| Taste the difference! |
Two leaves and a bud
Kala Sambasivan
It is not about a Hindi movie, as the title may mislead you. It is all about a cup of tea
that holds our faculties at ransom and makes us a pathetic slave to its stimulation.
Make yourself a cup while you enjoy this tea trivia!
India is the world’s largest producer of tea, i.e, about 31 per cent of the total
production.
It is believed that in 2737 BC, when Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung was drinking a cup
of hot water outdoors, a few tea leaves fell into his cup. The rest is history.
It was in 1823 that a Scot named Robert Bruce found a tea plant growing in the wild in
Assam, after which its cultivation in India began.
There are only three regions in our country where tea is grown – Assam, Darjeeling
and Nilgiris. Darjeeling tea is grown at high altitudes (4000-7000 ft) at the foothills of
the Himalayas and is the best tea in the world.
In tea garden or estates, the plant, camellia assamica, is maintained at a height of
about 4 ft, while in the wild it can grow into a 40-ft high tree with large leaves.
Tea leaves are picked between the months of March and June, generally two times
corresponding to two blooms or ‘flushes’. The top two new leaves and the leaf bud
give the best tea known as orange pekoe, while the fourth leaf gives souchong.
In the labour-intensive tea industry, 50 per cent of the workers are female. On an
average, tea pickers can pick about 50,000 leaves per day!
Different ways of processing tea leaves after they are picked give three common
varieties – black, green and oolong. Green tea is fragrant, delicate and slightly bitter.
It is made from unfermented leaves that are steamed, dried and packed. Black tea is
obtained when the withered leaves are fermented and then dried. When the leaves
are crushed or broken, by hand or by rollers, enzymes are released from the
damaged cells that start a chemical reaction. This strong tea is the most popular all
over the world. Oolong is a semi-fermented tea, i.e, it is left to ferment for less time.
A cup of tea has less caffeine than a cup of coffee. Drinking tea can reduce your
chances of getting cancer, stroke, cavities and tooth decay.
Tasseography is tealeaf reading. Your future can be read from the patterns tea dregs
make at the bottom of your cup after you have finished the beverage.
Kashmiris take ‘namkeen’ tea - tea with spices and a pinch of salt. The word ‘chai’
comes from the Mandarin word ‘cha’ meaning tea. Used tealeaves are good for your
roses and ferns.
Now your tea break is over!
Kala Sambasivan
It is not about a Hindi movie, as the title may mislead you. It is all about a cup of tea
that holds our faculties at ransom and makes us a pathetic slave to its stimulation.
Make yourself a cup while you enjoy this tea trivia!
India is the world’s largest producer of tea, i.e, about 31 per cent of the total
production.
It is believed that in 2737 BC, when Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung was drinking a cup
of hot water outdoors, a few tea leaves fell into his cup. The rest is history.
It was in 1823 that a Scot named Robert Bruce found a tea plant growing in the wild in
Assam, after which its cultivation in India began.
There are only three regions in our country where tea is grown – Assam, Darjeeling
and Nilgiris. Darjeeling tea is grown at high altitudes (4000-7000 ft) at the foothills of
the Himalayas and is the best tea in the world.
In tea garden or estates, the plant, camellia assamica, is maintained at a height of
about 4 ft, while in the wild it can grow into a 40-ft high tree with large leaves.
Tea leaves are picked between the months of March and June, generally two times
corresponding to two blooms or ‘flushes’. The top two new leaves and the leaf bud
give the best tea known as orange pekoe, while the fourth leaf gives souchong.
In the labour-intensive tea industry, 50 per cent of the workers are female. On an
average, tea pickers can pick about 50,000 leaves per day!
Different ways of processing tea leaves after they are picked give three common
varieties – black, green and oolong. Green tea is fragrant, delicate and slightly bitter.
It is made from unfermented leaves that are steamed, dried and packed. Black tea is
obtained when the withered leaves are fermented and then dried. When the leaves
are crushed or broken, by hand or by rollers, enzymes are released from the
damaged cells that start a chemical reaction. This strong tea is the most popular all
over the world. Oolong is a semi-fermented tea, i.e, it is left to ferment for less time.
A cup of tea has less caffeine than a cup of coffee. Drinking tea can reduce your
chances of getting cancer, stroke, cavities and tooth decay.
Tasseography is tealeaf reading. Your future can be read from the patterns tea dregs
make at the bottom of your cup after you have finished the beverage.
Kashmiris take ‘namkeen’ tea - tea with spices and a pinch of salt. The word ‘chai’
comes from the Mandarin word ‘cha’ meaning tea. Used tealeaves are good for your
roses and ferns.
Now your tea break is over!
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