[Sca-cooks] Tea

[Kim Schab]

In addition to what has been said before...
All true tea comes from Camellia sinensis and its
varietals.
White tea (and yellow tea) is made from the tiny leaf
bud, or silvertips and are not oxidized at all but
lightly air or steam dried.
Many teas are combinations of blacks(reds) with other
blacks or even greens for their flavor
characteristics.
Pu-erhs are a dark black tea, fairly unique to China.
It is intentionally aged, sometimes as long as 50
years and a friendly bacteria is added.  In some
circles it is said to have penicillin like properties,
but it is definitely a cholesterol cutter and
digestive aid.

Alessandra
(Again thanks to Chef Bob, keeper of the brain)
--- Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net> wrote:
> Alessandra said:
> > Pieces and facts - tea has one fourth to one fifth
> the
> > caffeine of coffee.  Brew time is generally
> determined
> > by the depth of oxidization and size of the tea.
> A
> > general rule (and your own palate is the true
> rule) is
> > that white teas should be barely steeped (30
> seconds)
> > in 175 to 185 f water, greens should be steeped
> 30-45
> > seconds in 185 to 190 degree water, oolongs should
> be
> > steeped 1-3 minutes in 190 degree water, blacks
> should
> > be steeped 195-200 degree water and pu-erhs should
> be
> > steeped 3-5 minutes in rolling boiling water.
>
> I;ve never heard of some of these teas before. White
> tea? pu-erh?
> oolongs?
>
> What creates the different colors? Is this due to
> different types
> of processing? Or different types of tea plants?
>
> Which teas were those that were imported into Europe
> in the 17th C?
>
> For those that might be interested, there is this
> small file in
> the BEVERAGES section of the Florilegium:
> tea-msg            (7K)  9/15/98    Tea, cha. When
> it appeared in Europe.
>
http://www.florilegium.org/files/BEVERAGES/tea-msg.html
> --
> THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad
> Kingdom of Ansteorra
>    Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas
> stefan at texas.net
> **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:
> http://www.florilegium.org ****
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=====
"Optimism is a force multiplier."  Colin Powell


Always remember, stressed is just desserts spelled backwards :)

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