young leaves (new growth buds) that have undergone no oxidation; the buds may be shielded from sunlight to prevent formation of chlorophyll. White tea is produced in lesser quantities than most other styles, and can be correspondingly more expensive than tea from the same plant processed by other methods. It is less well known in countries outside of China, though this is changing with increased western interest in organic or premium teas.
The oxidation process is stopped after a minimal amount of oxidation by application of heat, either with steam, or by dry cooking in hot pans, the traditional Chinese method. Tea leaves may be left to dry as separate leaves or they may be rolled into small pellets to make Gunpowder tea. This process is time consuming and is typically done with pekoes of higher quality. The tea is processed within one to two days of harvesting.
Oxidation is stopped somewhere between the standards for green tea and black tea. The oxidation process takes two to three days. In Chinese, semi-oxidized teas are collectively grouped as blue tea, while the term “oolong” is used specifically as a name for certain semi-oxidized teas.
The tea leaves are allowed to completely oxidize. Black tea is the most common form of tea in southern Asia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Malasia, etc.) and in the last century many African countries including Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi and Zimbawe. The literal translation of the Chinese word is red tea, which is used by some tea lovers. The Chinese call it red tea because the actual tea liquid is red. Westerners call it black tea because the tea leaves used to brew it are usually black. However, red tea may also refer to Rooibos, an increasingly popular South African Tisane or herbal tea. The oxidation process will take between two weeks and one month. Black tea is further classified as either orthodox or as CTC (crush, tear, curl), a production method developed about 1932). Unblended black teas are also identified by the estate they come from, their year and the flush (first, second or autumn). Orthodox processed black teas are further graded according to the post-production leaf quality by the Orange Pekoe system, while CTC teas use a different grading system.
Teas that undergo a second oxidation, such as Pu-erh, Liu’an, and Liuboa, are collectively referred to as secondary or post-fermentation teas in English. In Chinese they are categorized as Dark tea or black tea. This is not to be confused with the English term Black tea, known in Chinese as red tea. Pu-erh, also known as Póu léi (Polee) in Cantonese is the most common type of post-fermetation tea in the market.
Either used as a name of special tea processed similarly to green tea, or high-quality tea served at the Imperial Chinese court.
Also called winter tea, kukicha is made from twigs and old leaves pruned from the tea plant during its dormant season and dry-roasted over a fire. It is popular as a health food in Japan and in macro-biotic diets.
Orange pekoe is a term mainly used to describe a grade of tea found in the grading system used for sorting black teas (Orange pekoe grading). The system is based solely upon the size of the processed and dried black tea leaves.
The term “Orange Pekoe” is used in the tea industry to describe a basic medium grade black tea consisting of many single whole tea leaves of a specific size; however, it is usually used in popular Western culture to describe any generic black tea, or in some cases, even a specific variety of black tea. Black teas to be graded in this system must be obtained from new flushes, which are the terminal leaf bud along with a few of the youngest tea leaves. Grading is based solely on the size of the individual leaves and flushes, which is determined by their ability to fall through screens of specific meshes ranging from 8–30 mesh. This parameter also determines loosely the wholeness, or level of breakage, of each leaf, which is also part of the grading system. Although the grading system is not an indicator of quality, the size of the leaves will, more often than not, influence the taste and clarity of the resulting brew. Black teas of the basic grade (Orange Pekoe) are highly fragrant, with strong floral and fruity aromas, as well as a pleasant woody note. The taste should be slightly bitter with no astringency, and a sweet aftertaste.
The term “Orange pekoe” is commonly misused to denote a variety of tea, as seen on this package.
When used outside the context of black tea grading, the term “Pekoe“, or occasionally “Orange pekoe“, describes the unopened terminal leaf bud (tips) in tea flushes. As such, terms such as “a bud and a leaf” or “a bud and two leaves“, used to describe the “leafiness” of picked flush, are often used interchangeably with “pekoe and a leaf” or “pekoe and two leaves“, respectively.
