Teas while you work WWW.BRACKENDALETEA.COM
BY ANTHEA BROCKBANK
MY NAME IS ANTHEA AND I AM A TEA-AHOLIC! My husband and I took on an online loose-leaf tea sales business six months ago. I have learned so much, mostly about tea but also about the Lord’s faithfulness, so why not
produced. The plant was first discovered in China and was spread throughout Asia by monks who drank tea for both medicinal and spiritual purposes. In the 1600s the plants were spread further afield to countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Kenya to keep up the demand for black tea for the British and Dutch empires.
grab a cup of your favourite brew and come join me as I Since these humble beginnings, tea has become a part of
share some of what I have learned.
billions of people’s daily lives around the world, with over 3 Firstly, did you know that Tea comes from just one plant?
billion tonnes of tea produced for consumption each year.
Camellia sinensis gives us Black, Green, White, Oolong and Pu-erh tea just by the way the leaves are processed. Black tea is the most common and accounts for 80% of the tea consumed in the West. Green Tea undergoes an additional early drying stage to halt oxidization to preserve its green, leafy appearance and inhibit the development of caffeine. Oolong is a traditional Chinese tea that is partially oxidized. It is more complex in taste than Green but not as strong as Black. Pu-erh is a ‘matured’ tea from Yunnan in China and has an amazing flavour. White tea is the least processed of them all. The leaves are often simply plucked and then
Varieties, Grades and Blends are terms you will hear when talking tea. Variety is the different forms the tea leaf can take after processing – Black, White, Green, Pu-erh, Oolong. Tea grades are used to differentiate between leaf size and shape as well as where on the plant the leaf was plucked. You may have heard some of the following terms - Tippy, Golden, Flowery, Finest, Broken, Orange Pekoe to name but a few. These are all ‘grades of tea’. Most tea companies have a tea called Orange Pekoe, which is confusing because it actually refers to a ‘grade of tea’ and not a variety or blend.
gently dried. A ‘blend’ is simply a mix of two or more types of tea, or other Camellia sinensis can grow in most climates but prefers a tropical climate and in these conditions the best tea is
ingredients, to produce a desired taste. For instance, English Breakfast is a blend and is probably the most well-known.
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