Te the real story by Chris Rawstern

Everyone knows what the tea is, right? Tea, technically comes from the leaves of a plant, camellia sinensis. Anything other than the leaves of this plant are not actually tea, although tea is often used as a catchall Word to cover all the different herbal beverages are used these days.

Legend has it that tea was discovered long ago in China completely by accident. Some leaves from a nearby plant blew into a cup of hot water; a nice brown coloured drink resulted, were found to have a refreshing taste, and tea was born. But it was discovered, is the tea very refreshing, no matter if it's black, green, oolong and white. Tea has been proven to have wonderful health benefits. We've all heard of antioxidants in tea, to fight free radicals that may cause damage to your body. Tea is much lower in caffeine than coffee. It's refreshing, warm or cold.

There are different types of tea, all beginning with the same leaves. Black tea is created by bruising or crushing the green leaves to expose them for oxidation and allow them to ferment, then rolling the leaves and drying. This gives a beautifully colored drink and have the strongest variant of all varieties of tea. Oolong tea (pronounced OH-long) oxidized and fermented like black tea, but only for about half of the time and the resulting product is a brighter, more reddish drink with flavor all its own, somewhere in between black tea and green tea. For the green tea leaves are heated, immediately stop the fermentation process completely, then dried and rolled. It gives a lovely light colored drink and is said to have the most health benefits. Processing of white tea is similar to that of green tea, but only unopened buds of the leaves is used. It has the same health characteristics as green tea, but the taste is the lightest and most delicate.

Good kvalitetste is a wonderful drink. All hot rolled or bent blades are of the best quality. smaller leaves, the higher quality tea. The highest grades called Flowery, Golden floral or Tippy. Seconds, called Choppy, the leaves that are broken into smaller pieces. The great tea and are usually cheaper. The smallest particles leftover from te process, which is called Fannings, is what is used in tea bags. The BREW tea of course, but after tasting a tea brewed from a gorgeous full leaf Darjeeling black tea, for example, it is difficult to return to a tea bag for optimal flavor.

Orange Pekoe (rhymes with gecko) is a Western terminology applied to an extent of black tea; the word orange in the name has nothing to do with taste, but can be a reference to the Dutch House of Orange with the name Orange as a tacit seas "of any kind. Pekoe can be a Western interpretation of a Chinese word meaning white hairs, refers to the fine white down on the tea leaves.

So, what is called herbal drinks? Herbal drinks called tisanes and can be produced by different methods, most often the infusion or decoction. It is incorrect to apply something infused or decocted, term tea tea is actually infused. Infusion is the preparation method of choice of the leaves, flowers or buds. plant material, which will release its properties easily into a potable beverage. Placed in heated or boiled water and allowed to steep, herbs release their goodness in water and then strained out. Infusion is the method used for harder or denser plant material, such as roots or bark takes longer to release their flavors or health benefits. With a decoction is plant material to a boil, simmer gently for 15 minutes or more to allow the liquid to reduce, and then Strain.

No matter which you prefer, tea or tisane, for pure pleasure or health benefits, look for the best quality. Discover your favorites among various types of loose tea. Taste the different herbal tisanes and discover new flavors. Above all, enjoy.

Thank you for taking the time to read my article. I hope it was informative and helped you along your own culinary journey. You'll find many more recipes and useful tips on my website. I'm on Facebook on a harmony of flavors and share a recipe or tip each day to the fans who have enjoyed my site. I hope to see you there soon.