A Cuppa Tea
4 min readIf you’re getting a wee bit bored with your daily mug of joe, perhaps you might enjoy a nice cup of tea. Not only is tea easy to make, it’s good for you, and much cheaper than a latte or a hot chocolate. Tea is an oft-misused term, covering a wide range of steeped beverages, from chamomile to peppermint. Properly, tea should only be used to refer to the steeped leaves of Camellia Assamica or Camellia Sinensis, the Indian and Chinese variants of the tea plant, respectively. Black tea is the most popular tea in the west. Green, white and oolong teas are also gaining popularity, particularly for purported health benefits. Much like wine, the growing conditions, processing, and the hybrid of the plant can affect the final taste of the tea. Learning more about tea, you can better choose one suited to your tastes.
Tea Production
The tea plant is first picked, then laid out on racks and dried, and then rolled. During the rolling process, the leaves are broken open which exposes an enzyme to the air and the process of oxidisation takes place. White tea undergoes no oxidisation and is dried immediately after rolling. Green tea sees a little oxidisation, oolong some, and black tea sees the most. The oxidisation process is what gives a tea its brown colour and unique flavours. There are many varieties of tea grown, too many to list in this article, but I would suggest finding a good tea shop and choosing some different varieties and try them. A reputable shop should have a large selection of loose leaf teas and be willing to answer your questions about where they came from and how fresh their stock is.
Brewing Instructions
Brewing a proper pot of tea is essential to getting the most of out of your tea. Begin with filling your kettle with cold, clean water that you’d drink. Next, you’ll want to find your pot, which should be made from china or earthenware, anything else is a waste of time, as it will lose heat too quickly, or create off flavours. You’ll want to warm your pot up, I usually stick mine in the microwave for a couple minutes to get it nice and hot, this keeps the tea at ideal steeping temperature. You can also fill it with hot tap water if you’re not inclined to microwave teapots. Next, measure out your tea leaves into the pot, about a heaping teaspoon per six ounce cup. Experimentation will show you how much tea needed for the strength you like. I prefer a the nice mouth-puckering bitterness, others prefer a more mild taste, decide what you like. When putting the leaves into the pot, don’t bother with those metal tea balls or any other strainers, as they’ll keep the leaves from fully expanding and release all their goodness. When the kettle boils, you’ll want to take the teapot over to the kettle, and pour while the water is boiling, this extracts the most flavour from the tea. After you fill your teapot, give the whole thing a good stir, and let it settle before pouring a cup. If you have one, use a tea cosy to keep the pot insulted and your tea hot. Tepid tea is terribly tasteless.
A word on cups; avoid the shallow, bowl-type cups, as they lose heat too quickly. If you enjoy your tea with milk, my personal preference is that milk is added first, before the tea, as this avoids scalding the milk, however there is much contention amongst tea drinkers regarding this issue. I also advocate avoiding sugar, as George Orwell said, “Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter”. When pouring your tea into the cups, a small strainer can be used to catch the leaves, but worry not, the stray tea leaf is harmless.
Preparing white, green, or oolong tea should follow the same procedure, however water temperature should vary, green and white teas should steep at 170°-180°F, oolong at 195°-210°F, and black at 212°F. The longer a tea steeps, the stronger it tends to get, recommended for white and green teas, 2-5 minutes, 4-7 minutes for oolong, and 3-5 minutes for black.
Tisanes, the un-tea
I’d like to mention another related beverage, the tisane. A tisane is a catch-all term for drinks made by steeping flowers, leaves, roots, or barks of various plants. Peppermint, chamomile, rosehip, and various other herbal tisanes are popular, and sold next to real tea. Many of these concoctions are quite tasty, and even play well with tea. However, they should not be called tea, as they don’t actually contain leaves from the tea plant. Many tisanes are caffeine-free, some have high levels of antioxidants as well. I enjoy a peppermint tisane when I’ve a sore throat. Just don’t call these drinks tea, and I’ll have no qualms with you.
The Tea Ritual
Tea, while perfectly enjoyable on its own, goes well with well cookies, scones, or even some toast. In days of yore, it was served every afternoon, along with pastries, scones, fruits, and quaint cucumber sandwiches. We needn’t get as elaborate, however it makes for a nice, relaxed atmosphere, say if older relatives are visiting.
Enjoying a cup of tea in the afternoons at work was one of my favourite times of day, not only did it provide the perfect afternoon lift, it also gave me time to relax and enjoy the company of my co-workers, some good friendships developed over our afternoon cups of tea. Tea is a simple, cheap excuse to take a break from our often too hectic lives, to slow down and reflect.
