What is Yerba Mata tea?
Yerba Mata tea is one kind of herbal tea. It is sometimes referred to as Brazilian tea. This tea is a popular drink in South America. Mate is name of the plant. Its scientific name is Ilex Paraguariensis. Other names of this plant are Jesuit’s tea or Paraguay tea.
Photo courtesy of fd
The leaves of Mate plant is evergreen and can be as long as 8 inches. Between the leaves are small white flowers and sometimes red fruit. This plant is only cultivated in Brazil and Paraguay. When the leaves are plucked, they are then finely chopped to powder and are put into small bags.
Drink tea the South American’s way
There is a unique way to drink this herbal tea in South America. Sugar and hot water is placed in pot. Hot milk, boiling water, and lemon juice are added. Stir the mixture well before serving. People often suck the tea using a straw, or what they called bombilla.
Yerba mate tea benefits
The parts that often are used to make tea is the leaves. They can be roasted or dried before packaging.
People often drink this tea to reduce fatigue, alleviate kidney problems, and accelerate the metabolism of sugar and fats.This herbal tea contains high level of caffeine. Thus, it can provide mental alertness and clarity. However, it also has several side effects like coffee.
Overdose of this herbal tea can result in loss of sleep, dizziness, headache, and loss of appetite.
People with heart condition, women who are pregnant, or people who think they may be allergic to caffeine must consult with their doctors before drinking this herbal tea. To prepare this herbal tea, just add about 1 teaspoon of dried Mate into hot water and steep for about 5-7 minutes. This Yerba mata tea taste better if the infusion time is shorter.
Are you familiar with wu-long tea (sometimes called oolong)?
Not know much about it? …Let me help you!
Photo courtesy of geekgirlunveiled
* The name in China means black dragon
* Oolong in China means black dragon OR “champagne tea”
* They are mostly grown Taiwan.
* Fresh leaves are partially dried (or fermented) in direct sunlight
* leaves are black with a hint of red
* Has a very nice flowery fragrance
* Taste is bold but not as much as black tea
* This tea is now one of the most popular teas in Japan.
This tea sometimes has the nick name as the child of green tea and black tea. It’s true! Green tea is un-oxidized. Black tea is fully oxidized. So this kind of tea would be semi-oxidized.
Some people may call it a type of light green tea because this kind of tea is often used in place of other expensive green tea. They have some similarities in taste.The name is sometimes written as Wu-long. In Chinese, it means black dragon and black snake. One word refers to both animals.
Most of Oolong tea is cultivated in Taiwan. Some are cultivated in high mountains in Fijian, China.
Formosa Oolong tea is known as the best oolong tea in the world.
Many countries have tried to produce this wu-long tea. But no other product can replace the original.
Formosa Oolong tea has brownish color with a fruity flavor. It is a close relative of original Chinese wu-long tea, but more delicious, especially to Americans.
This special blend of tea is one of American’s favorite teas starting around 1920s.
The discovery of wu-long tea was rather accidental. Original wu-long tea plants were first grown in province Fukien of China.
When the people of Fukien province migrated to Formosa, they attempted to cultivate the tea plants there. They tried to produce the original oolong tea.Although the growing and processing methods are exactly the same, the oolong tea from Formosa tastes rather different, in a good way.
Methods of processing can be mimicked. But there are 2 things that can’t be.
Due to the differences in soil fertility and the weather conditions between Fukien and Formosa, the Formosa oolong tea is more delicious and full-flavored.
The interesting thing is that Formosa oolong tea is the only type that tastes better than the original oolong. The green and black teas from Formosa are not much different from the originals. Somehow, the soil and weather make the tea leaves perfect for semi-fermentation of oolong tea.
The grades of Formosa wu-long tea can go from Standard – Good – Superior – Fine – Choice.
There are many intermediate ranges in between.The ideal conditions for growing this special wu-long tea are that the plants should be grown on the hill sides and the soil has to have a yellowish color. This blend of tea is harvested from April to the end of November. The harvests are classified as spring tea, First Summer tea, Second Summer tea, and finally winter tea.
The weather in the summer is fairly consistent, therefore summer plucking will most likely to produce high-quality tea.The color of dried this special oolong is greenish black. Its color is the mixture between un-oxidized green tea and fully oxidized black tea.
The production of this kind of oolong tea is treated with greater care than other tea. The withering time and the number of drying must be greatly controlled to produce strong yet fruity flavor oolong.
Now this special kind of oolong tea is one of the most popular teas beside black tea. A fact that partly makes this Formosa oolong special is that Formosa is the only place that has the perfect soil and climate conditions to produce this uniqure oolong tea.
One other kind of tea is scented oolong. It’s called Pouchong – this tea is scented with Jasmine flowers.
For all wu-long tea…
During processing, the leaves are heated many times – allowing the outer of the leaves to become dark red while the inner is still green.
Due to this control in tea making, the dried tea leaves appear to be reddish black. Since the tea is semi-oxidized, its taste is stronger than green tea but not as strong as black tea.The characteristic taste of wu-long tea is bold but smooth, with a hint of nuttiness. Oolong tea also has a very nice and pleasant flowery fragrance.
Recent studies have shown that this tea contains less caffeine than black tea but a bit more than green tea. The amount is about 15-50 mg in a cup. Black tea contains 30-100 mg, while green tea has 10-35 mg/per cup.This tea is now one of the popular teas in Japan.
2 words: Camellia Sinensis
It’s the mother tea plant of all tea. The varying colors such as green, black, white, yellow, and Oolong are due to differences in processing methods of the tea leaves after being plucked.
Photo courtesy of autan
In order to have a decent cup of tea, the tea leaves’ chemical changes and structure have to be controlled since the tea plants were first grown. The plants that produce some of the best teas in the world often are cultivated more than 4500 feet above the sea level. At this height, the atmosphere is cooler to slow the growth of tea plant. Due to this reason, cultivated tea leaves often are richer and more flavorful.
Wild plant is often left to grow more than 40 feet. But cultivated plants are often kept at about 3-4 feet high. The first tea plant was first named Camellia Sinensis in 1753. This is an evergreen plant. Different soil and weather conditions can give rise to different types of Camellia Sinensis. Sinensis is sweet-smelling and can be very productive in producing high-quality tea leaves.
A closer look at Indian’ s Camellia Assam
Another major type of plant is the Camellia Assam. Camellia Assam is originated from India. This kind of plant flourishes better in India’s soil and climate than in China’s.
Camellia Assam was first discovered by two brothers Robert and Charles Bruce in early 19th century.
The Assam plants are single stemmed. They can grow as high as 60 feet in the wild. Assam Camellia are a bit different from Camellia Sinensis even though they both belong to the same genus.
Camellia Assam has more leaves and can grow vertically faster than Camellia Sinensis. The first 300 pounds of Assam tea was produced in 1838. This initiated the India’s tea trading with many Western countries.
In 1903, India government passed the Indian Tea Association. This law requires the government to save a fraction of the profits from tea exportation to promote and advertise India’s Assam tea in the West.
Do You know how tea was grown?
In order to grow tea plants, the land must first be cleared out either burning. The seeds are then tested for germination potential by submerging them in water.
If a seed has enough nutrients inside for it to grow until it was able to take nutrients from the soil, it will sink to the bottom. Flat seeds or empty seeds will float to the surface. Those seeds will not yield healthy plants. Thus, they are tossed away. The place the plants are cultivated is often called tea garden or tea farm, depending on the size of the land.
Tea garden seems to fit more with the delicacy and simplicity of tea drink. Tea farms often exist in Indian and Sri Lanka. While tea gardens can often be found in Japan and China. There are a handful of criterions in tea growing to produce high-quality leaves. The conditions may vary, but few of the major criteria must be satisfied.
Tea plants need warm climate and at least 5-6 hours of sunlight each day. Therefore, they are mostly grown in tropical or sub-tropical climate. Major countries that are leading in tea production are China, Japan, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and South Africa.
Why America couldn’t grow tea?
America has tried many times to cultivate its own tea plants but all of the attempts were failed. The first attempt was in 1775 and the last one took place in 1920. The seeds could grow in southern states such as Georgia and Florida but large production of tea were too expensive.
However, there are certain kinds of plants that actually like the cold climate such as cold summit oolong tea, Fukien white tea, and mountain tea. This tea can also thrive in soil that is low in nutrients.
The plants must be grown more than 4000 feet above the sea level. Higher altitude and colder air slow the growth of tea leaves due to limited photosynthesis. Thus, this method will minimize the size of the leaves yet still retain all of the natural chemicals of the plants. Another criterion for a healthy tea garden is that the plants need at least 90 inches of rain fall each year.
Dryness and lack of precipitation would cause the leaves turn yellow. A hot temperature of 80-85 F is necessary for the health of the plants and the quality of the leaves. Tea plants flourish in soil that is rich in acids, nitrogen, and nutrients. To avoid competition for soil nutrients and sunlight, plants often are cultivated in squares or triangles wit about 3500 bushes per acre.
Plants that are grown on the plains are more productive than those on the hill slopes. Plants that are on the slopes produce fewer leaves and have shorter harvesting season. But those fewer leaves have higher qualities since the conditions of the growing land force the tea growers to pay great attention to the changes of leaves.
In about 3 years after plantation, the plants are ready for harvest. Low-grown plants take shorter time to grow but also have shorter harvesting season. High-grown plants take longer to grow but in turn they can produce high-quality leaves for more than 50 years.
Tend for the tea plants
While the plants are growing, the area around the root must be free of weeds and other wild plants.
These things will compete with the tea plants for soil nutrients. They sometimes can spread fungi and diseases to the tea leaves.
The teas that are grown in shaded area are generally healthier than those in un-shaded areas.
The reasons for this are that plants in shade are protected from the excessive amount of sunlight. Also, these plants can acquire more nutrients from the fruits and leaves that are dropped down from the big trees.
In order to collect high-quality tea leaves, the plants must be pruned constantly. Without pruning, the plants will grow like wild plants and the leaves become rough and tasteless. By pruning, the tea growers provide more opportunities for the young shoots and buds to emerge.
It’s worth to mention that products that contain mostly young leaves and buds are considered to have higher value and more expensive.