TEA

beverage produced by steeping top leaves and buds of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis of the family Theaceae) in freshly boiled water. Tea is consumed as either a hot or a cold beverage by about one-half of the world's population, yet it is second to coffee in commercial importance, largely because a significant portion of the world's tea crop is consumed in the growing regions. The origin of the use of tea as a beverage is lost in antiquity. A Chinese legend places the introduction of tea as a beverage in the reign of the mythical emperor Shen Nung, about 2737 BC. However, modern scholars estimate the earliest reference to tea is in China, in the late 3rd or early 4th century AD. About 800, Lu Y wrote the Ch'a Ching (The Classic of Tea), the first comprehensive text on the subject of tea. It is believed that tea cultivation began in the interior province of Szechwan in China, gradually extending down the Yangtze Valley to the seaboard provinces. Tea cultivation was introduced into Japan, along with other aspects of Chinese civilization, in about the last decade of the 6th century. At first it was drunk primarily by Zen Buddhist monks, but by the 13th century tea had become a popular beverage in Japan. The ancient tea ceremony, or cha-no-yu, is still practiced widely. The Japanese variety of tea was introduced into Java in 1684 by Andreas Cleyer, a German naturalist and doctor of medicine. In 1827 a young Dutch tea taster, J.I.L.L. Jacobson, risked his life to penetrate China's forbidden tea gardens and bring back tea seeds and labourers in order to cultivate the tea plant in the Dutch East Indies. Tea was first mentioned in European literature in 1559 as chai catai (tea of China) in Navigationi e viaggi (Voyages and Travels) by Gian Battista Ramusio, a noted Venetian author. The first reference to tea by an Englishman, in 1615, is credited to R.L. Wickham, who was in charge of the English East India Company's agency at Firando, Japan. More coffee was drunk in England than anywhere else in the world when tea was first publicly sold at Garway's Coffee House in London in 1657. One of the most picturesque eras in maritime history was that of the clipper ships, which transported tea from China to England and North America. The world's greatest tea monopoly, the English East India Companywhich operated from about 1600 to 1858played a major role in popularizing the beverage. In an effort to perpetuate this monopoly, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773, which precipitated the Boston Tea Party and which was a contributory cause of the American Revolution. The use of tea as a beverage was well established in Holland by the mid-17th century, and the afternoon tea custom spread across the Atlantic to New Amsterdam (now New York City). In England the custom of serving afternoon tea and cakes was originated by the Duchess of Bedford around 1840. Iced tea was introduced at the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904 by Richard Blechynden, an Englishman who, unable to sell the heated beverage because of hot weather, poured it over ice. The founding of India's tea industry stems from the appointment of a committee by Gov. Gen. Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, in 1834, to formulate a plan for tea cultivation. However, indigenous tea had already been discovered in northern India (upper Assam) in 1823. The major tea types, classified according to processing method, include: fermented, or black, tea, producing an amber-coloured, full-flavoured beverage without bitterness; semi-fermented, or oolong, producing a slightly bitter, light brownish-green liquid; and unfermented, or green, tea, resulting in a mild, slightly bitter, pale greenish-yellow beverage. Brick tea, formed of compressed leaves and sometimes other plant parts, is consumed mainly in Tibet and inner Asia. In some Asian countries the leaves may also be pickled and consumed as a vegetable, called leppet-so in Myanmar (Burma) and miang in Thailand. Tea is commonly sold in loose form, in filter-paper tea bags, or in soluble form. Tea bags were introduced by Thomas Sullivan, a New York wholesaler who sent tea samples to his customers in small silk bags instead of the usual tins. Instant teas, first produced in the 1940s, include flavoured and cold-water-soluble types. Tea contains only four calories per cup when consumed without added ingredients but is a source of several B-complex vitamins, including B2 and nicotinic acid. Caffeine is responsible for tea's stimulating effect. Flavour is produced by volatile oils, and astringency and colour by tannin. Astringency and flavour development increase with length of the steeping period. Although some varieties produce colour quickly, satisfactory flavour development requires three to five minutes of steeping to achieve the desired maximum caffeine extraction and moderate amount of tannin. beverage produced by steeping in freshly boiled water the young leaves and leaf buds of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis. Two principal varieties are used, the small-leaved China plant (C. sinensis sinensis) and the large-leaved Assam plant (C. sinensis assamica). Hybrids of these two varieties are also grown. The leaves may be fermented or left unfermented.