Talk:Tea/Archive 1

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Archive This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

I get the impression this page is good but it needs to be split up since it is REALLY confusing where all the facts are, I propose:

  • Tea history/word page
  • Tea types/countries page with photos of tea types
  • Tea ceremonies

I think this would be a good idea, since all needs to be done is a little fiddling; but photos of tea are important and for owners of tea very easy to take? Bad idea, but still? [anonymous]

Tea habitation and cultivation is important. About taking photo tea tree : actually the drawing is more than adequate. While taking photo for different types of tea, it is more complicated.

Sltan

I guess, I am not an expert at tea, but I read somewhere that Black Tea was also this bittery medicine-like tea that is in a sense green, I don't know how authentic that is, since there is a lot of confusion over Red Teas, Green Teas, Light Green Teas and most of all Black Teas (some people say they are Red, Pu-Erh-style or Hunan-style or that medicinal-style). Confusing.

Reference for the medicinal black tea argument is in "The Way of Tea"by Master Kam Lam Chuen et al on p 68-69. The teas mentioned are "Wu Tang" (bitter stalk tea, also known as Ku Ting) and "He Lung Chu" (black dragon ball). However the Ku Ting seems to be a herb, I have not tried it (yet!) but on http://www.teaspring.com/Kuding-Tea.asp is is classifed as a herb. [the same anonymous]

Hey I made some changes to the "how to prepare tea" section because there were some things that were either out of order or redundent. I didn't actually change much of the content though except for a couple of small typos and clarifications. Alex Krupp 02:11, Aug 29, 2004 (UTC)

A lot of real tea is made from Camellia assamica, a tea plant which is different from Camellia sinensis. All of Assam comes from the assamica variety and some of Ceylon too.

I'd read that it was Camellia Sinensis Sinensis and Camellia Sinensis Assamica, but perhaps this was incorrect. -- कुक्कुरोवाच|Talk‽ 03:48, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Assamica and Sinensis had been classified as two separate species, but are now classifed as two variants of the same species, Camellia Sinensis var. Sinensis and Camellia Sinensis var. Assamica. --Stephan Schulz 00:06, 28 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Chaipau

"Tea was first encountered by the Portugese in 1560 in Japan and was soon imported to Europe where it became popular in France and the Netherlands. English use of tea seems to date from about 1650. The Boston Tea Party was an act of uprising in which Boston residents destroyed British tea in 1773. The high demand of tea in Britain caused a huge trade deficit with China. The British set up their own tea plantation in colonial India to provide their own supply. They also tried to balance the trade deficit by selling opium to the Chinese, which later led to the opium war in 1838-1842."

The sentence about the Boston Tea Party (which I wrote before the rest of the paragraph appeared) is innapprorpriate in this sort of potted history. OTOH I think it worth mentioning, just not in that paragraph, but I can't think where. --drj

Something on the early history of tea--before Europeans got involved--would be good, but I don't have the information. Vicki Rosenzweig

Yerba mate was mentioned to have caffeine. It does not have it but mateine. sorry Zisa

Can you give some backing on that? The results I found on google are not typically sources I'd rush to. (more on this at talk:Caffeine Koyaanis Qatsi, Monday, April 1, 2002

Feb 05 2003: Hmm, I don't have foreign charset support, so I can't see if my modification stuffed up the charset in the original - please revert if I have, and make my minor change.

Regarding Yerba Mate and caffeine/mateine - this is a misconception that continues to persist despite the prevelance of evidence to the contrary. The alkaloid that we know as 'caffeine' exists in many plant groups and is metabolized the same way in the body (however some people are more and some are less sensitive to it). While there are ancillary alkaloids in the methylxanthine class of compounds in many of these plants (e.g. theobromine & theophylline), the stimulating akaloid is caffeine whether the plant is yerba mate, tea, or coffee. However, the levels/ratios of other alkaloids can also be the reason why some poeple claim that one or another caffeinated beverage keeps them awake or does not effect them.

Great article! I wonder if we want to mention that what Americans call chai is basically a very sweet version of what Indians call Masala chai. I also agree with drj that the note about the Boston Tea Party is out of place because this historical event had very little to do with tea, and much more to do with taxation of the American colonies in general. Chadloder 07:49 Apr 16, 2003 (UTC)

Should we have a prescriptive section on tea preparation in addition to the existing (descriptive) section? Suggestions I have heard which make sense include: don't overboil the water (as it reduces the oxygen content and therefore reduces the efficiency of oxidization), start with cold, fresh spring water (if it's chlorinated from your municipal water supply, you should filter it), I'm sure there are other suggestions for a proper cuppa that I haven't heard before.

I have also heard that mass producers of bagged tea in the United States (Salada, etc.) blend the tea differently according to the locale and its water supplies (i.e., mineral content, chlorine content, etc.). Does anyone know if that's just an urban myth? Chadloder 07:59 Apr 16, 2003 (UTC)

I only have anecdotal evidence to support my claim, but the different-preparation theory is untrue. However, large U.S. tea producers do make special blends for iced tea. (Speaking of which, I'm about to add something about iced tea.) -- Jim Redmond 16:43, 4 Nov 2003 (UTC)
OK, added a very brief mention of iced tea. It needs more, but I can't think of how to phrase it - someone please help! -- Jim Redmond 18:13, 6 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Reinstated. Did some further research and it seems that the actual chemical change occurring is oxidation and not true fermentation. CyberMaus 18:35, 7 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Russian has been removed from the list of languages taking the name from "cha". Why is this? "Chai" was the word they taught me when I took Russian sometime in the Old Stone Age; and it was used when I was in Moscow in the Late Communist Age; have they changed the word? Dandrake 04:06, Jan 22, 2004 (UTC)

I read in a book that tea is divided into three categories: boiled, whipped, and steeped. For example, these are mentioned at [1]. How does this fit into or relate with the classification system given in the article? Thanks. Wmahan. 19:03, 2004 Apr 16 (UTC)

If anybody knows what differentiates Lady Grey from other teas, perhaps they could add it to the article near the bit about Earl Grey. I'm curious to know. Mdchachi|Talk 16:40, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)

AFAIK Lady Grey is just a marketing idea of Twinnings, and it is not a traditional tea flavour. It is basically Earl Grey with a stronger citrus flavour. Mintguy (T)

ref. to yellow tea - http://www.tea.cz/gtr/unsecrets.php?sec=yellow Wikimol 19:21, 14 May 2004 (UTC)