Everything you want to know about Tea
Author: Charlie Chua
Contents……………………… What is tea?........................................................................2-3 Tea history……………………………………………………..4-6 Tea around the World…………………………………………7-8 The tea process……………………………………………….9-11 Tea’s benefits………………………………………………….12-13 Tea quiz………………………………………………………...14-16 Answers…………………………………………………………17 References……………………………………………………..18 Glossary………………………………………………………...19 Index…………………………………………………………….20
What is tea? Tea, the most popular beverage on the planet. There are millions of people drinking it each day. But have you ever wondered how this popular drink ended up in your cup? This book will show you how it started from a tiny leaf and went through a great journey to end up in your cup, and many more interesting facts.
Tea comes in many different varieties. There is green tea, oolong tea, black tea and white tea. There are many more kinds of tea but those are the main ones.
Black tea
Green tea
Oolong tea
White tea
Tea history Like many old objects, tea is one of the best. Believe it or not, tea is almost 4000 years old! Tea all started in ancient China by scholar and herbalist, Emperor Shen Nong. Legend has it that he was in a distant region with his loyal subjects. They stopped to rest. The Emperor's servants started making boiled water for the king and his subjects. Some dry leaves from a nearby camellia bush fell into the boiling water. The Emperor was so interested in the aroma he decided to try the mixture. He was so refreshed and delighted that he decided to announce that ‘tea gives vigor to the body.’ That was how tea was invented. But everyone drank it as a medical beverage and didn’t start being a daily drink until 300 A.D.
The Camellia bush
In the Tang and Song dynasty, tea started to show some great significance to Chinese tradition. In the middle of the tang dynasty (780 A.D.) a scholar named Lu Yu published a book called Cha Ching or The Tea Classic in English. He picked up a lot of information about tea like brewing, the process, planting and tasting tea. His work managed to evaluate tea drinking in China. So the art of tea drinking was born.
Cha Ching (The Tea Classic) A picture of Lu Yu
Later, in the Song dynasty. An Emperor helped the spread of the consumption of tea even further in it’s wonderful custom. He enjoyed drinking tea so much that he turned it into a gift for those who were worthy. Tea inspired so many people to write books, paint paintings, make songs or poems. This not only popularized tea further, but it also elevated the value of tea which drew many tea growers to the capital.
A picture of the emperor tea lover
Tea around the World Tea has become famous throughout the world. But first as you now already know, tea started in China. But how to did it end up in other countries. Tea first came around Japan in 729 B.C. The first continent which discovered China’s tea making was Europe. It was in the sixteenth Century that they started doing trade with China’s trade markets. Sailors traded for tea and brought it back to Europe. But tea didn’t reach England until 1658.
Map of the World
In the eighteenth Century, the Duchess of Bedford invented ‘afternoon tea.’ Assam, Darjeeling and Ceylon discovered tea and amazingly, Kenya which just started planting tea in 1903 has almost one of the biggest amount of tea in the world even though it’s tea history is not as long as assumed! Other places with big tea population: India: holds a third of the world’s tea population Sri Lanka: Is the third biggest tea producer.
Taiwan: Makes a high quality green tea.
The tea process In order for this magnificent beverage to end up in your cup, they first have to go through a process. First some tea growers go out to the fields to collect tea leaves for the process. The leaves are then shipped to a tea factory. All teas come from the same leaf, it just depends on what kind of process it goes through.
The different processes for tea should look like this. Spice or anything else like that might be added in.
In the olden days they might have just threw the leaves into boiled water. But soon they made a process. The process is similar to the tea process today. But since they didn’t have proper machines or electricity, the process was really slow. That was how tea became so expensive.
What may have been the old process for tea.
Tea’s benefits Tea has many benefits. Like many medicines, tea can treat sickness. But sometimes this medical tea comes from herbal plants. This kind of sickness treating drink is called Tisane. Some tea historians believe that tea can even heal wounds, but this is most unlikely because tea is meant to give vigor to the insides of the body not outside.
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Tea is also very delicious and is a great drink after a busy day or a stroll in the snow. Tea is great all over the world!
Tea Quiz So how much have you learnt about tea? You better be prepared because you’re going to have a tea quiz! So be prepared for anything. Q1.What is tea? a) A car b) a food c) a beverage d) a poison Q2.Where was tea born? a) India b) China c) Japan d) Mars Q3.Who discovered tea? a) Lu Yu b) Shen Nong c) a Martian d) Master Chief
Q4. Which country was the first to discover China’s tea ability? a) America b) India c) Japan d) England Q5. Who invented afternoon tea? a) The Duchess of Bedford b) Einstein c) Gandhi d) Lu Yu Q6. Where do tea leaves go after being picked? a) Disneyland b) The sea c) The rubbish plant d) the factory Q7. Tea is also a ______. a) Food b) a beverage c) a medicine d) a shampoo
Answers Q1. c)
Q7. c)
Q2. b) Q3. b) Q4. c) Q5. a) Q6. d) ( Don’t peak at the answers while doing the quiz )
References
http://www2.gol.com/users/pndl/mpt/welcome/tea_culture. http://www.chcp.org/tea.html http://www.teamuseum.org/tea.php http://www.2basnob.com/tea-types.html http://www.tricycle.com/blog/?p=1 828 http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1qYbQOklk8Q&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raptRo19ibE http://www.learn-about-tea.com/
Glossary Beverage: A drink
dynasty: A royal family’s reign
Varieties: Means different kinds
brewing: the business on making tea
Scholar: A knowledgeable man
evaluate: to judge
Herbalist: A person who studies herbs.
elevated: means going up
Aroma: A great spreading smell
benefits: The good things about things
Vigor: more strength or energy
Index Lu Yu: 5 Medicine: 12 Process table: 10,11 Shen Nong: 4 Song Dynasty: 6 Tea population: 8 What is tea: 1, 2