Since its legendary discovery by Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung in 2737B.C. , the camellia sinensis ('sinensis' means from China in Latin), has been the subject of many a poet's and warrior's prose. Its intoxicating liquor, is a definite source of much of the worlds' joy, agony, health, disease, prosperity, poverty, war and peace, throughout the centuries. Why all this brewhaha over a shrub? What is it about this seemingly ordinary looking plant that drove the desires of powerful men and women to boil over, and stain the pages of history with blood, just to possess its withered leaf? It's remarkable to me how this innocent and attractive evergreen bush is the source of such a mysterious and dark brew, steeped in folklore and history - and has become one of this world's most consumed beverages - tea!
The camellia sinensis is the shrub of choice by most growers for tea production. It must be because of its growth habit, which makes it best suitable for commercial production and of course its flavor.
The camellia sinensis is the shrub of choice by most growers for tea production. It must be because of its growth habit, which makes it best suitable for commercial production and of course its flavor.
From Tea Garden to Tea Pot
The process of bringing tea leaves from the garden to the teapot is more complex than one might imagine. There is a wonderful book, 'THE TEA COMPANION - A CONNOISSEUR'S GUIDE' by Jane Pettigrew, that gives a concise and very informative narrative on this subject. I will share with you highlights of what I learned from its pages, and I highly recommend it as a good read if you wish to learn more about this very interesting and vast subject. First of all let's start with learning that there are other varieties of camellia.
Other Camellia Varieties
All the tea you see on the market, whether at your grocery store, at your favorite local tea shop, or online purveyor, comes from one of two types of camellia. The camellia assamica, and sinensis. Where as the japonica and sasanqua seem to be more valued for their flowers and oil harvested from their seeds, rather than their leaves for tea, but are all members of the theaceae, or tea family.
Camellia Assamica: A Sad Tale of Two Countries
Tis true, every country on the face of God's green earth has been guilty of some sort of scandalous behavior, or occurrences they wished they never executed, or at least, I hope so. One such dubious happening, instigated by England toward China, over the trading of tea and other goods, is a prime example. I will attempt to over simplify this complicated trading affair. The xenophobic Chinese didn't want anything the British had to trade, except for silver. England was on the gold standard, so they had to exchange gold for silver with an exchange fee tacked on. This got to be too expensive as you can imagine, so instead of drinking more coffee, they traded Indian opium for tea. Can you imagine selling a narcotic to a foreign people, in trade for a commodity they produce, which you think you can't live without, only to find it grows naturally in a land you already posses, the land where the vice is grown? Talk about egg on your face! To this day it is an embarrassing smudge against the English upon the pages of its history.
Yes dear reader, unfortunately, the Brits enslaved the Chinese to Indian grown opium, because they were addicted to Chinese tea and other Chinese goods. A sordid state of affairs we humans can create for ourselves, due to the love of money, and the need to satisfy our fleshly lusts. So, the English historians chose to sanitize their nations' faux pas against humanity by calling these wars, the Anglo-Chinese Wars, instead of the more accurate and incriminating, Opium Wars. But, it's like I said, no country is free from this sort of evil behavior.
Thankfully, a native assamica variety of camellia was discovered growing in the northern regions of of India, in the upper Assam area in 1823. Assamica is considered to be a tree rather than a bush, due to its stature, which is anywhere from 15-60 ft. tall depending on the variety It took some time for Charles Bruce of the East Indian Trading Co. to convince his employers to make the switch. Nowadays, the British seem to prefer the leaves of the Assamica variety far more than the Sinensis variety native to China, go figure! But just as there are different varieties of camellia, there are also different varieties of tea one can get from the same camellia bush.
Camellia Assamica: A Sad Tale of Two Countries
Tis true, every country on the face of God's green earth has been guilty of some sort of scandalous behavior, or occurrences they wished they never executed, or at least, I hope so. One such dubious happening, instigated by England toward China, over the trading of tea and other goods, is a prime example. I will attempt to over simplify this complicated trading affair. The xenophobic Chinese didn't want anything the British had to trade, except for silver. England was on the gold standard, so they had to exchange gold for silver with an exchange fee tacked on. This got to be too expensive as you can imagine, so instead of drinking more coffee, they traded Indian opium for tea. Can you imagine selling a narcotic to a foreign people, in trade for a commodity they produce, which you think you can't live without, only to find it grows naturally in a land you already posses, the land where the vice is grown? Talk about egg on your face! To this day it is an embarrassing smudge against the English upon the pages of its history.
Yes dear reader, unfortunately, the Brits enslaved the Chinese to Indian grown opium, because they were addicted to Chinese tea and other Chinese goods. A sordid state of affairs we humans can create for ourselves, due to the love of money, and the need to satisfy our fleshly lusts. So, the English historians chose to sanitize their nations' faux pas against humanity by calling these wars, the Anglo-Chinese Wars, instead of the more accurate and incriminating, Opium Wars. But, it's like I said, no country is free from this sort of evil behavior.
Thankfully, a native assamica variety of camellia was discovered growing in the northern regions of of India, in the upper Assam area in 1823. Assamica is considered to be a tree rather than a bush, due to its stature, which is anywhere from 15-60 ft. tall depending on the variety It took some time for Charles Bruce of the East Indian Trading Co. to convince his employers to make the switch. Nowadays, the British seem to prefer the leaves of the Assamica variety far more than the Sinensis variety native to China, go figure! But just as there are different varieties of camellia, there are also different varieties of tea one can get from the same camellia bush.
Types of Teas
There are at least 5 different kinds of tea in the world, that I know of anyway. There is white, green, oolong, pu-erh (sometimes known as 'red' tea in China), and black. Each type of tea requires different harvesting techniques, and processing treatments, isn't that amazing? I may cover each type of tea in future posts, but for now, I would love to know:
which is your favorite type of tea(s), and why?