But if you really love tea, is anything truly trivial?
- Only the leaves of one plant – Camellia sinensis – are properly called tea. From this one plant, we get
four major tea types: black, green, white and oolong – depending on how the leaves are handled after harvest. - Herbal “teas” are not true teas. They are actually tisanes: infusions made from non-camellia sinensis
leaves, bark, roots, berries, seeds, and spices. - Black teas are allowed to wither before undergoing complete oxidation. Leaves are then treated with
heat and dried. Fully oxidized leaves turn dark brown or black and take on a specific taste profile. - Green tea leaves are heated by pan firing or steaming, and then dried – all to prevent oxidation. The leaves
are then rolled by hand or machine to give them shape and subsequently dried again. - White tea is the least processed of all the teas and can only be made with leaves harvested very early
in the season. The leaves are simply withered and then dried for three days, with temperature and
humidity closely monitored. - Oolong teas are semi-oxidized.
- When tea leaves uncurl as hot water is poured over them, it is known as “the agony of the leaves.”
- The art of reading tea leaves is called tasseography.
- Sherpa tea is a special blend of tea that can be brewed at high altitudes, where water boils at a lower
temperature. It’s a blend of oolong and Darjeeling teas. - Genmaicha is a Japanese tea made from green tea and roasted brown rice. Rice was added to tea to make it
stretch further during tough times.
Now that you’re full of tea facts, let get you full of some great tea with a discount code so you can try our different, yummy blends!
Enter code: TEALEAVES as the Promo Code to get 15% off your purchase of any iced tea filter bags or hot tea sachets. (Hurry! This code disappears like steam from a tea cup on October 31st!)
