 "When a guest comes to my home from afar on a cold night, I light bamboo to boil tea to offer him." — Ancient Chinese poem.
China is the home country of tea. Before the Tang Dynasty, Chinese tea was exported by land and sea, first to Japan and Korea, then to India and Central Asia and, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, to the Arabian Peninsula.
In the early period of the 17th century, Chinese tea was exported to Europe, where the upper class adopted the fashion of drinking tea. Chinese tea—like Chinese silk and china—has become synonymous of a refined culture worldwide.
At the heart of the art of tea -- the study and practice of tea in all its aspects -- is the simple gesture of offering a cup of tea to a guest that for Chinese people today is a fundamental social custom, as it has been for centuries.
The Earliest Book on Tea
China traces the development of tea as an art form to Lu Yu, known as "the Saint of Tea" in Chinese history, who lived during the Tang Dynasty and who wrote The Book of Tea, the first ever treatise on tea and tea culture. The spirit of tea permeates Chinese culture, and throughout the country there are many kinds of teas, teahouses, tea legends, tea artifacts and tea customs.
Prior to Lu Yu's The Treatise on Tea (or Cha Jing in Chinese), people could only link up the venerable art of tea drinking from poems and legends. The Treatise on Tea made a deeper analysis and synthesis. Thus Lu Yu's writing marked the debut of scientific knowledge of tea which has had a profound impact.
The Major Contributions of The Treatise on Tea: The 7000 words treatise is composed of three parts and ten sections.
Part One: the first section deals with the origin, the properties, the names and quality of tea; the second introduces the functions and specifications of the 15 kinds of appliances and tools for picking and preparing tea leaves; the third discusses the ways for selecting and picking tea leaves and their preparation. Part Two: the fourth lists the utensils for infusing and drinking tea.
Part Three: the fifth mentions the ways of infusion, and evaluates the quality of water of various places, the fragrance and color of brewed tea; the sixth talks about the custom and practices of tea drinking; the seventh tells the related stories, origins and the curative effects of tea; the eighth gives a critique on tea of various places; the ninth suggests what kind of appliances and utensils can be eliminated; the tenth teaches people to write the treatise on wilk as mural tapestries.
The treatise epitomized the preparation of tea and recorded the related materials and historical documents in detail. It is the most expositive book which gives an account of the author's personal experience. Despite its age—old information which was limited by the scientific conditions of the time, it is still the best available reference for studying the art of tea.
Categories of Chinese Tea
Chinese tea may be classified into five categories according to the different methods by which it is processed.
- Green tea: Green tea is the variety that keeps the original color of the tealeaves without fermentation during processing. This category consists mainly of Longjing tea of Zhejiang Province, Maofeng of Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province and Biluochun produced in Jiangsu.
Green Tea is the most natural of all Chinese tea classes. It's picked, naturally dried, and then fried briefly (a process called "killing the green") to get rid of its grassy smell. Green Tea has the most medical value and the least caffeine content of all Chinese tea classes. Aroma is medium to high, and flavor is light to medium. About 50% of China's teas are Green tea.
- Black tea: Black tea, known as "red tea" in China, is the category which is fermented before baking; it is a later variety developed on the basis of green tea. The best brands of black tea are Qihong of Anhui, Dianhong of Yunnan, Suhong of Jiangsu, Chuanhong of Sichuan and Huhong of Hunan.
Chinese Black tea produces a full-body amber when brewed. Black tea undergoes withering (drying), left to ferment for a long while, and then roasted. Black tea leaves become completely oxidized after processing. Black tea has a robust taste with a mild aroma. It contains the highest amount of caffeine in Chinese tea classes.
- Oolong tea: This represents a variety half way between the green and the black teas, being made after partial fermentation. It is a specialty from the provinces on China's southeast coast: Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan.
Typical Oolong Tea leaves are green in the middle and red on the edges as a result of the process to soften tealeaves. Oolong Tea leaves are withered and spread before undergoing a brief fermentation process. Then Oolong Tea is fried, rolled and roasted. Oolong Tea is the chosen tea for the famous Kung Fu Cha brewing process. It's the serious Chinese tea drinker's tea. Aroma ranges from light to medium. Beginners in Oolong Tea should be careful as even though flavor is only mild to medium, the tea could be very strong.
- Compressed tea: This is the kind of tea that is compressed and hardened into a certain shape. It is good for transport and storage and is mainly supplied to the ethnic minorities living in the border areas of the country. Most of the compressed tea is in the form of bricks; it is, therefore, generally called "brick tea", though it is sometimes also in the form of cakes and bowls. It is mainly produced in Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.
Most Chinese Compressed Tea uses Black Tea as the base tea. Compressed Tea has all the characteristics of Black Tea. It can be stored for years or decades. Aged Compressed Tea has a tamed flavor that Compressed Tea fans would pay a huge price for.
- Scented Tea: This kind of tea is made by mixing fragrant flowers in the tealeaves in the course of processing. The flowers commonly used for this purpose are jasmine and magnolia among others. Jasmine tea is a well-known favorite with the northerners of China and with a growing number of foreigners. It is subdivided into Flower Tea and Scented Tea. Flower Tea is a simple concept that dried flowers are used, without much processing, to make tea. Scented Tea uses green tea, red tea as base and mix with scent of flowers. Chinese Scented Tea has light to medium flavor and medium to strong aroma.
Tea and health
 Tea is a natural and health drink. Modern research indicates that tea contents lots of nutrients that help to build up good health.
- Tea can refresh and help you work efficiency.
Tea is a true stimulant, because of the caffeine it contains. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system and blood circulation. It helps muscles relax and influence the metabolic process of all body cells. Tea also has an effort of blood vessel dilation and prevent from the cardiovascular and coronary diseases. Tea is used to cure angina pectoris and myocardial infarction. In clinics, tea is used to cure cold and headache with no side effects. Caffeine is also contained in Aspirin tablets.
- Tea is a thirst quencher
In summer time, we'll feel comfortable when we drink a cup of tea. This must attribute to the Polyphones, carbohydrates amino acid, etc. contained in tea that react chemically with the saliva to result in dispersing the excessive body heat and purging toxin, promoting the waste disposal of the body. Metabolism keeps balance after drinking tea.
- Tea helps to disinfect and alleviate inflammation
Polyphones can kill the colon bacillus, typhoid and cholera, etc. by solidifying their protein contained in those bacteria. Folk remedies prevailing in China showed that a cup of strong tea is good for curing the bacillary dysentery, applying for external wounds; dispersing toxin and inflammation. The patent drugs using tea as raw materials are good for dysentery and cold.
(Source: teanet) |
