Innovative Blends. Exquisite Flavors

Since 1961

Blogs

Tea, an aromatic beverage, is one of the oldest drinks in history. It is commonly prepared, by pouring hot water, over cured or fresh leaves, of the Camellia Sinensis, an evergreen shrub originating in East Asia. Tea plants probably originated, in the border areas of north Burma and southwestern China.
Tea has a stimulating effect, because of its caffeine content.
Tea was originally consumed only by Anglo-Indians. It became widely popular in India in the 1950s, because of an effective advertising campaign, by the India Tea Board.
This legendary drink is reputed, to have been first discovered some 5000 years ago, by mistake! The Emperor of China, a curious soul, found tea leaves in a pot of boiling water. He tasted the drink and loved it.
Before long, tea became popular with the laypeople in China. Tea drinking may have started in Yunnan region, mainly for medicinal purposes. Later, people in Sichuan started using tea, as a bitter yet stimulating drink.
By 800 AD, a detailed history of its use was documented, by a Zen Buddhist priest. Zen Buddhist started using tea, in various meditative & religious rituals, because they believed that, tea increased spiritual concentration.
Till the 18th Century, tea was not commonly consumed in the British Isles. It was also expensive & remained so, till the later part of that period. To make it more palatable, English drinkers added sugar & milk to black tea. Thus, black tea became more popular than green tea.
With time, a host of techniques were developed, for processing tea & a number of different types of tea, were developed.
Loose-leaf tea was developed & became popular in the Song dynasty. During the Yuan & Ming dynasties, tea was allowed to remain green, with the help of a process that stopped oxidation. Oolong tea was developed in the 15th Century, in which leaves were allowed partial oxidation. Yellow tea was also an unintentional discovery, where negligence in processing resulted in yellow leaves. It also tasted different.
However, leaves were allowed to further oxidize because Western taste preferred fully oxidized black tea.
In its present day avatar, tea has elite & exotic company, in the form of fusion teas having herbal, flower and fruit content.
Tea is also being viewed, as a medicinal drink, apart from being seen as a cup that refreshes & cheers.