At the beginning of the XIX century, tea from China and then from India was brought to a small island in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka, then still called Ceylon. At first, the bushy bushes were grown in a botanical garden, and after many experiments, it became clear that nature created ideal conditions on the island to plant wonderful tea plantations.

Sri Lanka - Tea Island

Researchers have determined that Chinese tea should be grown at high mountains, and Indian tea will feel great on the plains of the island. To begin with, 80 hectares of land have been planted, and by now tea plantations occupy 200,000 hectares, and the crop a year is over 300,000 tons of fragrant leaves.

Currently, Sri Lanka is at the forefront of the quality of tea. Every year there are new aromatic varieties, the quality of which is at the highest level. The beverage is exported all over the world, and careful control of production, drying and packaging ensures excellent results.

Growing high quality tea

The quality of the future variety is influenced by the location of the tea plantation. The soil saturation with various microelements, the level of dryness and humidity of the earth and air, the neighboring plants all affect the taste, color and aroma of the leaves.

Tea plantations are located on three levels:

• up to 600 meters above sea level
• from 600 to 1200 meters,
• above 1200 meters.

On the island of Sri Lanka do not interrupt the production of tea all year round.

Territorial division

Tea plantations are located in all areas of the island: Uda Pussellava, Dambula, Kandy. These are all the territories of Sri Lanka that produce the best teas in the world, and Nuwara Eliya is the capital of tea production. Here are the highest mountain plantations in the world, located at the level of 2400 meters. The local drink is not like everyone else - it is distinguished by a special aroma and color. Each of the varieties of Ceylon tea in its own good and gives vigor, freshness, strength and richness, exotic taste. The developed production technology allows to obtain a wide range of taste and aroma characteristics of the product.

Export

Sri Lanka ranks first among tea-producing countries abroad and in third place in terms of production, providing about a quarter of world consumption. The share of tea leaves accounts for 2/3 of the value of the entire export of the country. There is a joke among the population that you will not find on the island - it is all for sale.

For nearly two hundred years, Sri Lanka’s products have received the highest quality rating. The bar does not fall over the years - now it is a recognized leader in all characteristics.

"Tea" Minister

Tea plantations are so important for the country's economy that the parliament even established a special Tea Council. This regulatory body has no analogues in the world and is engaged in the selection of products, the sale of tea abroad, advertising and marketing. At the request of the exporter, the Tea Council certifies the goods. If a lion with a sword is drawn on the package, then the quality level is at a height.

Tea as an element of tourism

The route through which every tourist travels to Sri Lanka is a tea plantation. Photo of the green field on which the famous Ceylon bush is grown, after visiting the island, travelers still show friends and acquaintances for a long time.

Tourists should be advised to visit the plantations, where the plant grows known to the whole world. Sri Lanka is a country where tea is one of the main attractions. At the factory, tourists are introduced to the processes of its production, as well as hold tastings, where you can try different varieties, compare taste and aroma and buy for yourself a few teas. A guide popularly explains that when choosing, you need to know that product deliveries are carried out in different forms: banks, disposable bags, boxes, but more often you can get a fake if tea was not packaged on an island. In Kandy, tourists can visit the original Tea Museum.

Work on plantations

The process of making tea begins with the collection of young shoots: the two top leaves and still closed buds. The collection is repeated every week and lasts a whole year. This work is considered exclusively female, but at the same time it is difficult and difficult. Despite this, getting on the plantation is quite difficult, and for the most part it is a family affair. For one kilogram of tea you need to collect four kilograms of tea leaves.

Black and green

Shrubs are all the same grade. Both green and black are made from the same raw material. The difference determines the technology of tea production. Black is withered and fermented, and green is steamed or roasted. If you plan to get the first option, then after collecting the collected leaves need to wilt. As a result of drying the sheets, the concentration of cell sap in them increases. The product is dried, scattering in a thin layer on the shelves where the air can circulate freely, not allowing the leaves to rot. If in the days of the withering process there is high humidity outside, then the fans are additionally turned on, and the warm air ensures full drying. For 8-10 hours the sheet is dried, becomes soft, does not break and twists freely.

Twisting is the next moment in product creation technology. It is necessary in order that the cellular structure of a leaf collapses, enzymes and juice mixed. Fermentation and oxidation give a favorite drink aroma and taste. The degree of its strength is determined by the method of twisting - the denser it is, the stronger the tea will be. Twisted fermented leaves are sent to the racks for a few hours, so that they are saturated with oxygen, get that dark color, which is well known to everyone, and also acquire the characteristic tartness of taste.

After fermentation, the leaves are dried with hot air. When dried, they are reduced in size by about a quarter and can darken even more. The result is a tea semi-finished product consisting of tea leaves of different size and quality. To make the tea homogeneous, it is sifted, receiving groups such as large leaf, broken, as well as tea crumbs. These groups differ in quality and appearance.
  After sorting, the product is weighed, packaged and sent for sale. Sri Lanka mainly produces varieties of the traditional brewing method. Ceylon comes in a hundred and fifty countries.

The value of the aromatic drink

Since the spread in Europe, tea has become an indispensable part of the traditions and culture of many countries. It has a positive effect on the nervous system, it can tone up or soothe, raise mood and quench thirst.
  Quality tea must be stored in a sealed package - glass or tin, and separately from spices and other strongly smelling substances, because the leaves absorb foreign odors, which levels their quality.

Tea Culture

For brewing a miracle drink you need to take water with the lowest content of minerals and salts. The leaves are flooded with water that has just reached the boiling point. Long boiling water takes oxygen, so the aroma and taste of this tea are not disclosed. The kettle and cups should be well heated. When brewing need to take leaves per teaspoon per person. Tea is infused for five minutes and then stirred in a teapot with a spoon.

Real gold

In the XIX century, growing coffee on the plantations of Sri Lanka changed the Indian and Chinese tea, and due to climatic and geographical conditions, careful care and processing of the finished sheet, it became the highest quality in the world. Huge amounts of gifts of tea plantations are spread throughout the world, and the quality of the product is generally recognized in the first place. Tea plantations are one of the main attractions of Ceylon, and tea is the island’s gold.

author Tkachenko KG, author photo

Tea is a worldwide popular, tasty and healthy drink. What a day without tea? How can you imagine breakfast, lunch or dinner without hot tea tonic?

Yes, the word "tea" immediately causes a lot of pleasant associations: this is a delicious golden-red infusion of tea, and amazing, various sweets to it. And, of course, everyone has heard about the Japanese tradition - the “tea ceremony,” when they drink only green tea for an hour or two.

And how many varieties and types of tea are there on earth?
And in general - what is it: white, yellow, green, red and black teas?
   And now new, incomprehensible names have appeared: oolong, pu-erh ... Is this all the same, or are these completely different kinds of tea?
   How to brew tea, and when is it best to drink?
   Or maybe the frequent use of tea is harmful?

How to understand all these questions about tea and tea?

For five years, I had the opportunity to observe life in China - an incredibly attractive country with a rich history, traditions, cuisine, interesting natural landscapes, fauna and flora.
   I will try to answer these and most other possible questions about tea, talk about the traditions of its cultivation and use.

What is tea?

Tea is the birthplace of Southwestern China, Vietnam, Burma (Myanmar).
   The word " tea"Of Chinese origin (from the Chinese" cha "- tea (drink)," tea "- (in the leaves) - and hence the Chinese name of tea - cha, and then the modern name of the country - the ancestors of tea in English - China, China ... and Chinese rose - Rosa chinensis ... and now we have “hybrid tea roses”, i.e., Chinese rose hybrids ... although indirect, there is still an attitude to tea).

In nature, botanists are allocated in the Tea family, in 16 genera, about 500–550 species. The most popular plant in the tea family is, of course, the tea tree, or tea plant.

In the genus tea (Thea) only two types:   Chinese tea (Thea  sinensis)  and tea assamese (Thea  assamica), or indian. Although some botanists stand out 4 species (added pancake tea  and kis tea).

Chinese tea grows in the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia (the center of origin is Yunnan Province and North Vietnam); sometimes it is also called yunanallocate a species - japanese.

Assamian tea grows in the forests of Assam (India, Burma), hence its name - Assam, Lushai, Naga Hill, Manipuri, Burmese, Shan; this kind of carry and ceylon Hybrid Tea.

Wild tea is real trees with a trunk up to 60 cm in diameter and up to 10 m high, growing under the canopy of a subtropical forest.
   Tea is more correctly considered a monotypic genus, and all the others are its varieties, varieties, hybrids and forms of Chinese tea.

Tea is an evergreen tree (or, in culture, a shrub due to the constant tearing of young short shoots), which is sometimes referred to the Camellia genus.

Tea leaves are simple, whole, from 5 to 15 cm long, alternate, oblong-elliptical, pointed. The flowers are large, up to 4 cm in diameter, white or yellowish, with a faint aroma, solitary or 2-3.

Tea is known as a medicinal, oilseed, narcotic, tonic and beverage plant. Tea was introduced into the culture more than six centuries ago, according to various sources - in the period from IV to II century. BC.

Tea drink as a medicine is mentioned in Chinese manuscripts relating to 2700-2500. BC.
  The first book about tea appeared in China, in the VIII century. It was written by Liu Yu (Lu Yu, his literary name Jing Ling Zi; years of life 733-804), who devoted his whole life to studying the forms and varieties of tea, traditions of brewing and using.

In the photo: the monument to Liu Yiu stands in front of the largest specialized tea supermarket in Beijing (earlier - Beijing; the city was renamed to its historical name Beijing (Beijing) - “big city”).

Growing and spreading tea

In China, an uncountable number of tea cultivation centers, as in each province, in each district, in each yard, they grow their own tea and prepare a unique drink — their own tea.
   The two main centers of tea cultivation are Yunnan Province and Hainan Island (near the city of Baisha, the most exquisite mountain tropical tea grows, which even has its own special name - “ baisha»).

The famous Great Silk Road began in the north of Yunnan Province, from the small town of Lidzhian (north of the city of Dali). This ancient city is almost 1200 years old!

The ways of moving tea, the traditions of its use were largely borrowed by the Turks from the Chinese and became traditional in all countries along the Silk Road.

Since the 9th century, tea has been grown on significant plantations in Japan and Korea.
  Since the XIX century - in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka (Ceylon). And later, in both North and Central Africa (the so-called kenyan tea).

For the first time, the Portuguese brought tea to Europe from East Asia in the 15th and 17th centuries. Only from the XVIII century tea began to be consumed here as a drink.
  The “trendsetters” for tea in Europe are the British, to whom India belonged as a colony. And in this way, the world learned black tea, forgetting about Chinese green teas due to their long delivery and high prices. But now green tea is triumphantly returning to our markets and to our homes.

Tea in Russia is a special story. It is closely related to the migration and resettlement of peoples; including the Turks, about whom we are trying not to talk. Nevertheless, having a close relationship with China more than 1000 years ago, the Russians knew Chinese tea (several centuries later - again, “fixed”, - the Russian ambassador Starkov brought tea to Russia from Mongolia in 1638).

They brought tea to Russia from China via long caravan routes through Mongolia and Siberia, including along the Great Silk Road, starting from the 2nd century AD! Think about it! - that's when our great-ancestors already drank tea and had their traditions of tea drinking ...

World tea plantations now occupy about 2–2.5 million hectares.
   Currently, the most important tea plantations are in India, China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, in the south of Korea, in Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Diluted tea in Africa, Argentina, Peru, Iran, Turkey.
  Indian, Ceylon and Chinese teas are famous all over the world. The latter are just beginning to open up to us with their forgotten variety of taste, aroma, color, quality.

Within the former USSR, tea is grown along the Black Sea coast - from Lazarevskaya station to Batumi, in Lenkoran, in some regions of the Transcaucasus.
   In Russia, tea was planted in 1814 in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden (Crimea).
   In 1846, tea was imported to Western Transcaucasia, planted in the vicinity of Sukhumi and at the Ozurgetsk experimental station (now the city of Makharadze, Georgia).
   The first tea plantations were established in 1885 (also in Georgia, in the Chakva region).
   Since 1912, tea began to be bred in Azerbaijan, and since 1917 - on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus (in the Sochi region).
  Tea produced in the former USSR was divided into several varieties. Georgian, Krasnodar, Azerbaijani teas, by the subtleties of aroma, taste, strength of brewing, color of infusion, no doubt, were inferior to world grades. Of the imported teas, mostly Indian were sold, rarely Ceylon.

Tea is a heat-loving and moisture-loving plant, but it can withstand short-term frosts even up to –12 ° C without snow cover.
   Tea grows in the tropics all year round. Each plant lives about 70–100 years or more, but has the highest productivity between the ages of 10 and 70 years.
   Leafs begin to collect already from 4-year-old tea plants.

Tea picking and processing

The start of picking tea leaves depends on where the tea is grown. Tea picking usually starts from late March – early April and lasts until October.

The method and time of collection, the availability of processing (steaming, frying, fermentation), the method of drying - all affect the quality, taste, color of tea, and ultimately affects the price of tea.
   For example, in China, tea collected high in the mountains from April 1-5 to April 10-15, and in no way unprocessed, the most refined, giving a clear infusion with a light delicate aroma, reaches a price of about 400-600 dollars per kg . The same tea, but collected after April 15, falls in price twice.
  The cheapest tea in China (it is served free of charge in cafes or snack bars) is usually collected at the end of summer or autumn. It is less fragrant, gives a yellowish brew, strong, slightly bitter taste.

When collecting tea, use a flush - this is the top flight with one or two (rarely with three) leaves and a bud.
   Tips (s) are only the leafy buds of tea collected before they are blooming.
  Tea leaves and buds produce a high-quality product used to make a drink.

In tea factories, from the freshly harvested tea leaves with a special technology, 4 basic “types”, such as tea, are obtained: green, the black, red, yellow. So called trade varieties of tea, differing in the method of preparation of the original tea leaves, giving a kind of color to the final product (tea leaves) and tea infusion.

Green - not fermented tea. It is dried immediately after collection.
   When preparing certain varieties, the leaves are pretreated with hot steam, then rolled. At the same time tannins are oxidized slightly, and the leaves remain green.

Black - fermented tea. In the manufacture of black tea leaves are subjected to twisting and subsequent fermentation, during which the oxidation of tannins of raw tea leaves. The leaves turn black and acquire a peculiar scent. After fermentation, they are dried, sorted and packaged.

Red and yellow teas are intermediate species between black and green tea. Red tea undergoes incomplete fermentation, and yellow - partial fermentation. In this regard, red tea is closer to black, and yellow - to green tea.

« White“Tea - so often called teas that are brewed absolutely colorless; in China it is one of the most expensive varieties of tea.
  White tea is also called the one that is covered with villi, which makes the tea leaves look white.

Each region (province) of China has its own methods of processing, drying, twisting tea; and, accordingly, receive their varieties.
   Among the most valued in China:
- varieties of green tea from Hainan Island, from the town of Baisha;
   - red tea from Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.
   In the province of Sichuan make special tea - puer. After collection and hot processing, the Puer is aged in caves, acquiring a special aroma and taste.

Allocate tea:
- baikhovi  [from the Chinese "bai hao" - "ciliated", a certain form of twisting of the tea leaves before drying, providing looseness] - loose twisted tea leaf;
- oolong  - crumbly tea, but having undergone a special short enzymatic treatment (to taste it is an average tea between green and black);
- puer  - in several varieties, incl. tea:
1. brick  - compressed mixture of roasted and fermented old leaves and whole shoots obtained from early spring or autumn pruning and molding of tea bushes;
2. green  brick  (“Loa-cha”) - pressed from coarse, roasted, twisted, fermented autumn leaves of tea and stems up to 7 cm long;
3. tiled  - pressed broken tea leaves of the highest grades.

Pu-erh tea - pressed tea of ​​the class of cultivars PUER, formed in the form of paintings, ancient Chinese coins, drafts, etc.
  Pu-erh is a special tea that is aged in caves in Yunnan province for about 3-7 years. The color of tea leaves Pu-erh is similar to red or black tea, but with a peculiar taste and smell.

From the waste of tea leaves get caffeine, vitamin preparations.
   From the seeds of tea produce fatty oil used in the cosmetics, canning industry, soap making.

Wastes of higher grades of tea, broken leaves that do not meet the requirements of the variety:
  - used to make balls granulated tea;
  - let out so-called "disposable" instant teawhich is packaged in small bags, sachets of special paper;
  - brew, add the necessary ingredients in the recipe and get tea drinksthat sell cold.

To begin to understand the teas, you must have the opportunity to try many varieties, to get acquainted with the producers and traditions of their consumption in different countries producing tea.

Sale of tea and tea accessories

Today only in Beijing tea Street - Ma Lian Dao.

This is the only street in the world where for five blocks from both sides there are shops, shops, supermarkets and specialty shops,
   selling only tea and accessories for tea drinking.
   Here you can choose from a host of varieties and varieties of the very tea that will meet your individual preferences, desires, mood.
You can buy different tea by weight: from a few grams to kilogram packages. All determine only your taste, preferences and wallet size.
  The photographs taken in the departments of tea shops on Ma Lian Dao Street show the options for forming and packaging tea in China.

Hand-made and dried tea fun looks very attractive: “balls”, “roses” and other figured forms of tea “lures” and “surprises”.

When brewing, the form is revealed, and tea parties are presented with either a “rose” or “chrysanthemum”, made only from tea leaves, or a composition of tea leaves tied together in a bunch with a string of string strung on a string of jasmine flowers. Or more complex multi-tiered compositions are made (for example, composed of specially bonded tea leaves, chrysanthemum petals and jasmine flowers).

On the street Ma Lian Dao, of course, all possible and imaginable accessories for the tea ceremony are sold.

In the photo: some of the traditional Chinese cups for tea: without lids or with lids for stirring the infusion, keeping warm and holding tea leaves, with strainers for filtering; teapots.

In the next article, Tea: the art of tea drinking, you will learn about the traditions of brewing and drinking tea, about the influence of tea drink on the human body, about herbal teas.

Kirill Gavriilovich Tkachenko,
  Candidate of Biological Sciences, Head of the Introduction Group of Medicinal, Forage and Food Plants of the Botanical Garden of the Botanical Institute. V.L. Komarov RAS (St. Petersburg)

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