Tea

Description

Tea (chin. cha) non – alcoholic drink made by steeping or boiling the specially processed plant leaves. People harvest the leaves from the same bushes grown in extensive plantations in warm and humid climates. The most favorable weather conditions are tropical and subtropical.

Initially, the drink was popular only as a drug; however, during the Tang dynasty’s reign in China, this brew became a popular drink for daily use. Many myths and legends accompany the advent of tea. According to Chinese legend, the drink created one deity, who created all things arts and crafts, Shen-Nun, who accidentally dropped a few leaves of the tea bush in the pot with the herbs. Since that time, he drank only tea. The appearance of the legend dates back to 2737 BC.

History of thу Drink

Later legend is a legend about Buddhism’s preacher, Bodhidharma, who, while meditating accidentally fell asleep. Waking up, he was so angry at himself that in a fit cut off his eyelids. In the place of fallen eyelids, he put rose tea; the next day tasted its leaves. Bodhidharma felt fit and energized.

Into Europe, the drink came in the 16th century, First in France, with Dutch traders. A big fan of this brew was Louis the 14th, who said that Eastern men drink tea to treat gout. It is this disease that often troubled the king. From France, the drink spread in all European countries. It is especially loved in Germany, the UK, and the countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The ten countries with the highest volume of tea consumption included: England, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Japan, Russia, USA, India, Turkey.

Collection and sorting of tea leaves is exclusively manual work. Most valued the top two leaf shoots and adjacent unblown buds. Using this raw material, they get expensive brew variety. The ripe leaves they use for cheap varieties of tea. The mechanization of the Assembly of tea is not economically advantageous because the collection combines mixes good raw material with a large amount of debris in the form of dried leaves, sticks, and coarse stems.

After Assembly, the tea production has several stages:

• drying the leaves. To soften and lose moisture, they lay the tea leaves out evenly and leave for 4-8 hours at a temperature of 32-40°C;
• the Curling sheet. The process is manual or by mechanical rollers. At this stage, stands out the juice from the leaves and thus lost a large part of the moisture;
• fermentation. Under the action of oxidation of contained in the leaf starch converts into simple sugars, and chlorophyll – in tannins;
• drying. To stop the oxidation and achieve leaf wetness 3-5% they dry them at 105°C (green tea) or 90-95°C (black tea);
• cutting on the automated line, if provided;
• sorting depending on the formed tea leaves;
• the introduction of aromatic additives or collection of herbs, if this is provided the recipe of the finished product;
• packing.

There is an extensive classification of tea according to various criteria:

1. The type of the tea Bush. There are several varieties of plants: Chinese, Assamese, Cambodian.
2. According to the degree and duration of fermentation, the brew can be green, black, white, yellow, Oolong, PU-erh tea.
3. At the place of growth. Depending on the tea production volume, there is a so-called gradation of tea. The largest producer is China (mostly leafy green, black, yellow, and white varieties). Next in descending order comes India (black small sheet and granulated), Sri Lanka (Ceylon green and black teas), Japan (green variety for the domestic market), Indonesia, and Vietnam (green and black teas), Turkey (low and medium quality black tea). In Africa, the highest number of plantations are in Kenya, the South African Republic, Mauritania, Cameroon, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Zaire. The tea is of low quality, black cut.
4. According to the leaves and processing types, the tea is divided into extruded, extracted, granulated, and packaged.
5. Special additional processing. This can be an additional degree of fermentation, roasting, or partial digestion in animals’ stomachs.
6. Due to a flavor. The most popular additives are Jasmine, bergamot, lemon, and mint.
7. Herbal filling. These teas from traditional beverages have only the name. Usually, it’s just a collection of medicinal plants or berries: chamomile, mint, rose, currant, raspberry, hibiscus, thyme, St. John’s wort, origanum, and others.

Depending on the type of the plant and the fermentation process, there are rules for brewing the drink. To prepare a single serving of tea, you should use 0.5-2.5 tsp of dry tea. The varieties of black brew you must pour with boiling water, while green, white, and yellow varieties – boiled water cooled to 60-85°C.

The process of making tea has its principal stages.

Following them you can get truly great fun and the process of cooking and the drink:

• the preparation process;
• dosage brew;
• water heating;
• warming dishes for welding;
• the process of brewing;
• spill drink cups;
• drinking method.

Based on these simple stages, many countries have formed their own traditions of tea drinking.

It is customary to drink a hot tea in China, in small SIPS, without sugar or any additives. The process combines drinking as an act of respect, unity, or apology. The brew is always served to people of younger age or senior status.

Japan and China traditions

In Japan, as in China, they do not add anything to change the tea’s taste and drink it in small SIPS hot or cold. Traditional is drinking green tea after and during meals.

Normand traditions

There are nomads and monks in the mountains of Tibet who prepare green brick mixed with butter and salt. The drink is very nutritious and is designed to restore strength after a long movement in the mountains. The reception and welcomed guests, always accompanied by tea. They constantly power the owner pures tea for guests because it is believed that the Cup should not be empty. Just before leaving, the guest must empty his Cup, thereby showing respect and gratitude.

Uzbek traditions

Uzbek tradition of this brew drinking differs a lot from Tibetan. It is customary to welcome guests to pour as little tea as possible to provide more opportunity to contact the host for more and express its respect for welcoming home. In turn, the owner is pleasant and not a burden to pour into a bowl for more tea. For the intruders, they immediately pour a full Cup of tea just once and no longer pour.

English traditions

The English tradition of drinking the brew has a great similarity with the Japanese. In England, it is customary to drink tea with milk three times a day: at Breakfast time, lunch (13:00), and dinner (17:00). However, the high degree of urbanization and the country’s pace has led to a significant simplification of the traditions. Basically, they used tea bags, which saves time and does not require a large number of devices (required tea set, Cutlery, napkins, and fresh flowers to match the tablecloth, table, and meals).

Russian traditions

Traditionally in Russia, tea is brewed after a meal with boiled water from the “Samovar,” and the teapot stood on the top and is constantly fueled by stimulating the process of extraction of the drink. Often to be found in the process of double brewing the drink. While steep, the drink brewed in a small pot, then they poured small portions into cups and diluted with hot water. This allowed everyone to adjust the strength of the drink individually. It was also decided to pour tea into a saucer and drink with a bit of sugar. However, such an excellent tradition had almost disappeared. They can still be found in remote areas of the country and villages. Basically, now people use tea bags and boil water in conventional gas or electric kettles.