The Story of Tea
The story of the tea is very interesting because, of the culture and history that it has around the world. So, let’s start with where tea is from and how it is made to get that cup of tea that you like/love. The tea that you see in every day tea products usually comes from the areas of India, Kenya, China, and Sri Lanka. Although, the first and earliest record of known tea consumption was in China around the tenth century BC. The tea itself is generally made by a general process of picking the tea leaves drying them out, baking/roasting the leaves and then they get pack into the final product of tea. Also, sometimes there are added steps or different ways of doing these steps to make different kinds of teas like aging or wilting.
With many cultures throughout the world tea is one of the first drinks offered to a guest. Also, with other cultures in the world tea is done at high class social events like tea parties or afternoon tea. In some parts of the world they have specialty teas like having iced tea, pickled tea or having tea as a national drink.
With this processing to make the tea the person that is doing this process is trained by their parents and/or grandparents. This person that is doing this process is doing it on tradition classified based on the techniques to make these tea’s for your consumption. So, this means that these people know what to watch for with the tea like, the moisture and temperature during the process because, the tea may become unfit for consumption due to mold and bacteria in the tea.
Also, if you were wondering about the tea leaves they come from a plant where it require at least 127 cm. (50 inches) of rainfall a year with a zone 8 climate or warmer and preferably acidic soils. Although, the tea is all about the leaves and the buds of the tea plant and these leaves and the buds of the tea plant take seven to fifteen days during the growing season.
Once the leaves and the buds are picked they are sorted for the perfect leaves and buds. Then once after being sorted they are decided to go into at least six different types of tea like: white, yellow, green, oolong, black, and post-fermented teas (also known as Puerh). Also, the most commonly found teas in the stores are white, green, oolong, and black. Depending on which tea is going to be made depends on which process they are going through.
For more information you can go to Wikipedia or search for history of tea.
