Tea

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Tea

Tea
© Denzil Green

Tea means several things: the Tea shrub, the leaves of the shrub, and the drink made from the leaves. Tea is grown in tropical and subtropical areas; connoisseurs say the best Tea is grown at high altitudes.

  • Black Tea is Tea leaves that have been fermented before drying; it makes a brown coloured drink;
  • Green Tea is unfermented, dried leaves that consequently makes a milder tasting, green coloured drink;
  • Oolong Tea is Tea leaves that are allowed to ferment a little, thus it is a cross between the above two in taste and colour. First brought to the west in 1869;
  • Black Tea is popular in Anglo-Saxon and European countries; Oolong is popular in China, and Green Tea is popular through Asia.
  • Herbal Teas are actually not Tea at all, or at least not Tea from the Tea shrub, that is. Herbal Teas are made from roots, flowers, peels, berries, leaves and seeds of other plants.


Popular blends of Tea
English Breakfast
English breakfast is actually Scottish breakfast! This blend originated in Scotland, and became popular in England, where the name was changed to "English Breakfast Tea." Various black Teas, sometimes including Keemun, are blended to make breakfast Tea.

Irish Breakfast
Strong taste, often blended from a base of Assam Tea.

Caravan Tea
Often a combination of Indian and Chinese Black Teas. The blend arose in Russia from imports brought in from Asia by camel caravans. By 1900, the Trans-Siberian railroad supplanted the caravans.

Earl Grey
Black Tea blended with Bergamot oil. Earl Grey (1764 - 1845) was a Prime Minister of England; the story has it that he was presented the Tea by a Chinese trade official. This is almost certainly a myth.

Darjeeling
Grown in the mountain area of India known by the same name. Light flavour.

Keemun
Black, mellow Tea (don't serve with lemon as combined tastes will be too tart.)


In the British Isles, Tea is also a meal. Afternoon Tea is served with sweets and pastries; later in the evening, "Tea" will be what North Americans would call supper or dinner. Some also call the afternoon Tea "low Tea" (as it was served in the low part of the afternoon) and the Tea that is a meal, "high Tea", served in the "high" part of the afternoon.

Though foodies long sniffed at grannies and aunties who liked a cup of tea with their meals instead of wine, by 2005 foodies in hip urban cities were in fact starting to experiment matching teas with foods. The Chinese have long served tea with meals.

Cooking Tips for Tea

There are zillions of books and opinions on how to brew Tea.

History Notes for Tea

Tea drinking originated in China thousands of years ago. There are many legends that try to explain how. By mid 700 AD, the habit of Tea drinking had caught on in Japan. By the 1600s, it had become popular in Europe and in the American colonies. Tea became fashionable in Holland and in France before it did in England. (Later, coffee would replace Tea as being more popular in France.) The Dutch who were living in New York in the 1650s were also very fond of Tea. Tea samples first reached England in the mid 1650s. King Charles II (who had grown up in Holland) made Tea popular with the English nobility. Apparently the Duchess of Bedford (1788 to 1861) started the afternoon Tea custom, and it was picked up by other hostesses. But is any Tea party more famous than the Boston Tea Party?


Tea seeds were closely guarded in China, to protect their trade, but various people managed to sneak seeds out, experiment with their cultivation, and by the 1880s Tea plantations were prospering in India and other parts of Asia. The base of John Jacob Astor's fortune was in Tea trading.

In 1904, Iced Tea was created at the World's Fair in St. Louis, when a heat wave hit. In 1908, Thomas Sullivan of New York developed the concept of Tea in a bag. He was sending small samples to restaurants, and realized that in some restaurant kitchens they were brewing the Tea right in the bags. Tea bags remained an expensive novelty in Britain until after the Second World War.

Literature & Lore about Tea

The first written mention of adding milk to Tea was by Marie de Rabutin-Chantal (the Marequise de Seven) in 1680.


The Chinese court officials authorized to trade Tea got called "mandarins" because the Portuguese word "to order" was "mandar".

In England, the upper class always poured Tea into their cup first before pouring milk in. It was the lower class types who poured the milk in first and then the Tea.

Recipe Search

Also called:
Camellia sinensis (Scientific Name); Thé (French); Tè (Italian); Té (Spanish); Chá (Portuguese); Chai (Indian); Ocha (Japanese)
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It's a myth that English Breakfast Tea is English. It's actually Scottish: it was just renamed for the market in England.