11 AUSTRALIA CHINA MONGOLIA RUSSIAN FEDERATION SOUTH AFRICA LESOTHO SWAZILAND BOTSWANA NAMIBIA ZIMBABWE MOZAMBIQUE MADAGASCAR ANGOLA ANTARCTICA ZAMBIA TANZANIA KENYA DEM REP of CONGO (ZAIRE) REP of CONGO MALAWI RÉUNION (FRANCE) MAURITIUS RWANDA CYPRUS ARMENIA AZERBAIJAN TURKMENISTAN UZBEKISTAN GEORGIA LEBANON 9 SYRIA JORDAN SRI LANKA (CEYLON) MALDIVES U.A.E. QATAR ERITREA DJIBOUTI BHUTAN KUWAIT BRUNEI BANGLADESH TIBET TAJIKISTAN KYRGYZSTAN NEPAL MALAYSIA SINGAPORE EAST TIMOR NEW ZEALAND SOLOMON ISLANDS VANUATU FIJI NEW CALEDONIA (FRANCE) PAPUA NEW GUINEA INDONESIA VIETNAM TAIWAN PHILIPPINES JAPAN NORTH KOREA SOUTH KOREA CAMBODIA LAOS THAILAND MYANMAR (BURMA) BURUNDI GABON EQUATORIAL GUINEA CAMAROON CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC UGANDA YEMEN OMAN SOMALIA ETHIOPIA SUDAN INDIA IRAN KAZAKHSTAN TURKEY IRAQ SAUDI ARABIA PAKISTAN AFGHANISTAN CHAD NIGERIA GHANA CÔTE D’IVOIRE TOGO SENEGAL THE GAMBIA GUINEA-BISSAU SIERRA LEONE CAPE VERDE WESTERN SAHARA SPAIN CANARY ISLANDS (SPAIN) PORTUGAL GIBRALTAR IRELAND ICELAND GREENLAND (DENMARK) CANADA ALASKA (US) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA MEXICO WALES SCOTLAND NORWAY SWEDEN FINLAND ENGLAND 1 GERMANY POLAND LITHUANIA LATVIA DENMARK AUSTRIA 5 CROATIA 6 7 4 8 HUNGARY ROMANIA MACEDONIA ALBANIA GREECE BULGARIA MOLDOVA BELARUS UKRAINE SWITZ. MALTA ITALY TUNISIA 3 CORSICA (FR) SARDINIA (IT) CZECH REP. NETH. 2 BENIN LIBERIA BURKINA FASO GUINEA MALI MAURITANIA NIGER ALGERIA MOROCCCO LYBIA FRANCE EGYPT UK BELIZE GUATEMALA EL SALVADOR HONDURAS NICARAGUA COSTA RICA ECUADOR HAWAII (US) SAMOA TONGA URUGUAY FALKLAND ISLANDS (UK) PERU PANAMA COLUMBIA VENEZUELA THE BAHAMAS CUBA JAMAICA GUYANA SURINAME FRENCH GUINEA (FRANCE) CARIBBEAN ISLANDS HAITI DOMINICAN REPUBLIC PUERTO RICO (US) BERMUNDA (UK) BRAZIL BOLIVIA ARGENTINA CHILE PARAGUAY 10 PACIFIC OCEAN PACIFIC OCEAN NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN ARCTIC OCEAN ARCTIC OCEAN SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN INDIAN OCEAN BELGIUM LUXEMBOURG LIECHTENSTEIN SLOVAKIA SLOVENIA BOSNIA & HERCEGOVINIA SERBIA & MONTENEGRO ESTONIA ISRAEL & THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES ANDORRA MONACO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 180 0’0” 150 0’0” W 120 0’0” W Antarctic Circle Arctic Circle Tropic of Cancer Tropic of Capricorn Prime Meridian (Greenwich) 90 0’0” W 60 0’0” W 30 0’0” W 0 0’0” 30 0’0” E 60 0’0” E 90 0’0” E 120 0’0” E 150 0’0” E 180 0’0” 180 0’0” 150 0’0” W 120 0’0” W 90 0’0” W 60 0’0” W 30 0’0” W 0 0’0” 30 0’0” E 60 0’0” E 90 0’0” E 120 0’0” E 150 0’0” E 60 0’0” N 30 0’0” N 30 0’0” S 60 0’0” S 0 0’0” 60 0’0” N 30 0’0” N 30 0’0” S 60 0’0” S 0 0’0” 180 0’0” CHINA: ORIGINS & MYTH The second of China’s San Huang, the mythical emperors and forefa- thers of Chinese civilisation was a healer named Shen Nung. According to legend, Shen Nung had the head and horns of a bull and the body of a man; he was born in the twenty-eighth century B.C.E. (Before Common Era) to a beautiful young princess who was possessed by a heavenly dragon. He also studied herbs and developed many herbal remedies. During an expedition through the south of China, while setting up camp, the emperor’s aides were boiling some water for drinking in a pot when a sudden wind blew down from the nearby hills blowing some leaves into the pot. Being the herbalist that he was the emperor decided to try the tasty concoction and felt revived and refreshed. The leaves were that of the tea bush and humanity received the delightful gift of tea. ENGLAND: AFTERNOON TEA Tea mania swept across England as it had earlier spread throughout France and Holland. Tea importation rose from 40,000 pounds in 1699 to an annual average of 240,000 pounds by 1708. Tea was drunk by all levels of society. Prior to the introduction of tea into Britain, the English had two main meals; breakfast and dinner. Breakfast was ale, bread and beef. Dinner was a long, massive meal at the end of the day. It was no wonder that Anna, the Duchess of Bedford (1788–1861) experienced a “sinking feeling” in the late afternoon. Adopting the European tea service format, she invited friends to join her for an additional afternoon meal at five o’clock in her rooms at Belvoir Castle. The menu centered around small cakes, bread and butter sandwiches, assorted sweets, and, of course, tea. This summer practice proved so popular, the Duchess continued it when she returned to London, sending cards to her friends asking them to join her for “tea and a walking the fields.” (London at that time still contained large open meadows within the city.) The practice of inviting friends to come for tea in the afternoon was quickly picked up by other social hostesses. A common pattern of service soon merged. The first pot of tea was made in the kitchen and carried to the lady of the house who waited with her invited guests, surrounded by fine porcelain from China. The first pot was warmed by the hostess from a second pot (usually silver) that was kept heated over a small flame. ASSAM & DARJEELING Long before the British began commercial production of tea in India in the late eighteen thirties, a native variety of the tea plant was growing in the wild jungles of North East Assam and being used in brews by the locals. During the early nineteenth century, the East India Company had a monopoly on the tea trade and all tea was coming from China. It wasn’t until 1833 when the company lost its monopoly that it consid- ered the possibility that India’s climate was perfect for the cultivation of tea and that it may make a profitable alternative to grow tea in India. Perhaps because they where unaware or suspicious of the indigenous varieties of tea already growing in India, they insisted on importing the Chinese variety of tea seeds. Because of the harsh conditions the Chinese tea seedlings struggled to survive while the native Assam plants flourished. The native plants were harvested and sent back to London in 1838 and were very well received and the Assam variety became widely harvested throughout India. The town of Darjeeling in the foothills of the Himalayas was one place where the Chinese variety of tea plant grew well in the elevated conditions. Darjeeling still produces tea from the Chinese variety plant and has traditionally been prized above all other black teas especially by the British. ROOIBOS: SOUTH AFRICAN BUSH TEA The Rooibos or Redbush tea plant, the Aspalanthus linearis, is indigenous only to South Africa’s Cederberg mountain region. The hardy shrub-like bushes survive the cold temperatures in winter and the draught, which is often prevalent in summer in this arid mountain area. The region around Clanwilliam, 250km from Cape Town, is dominated by the Cederberg Mountains and the tea plant only grows there because of the microclimate of this region, which is located approximately 250km northeast of Cape Town. The needle-like tealeaves grow on shrub like bushes, which are between 0.5 to 1.5 metres in height. To harvest the leaves the workers cut off branches and then the leaves get chopped, bruised and left in the sun to ferment. The leaves then change in colour from green to amber and develop a distinctive sweet aroma and flavour. JAPANESE TEA CEREMONY The first tea seeds were brought to Japan by the returning Buddhist priest Yeisei, who had seen the value of tea in China in enhancing religious mediation. As a result, he is known as the “Father of Tea” in Japan. Because of this early association, tea in Japan has always been associated with Zen Buddhism. Tea received almost instant imperial sponsorship and spread rapidly from the royal court and monasteries to the other sections of Japanese society. Tea was elevated to an art form resulting in the creation of the Japanese Tea Ceremony (“Cha-no-yu” or “the hot water for tea”). The best description of this complex art form was probably written by the Irish-Greek journalist-historian Lafcadio Hearn, one of the few foreigners ever to be granted Japanese citizen- ship during this era. He wrote from personal observation, “The Tea ceremony requires years of training and practice to graduate in art...yet the whole of this art, as to its detail, signfies no more than the making and serving of a cup of tea. The supremely important matter is that the act be performed in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner possible”. BOSTON TEA PARTY In the years leading up to the American Revolutionary War, the British parliament was charging heavy taxes on all tea trading in the British Colonies. As a result of the tea tax, the American colonists refused to buy the British tea and instead smuggled in tea from Holland. This left the East India Company with warehouses full of unsold tea. In 1773 the British parliament passed the Tea Act, which the American colonists objected to particularly because they believed it violated their right to be taxed by their own elected representatives. Through the tea act the East India Company were able to undercut the Dutch tea smugglers and regain their monopoly on the tea trade and once again control the taxes. Outraged by this the American dockworkers refused to unload the shipments of British tea from the Boston harbour. On December 16, 1773, a group of men calling themselves the Sons of Liberty went to Boston Harbour dressed as Mohawk Indians and dumped forty-five tons of British tea into the harbour. This is noted as one of the key events leading up to the American Revolution. WHITE TEAS White tea is made from the immature buds of the tea plant that are picked and processed before they have had time to ‘ripen’ and develop many of the characteristics that are generally associated with tea. Due to their underdeveloped nature, they tend to have much less caffeine than any of the other tea varieties. They are not allowed to oxidize at all and produce a pale liquor and are the most subtle of teas. In poorer areas, where tea has been unaffordable to some, guests have been served another kind of ‘white tea,’ which is simply hot water. GREEN TEAS Green tea is tea that has been allowed to mature and has been picked, pan fired (or steamed) to stop the oxidation process after a very short period. The natural vegetal flavor of the leaf stands out and often a green tea will have a subtle sweetness that is lost when the tea is turned into a style such as oolong or black tea. Green tea produces a greenish to yellow liquor and can range in bouquet from grassy to floral. OOLONG TEAS An oolong tea has been allowed to oxidize partially and thus produces a more complex, darker liquor, and sits on the scale between a green and a black tea. An oolong can be slightly oxidized to very oxidized depending on the variety of the tea. The depth of character for an oolong ranges greatly and is partially a result of the degree of oxidation, so an oolong can end up being closer to a green tea, or a black tea, depending on how it is produced. The liquor produced, therefore, can range from a greenish yellow, to a dark amber. BLACK TEAS Black tea has been allowed to oxidize fully before being fired (dried), and the many chemical reactions that have occurred produce a dark, very complex tea. All of the vegetal qualities of the leaf are gone and replaced with a depth of character unparalleled in the food world. The liquor produced ranges from a dark amber to a black that would rival coffee. Compared to green tea, which usually loses its flavour after within a year, black tea retains its flavour for several years and has historically been a major item of trade. Compressed bricks of tea have even been used as a form of currency. Black tea ac- counts for 90% of tea sold in the west. Many names of black teas refer to the region they are grown in, common types include; Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Keenum and Lapsang Souchong. TISANES (HERBAL TEAS) A tisane or herbal tea is an infusion and not usually made from the leaves of the tea bush. Typically a tisane is the combination of boiling water with dried fruits, flowers or herbs. Common tisanes include; chamomile, peppermint, rooibos and rosehip. BLENDED TEAS There are many other sub varieties of tea, such as Pu-erh, Kukicha, Genmaicha, and many blends like the familiar Earl Grey. These teas run the gamut of flavors and characters due to the conditions under which they are produced, and the blending of particular teas has a long and rich history in western culture. VARIETIES OF TEA VARIETIES OF TEA Tea is the product of the Camellia Sinensis and its sub-varieties. The Camellia Sinensis, an ever- green plant native to China, takes on a variety of forms and grows between 15 and 20 metres in height. All of the main varieties of tea are derived from this one plant aside from tisanes or herbal teas which are infusions made from ‘non-tea’ items such as herbs. The differences between the main varieties of tea are a result of the maturity of the plant and the oxidization level. Some of the most popular blended teas include ENGLISH BREAKFAST English Breakfast is a blend devised to suit the particular tastes of the British. It is a full-bodied black tea and one of the most popular blended teas in the world. It may include teas from Assam, Ceylon and Kenya. English Breakfast was developed by a Scottish tea master in Edinburgh over 100 years ago and popularised by Queen Victoria. It is particularly well suited to be mixed with milk and sugar. RUSSIAN CARAVAN The name Russian Caravan refers to the camel caravans that would travel for many months to bring tea from China to Russia. It is believed that the journey through the cold climates of Mongolia and Siberia enhanced the tea and Russian epicures believe that a peculiar delicacy of flavour was imparted to it by the slight moisture it absorbed when unloaded nightly and placed on the snow covered steppes. Russian Caravan is a blend of Chinese teas including Oolong, Keemun and Lapsang Souchong. It can have a rather smoky flavour. JASMINE Originating from the Song Dynasty, Jasmine is the most famous scented tea in China. It is subtly sweet and usu- ally made from green or white tea blended with jasmine flowers. The jasmine plant grows at high elevation in the mountains. EARL GREY Earl grey is a tea that is blended with the oil extracted from the rind of the bergamot orange. Traditionally only a black tea, Earl grey can now refer to any type of tea that contains the oil of bergamot. It is named after the British Prime Minister, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey. MASALA CHAI Literally meaning spiced tea, Masala Chai is a blend made by brewing tea with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices. The word chai simply means tea in much of South Asia. The simplest traditional method for making masala chai is to simmer a mixture of milk and water with loose tealeaves and whole spices. The solid tea and spice residues are strained off before serving. There is no fixed recipe or method for preparing masala chai and most Indian families have their own versions. The tea base is usually a strong black tea such as Assam. Traditionally masala chai may include such spices as cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, fennel seeds, peppercorn and cloves and may also include almonds, saffron, nutmeg, rose flavouring and liquorice root. TEA REVIVES THE WORLD DRAGON WELL HOUSE 0 – 5,000 5,000 – 10,000 10,000 – 30,000 30,000 + tea supply quantity (tonnes)* * According to 2007 Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations results. Please note: Data is organised by ‘total tea supply quantity’, as to present a ‘per capita’ approach would exclude such tea giants as China and India due to large population. Therefore some countries that are big tea drinkers but have a relatively small population, such as Brunei, have been left out. The country with the highest tea consumption per capita is Paraguay.