What's Brewing? The Skinny on Tea

A couple of weekends ago I was in Charleston with my GNO* crew and we made a trek out to the Charleston Tea Plantation, the only working tea plantation in the U.S.  Wasn't quite sure what to expect, but was really excited to bring back some didyaknow trivia about tea! I SO love a good learning experience.

FYI, in the photo, that's Sebastian, my sock monkey. He travels with me.  Don't judge...I mean, who else was going to stand in the tea bushes while I took a photo?  Plus he's pretty darned cute and a great conversation starter.

So, did you know...

That black tea, green tea, and oolong tea are all made from the same tea plant?  It's actually the tea-making process that determines what type it is.  Camellia Sinensis is the plant species used to produce teas.

It takes about 5 years for a tea seedling to grown into a full tea bush and from those tea bushes, only the top 1-2" of the plant is harvested.  This is called the flushe.  Like any shrub that gets cut back, new flushes grow back in anywhere from 7-15 days.

Sebastian holding a flush.

At the Charleston Tea Plantation, they have between 18-20 tea fields that are harvested one at a time, so by the time they roll back around to their first field, the new flushes are ready again for harvesting.  They even have a special piece of machinery called the "Green Giant" which was custom-built for harvesting tea at the plantation.  It sits up high enough from the ground to trim off only the flushes from the bushes which leaves a nice flat even field of tea bushes.

There is a specialty tea known as First Flush.  The tea is made from the first harvest of flushes after a field has laid dormant through the winter.  It's special because it's only available once during a tea season.

It has a more natural, fresher taste than any other harvest and is well worth the extra cost if you are a tea connoisseur.  In the olden days, first flush tea was reserved for consumption by royalty (which is why I wear my tiara as I sip my first flush tea, it just seems appropriate).

Tea Determination

So...process. I'm only going to talk about the three steps that determine the type of tea you end up drinking.  There are a few more steps that follow the full tea process, but these are the ones that matter most.

WILTING -- when moisture is removed from the fresh leaves by putting them under the sun or leaving them in a cool breezy room

DISRUPTION -- leaves are either bruised around the edges by shaking or tossing them about, or crushed by mechanized means

OXIDIZATION -- by leaving them on their own in a climate controlled room where they can darken (due to the break down of chlorophyll and the release of tannins); heating the leaves will stop the oxidization process

Of the three most popularly consumed teas, here is how it happens.

BLACK -- leave are wilted, crushed and fully oxidized; they are stronger in flavor than the other teas and will retain their flavor for several years

GREEN -- leaves are neither wilted nor oxidized; the tea have a shorter flavor life than the other teas (usually just a year)

OOLONG -- (which is fun to say) leaves are wilted then bruised and partially oxidized; slightly less caffeinated than black tea

Decaffeination

According to the knowledgeable staff at the Charleston Tea Plantation, studies have shown that heat releases caffeine, so if you have regular tea and want to naturally reduce the amount of caffeine in it, here are their suggestions.

For ICED TEA -- pour cold water over your tea bags, NOT boiling water and let it sit at room temp overnight.  In the AM, you can remove the tea bags, sweeten it up and toss some ice in.

For HOT TEA -- pour boiling water over your tea bags, but just enough to cover the tea bags.  This first steeping will have contains most of the caffeine.  Let it sit for a minute, then discarded, leaving your tea bag in the cup.  Now pour more hot water over your used tea bag and voila!  Less caffeine!  Not promising it won't have a tidge left, but much much less than you would have otherwise.

So now you are in the tea know.  Will have to come up with something clever to cook/bake/use tea for.  Stay tuned!

*girls night out