Tea is considered to have originated in China. But it’s the delicate, fresh-tasting green tea that became popular in Eastern society and is still the base of tea culture there today.

As tea culture spread and tea was processed for export to trade beyond regions, neighboring countries and eventually across oceans, it was discovered that the more oxidized black tea would retain its freshness and flavor better over long journeys than its minimally oxidized green tea cousin.

In the earliest days of border trade between China, Tibet and other neighboring countries, tea was fermented, dried and pressed into bricks to be used as currency. To this day, most of the black tea produced in China is exported out of the country.

Blends:

  • Earl Grey tea: Black tea with bergamot oil

  • Engl*sh Breakfast tea: Full-bodied, robust, rich and blended to go well with milk and sugar.

  • Engl*sh afternoon tea: Medium bodied, bright and refreshing. Strong Assam and Kenyan teas are blended with Ceylon which adds a light, brisk quality to the blend.

  • Irish breakfast tea: Blend of several black teas: most often Assam teas and, less often, other types of black tea.

  • Masala chai Indian spiced tea: Combines black tea, spices native to the Indian sub-continent, milk, and a sweetener such as sugar or honey

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    • LangdonAlger [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      What, I've always heard from the same place, green tea leaves are just younger?

    • redbird [comrade/them,he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Same plant, Camellia sinensis, although there are a couple variants based on the region it's grown in (humid subtropical vs. drier upland). The various types of Camellia tea (white, green, oolong, black, etc.) come about from differences in harvest time and curing/fermenting/oxidizing. White tea comes from newly grown leaves that are simply dried without processing. Green tea is from young leaves that are partially steamed or pan fried to halt oxidation (retaining green color) and then dried. Black tea is made from leaves that are rolled or bruised to encourage oxidation (darkening) before being dried. Oolong is between green and black, partially oxidized and then steamed to halt full oxidation before being dried. Orange pekoe is actually just a designation about which leaves from the plant are picked and used (in this case, only the last leaf or two at the end of each branch). Sorry if this is too much info, but I just recently bought a couple camellia sinensis plants to grow and make tea at home and I was excited to see the megathread theme for today.