All tea originates from the same evergreen plant called the Camilla Sinensis. There are over 3000 varieties of the bush grown in mountainous areas around the world. (link)
Kinds of Tea
According to this website (link), there are loads of names for tea but there are only three different kinds of it:
- Black Tea - this is fermented and roasted before packaged.
- Green Tea - this is steamed but not roasted, and is not fermented.
- Oolong Tea - this is partially fermented, then roaster giving it a greenish-brown colour.
There are terms used such as 'orange pekoe' and 'souchong' refer to the size and appearance of the tea leaves:
- Orange Pekoe - made from the buds and the finest leaves.
- Souchong - made from smaller pieces of tea leaves.
Also, there are more than 2000 different blends of tea.
As well as these, according to Wikipedia (link) there is also White Tea and Yellow Tea:
- Yellow Tea - this usually implies a special tea processed similarly to green tea, but with a slower drying phase, where the damp leaves are allowed to sit and yellow. (link)
- White Tea - this is a lightly oxidized tea grown and harvested almost exclusively in China. It comes from delicate buds and younger leaves of the Chinese Camellia Sinensis plant, and the buds are allowed to wither in natural sunlight before they are lightly processed to prevent oxidation or further fermentation. (link)
Production
The tea production on 2003 was 3.21 million tonnes annually, and in 2008 it rocketed and reached over 4.73 million tonnes. The largest producers of tea are the Peoples Republic of China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Turkey. I got this table from Wikipedia showing the amount of tea production in tonnes by leading countries in recent years, which was generated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (link)
Available
Looking on the ASDA home shopping website (link) to see the availability, there is a total of 17 different brands of tea, and a total of 18 different 'types' you can buy.
From the Brand list above it appears that Twinings has the most variety to buy, so I decided to go on to their home page, and on there they have a section where you can browse over and see any of their teas they have available to offer. So I ticked all of the options they have and added all the examples together and if I'm correct, they have 72 different varietys/flavors available. Now that's a lot of tea! (link)
According to this answer on Answers.com (link) to the question 'What is the most popular tea in England?', it's; "Based on a Boston Globe article last night. I believe is it PG Tips followed by Tetley then Baarry's."
How to make a good cup of tea?
..."Steeping it too long makes the tea taste bitter. Most tea needs no more than 5 minutes - then take the tea or tea bag out."... (link)
..."Pour water from the kettle into the aformentioned cup till 4/5th full. Wait 3 minutes. Retrieve teaspoon from drawer. Use said teaspoon to remove teabag and place in nearest bin."... (link)
..."Steep for the appropriate amount of time: For green tea, steep for 2-3 minutes...For black teas, 3-5 minuter...For herbal teas, 5 minutes or more. Longer steeping times make for stronger tea. But they also make bitter tea...If you want stronger tea, increase the amount of tea you use. Don't steep longer."... (link)
..."Pour the water directly over the tea ball and then cover the mug with a saucer or the tea kettle with the lid to allow your tea to steep. For a general pleasure cup of tea, steeping three to five minutes is usually good."... (link)
..."Remember.. a dirty tap means a dirty tea."... I found a video on YouTube that was set back in 1941 explaining how to make tea. Basically it is the same as the websites I have found that say how to do it, but on this they have the old school 'proper' accents and is more interesting to listen to and take in.
I looked at a few more videos that were 'related' to this one that explain how to make tea in their way:
..."Between 3 and 5 minutes is the popular ones for the teas we are using today"... (video link)
..."I'm making 2 cups of tea, and 1 tea bag is plenty."... (video link)
On the Wikipedia web page for Tea (link), there is a table under the preperation section of the page where it tells the reader how long each type of tea should take to make:
First ever cup of tea?
"Tea began to be mass cultivated by the Chinese after, as legend would have it, the Chinese Emperor Shannong was drinking a bowl of hot water into which a few leaves fell from a nearby tree. China's history with tea dates at least as far back as the 10th century and in 59 BC Wang Bao wrote the first known book on how to buy and prepare tea." (link)
Same tea - different names
After working at Costa and having hundreds of people order tea (from a coffee shop - makes no sense to me like), but it's quite surprising hearing all the different names that are used for the same 'traditional' tea. So one shift I started a little discussion between us to think of as many of the names that we have heard as we could. We got:
- traditional tea
- english breakfast tea
- builders tea
- brew
- everyday tea
- cuppa
Tea Advertisements
Whilst I was watching TV one evening, this advert below came on advertising Twinings Tea with the guy making loads of cups of tea using different shades of each to put together to make an image of a waterfall. I have seen it a few times, and every time I see it it makes me want to have a go at doing something similar.
After watching the above advert on You Tube, I clicked on a related video and found this one below where someone is using the tea leaves to make an image. I think these are rather creative ads and aren't just something typical.
Tea Images
Using Google Images, I searched for a variety of images that best represent tea.
Existing Projects
As well as this research, I used the Behance network to look at some existing projects that contemporary designs have produced related to tea. I have documented this on my Design Context blog. (link)
nice
ReplyDeletethanks and cheers
Geotextile Woven Fabric