What is tea?
True “teas” are made from the dried leaves of the Camellia, the tea plant, which was first cultivated in China and found growing wild in India. Chinese monks and European traders introduced it to Japan, Sri Lanka and other countries. Today there are more than 3000 varieties of tea, each having its own distinct character and named for the district in which it is grown.
Tea is a drink made by infusing leaves of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis, or Thea sinensis) in hot water. The name ‘tea’ is also used to refer to the leaves themselves; and it is also the name of a mid- to late-afternoon meal in the British Isles and associated countries, at which tea (the drink) is served along with various foods.
All tea comes from the dried leaves of Camellia sinensis, the tea plant that was first cultivated in China and later found growing in India. Chinese monks and European traders introduced tea to Japan, Sri Lanka, and other countries. Tea is the second most popular beverage in the world, with water being the first. Several factors affect the flavor characteristics of tea: where the tea is grown, the climate, soil conditions, and how the tea is processed. Tea is harvested after each “flush” – the sprouting of the top two leaves and bud. The top two leaves and bud are hand-plucked and then processed into one of the four main types of tea – Black, Oolong, Green, and White. Black Tea is withered, fully oxidized and dried. Black tea yields a hearty, amber-colored brew. Oolong Tea is generally referred to as “semi-fermented” or partially oxidized tea. It principally comes from China and Taiwan (often called Formosa, its former Dutch name).
Tea is the common name of Camellia sinensis -the “Chinese Camellia”- a flowering evergreen shrub native to southern China. “Tea” is also the name of the processed dry leaves of this shrub and the infused beverage produced by soaking these leaves in hot water. This means that different tea varieties, i.e. green tea, oolong, etc., are all derived from the same plant (see question 2) and, further, that “herbal tea” is a misnomer since tea itself is an herb and any other herbs, therefore, are not tea.
