Chinese Food World » Chinese Tea

Chinese Tea’s History

kongkong — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:49:11 +0000

The history of Chinese tea is a long and gradual story of refinement. Generations of growers and producers have perfected the Chinese way of manufacturing tea, and its many unique regional variations.

The original idea is credited to the legendary Emperor Shennong, who is said to have lived 5 000 years ago. His far-sighted edicts required, among other things, that all drinking water be boiled as a hygienic precaution. A story goes that, one summer day, while visiting a distant part of his realm, he and the court stopped to rest. In accordance with his ruling, the servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the boiling water, and a brown substance was infused into the water. As a scientist, the Emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing. And so, according to legend, tea was created in 2737 BC.

Chinese Tea Art

kongkong — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:42:23 +0000

Chinese Tea Art

Drinking tea：Tea is taken as a beverage to quench thirst.

Tasting tea: The quality of the tea is judged by the color, fragrance and flavor of the tea, the water quality and even the tea set. When tasting tea, the taster should be able to savor the tea thoroughly.

Tea art: While drinking attention is paid to environment, atmosphere, music, infusing techniques and interpersonal relationships.

The highest ambit– tea lore : Philosophy, ethics and morality are blended into tea activity. People cultivate their morality and mind, and savor life through tasting tea, thereby attaining joy of spirit.

Chinese tea lore is several hundred years, possibly even thousands of years, older than that of Japan. It is said that Chinese tea lore places an emphasis on spirit and makes light of form. Tea lore had different representations at different historical periods. Teas are also various, but all embody the tea spirit of “clearness, respect, joy and truthfulness”.

Clearness

Clearness means cleanness, incorruptness, quietness and loneliness. The essense of tea art not only seeks the cleanness of the appearance of things, but also pursues the loneliness, tranquility, incorruptness and shame awareness of the mind. Only through drinking clear and pure tea in a still atmosphere can one appreciate the profoundness of drinking tea.

Respect

Respect is the root of everything on earth and the way of having no enemies. People should show respect for others and be cautious of themselves.

Joy

The meaning of harmony lies in form and method and that of joy in spirit and affection. Sipping bitterness and swallowing sweetness when drinking tea can enlighten one to the spice of life and cultivate a broad mind and far-sightedness, so that disputes between others and self disappear. The spirit of joy lies in that people are not pretentious and haughty, but dwell in mildness and nurture courteous conduct.

Truthfulness

Truthfulness requires truth and genuine knowledge. The supreme good is the whole that is formed by the combination of truth and genunine knowledge. The ambit of supreme good is to retain nature, to remove material desire without being tempted by advantages and disadvantages, to study the physical world to gain knowledge and to continually seek after improvements. In other words, people should use scientific methods to seek the complete sincerity of everything. The essence of drinking tea lies in enlightening capacity and conscience, so that everyone can live a simple life, express their ambitions and handle matters thriftily and virtuously in daily life, thus attaining the ambit of truth, good and beauty.

Tips of Effective Green Tea Drinking

kongkong — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:38:24 +0000

Drinking tea offers numerous benefits. It refreshes the mind, clears heat within the human body and helps people lose weight. As you add a cup of tea to your daily routine, please check the following tips which help you reap the maximum health benefits.

1. Drink it hot. Tea oxidizes quickly after brewing, and its nutrients diminish overtime. It is suggested that you drink it hot to get the best out of tea.

2. Do not drink too much strong tea. It is likely to upset your stomach and cause insomnia if you make the tea too strong. Usually you can mix 4 grams (0.13 ounce) of tea leaves with 250 milliliters (0.44 pint) to make a cup of tea. An overall amount of 12 – 15 grams (0.4 – 0.5 ounces) of tea leaves is suitable for daily consumption.

3. The best time to drink is in between meals. Do not drink tea soon after or before meals. Otherwise it may quench appetite when your stomach is empty, or cause indigestion when your stomach is full.

4. Do not drink with medication. Tea contains large amount of Tannin, which will react with certain elements in the medicine, thus reduce medical effects. You can drink tea a couple of hours after you take medicine.

5. Green tea is the best option for office workers. Chinese green tea contains catechins that help prevent computer radiation and supplement moisture content of the human body.

Chinese Tea Culture & Classification

kongkong — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:34:31 +0000

Tea culture is an important part of Chinese tradition. Alongside social development and progress, tea has not only played a role in driving the development of the economy, but has also remained a feature of people’s lives. Moreover, tea drinking has gradually developed into a resplendent tea culture and become a bright pearl in the social life of Chinese civilization.

The practice of chinese tea culture can bring the spirit and wisdom of human beings to a higher orbit. Tea has an extremely close relationship to Chinese culture, and its study covers a wide field and has very rich content. It not only embodies the spirit of civilization, but also the spirit of ideological form. There can be no doubt that it has been beneficial in enhancing people’s social accomplishments and appreciation of art.

Chinese Tea Classification

The main varieties of Chinese tea are classified as green tea, red tea (black tea), Wulong tea, white tea, yellow tea, and reprocessed tea.

Chinese Green Tea

Green tea is also called unfermented tea. It is made with the new shoots of appropriate tea trees as raw materials, by applying the typical techniques of inactivation, rolling and drying. According to the drying and inactivation techniques, it is sub-divided into stir-fried green tea, roasted green tea, sun-dried green tea and steamed green tea. Green tea has the characteristics of “green leaves in a clear soup with a strong astringent taste “. It is the tea category with the longest history (more than 3,000 years) and also the one has the largest output in China.

Benefits of drinking green tea: It helps with anti-ageing, and it also prevents computer radiation and bad breath.
Production Areas: Mainly distributed in provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi.
Famous green teas include: West Lake Dragon Well Tea, Xinyang Maojian Tea and Biluochun Tea.

West Lake Dragon Well Tea

West Lake Dragon Well is called Dragon Well for short. The tea of this name is produced in the mountainous regions around Longjing (Dragon Well) Village to the southwest of West Lake in Hangzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province. Dragon Well Tea has four wonderful features, its color, its fragrance, its flavor and its shape. It is emerald in color, thick in fragrance, sweet and refreshing in flavor and its leaves are the shape of a sparrow’s tongue. The compounds contained in Dragon Well Tea, such as amino acid, catechu (an astringent substance used in medicine, dyeing, tanning, etc.) and vitamins, have the effects of stimulating the production of bodily fluids, quenching thirst, refreshing, speeding up thinking, aiding digestion, removing greasiness, reducing inflammation and detoxification.

Hangzhou is one of the best places to experience tea culture. Tourists can visit Hangzhou National Tea Museum, which vividly depicts the evolution of Chinese tea over a span of thousands of years and the colorful tea culture. Also, the West Lake Dragon Well Tea Plantation located near the museum provides closer experience with Chinese tea and its culture.
Guilin Tea Science and Research Institute located near Yao Mountain is also worth a visit. Here you will get to know different types of tea, the production process, and enjoy a tea ceremony while sipping a warm cup of tea.

Red Tea (Black Tea)

Red Tea is also called fermented tea. Only the new shoots of tea leaves are suitable for use as the raw material for making this tea. It is exquisitely made through the typical technical processes of wilting, rolling, fermentation and drying. Its infusion is mainly red in tone. Hence what is known as black tea elsewhere is known as red tea in China.

Benefits of drinking red tea: It warms the stomach and helps with digestion. It is a most suitable choice in cold seasons.
Production Areas: Mainly distributed in provinces of Anhui, Yunnan, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Hunan.
Famous red teas include: Dianhong Red Tea, Yixing Red Tea, and Qimen Red Tea.

Wulong Tea (Oolong Tea)

Wulong (Oolong) Tea is also called blue tea, and is an unfermented tea. It is a tea category with some unique and distinctive characteristics. Wulong tea, as a blend of green tea and red tea, has qualities of both green tea and red tea. It not only has the thick and fresh flavor of red tea, but also has the pleasant fragrance of green tea. It is affectionately known as green leaves with a red edge.

Benefits of drinking Wulong tea: It decomposes fat and helps people lose weight.
Production Areas: Provinces along the southeast coast, such as Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan.
Famous Wulong teas include: Wuyiyan Tea, Tieguanyin, and Dongding Wulong Tea.

White Tea

White tea is uncured, unfermented, fast-dried green tea. It is a specialty of Fujian province. It got its name from the recourse of poor Chinese of offering boiled water to guests if they didn’t have any tea, which they called “white tea” (the word for white can mean plain in Chinese). Thus they would save face and come across as routinely hospitable. As might be imagined white tea is lighter in color and flavor than other teas.

Benefits of drinking white tea: It helps dispel heat within the human body. It also enhances immune function and protects the heart and blood vessels.
Production Area: Fujian Province.
Famous white teas include: Baihao Yinzhen (Baihao is a place name while Yinzhen means Silver Needle) and Bai Mudan (White Peony).

Yellow Tea

Yellow Tea is produced by letting damp tea leaves naturally turn yellow. It has an original smell, which could be mistaken for red tea if it is cured with herbs, but its taste is most similar to green and white teas. Yellow Tea is also a term used to describe the top-quality tea served to the emperor, because the imperial color has traditionally been yellow.

Benefits of drinking yellow tea: It refreshes the mind, and helps clear away heat and toxic materials within the human body.
Production Areas: Hunan Province, Anhui Province, Guangdong Province
Famous yellow teas include: Junshan Yinzhen, Mengding Huangya, and Dayeqing.

Reprocessed Tea

Tea products which are made by taking teas from the categories above as materials and reprocessing them, is called reprocessed tea. The product range includes scented tea, pressed tea, instant tea, extracted tea, fruit tea, medicinal tea and health tea, which have a variety of flavors and effects.

Scented Tea (Flower Tea)

Scented tea is made by mixing and aromatizing tea leaves with scented flowers, letting the tea assimilate the fragrance of the flowers by taking advantage of the absorption of tea leaves. The tea leaves used for aromatization of a scented tea is mainly roasted green tea and a small amount of slender and tender stir-fried green tea. When processing the scented tea, the fresh fragrant flowers are piled up layer upon layer so that tea assimilates the fragrance of flowers. When the tea has absorbed the flowers’ scent new flowers are added and the process repeated. The degree of fragrance of a scented tea depends on the quantity of flowers being used and the time of aromatization.

Common scented teas include Jasmine Tea, Pearl Orchid Scented Tea, Rose Tea and Sweet-Scented Osmanthus Tea.