THE ROOTS OF TEA
The history of tea is the stuff of legends, from the tea clippers of old battling monster seas to trade their wares in the far-flung corners of the globe to the story of Buddha’s Tears.
Tea is the world’s most consumed drink after water and the ritual associated with it is woven into the very fabric of society. Intertwined with religion, medicine, community and art, tea has an undoubted significance in our world. The tea revolution that is being steeped today is one more incarnation in a long history.
The History of Tea
Tea begins its story in China about 4,700 years ago, when wild tealeaves fell into a pot of boiling water, being prepared for Chinese Emperor Shen Nung. So the story goes, Shen Nung sipped the resulting infusion and claimed, It quenches thirst: it gladdens and cheers the heart.
In India the story of the Buddha’s tears tells of a monk, Dharuma, meditating for nine years. After five years, sleep gets the better of him and when he wakes he tears off his eyelids in dismay and casts them to the ground. Where they fall tea plants spring up and Dharuma discovers the leaves of the bush relieve his drowsiness and enable him to complete his meditation.
In China tea is part of body, mind, spirit and home and is woven into history, philosophy, art and literature. In Japan, the pastime made popular in China, reading poetry, writing calligraphy, painting and discussing philosophy while sipping tea, quickly became part of Samurai culture. Tea, and the ceremony surrounding it, played a prominent role in feudal diplomacy and by the sixteenth century, the current Way of Tea (the Japanese tea ceremony) was established.
Portuguese and Dutch traders introduced tea to Europe as a luxury alongside silk and spice and it soon became the height of sophistication among the aristocracy, precious leaves locked away tight in caddies to be sipped from the finest new ‘china’ porcelain imported from the East and named after its country of origin.
Similarly, in Australia tea is woven into our story, from tea as a symbol of the wealth and superiority of the empire and her servants far from home, to a billy hissing and spitting above a campfire, the brew the best friend of the bushman as he wanders the land. In Australia tea is not reserved for the privileged, it is a privilege for all.
How Tea is Made
All tea is made from one plant, the Camelia Sinensis. It has two main varietals: Sinensis originating in China and Sinensis Assamica from the Assam region in North India. Shiny, green leaves are harvested from the plant regularly to encourage new growth: the top two leaves (plus the bud, or tip) make the finest grade while the vibrant flavours of the first growth (or flush) of the season are especially prized. The short, intense growing season of high altitudes improves flavour even further, adding an ethereal element, hence the sublime taste of first flush Darjeeling and seasonal teas from the high slopes of Yunnan province in China.
Green, Black, White or Oolong?
Tealeaves are picked green; it is the manner of processing that determines whether the tea becomes black, green white or oolong. For black tea the green leaves are withered and rolled to damage the leaf; this enables oxidization, which produces the characteristic taste and colour, then the leaves are fired with hot air to stabilise them. Green tea is characterised by the sweetness and amino acid content of the fresh green unoxidised leaves of which it is comprised, these are steamed or wok-fired to stabilise them. Oolong is part way between black and green, with oxidisation stopped after a short time, imbuing this tea with both the freshness of green tea and the subtlety and maturity of black.
White tea is both rare and precious as the tips must be handpicked while still in bud and then softly dried to produce a pale, delicate infusion. And Pu-erh tea is an aged or post-fermented green tea.
A Quick Guide
- White tea: simply dried.
- Green tea: unwilted and unoxidised
- Oolong: wilted, bruised, and partially oxidised
- Black tea: wilted, sometimes crushed, and fully oxidised
- Post-fermented tea: green tea that has been allowed to ferment/ compost
Old World vs New World Tea
The Old World/ New World differentiation in tea is similar to the differentiation of Old World and New World wines, partly historical, partly geographical.
Old World tea is tea produced in and around it’s indigenous environment; China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan and India, while New World tea is tea that is grown in Africa, Australia, South America, Hawaii, New Zealand and everywhere else.
Old World tea has at its heart the sense of ritual and ceremony and an ancient appreciation wrapped in age-old customs. New World tea is a reflection of the western adoption of eastern tastes, begun in Africa by the Brittish and now grown by boutique farmers developing single-origin teas and blends to tempt different palates. It is about experimentation with tea, using traditional hand-farming techniques and melding them with cutting edge science to produce exceptional results.
