Chinese were the first to discover tea
In the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company introduced Chinese tea for the first time to Europe. In the middle of the 17th century, afternoon tea had become a standard ritual of the British nobility. Interestingly, the two different pronunciations for "tea", more common in the languages which borrowed the word from Chinese-cha and tee-originate from different dialects of Chinese.
The Chinese is believed to have enjoyed drinking tea for over 4,000 years. Legend Yan Di, one of three rulers in ancient times, tasted all kinds of herbs to find cures medical. One day, when he was being poisoned by a weed that had ingested a drop of water from a tea tree dripped into his mouth and he was saved. For a long time, tea has been used as herbal medicine. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, tea was a religious offering. During the Spring and Autumn Period, people ate fresh tea leaves as vegetables. With the popularization of Buddhism from the three kingdoms of the Northern Dynasties and the South, the cooling effect of the converted tea a favorite among monks in Za-Zen meditation.
Chinese tea as a drink prospered during the Tang Dynasty, and stores tea became popular. A major event this time was the conclusion of Classic Tea, the cornerstone of Chinese tea culture, by Lu Yu Tea sage of China. This little book details rules concerning various aspects of tea, such as growth areas for tea trees, goods and skills for processing tea, tea tasting, the history of Chinese tea and citations of other documents, comments on tea from various places, and notes occasions on which goods to be complete and tea when some goods can be omitted.
How title = "Chinese Tea"> Chinese tea is made
Tea is made from young, tender leaves of the tree tea. The differences between the many types of tea available are based on particular methods used to process the leaves. The key to the whole process is roasting and fermenting. Through fermentation, the originally deep green leaves are reddish-brown. The longer the fermentation, the darker the color. Depending the length of the roasting and degree of fermentation, the flavor can range from floral, fruit, malt.
Growing tea
The proportion of tea leaves to water also depends on the type of tea leaves used. The kettle can be filled with a quarter and three quarters of tea leaves, depending mainly on how curly tea leaves are the result of the rolling and roasting processes. The teapot is then filled with water. Soak begins Time for a minute, but varies from tea to tea. The time required for subsequent infusions of the same leaves must be proportionally lengthened. The best kind of teapot to use for most fermented teas is a pot of purple clay pottery. The size of the pot should be in correct proportion to the size of the cups. Ideally, the cups should have white interiors, to facilitate accurate assessment of the color of tea.
Types of tea
Chinese tea can be classified into five types of teas according to the different methods by which it occurs.
Green tea
Green tea is the variety that keeps the original color of the tea leaves without fermentation during processing. This category consists mainly of Longjing tea of the province Zhejiang Maofeng Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province and Jiangsu biluochun produced.
Black tea
Black tea, known as "red tea" (hong cha) in China, is the category which is fermented before cooking, the variety is more developed on the basis of the the green tea. The best brands of black tea are Qihong Anhui, Yunnan Dianhong, Suhong Jiangsu Huhong Chuanhong Sichuan and Hunan.
title = "Tea Oolong "> Oolong Tea
This represents a wide range midway between green and black tea, which was made after of partial fermentation. It is a specialty from the provinces on the southeast coast of China: Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan.
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