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Tea wonderful tea......

• Tea helps fight cancer, heart disease and regulate cholesterol.

• Tea boosts the immune system.

• Tea Suppresses the appetite and inhibits excess body fat.

• Tea fights harmful bacteria and viruses.

• Tea may help strengthen bones with fluoride and flavenoids.

"Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis
on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without
rushing toward the future.  Live the actual moment.
Only this moment is life."
-Thich Nhat Hahn

 CAFFEINE CONTENT  
 
170 ml.(6 oz) Cup Black Tea: 34mg.  Green Tea: 8.36 mg.  
Oolong Tea: 12.55 mg.  
Rooibos Tea: 1 mg. 
170ml.(6oz) Cup of Coffee: 99 mg. 
170ml. Serving of Cola: 18.5 mg. 
56gr (2oz)Dark Chocolate Bar: 37mg

Caffeine content will increase with length of brewing or steeping time of the tea.  

Nutritional Breakdown for 170 ml.

  Calories 2 Cal. or 7 kJ. 
Protein 0 g. 
Fat 0 g. 
Carbohydrates .5 mg. 
Sodium (from water used) 5 mg. Potassium 63 mg.

"One sip of this will bathe the drooping spirits in delight, beyond the bliss of dreams." 
- Milton

The art and science of Tea Tasting
Learning about the teas of the world is fascinating and delectably rewarding. Use your senses and develop your own quality control as you discover the enticing nuances that increase your appreciation sip by sip.  
Take tea and smile!

"Tea is drunk to forget the din 
of the world. " - Tien Yiheng

TEA REPORT - Tea, Tea wonderful tea - let's have a cuppa.  Take tea and smile!

Camellia Sinensis is of the Evergreen Family with the Chinese and Japanese varieties capable of withstanding very cold temperatures. 

Camellia Assamica - a more tropical variety, grows much larger, more tree like than bush. · Tastes & quality levels are created by climate, soil, altitude & the all important processing. 

The main kinds of tea: Black · White · Scented · Compressed · Green · Oolong 

Black tea is the green tea leaf that has been fermented / oxidized. 
White tea is the new buds plucked before opening 
Scented is done in various methods. 
Compressed done in China since the Tang dynasty, small versions for medicinal purposes 
Oolong tea is the same leaf with the centre left green & just the outside edge of the leaf being fermented.

·Made up of amino-acids, carbohydrates, mineral ions, caffeine & polyphenolic compounds · 75 to 80% water drops to approx. 3% after processing 

· Estimated caffeine levels per 6 oz. cup are: 8.3 mg. for green tea 12.5 mg. for oolong tea 25 to 112 mg. in black tea 60 to 120 mg. on coffee

· High quality teas are hand picked and hand processed & harvesters aren't allowed garlic or onion so as not to taint the highly absorbent tea leaves. 

· Mechanical harvesting affects the quality of the pickings so those are frequently used for blendings or tea bags.

· Flushes (new shoots appear), several in hotter climates - Second flushes = finest teas. 

· Different grading systems are used in different countries: 
- India uses a lettering system, eg. FTGFOP=Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe 
- Japan uses the terms "Sencha, Bancha, Matcha, and numbers 
- Formosa (Taiwan) uses the terms "Choice, Fancy, Superior 
- China uses special specific names and grade numbers. The terminology is based on the processed leaf size = O.P. refers to the size & cut of the black tea leaf. 

Tea quality usually determines the price in the self-drinking teas. 
· Blends are reliant on tea-tasters & their talents. Tasting requires a 5 year apprenticeship & they make their
   judgements on the appearance of the leaf before & after brewing, the liquor colour and of course, the taste,
   through slurps & spits into a spittoon on wheels.

TEA HISTORY

Legend would have us believe Tea was discovered in China in 2737 B.C. Written history records tea during the 3rd. Century. The character in Chinese writing that stands for "Tea" was created during the 8th. Century A.D. There are references to bartering with Turkey in 476 A.D. All tea was green tea until the Ming Dynasty from 1368 to 1644. Japan records tea consumption in 729 A.D. Their Tea Ceremony is based on the interweaving of 4 Principles: Harmony Respect Purity Tranquility

Portuguese shippers brought tea to ports of Europe, mainly Holland, France and Baltic Ports. Dutch companies continued on to places like Italy, Germany, Russia & finally England by the 17th. Century. London merchants are recorded advertising in a weekly paper in September 1658 saying tea was an excellent medicinal drink for all ailments.

King Charles II and his Portuguese Princess bride, Catherine of Braganza established the habit of tea drinking. Unfortunately King Charles had the nasty habit of heavily taxing everything including tea, people began mixing the tea leaves with other things like licorice, sloe (plum leaves) or used leaves which were dried and re-stained by all manner of nasty things. Because it was easier to pollute green teas, more consumers switched to black teas. Black teas grew in popularity and consumption through the 1700's with the newly fashionable Tea Gardens. Tea was drank at all times of the day 'til the early 19th century when Anna, 7th Duchess of Bedford started the custom of "Afternoon Tea". High Tea, also known as Meat tea was a hearty meal at 5:30 to 6:00 P.M. by the working class people.

Opium wars of the early 1800's drove the tea market to the Assam district of India with the first shipment from there arriving in London in 1838. Ceylon (Sri Lanka) switched from coffee to tea production during the 1860's after a blight wiped out the coffee crops. The first shipments arrived in England in the 1870's. Thomas Lipton, already a successful grocer by trade branched into tea marketing during this same time. The Indian tea market reduced the Chinese tea trade to a minimum with Moroccan and U.S. markets buying the most. During the 1970's British markets grew to a healthy level again in the Chinese market. North America was drinking tea from as early as the 1650's following in Europes' fashion. Imposing tea taxes destroyed the tea market in the U.S. and the onset of the War of Independence.

It was at the St. Louis Worlds' Fair of 1904 where the first "Iced Tea" was served during a heat wave, and in 1908 a Thomas Sullivan of New York created the concept of the "tea bag".