Tea
Tea is a drink made from either fresh or dried leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to Asia. Because it normally requires very hot water to steep, it is a healthy way to drink water contaminated with microbes, which are killed by boiling. It also normally contains caffeine, and thus, like coffee and other caffeinated drinks, it helps keep people awake and alert. There are many varieties of tea which are enjoyed the world over, but also special types that are best experienced at the source.
Understand
Background
People, especially in East, South and Southeast Asia, have been drinking tea for thousands of years. Since there has traditionally been a lot of trade between the Middle East and South and East Asia through the Silk Route, tea got to that part of the world early. Later, with increased trade between Asia and Europe and then European colonialism in Asia, tea gained popularity in many European countries, especially Great Britain, where tea is not merely a beverage or two but also a traditional snack or meal in the mid-afternoon. During this period, most of the Chinese tea exported to Europe passed through the "Tea Road", crossing the vast expanse of Siberia, where compressed tea bricks were used as currency among locals. (The legacy of this route still lives on in the name of the "Russian Caravan" blend.) With the immigration of Asians and Europeans to other continents and the further extension of trade in the ages of oil-powered ships and airplanes, the love of tea has spread throughout the world.
In South America, a very similar culture exists about yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis), a similar plant with a similar caffeine content.
Tea exists in many colors, but the most common ones are black teas, made from dried leaves, and green teas, made from fresh leaves.
The names for tea in most languages approximate either the words ta or te or the word cha, all of which most likely originally derive from Chinese dialects. It is easy to group the languages geographically depending on their preference of either word: the languages spoken in most of Asia (except Malaysia and Indonesia), Eastern Europe, and the Balkans use derivatives of cha, while elsewhere in the world, variants of te are more common.
Tea around the world
As at least one of the original tea-harvesting and -drinking lands, China grows an incredible variety of teas, from the most basic (but still good) to the very expensive. Among the parts of China that are famous for tea are the provinces of Fujian and Yunnan and the area around Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. See discussion in the China article.
Tibet and neighboring areas influenced by Tibetan culture traditionally drink tea combined with yak butter.
Taiwan is a tea-growing land well-known for its oolong teas, which are often called Formosa tea after the Portuguese name for the island. Oolong is a variety of tea that is green when brewed, but its taste is distinct from that of teas classed as "green tea". There is a range of tastes of different sub-varieties, but most typically, it has a somewhat earthy perfume, with a bit of bitterness and a bit of natural sweetness. Oolong teas are also grown in Fujian and Guangdong provinces of Mainland China, and some of them are very costly.
Myanmar, along with China, may be one of the first places where tea was grown. Much tea is still grown in Myanmar, and not only do Burmese people drink tea, they also make delicious salads with tea leaves. Make sure to try some if you have the chance, but consider having it for lunch, rather than dinner, lest the amount of caffeine you're eating may keep you up at night.
Japan is another country with traditional tea cultivation, where people drink a lot of tea. Japanese tea is very good and usually green. In Japan, tea is not only drunk but used in all manner of delicious pastries (to take one example, cream puffs with matcha [a strong green tea flavor] and azuki bean paste) and ice cream.
Koreans drink a lot of tea, too, and much tea is cultivated on Korean hillsides. Another popular drink is barley tea, brewed with roasted barley and often taken cold during hot summer months.
In India, tea is commonly called chai, and masala chai (tea with a mix of spices and usually milk) is a common and much appreciated drink throughout most of the country. One special variety of Indian tea is famously grown in the hill station of Darjeeling. Munnar and Ooty are other hill stations known for their tea plantations. Dibrugarh, Assam is said to have the largest concentration of tea gardens by area in the world, and there are quite a number of other parts of India where much tea is grown.
Sri Lanka was formerly called Ceylon under British colonial rule, and it is one of the best-known tea-exporting countries. Sri Lankan teas are often still called "Ceylon tea" abroad.
Bangladesh, likewise, has tea plantations on sloping terrain, such as in Sylhet Division.
Malaysia is known for the tasty tea which is grown in the Cameron Highlands. Local demand is high, so it is uncommon for Malaysian tea to be exported and a good idea to enjoy it while you visit. In Malaysia and Singapore, two common ways to drink tea are "teh o", to which sugar is added to the black tea and "teh susu" or "teh tarik", to which sweetened, condensed milk is added. Chinese restaurants in these countries often serve unsweetened tea, otherwise called "teh kosong" ("empty tea").
Indonesia grows a lot of tea in Sumatra and Java. Indonesians drink a lot of tea, but there is still a sufficient supply for export, for example to the Netherlands, the former colonial overlord of the country.
Thailand is another tea-growing country, and even better known for drinking tea. Thai tea, made with condensed milk and drunk either hot or iced, is similar to Malaysian teh susu. This type of tea preparation is also commonly drunk in other neighboring countries, including Vietnam. As in Myanmar, tea salads also exist in Thailand.
Kenya is a younger tea-producer. Tea from its highlands takes up quite a significant share of the worldwide tea market, with much of it exported to the United Kingdom.
Turkey is one of the world's main tea producers, but almost all its tea is drunk, more often than not strong and black, within the country. A substantial part of the social life in the country revolves around drinking tea — it is almost certain that it will be offered at some point even during a lengthened visit to a shop. Tea is usually served in small, tulip shaped glasses, and traditionally accompanied by two cubes of beet sugar, although more and more urban Turks forgo adding sugar (or anything else for that matter) to their tea nowadays. Most Turkish tea is grown in the area around Rize, on the Black Sea coast, purportedly among the very few locations in the world that the tea plantations receive snowfall regularly every winter, which is said to be one of the contributing factors to its flavor.
In the Middle East and North Africa, it is common to add mint leaves and sugar to black tea.
In Great Britain, it is very common to add milk to black tea. Here, as well as in some other parts of the former British Empire, "tea" also refers to a meal in the afternoon or the evening.
Чай (tchai) is drunk widely in Russia. Most Russians drink black tea with either sugar, lemon, honey or jam. An important aspect of the Russian tea culture is the ubiquitous Russian tea brewing device known as a samovar (lit. "self cooker", a metal or porcelain container with a small built-in burner), which has become a symbol of hospitality and comfort.
South Africa is not known for tea production, but it does produce delicious, naturally slightly sweet herbal tea from the leaves of the rooibos (meaning "red bush"). Rooibos leaves do not contain caffeine, but their health benefits are said to be similar to those of the tea leaf.
In Germany tea has little tradition with the exception of East Frisia, which has a long tea tradition and is probably the only place in Germany where tea is more popular than coffee. The East Frisian tea ceremony consists of black tea served in a flat porcelain cup with special rock sugar (Kluntje) that is put in the cup before pouring the tea. Cream is added afterwards, but is not stirred into the tea. According to some statistics East Frisia would be the place with the highest per capita tea consumption in the world if it were a country.
Herbal tea
In many other languages, infusions made from herbs and not including tea leaves are not considered tea at all. For example, in French, they are called tisanes. However, in English, infusions of herbs such as mint leaves, chamomile flowers, rooibos leaves, rose hips or various other single ingredients or combinations of leaves, stems, fruits and so on in which tea leaves are completely absent are often called "herbal teas". These are also popular in many countries, including France, the United Kingdom and the United States. Many Chinese people also like chrysanthemum tea, which is an herbal tea made from yellow or white chrysanthemum flowers and has a distinct flowery taste.
Bubble tea
Bubble tea is a style that started in Taiwan and spread throughout much of the world, especially places with Chinese communities. Bubble tea usually consists of either black or green tea, to which milk is often added, along with tapioca or sago "bubbles" that are sipped through a large straw or eaten with a spoon. Other variants may use agar-agar (a natural gel with a consistency similar to commercial Jell-O but made from seaweed) instead of tapioca bubbles. Bubble tea comes in many flavors. At the low end, it can be full of unnatural-tasting, artificially colored concentrates, but when better ingredients are used, it can be refined. It can be hot or cold (iced).
Iced tea
In the US South, iced tea is commonly drunk and it has become the quintessentially "Southern" beverage in the minds of many Americans. It is commonly sweetened. It has become a popular bottled summer beverage in parts of Europe as well, but this usually amounts to an artificial concoction mixed with water, sweetener, tea extract, and sometimes fruit and berry flavors.
See and Do
- Visit a tea plantation. Many plantations welcome visitors and offer guided tours. Some have websites that offer specific information about how to arrange a visit.
Buy
Of course the obvious thing for a tea connoisseur to buy is tea, but there are also countries with a tradition of artisanal manufacturing of teacups and other vessels used for tea-making and -drinking. Japan, for example, is well-known for its Zen aesthetic of simple and appealing teacups, saucers and other ceramic items. Turkey is another country where wonderful and often highly decorative ceramics are made. Morocco is yet another country known for its beautiful teacups and teapots. When visiting Russia, smaller versions of samovars make for good souvenirs. Unsurprisingly, as the country of origin for drinking tea, China also has a long tradition of making high quality ceramic tea sets, though you may will need to do your homework to ensure that you are not ripped off.
Not all countries that produce wonderful ceramics and metalware traditionally drink tea in huge quantities. Italians do drink tea, but the country is better known for its coffee. However, if you are a tea-drinker travelling through Italy, you are likely to see beautiful cups for sale, and they are equally good to use for tea, hot chocolate or coffee.
