Tea The PlantCamellia sinensis is the tea plant, an evergreen shrub or tree, native to mainland China and Southwest Asia. Today it is grown around the world in tropical and subtropical regions. When cultivated for its leaves, the tree is usually trimmed to under 6 feet tall. Its taproot is strong and runs deep. Some trees are hundreds of years old. In fact, the oldest tea tree is said to be seventeen hundred years old and is in the Yunnan province of China. In our tearoom, we offer a wonderful Golden Yunnan that is from one of these ancient forests. It's my favorite black. "Sinensis" means Chinese in Latin. Older names for the tea plant include Thea Bohea, Thea Sinensis and Thea Veritis. In other parts of the globe this plant is referred to as te, the, cha, chai, ming, jia, chuan, she, tee, thee, tey, tay, tii, ja, tae. But one thing is certain, whatever you call it, besides water it's the most consumed beverage in the world. It's also estimated that over half the world population drink it. 
Every tea, whether it's the delicate white, a grassy green, a buttery oolong, or a hearty black, they all come from the same species of plant. The variety of the plant and the processing are what make the difference in the resulting beverage. The more the leaf is processed, the more it's oxidated. One of our favorites in the tearoom is PuErh, which is aged. It's actually fermented with a bacteria, and is similar to the process of making yogurt. It's bold and smooth and never gets bitter. It's hard to over-brew this one. There are people who spend a lifetime looking for the oldest and finest PuErh. Not just the leaves of this plant are used. The beverage made from the twigs is called kicucha and has a very nutty flavor. The seeds of the plant can be pressed to extract tea oil, a sweet cooking oil used a lot in Chinese cooking due to its high smoke point. When you've finished drinking your tea and only the leaves remain, you can put them in your garden as mulch. What an eco-friendly product! Fresh tea leaves contain about 4% caffeine. The young light green leaves are preferred in harvest for production. Older leaves are larger and deeper green. The difference in the age of the leaf makes a difference in the quality of the tea. The tip (or bud) and the first two or three leaves are harvested by hand, and the handpicking is done every two or three weeks. Moving on, let's check out the different varieties of tea, tour a plantation and get to know the workers and how Fair Trade has impacted their lives and the world of tea.
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