Western tea history: What is the famous trading place for tea in the west?
Photo courtesy of Bri
During the time when Asian countries and European countries established commodity trading, Venice was a famous trading place in the tea history. Goods from Asia were transported to Venice to be traded with commodities of the West. Tea and tea accessories became fascinating objects for Western merchants.
Western tea history: Who first introduced tea to Europe?
In 1560, a Persian merchant – named Ramusio, who had visited China during his business trip, wrote a book about his journey. It was named Voyages and Travels. In this book, Ramusio included lots of information about tea as a medicinal drink of the East. This was the first tea book in introduced to the West in the tea history.
Western tea history: Who first transported tea from East to West?
The demand for tea increased as its popularity continues to grow. But because the weather and the conditions in the West aren’t suitable to cultivate tea, Western people had to reply on China and Japan to supply the tea.
That means Europeans must think of a way to transport tea from Asia back to Europe in a timely manner. By 16th century, the Portuguese were the first to transport tea by sea from China.
During the tea history, the Portuguese’s newly-found way of transportation proved to be very profitable. Because the Portuguese were able to transport such large load of tea in efficient way, they were able to lower the price of tea. Thus Venetian merchants started to lose business.
Western tea history: Problems with the Chinese in trading?
Although the Chinese were hesitant to trade with the West, the tremendous profit from the tea industry outweighed the cost.
In the middle of 16th century, the Chinese government set up a trading center on the island of Macao in the Canton River. This trading center was placed far away from China mainland to avoid any surprise attack from the West. Religious missionaries played an important part in the tea history. They were the pioneers in introducing tea to the West.
What is the connection between religion and tea?
One example was Father Gasper da Cruz, who visited China in 1560, came back and was utterly fascinated by the bitter yet beneficial drink of the East. Another missionary was Father Matteo Ricci, who came to China in 1598. Father Matteo was amazed by the benefits of this drink. He sent home a journal with countless information about the green tea drink.
Tea shipping to Europe began to increase significantly. In the beginning of 17 century, the Dutch East India Company was established and became prominent in the tea industry. Optimistic as it seemed, during this time of the tea history until the end of 17th century, only social elites could afford tea. Tea was still unknown to the majority of people.
How teas become the drink of working-class people?
But as the tea industry proved to be extremely lucrative, larger and heavier loads of tea were carried to the West. As the supply surged, the price slowly declined. Common people were able to afford tea. Tea quickly spread throughout Europe without brake.
As tea drinking became more sophisticated in the West, the demand for tea accessories such as silk, porcelain cups and tea pots also climbed up. Further more, several European countries started to develop their own tea rituals and ceremonies. England was the one stand out in the tea history.
Western tea history: what is the conflict between giant tea companies?
Tea was integrated deeply into Englishmen’s way of life that it finally becomes the symbol of England. In 1600, British East India Company emerged to handle the England’s tea business in China. But there was fierce competition between the Dutch and the British East India Company. They constantly competed for territories and suppliers.
Unlike the Dutch company, the British company was in a quarrel with the Chinese government over trading policies. After the British East India Company lost its prominent place in China’s tea industry it turned to India for tea supply.
In the tea history of the West, tea was first sold to the public in England in 1657 at Garway’s Coffee House. The business was very successful for the sellers knew how to stress on the health benefits of tea. Due to the high demand of this wonderful drink, tea was gradually added to the menus of most of coffee and tea houses throughout England.
Western tea history: What part did the royal family play in bringing tea to the West?
In the middle of 17th century, King Charles II married a Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza. Because of the Portuguese’s obsession with tea, Catherine brought some of that passion to England.
By 1684, England was able to secure a tea factory in Canton. 5 years later, the first ship- The princess, transported tea directly from this factory back to England. When tea was well-known to the English people, it also began its journey to Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Germany, and France. But in Germany and France, tea still couldn’t compete with beers and red wine.
Ancient people realized white tea benefits quite few centuries ago. Western medicine has now acknowledges white tea benefits through formal studies.
Photo courtesy of yuichi.sakuraba
Let’s talk a bit about white tea,
* It comes from Camellia Sinensis – The Chinese tea plant
* This is a rare tea
* This tea tastes mellow and savory
* Its taste and fragrance is weaker than other teas
* Popular types are White Peony, Silver needle, and Snow buds
* This tea has as many health benefits as green tea such as anti-fungal effects, slowing the spread of breast cancer.
White tea is processed differently from other teas. White tea leaves are slightly oxidized. The dried products have opaque white color. The leaves can take shape of round balls, needle-like, or finely chopped powder. The fragrance of this tea is not very distinguished. If there are lots of other fragrances around, you wouldn’t smell anything from your cup of tea.
White tea has a kind of orange-yellowish color after brewed. This wonderful drink tastes sweet and a bit mellow. But if you taste this tea for the first time, it seems as if you have just drunk fruity water. It takes a while for your palate to adjust to the taste of this tea. Gradually you will sense the sweetness and may be a touch of bitterness.
Once the tea goes into the body, it gives you a sense of relaxation and refreshing. If you are all alone with your book, this is quite an experience. For a moment, you feel like all of stress evaporates away. You should try it sometimes…
There are not many varieties of white tea. 3 of most popular kinds of white tea are White Peony, Silver Needle, and Snow Buds. Silver Needle is the most expensive of the 3. While Snow Buds is the least known tea.
Each of the above white tea kind has a different and distinctive taste.
For a beginner, White peony is a good choice. It’s not so expensive but still has many distinguished traits of this rare tea. There are many white tea benefits to help strengthening your immune system. Drinking tea is like exercise. It takes time but will yield great result. All good things require time, don’t they?
Here are some well-known white tea benefits…
White tea benefits…
The first white tea benefits due to the high level of polyphenols – a type of antioxidants for their defenses against damages, diseases, and injuries.
White tea is the one of least processed tea, so most of the natural defense polyphenol are still retained in your cup of tea. Once consumed into our body, these polyphenols help strengthening our immune system. Polyphenols have similar effects as vitamins or minerals in our body.
The second white tea benefits is resulted from catechin.. Catechin is a specific kind polyphenol that exists in high amount in white tea.
It helps regulate chemicals in the cells to decrease the risk of developing breast cancer. Catechin also inactivates the effects of tumor promoters. Thus, this slows the spreading of cancer. High-consumption of animal’s fats and excess amount of alcohol can significantly increase the level of cholesterol in the bloodstream. Arteriosclerosis and heart attack are commonly caused by high cholesterol and severe damage to the arteries.
The third white tea benefit is that it can help to keep the cholesterol level in check. Antioxidant polyphenol such as flavonoids and EGCG can greatly reduce the level of LDL – bad cholesterol in the blood. They have the ability to change the shape of LDL- make them less harmful to the arteries.
The fourth white tea benefits is that it can help increasing the amount of HDL – good cholesterol, thus lowering the risk of suffering heart attack and stroke.
One thing to remember is that tea doesn’t replace a healthy diet and regular exercise. If you can combine these 3 healthy activities together, you will have the health to enjoy life better.
The fifth white tea benefit is that it also contains fluoride. It’s an important mineral for health and strength of your teeth, gums, and bones.
Specifically, fluoride helps prevent dental cavities. This component of white tea is often added into tooth pastes to provide better dental protection and reducing the risk of plaque formation.
The last but not least white tea benefits are its effects against fungi. Recent studies have shown that this tea has strong anti-fungal effects, even stronger than green tea. It contains natural chemicals that have the ability to hinder the spreading of fungi.
Yixing teapots are available in many colors. But most often, people want the teapots in their original color – which is the mixture between red and brown, with a touch of purple. Yixing teapots are small and always accompany with small yet elegant Yixing tea cups. These teapots are hand-made from a special kind of soil that mainly available in the Yixing region in China.
Photo courtesy of Geekgirlunveiled
There is many different clay color that contributes to the different color of teapots. But the most common and abundant clay has a dark brown color with a touch of purple. These teapots are often called Purple Sand teapots. The soil that makes up the teapots has many interesting characteristics. The soil is very absorbent and resistant to high temperature.
Due to the 1st characteristic, teapots can preserve the taste of your tea once the tea is brewed for the first time. For this reason, it’s a good idea to use one teapot for your most favorite tea. Brewing different teas in one teapot can result in mixture of fragrance and the taste. This can give you either a pleasant or a weird tea.
The resistance of yixing clay can help spread the heat slowly and evenly. The tea will less likely to be over-brewed. This trait also prevent the handle from overheat, causing inconvenience when pouring tea.
Prepare new teapots
Some teapots when put in shelves are already prepared. This means they already get rid of the smell for you. But if the teapots are so new, they still can have an earthy fragrance. This is not a big problem. We can fix this easily. Before you can use the new teapot you just bought, you need to get rid of the muddy smell because it will definitely affect your tea later.
Here are the steps that you can do to have a nice and clean teapot:
1) Place your new teapot in a container and boil it for 15 minutes. This kind of teapot can easily change color depending on the temperature. The higher the temperature, the darker the teapot will become.
2) Take the teapot out and dry it completely. Put lots of strong black tea into the container in step 1. Submerge the teapot into the tea water for 6 hours. Do not expose the teapot to sunlight.
3) When finished, take the teapot out, wipe the teapot thoroughly with soft cloth. Place the pot in a dark and cool place for it to dry. Remember, after each brew, always let the teapot air dry.
People often have different Yixing teapots for different kinds of teas. If you don’t have many teapots, reserve the teapot for your most consumed and favorite tea.
Washing the teapots
Teapots are very essential to a decent cup of tea. Although teapots aren’t that expensive, it’s a good idea to take good care of your teapots. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is using detergent to wash the teapot.
As mentioned above, Yixing teapots can absorb fragrance very easily. So your teapots can absorb the fragrance of your dishwasher liquid, making your next cup tea smell and taste like soap. It’s very difficult to get rid of the soap smell, so you may have to buy a new teapot. Another mistake is that people use chemicals to polish the outer surface of teapot. These chemicals will stay in the teapots and can be transferred directly into your cup of tea.
This can cause unpredicted medical problem, so please only wash with cool water and let it air dry. Remember do not expose to sunlight. Always use soft dry cloth to wipe your Yixing teapot to prevent scratching on the surface. Here are some tips to help you prepare and preserve your Yixing teapots. Keep in mind, a decent teapot can bring you a decent cup of tea.