Asim Aquil

and that rhymed...

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1087679,0002.htm

I bet they're counting all the tea that I've been drinking :D.

zulu

This type of trade makes sense.

__________________
Jhingalala-Jhingalala, Hurr-Hurr!!! :eek:

Aryan

Technically its not Indian tea, it's Assamese tea

ajaybhutani

its true that there are many kinds of teas grown in india and so its better to mention assameese tea but the point is that article wants to emphasize on imroving relations between india and paksitan and so indian tea.

Ray

Technically, it is Indian tea.

Non technically it is grown in Assam.

It matters not for Indians if it is frown in Assa, (CTC) or Darjeeling (leaf) or Nilgiris. It is Indian....all the way India.

Only those with an agenda will talk crap.

__________________


"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

Samudra

AssameseTea ? CRAP

BTW Tata owns hell lot of estates and will be selling most of them to restructure their buisness.Anybody wants ?

Lunatock

To everyone bickering about tea:

Who cares where it's from?! Tea is for drinking, not arguing about it's country of origin. STFU & DU!

Asim Aquil

I'm hooked onto Coffee now. Tea just doesn't cut it any more...

Lunatock

Even better, a fellow coffee addict. Nothing beats 16 ounces of Sumatran!

ajaybhutani

actully tea from different regions tastes quite differently and if u like one type it dsnt mean taht u'll like the other

Ray

Lunatock,

STFU nad DU?

Wow!

You quoted my post. The slip is showing.

Look carefully old bean, it was Aryan who said that it was not Indian but from Assam.

I am sure you know Assam is in India, so.....?

Who is starting the silly game all over again. Luna?

Want a discourse about Tea? Do you understand tea? It is like wine. Each area has a different flavour. Each type of processing adds to the flavour.

Since you live in the US is instant coffee the same as the bean coffee?

Dont get ballistic and abusive without knowing the issue.

There is Chinese tea, Indian tea, Ceylonese tea and Kenyan tea. All ar different.

Read and educate yourself.

Let me get ballistic too. Being a Moderator with biased view, owing to religious beliefs, does not make you some sort of a know all.

BTW, just to cool you off, my grandmother was a Moslem. Helps? She wrecked society in those times in 1912! You guys talk of Islam being fundoos. She was a Bachelor of Arts ( a high education qualification in those times and she never wore a burkha) in 1912.

But do we care?

Therefore, when Horrido thinks I am a nut going tangential, let me tell you all I have the grand privilege of savouring all religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity with a fringe iof Sikhism. Yet, I don't practice any.

One of my four dogs was stolen right from my gate - an Apso. I am heartbroken. Where is God? God is all ********.

Horrido, I am not going off on a tangent. I am pouring my heart out to friends and enemies!

Ray

Lunatock,

There are supposed to be five types of tea (China).

GREEN TEA:
Green tea is picked and then quickly dried, either pan-fried, steamed or fired in an oven. The goodness of the leaf is sealed inside. Because the leaf is so delicate, the tea should be brewed in water that is well below boiling to prevent cooking the leaves and destroying the subtle notes of the tea. Green tea has a short life span - it doesn't stay fresh long. Given the high levels of polyphenols, it is believed to have the greatest amount of health benefits. Green tea leaves are minimally oxidized and thus have less caffeine than other types of tea.

OOLONG TEA:
Oolong tea is gently rolled after picking allowing the essential oils to react with the air and slowly oxidize. This process turns the leaf darker with time and produces distinctive fragrances. When the leaf has reached the desired oxidation the leaf is heated, in a process called 'panning', to stop the process. It's then rolled to form the tea into its final shape. The resulting tea can be anywhere between a green and a black, depending on the processing method. This tea is handcrafted, undergoing a labor intensive process. The tea maker must carefully balance many elements in the critical few hours after the leaf is picked including weather conditions, quality of the leaf, and the time the leaf oxidizes. The finest Oolongs are often prepared and enjoyed Gung Fu style to savor their complex tastes and fragrances.

BLACK TEA:
Black tea, or red tea as it's known in China, is the result of a complete oxidation of the leaf before being fired. First the leaf is spread out and left to wilt, losing some moisture, stiffness and much of its weight. Then it's rolled, exposing essential oils to the air and starting the oxidization process. When this is complete the leaf is heated to stop the process, graded for quality and packed. Black teas are full bodied and are able to withstand the addition of sweeteners and milk.

WHITE TEA:
White tea is minimally processed - generally only air dried and slightly oxidized. The highest quality white teas are picked before the leaf buds have opened, while still covered with silky white hairs. Of all teas, whites probably have the least amount of caffeine. These teas should be steeped in water well below boiling and for at least 4-5 minutes. G

PU-ERH TEA:
Pu-erh teas come from the Yunnan province in China and have a strong earthy flavor. Pu-erh has been praised for generations for it's flavor and health benefits. It's processed according to an ancient technique (which used to be a state secret) that involves aging the leaves. It is often formed into bricks and is one of the few teas that ages well. Some prized Pu-erh teas can be 50 years old.

Then there are:

DARJEELING TEA :
Teas grown on the misty heights of the Hill District of Darjeeling, popularly known as the "Champagne of Tea" are famous the world over, for their exquisite aroma and taste. The premium Darjeeling Teas are generally mild in character and have distinctive natural fruity or Muscatel flavours. Undoubtedly - the best teas in the world and most sought after by connoisseurs, Darjeeling produces the highest quality but the quantity produced is less than 2% of the total tea produced in India. The bulk of the Darjeelings comprise of Orthodox Teas and high quality Green Teas are also manufactured selectively.

ASSAM TEA :
Tea grown in the plains of North East India along the mighty river Brahmaputra and comprises a major part of the total tea produced in India. Mostly, CTC (Crush-Tear-Curl) Teas are produced here, alongwith a smaller quantity of Orthodox (Leaf Teas) as well. Strong Teas with full body and strength, ideal for Milk Tea.

GREEN TEA :
India also produces quality Green tea which is known to have several medicinal properties. Green Tea is grown in the plains of Dooars (in North Bengal) and now some very high quality green teas are made in Darjeeling, world famous for flavoury black teas. Green Teas are believed to relieve one from hypertension, and protect one from various cancers.

NILGIRI TEA :
Teas grown in the South Central region of India, known as the Nilgiri Hills or Blue Mountains, in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Both Orthodox as well as CTC Teas are manufactured here and are comparatively lower in quality and cheaper in price to other Indian Teas.

TERAI / DOOARS:
The foothills of Darjeeling are known as Terai and the plains further North East, stretching along the Bhutan border upto the Assam border, are known as Dooars. This area, too, produces mostly CTC Teas and some Orthodox & Green Teas.

NON-TRADITIONAL TEA GROWING AREAS :
In order to boost the production of tea, other areas like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh have or are in the process of raising tea plantations.

Do you want some more?

Drink tea, sniff and roll and then you will kown the difference.

There is a lot of difference drinking Scotch and hooch!

Look before you Leap!

Google and find out about Ceylonese and Kenyan tea.

Ray

More on Tea.

Types of tea.

Much like wine, the flavour and characteristics of tea will change depending on the soil, altitude and climate where it's grown. Other factors include the tea making process and blending of teas from different growing areas.

Today it is estimated that there are 3,000 different varieties of tea - that is an amazing choice of teas grown in more than 31 countries! There are six main categories that tea can be divided into to; black green, oolong, white, compressed and flavoured teas.

the tea plant

The tea plant is an evergreen, tropical plant from the Camellia family, tea (Camellia sinensis) has green, shiny pointed leaves - not dissimilar to privet hedges seen in Britain - and was originally indigenous to both China and India.

In its wild state, tea grows best in regions which enjoy a warm, humid climate with a rainfall measuring at least 100 centimetres a year. Ideally, it likes deep, light, acidic and well-drained soil. Given these conditions, tea will grow in areas from sea level up to altitudes as high as 2,100 metres above sea level.

tea estates

Today, tea is grown on estates or smallholdings. A smallholding is privately owned and can be as small as 0.5 hectares or can cover several hectares. In various tea producing countries, where tea is grown on smallholdings, co-operatives are formed to build a tea-processing factory central to a group of smallholders. The owners of the smallholdings sell their plucked leaf to the factory for processing.

An estate is a self contained unit, often hundreds of hectares in size, housing its own factory, tea growing area, schools, hospital, staff houses and gardens, places of worship, reservoir and guest house.

planting and plucking

Today, tea is grown as a bush approximately one metre high, for ease of plucking. Bushes are grown from cuttings or clones which are carefully nurtured in nursery beds until ready for planting out. Young bushes are planted approximately 1.5 metres apart in rows with a distance of one metre between each row. In the higher altitudes these rows follow the contours of the hills or mountainsides to avoid soil erosion.

At some of the higher altitudes terraces are built, again to avoid soil erosion. The bush itself is trained into a fan shape, with a flat top, called a plucking plateau, about 1x1.5 metres in area and takes between three to five years to come to maturity. This is dependent on the altitude at which the tea is grown. Before the first plucking, the bushes are severely pruned by a method known as "lung" pruning.

The bushes are plucked, mostly by hand, every 7-14 days. Altitude and climatic conditions of the growing area are the two deciding factors in this regrowth period. A tea bush grown at sea level will replace itself more quickly once plucked, than a tea bush growing at a higher altitude, where the air is often cooler. Only the top two leaves and a bud are plucked from the sprigs on the plucking plateau.

how tea is made

The plucked leaves are collected in a basket or bag carried on the back of the plucker and when this is full it is taken to a collection point where the plucked leaf is weighed before being taken to the factory for processing, or "making", as tea manufacture is known in the tea trade.

If pluckers are harvesting an area near the factory they will take their plucked leaf direct to the factory for weighing. On an estate, each plucker is credited with their own weights of tea for subsequent payment. A skilled plucker can gather up to between 30-35 kilogrammes of plucked leaf in a day, sufficient to produce about 7.5 to 9 kg of processed black tea.

As black tea has the major share of the tea market in terms of production, sales and amounts drunk, most tea factories produce black tea.

the tea factory and black tea processing

On arrival at the factory, the plucked leaf is spread on large trays or racks, normally placed at the top of the factory, and are left to wither in air at 25-30 degrees centigrade. The moisture in the leaf evaporates in the warm air leaving the leaves flaccid. This process can take between 10 to 16 hours, depending on the wetness of the leaf. Some factories will gently hasten the process with the aid of warm air fans.

The withered leaf is broken by machine so that the natural juices, or enzymes, are released and on contact with the air will oxidise. This breaking is done by two methods "Orthodox" and "Unorthodox" - terms are used to describe the machinery used.

The Orthodox machine rolls the leaf, which produces large leaf particles, known as grades. While the "Unorthodox" term covers teas broken by either a CTC (cut, tear and curl) or Rotovane machine. Both chop the leaf into smaller particles than those which are produced by the Orthodox method. The smaller particles are more suited to modern market demands for a quicker brewing finished product.

The broken leaf is laid out either on trays or in troughs in a cool, humid atmosphere for 3-4 hours to ferment, or oxidise, and is gently turned every so often throughout the period until all the leaves turn a golden russet colour and fermentation is complete.

After fermentation, the leaf is dried or fired. This is done by passing the broken fermented leaf slowly through hot air chambers where all the moisture is evaporated and the leaf turns a dark brown or black. The black tea is ejected from the hot chamber into chests. Next it is sorted into , or leaf particle sizes, by being passed through a series of wire mesh sifts of varying sizes into containers before being weighed and packed into chests or "tea sacks" for loading onto pallets.

Factory tea-tasters will taste the finished make to ensure that no mistakes have been made during the manufacture or that the tea has not been contaminated by anything within the factory. Samples of the make are sent to selling brokers worldwide. All brokers will evaluate the tea for quality and price, reporting to the estate or co-operative, so the tea can be sold to the best advantage.

After each "make" the tea factory is washed from top to bottom to ensure that the completed make does not contaminate the next make of tea.

green tea processing

For green tea manufacture, the withered leaf is steamed and rolled before drying or firing. This is done to prevent the veins in the leaf breaking and thus stopping any oxidisation or fermenting of the leaf. When brewed, green tea has a very pale colour and the wet leaf is often left whole. Green tea is drunk mainly in China, Japan and some parts of South America. In the Western world green tea is sometimes drunk as a speciality tea.

oolong tea processing

Oolong tea is a semi-green or semi-fermented tea. It follows the same process as black tea, but the fermentation period is cut down to half the time, about 1-2 hours, before it is fired or dried. Such tea is a large leaf or Orthodox tea and is best drunk without milk, as it has a pale, bright liquor with a very delicate flavour.

white tea processing

White tea is carefully plucked before the new buds open, they are withered so that the natural moisture evaporates and then dried. The curled-up buds have a silvery appearance and are therefore sometimes referred to as Silver Tip.

compressed tea processing

Chinese tea producers were the first to form their tea into solid cakes by steaming the green leaves and then compressing them into cakes or bricks that were then allowed to dry. Also available today are layered tea cakes, balls of tea and bowl or nest-shaped compressed teas.


I think that is enough on tea to indicate the difference that is is country, weather and soil that makes the difference for those who know 'tea' as a mere word in the dictionary.

BTW I am not from the Tea Board!

Rahul

I personally like Tea for some reason. I just like the taste better.

Ray, since you are the tea conoisseur here, I had a question for you. My grandmother has this tea from India called "Lhamsa tea" or "Lhamsa Chai" or something like that. I believe it's made from "chocolate" tea leaves. What kind of tea would that be out of the ones you described above?

Also, interesting religious background there. All the major religions of India except Zoroastrianism (parsi). Also, sorry to hear about your dog.

__________________
Am out of town for a while and then have tons of work coming up at school. Will be back once that's all done.

Ray

Thanks Rahul about my dog.

I still have hope. I lodged a report with the Police.

I am heart broken. I had four and one stolen!

*********

Yes, I am very fond of tea and I am very particular about the flavour. I like Darjeeling. It is not strong but with lovely fragrance. Costs more.

I am not aware of the tea that you have written about but I will ask the dealer.

I have two tenures in the tea belt and being curious about things, I spend some time with them and learnt something. Not all, though I will agree.

One tip, don't use tea bags. You can't see the leaf. Normally, the worst tea is shoved in as tea bags. It is convenient, but lousy.

Tips for Brewing the Best Cup of Hot Tea

Use fresh water. Use freshly-drawn cold water as water that has been reheated gives tea a flat taste. If you're unhappy with the taste of your tea, you may, in fact, dislike the taste of your water. Try making a cup of tea with water from a purifier or bottled water and taste the difference.

Heat the water to the right temperature. Bring it to a rapid boil for black or herb tea (either in a kettle or microwave) to extract the full flavor. For green tea, the water should be hot, just to the point of boiling. Water temperature will drop rapidly, so bring your pot or cup to the stove and pour as quickly as possible.

Microwave is not really the best for tea. I don't know why.