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Tea, the eyelids of Buddha
by Davide Morena
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Tea comes from flowering evergreen shrubs called Camellia sinensis, growing in tropical and subtropical regions. Pruning keeps the plant at a reasonable height for picking (about three feet) and stimulates the growth of young leaves. It is this new growth, consisting of two leaves and a bud that are picked, from which tea is made. The tender new growth on a plant is referred to as the "flush", and is the most desirable leafage for making tea.
There are four main kinds of tea: green, oolong, black, and white. However, they all come from the same plant. The difference is in the way the leaves are treated.
Green tea
 This is the ordinary variety of tea used by Japanese and Chinese. It is harvested in May, but a second and a third additional harvests could follow in late June and late July.
Green tea is also known as "crude", referring to its basic feature that differentiate it from the others. In fact, green tea is not fermented and is fired immediately. The first stage, after picking, is to put the leaves on a ventilated table; once there, the leaves are steamed, in order to stop the oxidation, and then cooled to room temperature. The next stage is rolling: after removing moisture from the leaves by blowing hot air, they are pressed and rolled, then send to a revolving dryer that makes them round-shaped. This is a very important stage, because it defines the consistency of the tea curls. The last step is the final drying: when placed into small pots, the leaves are put under pressure and gradually rolled into smaller and smaller round shapes until they reach a needle-like appearance. The whole process takes about three hours.
When you prepare your green tea at home, you should have in mind the above process and remember that you are going to infuse whole leaves into the boiling water. Green tea needs room to expand, and this is the reason why classical teaballs, very popular in Western countries, do not work well. Nowadays it is not difficult to find the right teapot on sale in a well-furnished tea shop.
Green tea is becoming more and more popular in the West as well, probably because it has been subject to extensive medical research that revealed its many health benefits. It is effective in counteracting fatigue and mental exhaustion, and contains considerable amounts of vitamin C, zinc, and calcium. Furthermore, it is said that green tea helps fight cancer, counteracts high blood pressure, boosts immunity, and helps in the reduction of cholesterol levels and blood fats.
Black tea
 The process of making black tea is basically the same as green, with the difference that black tea goes through a process of fermentation before being fired. After ventilation, the leaves are rolled with care to bruise them and initiate the process of oxidation: at this stage they loose their green colour and change toward black. Depending on the time of the fermentation process, the leaves will result brighter or darker. The fermentation is stopped at will when the leaves are fired. Lastly the leaves are sorted by size in order to determine the tea's grade. The two main grades of tea are leaf and broken. Broken teas yield their flavour more quickly than full leafed teas.
Black tea is mostly preferred by occidentals, whose consume is almost totally orientated toward a precise variety called Orange Pekoe. In passing, Orange Pekoe is a term that refers to the size of the leaves, rather than to a certain type.
Black teas are further divided into several types, depending on the different approach to the making process, and usually named after the production region. The following are the most popular in Europe and America:
- Earl Grey: a blend of Chinese black tea, it is flavoured with the oil of bergamot, a pear-shaped fruit grown in the Mediterranean.
- Assam: grown in the homonymous area located in northeast India that covers the Brahmaputra valley, from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengals. It is very strong in taste and has a peculiar golden-orange colour.
- Darjeeling: another Indian tea, grown in the foothills of Himalaya at altitudes ranging from 600 to 2000 meters. Well-known for its "Muscatel" flavour and exquisite bouquet, it is a very prestigious blend that made it worth the reputation of "Champagne of Teas".
- English Breakfast: a strong-flavoured brew, of Ceylon tea from Sri Lanka and either Indian or Kenyan black teas. It is a popular morning tea, because of its strength - and that's why the Indians call it "Bad tea"…
- Keemun: from Qimen County, Anhui Province, near HuangShan, a region with a temperate climate and abundant rainfall which are best for tea growing. High grade Keemun teas have a wine-like flavour.
There is such a large list of different black tea types that it'd be hard even to list them here. By the way, here are some of them: Yunnan, Nilgiri, Uva, Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, Usambara, Russian, Chisunga, etc.
Oolong tea
 This type of tea can be considered halfway between black and green. The process is the same, but the fermentation is not completed. Practically, when the edges of the leaves start to turn brown, the oxidation process is brought to a halt by heating the leaves, in a process that is called "panning".
Oolong tea was first produced at Mount Wu Yi Shan in the Fujian province of China around 400 years ago, at the end of the Ming dynasty. Today, oolong is grown almost exclusively in Taiwan, which produces over 18,000 metric tons annually. In Taiwan, the making of oolong teas is regarded as a precious art, one that requires years of expert training. The name comes from the Chinese "Wu-lung", which actually means "black dragon".
White tea
 Similarly to green tea, white tea has no fermentation at all. It is very rare and expensive, because of its main feature: the leaves are picked and harvested before they open fully, when the buds are still covered by fine white hair. Hence the name. Anyway, the most notable difference is in the taste. White tea is lighter and sweeter than other types, and lacks that "grassy" taste that someway characterizes the green one. Mostly produced in Far East Asia (Fukien Province in China above all), also this tea is produced in many varieties, such as white peony, golden moon, silver needle and white cloud.
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