The Art of Tea
The more I check about tea the more concerning it becomes to me. There are many terms and words that are common to the growing and serving of tea. Some terms indicate when the tea is picked, some indicate from where on the bush the tea is plucked and some terms are only used in the grading of tea. No boring term such USDA grade 1 is used in regard to tea.
Tea isn't picked, but it's plucked. There's a fine pluck which is consists of only buds of new growth. An example of a fine pluck is tea from Darjeeling, which is discovered as subtle and delicate in flavor. There's a coarse pluck which is the older earthier leaves and so there is a normal pluck which traditionally is two leaves and a bud.
You might be asking yourself what difference does it make what is plucked? The answer is the type of pluck at once affects the flavor, the color and the aroma of the tea. And to think that before now I thought pluck only referred to removing feathers from a bird!
In India a flush of tea is the first growth of the season which is small in quantities and makes a more expensive tea. The first flush will not keep will only keep for eight to year then the flavor is lost. (In our house flush can apply to at lowest two different things, but tea is not one of them.) The teas from the second flush carry more body. In this case second doesn't mean lesser in quality. Teas from the second flush are often outstanding in their flavor and body. India is know for it superiority black teas.
This term refers to the diverse sizes of the leaves that are blended together. Tea that is called Finest Tippy such as Darjeeling Finest Tippy, is the best of the best from a premier tea estate. It is mostly consisted of golden flowers, leaf buds and the most immature tea leaves and is highly prized among avid tea drinkers. If your tea is beau it includes leaf buds from the tea bush and if your tea is fanning it isn't hot, but it does consist of tea leaves that are very small and broken
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Tea can be green, white or black. These terms go for to the way the leaves are processed and not the color of the leaves. White tea and green tea are rich in antioxidants which help your body to fight disease. Also white tea and green tea are commonly light bodied and have light color and a fresh aroma and taste when brewed. Green teas such Taiwan Oolong and Japanese Sencha are excellent choices. Black teas have been processed in a way to cause them to loose some of the antioxidants that naturally occur in tea. Black tea is known for a full body and deeper color when brewed. It is the most popular tea in America. Some delicious black teas are Chine Black Tea and Assam Broken pekoe.
Don't worry if you don't know-it-all the correct terminology that applies to tea. I coulded another hour and I still wouldn't have covered all the language of the world of tea. All I know is that on a hot, humid day in the summer the only terminology I need is "sweet tea" and here to the south that means with plenty of ice .
