Tea Time by Rosanna Mignacca The coffee house lineup can be as tense as the stock exchange after a corporate collapse. That’s why a foray into the relaxing, soothing world of tea can be an almost Zen experience.
The origin of tea dates back almost 5,000 years to when Chinese Emperor Shen Nung ruled that all drinking water be boiled as a hygienic measure. While visiting a distant region, he and his court stopped to rest and drink some freshly boiled water in the shade of a wild camellia bush. As he brought the water to his lips, a gentle wind blew some camellia leaves into his bowl. Refreshed by the taste, and so enchanted by the aroma of this infusion created by nature itself, the emperor never drank plain water again! There are three basic types of tea: black; green and oolong; and flavored teas evolved from these. Black tea is tea that has been fully oxidized or fermented and yields a hearty, amber-colored brew. Some of the popular black teas include English Breakfast, Darjeeling, and Orange Pekoe. Green tea skips the oxidizing step and is more delicate in taste with a light green/golden color. A staple in the Orient, it is gaining popularity in the rest of the world due in part to recent scientific studies linking the consumption of green tea with health benefits. Oolong tea, popular in China, is partly oxidized and is a cross between black and green tea in both color and taste. 70
Herbal teas contain no tea leaves. Instead, they are produced from the flowers, berries, peels, seeds, leaves, and roots of many different plants. Arubans have long drunk cerassie tea to lower blood pressure; the brew has been the focus of research for its reputed health-giving benefits. Every nation drinks its tea differently. A Japanese Buddhist priest called Yensei, who was residing in China at the time of the emperor’s discovery, introduced tea to Japanese society upon his return. The Japanese tea ceremony (cha no yu meaning literally “hot water for tea”) captures all the elements of Japanese philosophy: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility. Introduced to Europe by the Dutch during Elizabethan times, tea did not reach English shores until approximately 1660. Although po pular in England today, it was slow to catch on as it was prohibitively expensive and marketed for its medicinal purposes instead of its gustatory ones. The tradition of afternoon tea began in the early 1800s and evolved to include waferthin, crustless sandwiches, pâtés, toasted breads with jams, and regional British pastries such as scones. E Photo by iStockphoto. Facing page photo by Liv Friis-larsen
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