In modern society, tea is called hot and cold drinks prepared by brewing various plants and fruits. But let’s see what can really be called real tea.
Real tea is a product produced from the leaves of a tea bush or tree, mainly Camellia sinensis (Camellia sinensis) or its varieties, which grows in an area with a warm climate and a sufficient level of humidity. These are mainly mountain slopes located in China, India and Africa, where most of the raw materials are produced, but also it is grown in Japan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, America and Russia.
Tea leaves are collected and sorted by hand to collect as carefully as possible and not damage the leaves. For the highest varieties, only young buds and 3-4 upper leaves are collected. Mature leaves are used to make coarser tea of 2-3 varieties. To simplify production, in the 20th century a mechanized unit for collecting tea was created, but it never gained popularity, since the collected leaves were of poor quality. Therefore, tea masters still collect tea by hand.
After collection, the process of making tea begins. It’s slightly different for each type of tea, but usually includes:
- Drying the leaf to soften and remove excess moisture, which on average lasts about2 to 8 hours.
- Twisting, stirring tea leaves, to isolate the juice. Done manually or with the help of special equipment. After which the oxidation (fermentation) process begins, thanks to which the tea acquires its unique smell and taste.
- Drying, it stops the oxidation process of tea.
- After sufficient drying, the leaves are cut, if it is not a whole-leaf variety of tea.
- At one of the last stages, teas are sorted by size, if necessary, additional processing or adding components.
- Finally, the tea is sealed in vacuum packages for storage and further sale.
Tea is classified according to several characteristics.
The first of these, like a tea plant. There are three varieties:
- Chinese;
- Assamese;
- Cambodian;
According to the degree of fermentation, tea is divided into 6 types:
- Puer;
- Black/Red;
- Oolong;
- Yellow;
- Green;
- White.
These are the main types of classic tea made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, in the future we will analyze each separately.
Also, tea is distinguished by the form (appearance):
- Loose tea. It is the most familiar and popular, which is individual leaves or parts of them;
- Pressed. This type of tea is acquired by pressing tea leaves under pressure. This process gives the tea a certain strong shape in the form of bricks, pancakes, etc.;
- Connected. This form is considered a more decorative way of decorating tea. Basically, tea leaves are used for such tea and various flowers are placed inside, which bloom amazingly during the brewing process;
- Powdered tea. This is a dry extract of natural tea, which is completely soluble in water. In appearance, it is a colored gunpowder or granules.
