Tea

What is grown.

There are two major categories of the tea plant: small leaf, i.e. CS sinensis and large leaf i.e. CS assamica. In addition, there're thousands of different varietals (developed naturally) and cultivars (developed by man in labs) of tea.

Large-leaf tea plants were initially known to the western world in Assam, hence the name. However, long before that, they've been growing in areas of southern Yunnan in south west China, north of Vietnam, north of Laos, Myanmar, and Assam in north east India.

Large leaves, due to their specific physical structures, pack more tea substances, in both quantity and variety, and make more infusions that contain more extracts, therefore their body effects cover more areas and are stronger, comparing to those from the small-leaf category. Taste wise, small-leaf teas tend to be delicate and sweet, whereas large-leaf teas are heavier and stronger, generally speaking with other factors constant.

Cultivars were developed for specific plant and leaf traits, thus they're reproduced by planting sections of branches in order to keep desired characteristics and they develop roots sideways. While plants grown from seeds develop roots vertically that are able to reach deep down the soil for water and nutrients, thus are more resilient to environmental changes.

Where it grows, and how.

Factors specific to location include: altitude, season & climate, soil type & drainage, and the whole eco-system or surroundings. Plants, even of the same varietal/cultivar, will adapt to micro-environments yielding leaves of different proportions of tea substances, hence varying quality, which will likely be reflected in prices.

Some cultivars may require more manual interventions hence higher maintenance costs transferred to tea price. Therefore, high quality tea picked from naturally grown plants requiring min management may not be pricey. However, they might become so desirable that the high demand will drive up prices. However, unfortunately, without proper knowledge, demands could be created and misled.

Some ancient tea trees may be cut short for easier leaf picking, and this would have diminished their advantages as tree top size is usually proportional to their root size.

​Agrochemicals have health concerns. Their residuals in teas will show up in tastes as well as body feels after drinking and swallowing if one is sensitive enough to detect. Tea plants with high planting density are prone to insects and diseases, and application of pesticides, fertilizers, grass killers or even growth hormones cannot be avoided. These all combined will deplete soil and in turn decrease tea quality, making it unsustainable. In addition, tea plants like shades: an ecological tea garden with enough miscellaneous tall trees will protect them from excessive sunlight. Thus, simply obtaining organic certifications for teas, with tests passed at certain points of time, does not necessarily mean high quality.  At end of day, all teas shall be tasted and tested to ensure their safety and quality.

Blended tea with materials from various years and areas made for optimal drinking experience are not bounded to seasonal or regional limitations as a bonus.

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How it is made.

Meaning a single processing step, sequence of steps, and factors utilized like temp, heating time & speed, air circulation, and etc.

Processing greatly affects teas' properties. For example, the same leaves could be processed into white, green, black, or oolong tea to name a few, categorized according to different levels of oxidation in them resulted from processing.  Resulting in totally different colours and tastes of tea infusions, suggesting different tea substances, and proportions of them.

After been produced, all teas more or less continue to oxidize naturally, and we call this process: ageing. Production methods affect ageing speed & potentials, depending on how much room, and how many and how active responsible substances are left. You may experience the difference among tea categories, within the same category, or even the same named tea produced by different people.

Pu'er tea is known for its ability to age and to transform along time to interact differently with our bodies at different stages. These naturally occurred reactions could not yet be reproduced manually, for example, shu pu'er is produced to mimic aged sheng pu'er, but it ended up to be a totally different tea.

Sheng pu'er that was processed at high temperature may have lost its active ingredients and will not transform after years of storage. Shu pu'er that has been fermentated too much would have lost potentials. Further storage will or will not wear off its excessive heat absorbed during processing depending on how it was done. It is therefore very hard to generalize specific effects of a tea, a type of tea, or even a category of tea, depending on specific substances and their proportions in tea infusions.