Why TEA ?? A question which can prop up in anyone's mind when I talk about it. My answer is simple - because I love to make people understand that even a cup of tea can bring exquisiteness in our lives. For me, Tea is a symbol of simplistic elegance. It is our claim to elitehood.
Now let us talk about tea. As Indians, it is surprising that we hardly know about tea. In layman's language tea is of two kinds - gol-daana (CTC) and leaves (Orthodox). CTC is the variety which we usually drink and is made by "crushing-tearing-curling", a 3-step process which is used to release the juices of tea leaves and oxidize them. The orthodox tea is manufactured with the help of orthodox roller in the process of rolling. While, most of the teas produced in Sri Lanka is of ‘orthodox’ variety, Kenya produces mainly CTC teas.
Main benefits of tea :
1. Health : Possible effectiveness against cardiovascular diseases and cancer; Dental health (presence of fluoride) and against high blood pressure ; High amount of antioxidants;
2. Social : Many cultures have revolved their social activities around tea. Japan, Arab, India, China etc. all have associated tea drinking with an elitist activity. (Though in India, tea is now so common that it has lost its exclusiveness).
Types of tea (based on processing techniques):
- White tea: Unwilted and unoxidized
- Yellow tea: Unwilted and unoxidized but allowed to yellow
- Green tea: Wilted and unoxidized
- Oolong: Wilted, bruised, and partially oxidized
- Black tea: Wilted, sometimes crushed, and fully oxidized
- Post-fermented tea: Green Tea that has been allowed to ferment/compost
Indian black tea are : Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiri
Flavored tea can be made by adding different flavors to the tea leaves. Demand of flavored tea leaves is increasing everyday. Few famous flavored tea are: Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Masala Chai and Lemon.
Tea making is an art depending on the tea being served. The intricacies range from keeping the temperature of the hot water to just the right limit, to pouring it over leaves from a certain height, to the choice of tea pot, to the time allowed for brewing of tea leaves, to the amount of additives such as sugar and milk. Number of servings also determines the taste of the tea with the 3 rd pass giving the best flavor in case of black tea.
There are a number of dishes which go along very well with different varieties of tea. A hot steaming cup of masala chai with a parantha is enough to make people crave in norther india where as a cup cake with Assam tea is the cultivated delicacy of British raj.
All I am left to say here is that tea is a single drink which can be inherently modified into thousands of flavors without changing its essence and it is this art of serving a perfect cup of tea to go along with perfect company I want to learn and explore.
Some links for reference:
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tea.htm
http://teaboard.gov.in/inner2.asp?param_link_id=310&mem_link_name=About%20Tea
