The Truth About Tea

Some details are fundamentally universal: when it is cold and damp outdoors, the human physique craves anything warm. Now, no matter whether that warmness be inside the kind of steaming soup, hot tea or fresh-brewed coffee is up to the chilly consumer. But though the United states has develop into a seemingly Starbucks-infested coffee culture, a expanding benefits of green tea variety of Americans are selecting tea for far more factors than simply warmth.

In 2005, the tea industry had its fourteenth consecutive year of sales increases, whilst retail supermarket sales alone surpassed $1.9 billion. This quantity is anticipated to continue to grow more than the next 5 years. No longer just for the British, tea is fighting back as the beverage which is hard to ignore. In fact, 1.42 million pounds of tea is consumed just about every day within the U.S. and 519 million pounds are imported in to the country annually.

But equivalent to picking the right coffee bean or a complimentary bottle of wine, choosing out the tea for your taste can be a dizzying job. Amazingly, all tea comes in the very same plant known as the Camellia sinensis, that is an evergreen native to China. It can develop up to 90 feet tall and previously, some cultures taught monkeys to pick the tea leaves that they couldn't reach. Nonetheless, modern day times and technology have permitted farmers to develop the trees to just three feet for simpler cultivation. The plant's leaves range from smooth and shiny to fuzzy and white-haired - every creating up a certain kind of tea. In total, the plant yields up to three,000 varieties of tea, which can conveniently be broken up into three key categories: green, black, and oolong teas. Flavored and herbal teas also deserve to be pointed out, even though they're not officially "tea."

Green Tea

What it truly is: Producing up about 10 percent with the world's tea consumption, green tea has gotten lots of recent media coverage for its health added benefits.

Exactly where it grows: Far East: China and Japan

What is tastes like: Green tea is greenish-yellow in colour having a delicate taste which is slightly astringent and grassy.

What you need to know: It really is higher in antioxidants and may well protect against particular varieties of cancer (lung, ovarian, breast, prostate and stomach) and also the precancerous situation of stomach cancer, gastritis.

White tea

What it's: The rarest of all teas, the leaves are the same as green tea leaves, however they are plucked from the plant when they are nevertheless pretty young, providing them their extremely light colour.

Where it grows: a Fujian province on China's east coast

What exactly is tastes like: As one particular would count on, the tea is practically colorless and is delicate in flavor with a slighty sweet and nutty high-quality.

What you ought to know: You could possibly recognize white tea from recent Snapple commercials launching their new line of "Good For You" white and green tea bottled drinks.

Black tea

What it's: That is by far the most common form of tea, which accounts for about 87 percent of America's tea consumption.

Exactly where it grows: Africa, India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia

What's tastes like: Black tea can come in a range of flavors, but is normally discovered to have a heartier taste than green or oolong teas.

What you must know: The primary distinction among black tea and green tea is the oxidation procedure. Black tea leaves are fully oxidized whereas green tea leaves are lightly steamed just before they're dried. This approach contributes towards the tea's taste and caffeine content. Like green tea, black tea has also been shown to have health benefits. Research has recommended that the antioxidants found in black tea may well play a preventive function in situations like heart disease, stroke and some cancers.

Pu-erh tea

What it can be: Also speller Puer, this tea technically falls inside the black tea family members, but is fermented twice (rather of as soon as), which elevates it to its personal category. The double oxidation course of action followed by a period of maturation makes it possible for the leaves to create a thin layer of mold.

Exactly where it grows: Southwest China, Burma, Vietnam and Laos

What's tastes like: On account of the layer of mold, pu-erh tea requires on a soil-like flavor using a sturdy, earthy quality.

What you'll want to know: Though the tea is distinctly dirt-tasting, pu-erh is generally utilized for medicinal purposes as a digestive aid.

Oolong tea

What it's: Considered to become among the finest (and most high-priced) teas in the world, oolong Tea is semi-fermented, which implies that it goes by means of a brief oxidation period that turns the leaves from green to a red-brown colour.

Exactly where it grows: Taiwan

What it tastes like: Pale yellow in color, the tea features a floral, fruity flavor reminiscent of peaches using a hint of smoke.

What you ought to know: Tea connoisseurs take into consideration the oolong flavor to become probably the most delicate and frown on drinking it with milk, sugar or lemon as to preserve the organic taste.

Flavored tea, Blends, Herbal Infusions and Tisanes Mainly because tea naturally absorbs other flavors very easily, cultures have already been adding herbs, spices, oils and flowers to their tea for centuries. In China, adding flowers such as jasmine, orchard, rose and magnolia to teas is very well-liked. In numerous Arabic nations, they add fresh mint leaves and heaping spoonfuls of sugar to their tea. And in India, they make spicy masala tea by adding spices like cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and peppers.

If black and green teas are considered "purebreds," then blended teas are considered "mutts." Tea producers use distinctive strains of tea to make flavors like English Breakfast and Earl Grey.

Unlike flavored tea and also other blends, herbal infusions and tisanes are certainly not technically tea as they're not created with leaves in the Camellia sinensis plant. Alternatively, tisane (tee-ZAHN) is definitely an herbal tea made from herbs, spices and flowers and added to boiling water. Herbal drinks are normally recognized for their caffeine-free high quality and also for soothing and rejuvenating effects. Commonly located herbal teas contain chamomile, peppermint, fennel, rose hip and lemon verbena.