Frequently Asked Questions

Tea and Food Pairings

Tea is a gourmet beverage that pairs very successfully with all types of food. Just as wines are selected to enhance the flavor of certain foods, so teas may also be matched to particular savory or sweet items on the menu. Different varieties of tea should be carefully chosen to create a marriage of flavors and a truly delightful gastronomic experience.

The following is a guide to help in the choice of teas to pair with particular meals or individual foods.

Types of Food	Suitable Teas
Continental-style breakfast (breads, cheese, jams, etc.)	Yunnan, Ceylon, Indonesian, Assam, Dooars, Terai, Travancore, Nilgiri, Kenya, Darjeeling
English-style breakfast (fried foods, eggs, smoked fish, ham, bacon, etc.)	Ceylon, Kenya, African blends, Assam, Tarry Souchong, Lapsang Souchong
Light savory meals	Yunnan, Lapsang Souchong, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Assam, Green teas, Oolongs
Spicy foods	Keemun, Ceylon, Oolongs, Darjeeling, Green teas, Jasmine, Lapsang Souchong
Strong cheeses	Lapsang Souchong, Earl Grey, Green Teas
Fish	Oolongs, Smoked teas, Earl Grey, Darjeeling, Green teas
Meat and game	Earl Grey, Lapsang Souchong, Kenya, Jasmine
Poultry	Lapsang Souchong, Darjeeling, Oolongs, Jasmine
Tea time	All teas
After a meal	White and green teas, Keemun, Oolongs, Darjeeling

© 2004 The Tea Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide by Jane Pettigrew, Running Press

More Interesting Facts

• Studies in the Netherlands have shown that men who drink black tea which contains catechins are 50 percent less likely to die of ischemic heart disease.
• This takes place when our arteries become clogged and are unable to work properly because of constriction.
• Recent studies have shown that drinking between one and two cups of tea per day may promote fertility by stopping abnormalities in our chromosomes. In a recent test 250 women drank as little as half a cup of tea per day and their pregnancy rates were twice as high as those who did not.
• To cure puffy eyes lie in a horizontal position and place either a moist teabag or tea compress over both eyes and leave for about 20 minutes. The swelling around the eyes will to your amazement disappear and your eyes will return to their former glory.
• Tea will absorb odors around it. Here is a tip for removing food odors from your hands. Pour some tea over your hands and the tea will remove all odors from your fingers, and leave them smelling great. It even works great with fish odors!
• Black tea bags can be used to treat planter warts. Tannin in tea is acidic and can be just as effective in removing warts as various over the counter wart removers! Leave a cooled bag on the wart for about 15 minutes three times daily and slowly the wart will shrink and disappear.
• Scientists have reported for many years that men in Asian countries who drink green tea have very low instances of prostate cancer. Many prominent researchers believe that this is due to green tea containing many powerful antioxidants and preventative anti-cancer agents.
• In recent Australian studies CSIRO scientists found that the occurrence of skin cancer in laboratory mice was greatly reduced when they were given black tea. It is thought that polyphenols which are very strong antioxidants and are contained in the tea are the most likely reason for this phenomenon.
• Tea can be used to soothe burns and sunburns. Put wet tea bags onto the affected areas or keep in place with gauze. You can also put tea into your bath water. This works for other types of burns as well.
• The costliest teabag ever was created for the 75'th anniversary of the PG TIPS tea company. The bag was filled with two hundred and eighty diamonds and expensive limited edition tea leaves. The bag cost 7,500 pounds and would be auctioned to raise money for a Children's hospital in Britain

White Tea vs. Green Tea

White Tea has a higher anti-oxidant level than green tea, making it superior in it's ability to boost the immune system and heal the body.

The True Age of Tea

Tea is often said to be traced back to a Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung who live over 4700 years ago. Although this is likely not true, the earliest record that confirms the cultivation of tea is dated to the 4th century China. Drinking tea leaves steeped in a tea pot did not become popular until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and modern tea drinking is about the same age.

Why Does Tea Have Two Names Throughout the World?

The English word tea and its many cousins (e.g. tay, thé, tey) trace their roots back to the name for tea in the Chinese Amoy dialect: Te (pronounced "tay"). On the other hand, cha—the Mandarin Chinese word for tea—gave birth to cha, chai, char and related names in use today. Apparently, whichever variation merchants used when bringing tea to different countries stuck. Some countries use both. It's not unusual to hear someone in England ask for a "hot cup of cha."

Who Invented Iced Tea?

Conventional wisdom holds that iced tea was invented in 1904, at the St. Louis World's Fair, by a British tea merchant named Richard Blechynden. While he may have helped popularize iced tea, "tea punches"—alcoholic ancestors of the drink—were served decades earlier in the United States, and at least one late 19th century cookbook includes a recipe for iced tea. Interestingly, about 80 percent of the tea served in the United States today is iced tea.

Tea—a Low-Cost Drink

You can brew more than 200 cups of tea from one pound of loose tea leaves. That works out to less than ten cents a cup for quality tea brewed at home, even adding in the cost of heating the hot water. Tea's low cost is a big reason why it's the second most popular beverage throughout the world Ñ second only to plain water.

Tea Songs

The two most hummed tea songs are "Tea for Two," written by Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar in 1924 for the Broadway musical, "No, No, Nanette," and "When I Take My Sugar to Tea," penned in 1931 by Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal, and Pierre Norman.

Who Invented the English Afternoon Tea?

The credit goes to the Duchess of Bedford—one of Queen Victoria's Ladies in Waiting—who came up with the idea of a late afternoon meal of tea, thin sandwiches, and small cakes to overcome the "sinking feeling" she felt. The notion caught on, with Queen Victoria's enthusiastic support. The British actually invented two kinds of afternoon teas:

"Low tea" (simply called "afternoon tea") and "High tea."

These labels can be a source of confusion to Americans. The "high" in high tea does not imply that fancy, high class, or expensive foods are served (or that high tea is enjoyed by well-to-do Britons). It actually refers to afternoon tea served on a dining room table (a high table) as opposed to afternoon tea served on a "tea table" (a low table). High tea is a fairly substantial meal—equivalent to supper—served in working class homes. It is generally served at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., and features a hot dish, hefty sandwiches, scones, heavy cakes, biscuits—and, of course, plenty of tea. By contrast, afternoon tea is traditionally served around 4:00 p.m. This is a lighter meal—a satisfying "snack" between lunch and dinner—that will include scones, thin sandwiches (often with bread crusts trimmed away), biscuits, and assorted cakes.

Tea Processing

Tea processing is the method in which the leaves and flushes from Camellia sinensis are transformed into the dried leaves for brewing tea. The types of tea are distinguished by the processing they undergo. In its most general form, tea processing involves oxidizing the leaves, stopping the oxidation, forming the tea and drying it. Of these steps, the degree of oxidation plays a significant role of determining the final flavour of the tea, with curing and leaf breakage contributing to a lesser amount flavour.

Although each type of tea has different taste, smell, and visual appearance, tea processing for all tea types consists of a very similar set of methods with only minor variations:

Picking: Tea leaves and flushes, which includes a terminal bud and 2 young leaves, are plucked from Camellia sinensis bushes twice a year during early spring and early summer or late spring. Autumn or winter pickings of tea flushes are much less common, though they occur when climate permits. Picking is done by hand when a higher quality tea is needed, or where labour costs are not prohibitive. Hand-picking is done by pulling the flush with a snap of the wrist and does not involve twisting or pinching the flush, since doing the latter reduces the quality of the leaves. Tea flushes and leaves can also be picked by machine, though there will be more broken leaves and partial flushes. It is also more difficult to harvest by machine on mountain slopes where tea is often grown.

Wilting: The tea leaves will begin to wilt soon after picking, with a gradual onset of enzymatic oxidation. Wilting is used to remove excess water from the leaves and allows a very light amount of oxidation. The leaves can be either put under the sun or left in a cool breezy room to pull moisture out from the leaves. The leaves sometimes lose more than a quarter of their weight in water during wilting.

Bruising: In order to promote and quicken oxidation, the leaves may be bruised by tumbling in baskets or by being kneaded or rolled-over by heavy wheels. This also releases some of the leaf juices, which may aid in oxidation and change the taste profile of the tea.

Oxidation: For teas that require oxidation, the leaves are left on their own in a closed room where they turn progressively darker. In this process the chlorophyll in the leaves is enzymatically broken down, and its tannins are released or transformed. This process is referred to as fermentation in the tea industry, although no true fermentation happens since this oxidative process does not generate energy (this step is also not driven by microorganisms; in other steps of tea processing—aging for example—microorganisms might be used that actually do carry out fermentation). The tea producer may choose when the oxidation should be stopped. For light oolong teas this may be anywhere from 5-40% oxidation, in darker oolong teas 60-70%, and in black teas 100% oxidation.

Kill-green: Kill-green or shaqing is done to stop the tea leaf oxidation at a desired level. This process is accomplished by moderately heating tea leaves, thus deactivating their oxidative enzymes, without destroying the flavour of the tea. Traditionally, the tea leaves are panned in a wok or steamed, but with advancements in technology, kill-green is sometimes done by baking or "panning" in a rolling drum. In CTC black teas, kill-green is done simultaneously with drying.

Yellowing: Unique to yellow teas, warm and damp tea leaves from after kill-green are allowed to be lightly heated in a closed container, which causes the previously green leaves to yellow. Shaping:The damp tea leaves are then rolled to be formed into wrinkle strips. This is typically done by placing the damp leaves in large cloth bags, which are then kneaded by hand or machine to form the strips. This rolling action also causes some of the sap and juices inside the leaves to ooze out, which further enhances the taste of the tea. The strips of tea can then be formed into other shapes, such as being rolled into spirals, kneaded and rolled into pellets, or tied into balls and other elaborate shapes.

Drying: Drying is done to "finish" the tea for sale. This can be done in a myriad of ways including panning, sunning, air drying, or baking. However, baking is usually the most common. Great care must be taken to not over-cook the leaves.

Curing: While not always required, some teas required additional aging, secondary-fermentation, or baking to reach their drinking potential. As well, flavored teas are manufactured by spraying with aromas and flavors or by storing them with their flavorants.