Introduction page 1 Chapter I 1. What is tea?.....................................Page 2 2. What kinds of tea are there?...........Page 3 3. How was tea discovered?.................Page 5 4. Cultivation and harvesting of tea……Page 6 5. Good chemicals inside tea………………Page 9
Chapter II Fun facts about tea page…………………….Page 10
Chapter III Quiz & Answers…………………………………. Pages 12-13
As you know this is a book about tea, and I know talking about tea can be a pretty boring thing. But don’t worry about wasting your time reading this. I have many interesting facts that I want to share with you. My mom gives me a half cup of herbal tea every morning to wake me up. This is because tea is very healthy with many good things in it. In addition, according to my mom, there are many ingredients you can use to make delicious teas to drink at home which will supply nutrients and different kinds of vitamins to help blood circulation and prevent from getting cold or flu virus: ginger, chestnuts, lemon, red ginseng roots, apples, Korean pears, and many others. Of course, I always ask for a bit of honey when drinking these homemade tea. I Hope you too enjoy reading this and drinking tea!
Tea is a hot drink prepared with cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Next to water, it is the second most popular drink in the world. Drinking tea helps fighting and preventing many disease. There are 4 major types of tea – Green, Oolong, Black, and herbal tea. However, it can also be categorized in different ways: 1) based on how they are processed – white, yellow, green, oolong, black, and post-fermented tea 2) based on the degree of fermentation – non-fermented, very light fermentation, semi-fermented, and fully-fermented 3) based on how it is packed – loose tea, compressed tea, and instant tea
Black teas is the fully oxidized leaves of the Camellia Sinensis plant. Green tea is made solely with the leaves of the Camellia Sinensis plant, and comes from unoxidized leaves. Green teas are sweet and contain many of the vitamins and antioxidant properties of the fresh green tea leaf. Oolong gets its nickname “Black Dragon� because it is made from dark, long and curly tea leaves. Oolong tea usually comes from China and Taiwan. It is a semi-fermented tea, a cross between green and black teas. White tea is the world's rarest tea as it can only be picked for a few weeks in any one year. White tea comes from the delicate buds and younger leaves of the Chinese Camillia Sinensis plant. Herbal teas can be made with fresh or dried flowers, leaves, seeds or roots, or fresh and dried fruits, and it can be sweetened with sugar or honey.
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Around five thousand years ago, The Chinese Emperor Shen Nung (Divine Healer), was revered as a great teacher of agriculture and herbal medicine. He took pride in teaching his people the value of cultivating the land and the wisdom in boiling water to make it safer to drink and believed that it also increased longevity. One day, while working in his own garden, Shen Nung was enjoying a cup of steaming water when he noticed that a few leaves of a nearby camellia-like bush had blown into the imperial cup. Sipping the concoction he discovered a drink that was refreshing, relaxing yet exhilarating and increased his sense of well-being. And so tea was born! (www.teapalace.co.uk) So, the discovery of tea was accidental! While enjoying a cup of steaming water, the leaves of the camellia-like bush blew into Emperor Shen Nung’s cup and there it was: He discovered a wonderful, refreshing cup of hot aromatic water which we now call tea.
China and India are the top tea-growing countries. It takes about 4 to 12 years for a tea plant to bear seed, and about 3 years before a new plant is ready for harvesting. Growing tea plants require well-controlled climate, at least 127 cm. of rainfall a year, and preferably acidic soils. Tea can be harvested at any time of year, but leaves are at their best in the dry monsoon season. Harvesting can begin once the tea plant is about four years old, and the leaves are normally picked by hand which makes the harvest an extremely labor-intensive process. Tea harvesting has three techniques: 1) the standard harvest, where two leaves and one bud are picked 2) the medium harvest where three leaves and a bud are picked 3) the raw harvest where four leaves and one bud on a stem is picked. As you will see in the next page, high quality tea requires an extremely hard work! (The following sources were taken out of www.teaclass.com)
1. The leaves are harvested by hand, usually ranging between just the unopened bud to the top three leaves and the bud, depending on which tea is being created. Because hand-plucking is necessary in the process of harvesting, the tea "trees" are pruned into waist-high bushes. After plucking, the leaves are sorted for uniformity and any stems, twigs and broken leaves are removed. 2. The leaves are then laid out to wilt and wither for several hours to prepare them for further processing. Tea leaves, even fresh tender ones, aren't very pliable. Without withering, they would shatter and crumble when rolled and shaped. During withering, the leaves are very gently fluffed, rotated and monitored to ensure even exposure to the air. 3. This is where thousands of varieties in tea appearance are created, and also where the process of developing flavor is started. The softened tea leaves are rolled, pressed or twisted to break the cell walls of the leaf, wringing out the juices inside. This exposes enzymes and essential oils in the leaf to oxygen in the air - the start of oxidation.
4. After rolling, the leaves are laid out to rest for several hours, allowing oxidation to take place. Oxidation is the process in which the oxygen in the air interacts with the now-exposed enzymes in the leaf, turning it a reddish-brown color and changing the chemical composition. This step also has the greatest impact in the creation of the many wonderful and complex flavors in tea. The length of this process depends on the style of tea being produced and the ambient conditions at the time. Depending on the type of tea, from here the leaves could be rolled again and oxidized further, or not. 5. The final step in the production process is to "fire" or heat the leaves quickly to dry them to below 3% moisture content and stop the oxidation process. A good, even drying with very low residual moisture also ensures the tea will keep well.
Tea leaves contain more than 700 chemicals: catechins (a type of antioxidant), flavonoids (most important plant pigments for flower coloration producing yellow or red/blue pigmentation), vitamins (C, E, and K), amino acids, polyphenols and tannin, L-theanine, theobromine, theophylline, and stimulate caffeine. Drinking tea is wonderful for human health in many ways: 1.It improves beneficial intestinal microflora. 2.It provides strong immunity against intestinal disorders. 3.It protects cell membrances from oxidative damage. 4.It prevents dental decay due to the presence of fluoride. 5.It normalize blood pressure. 6.It prevents coronary heart diseases and diabetes by reducing the bloodglucose activity. 7.It protects healthy cells and suppress growth of cancer cells.
1. Tea will absorb bad odors. Pour some tea over your hands and the tea will remove all odors from your fingers and leave them smelling great. It even works great with fish odors! 2. You can use tea leaves to read the future. Just leave a small amount of tea in the bottom of the cup along with some tea leaves, and after stirring the remains three times, the pattern you’re left with will tell you what’s in store. In some parts of Asia, readers of tea leaves are just as respected as astrologers. 3. A large amount of caffeine is released from tea after the first 30 seconds of brewing. Dumping this content out and pouring new hot water is a neat trick for caffeine conscience tea drinkers. 4. Oolong Tea is a favorite weight loss tea since this tea helps boost metabolism, digest body fat and block carbohydrates. 5. Black tea can be kept fresh for longer than green tea. Black tea stored in a bag inside a sealed opaque canister may keep for 2 years, but green tea loses its freshness more quickly, usually in less than a year.
6. The ideal water temperature and steeping time for preparation of different kinds of tea are: White tea: 65 to 70 °C (149 to 158 °F) 1–2 minutes Yellow tea: 70 to 75 °C (158 to 167 °F) 1–2 minutes Oolong tea: 80 to 85°C (176 to 185 °F) 2–3 minutes Black tea:99 °C (210 °F) 2–3 minutes 7. Tea leaves are a natural means of keeping mosquitoes away. All you have to do is use slightly damp leaves to add the scent of tea to the areas you want to keep insectfree.
APPLAUSE!
1. Which two countries produce the most tea?
China and India
2. Which type of tea can help with lowering fat in your body
Oolong tea
3. When is caffeine released from the tea? 4. What is the nickname for oolong tea?
The first thirty minutes of boiling water Black dragon
5. When is the best time to harvest the tea leaves?
Dry monsoon
6. What does yellow tea lack that green tea has?
A grassy flavor
7. Where does oolong tea come from?
Taiwan and China
8. Where is yellow tea produced?
China
9. How long do you have to boil the water for oolong tea?
2-3 min
10. How many chemicals are in the tea leaves?
More than 700
1. Which two countries produce the most tea?
China and India
2. Which type of tea can help with lowering fat in your body
Oolong tea
3. When is caffeine released from the tea? 4. What is the nickname for oolong tea?
The first thirty minutes of boiling water Black dragon
5. When is the best time to harvest the tea leaves?
Dry monsoon
6. What does yellow tea lack that green tea has?
A grassy flavor
7. Where does oolong tea come from?
Taiwan and China
8. Where is yellow tea produced?
China
9. How long do you have to boil the water for oolong tea?
2-3 min
10. How many chemicals are in the tea leaves?
More than 700