Countries that Live and Breathe Tea

By
Patricia B
-
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

The history of tea is a long-standing one, dating back almost 5,000 years ago to ancient China. The first tea was found was in Southwest China during the Shang dynasty, when people used it for its medicinal and therapeutic benefits.

It’s no surprise that many countries live and breathe tea, since it’s full of potent antioxidants. Green tea is known to be one of the healthiest variations of tea, because it contains catechins that help the body’s fat transform into energy for use. Under the green tea family, there are different strains of tea. Let’s take a look at the countries that adore tea.

China

Since tea originated from China, it’s customary to drink tea before and even after a meal. Some of their most-used teas are Long Jing and Green Snail Spring tea.

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Japan

In Japan, they are big fans of loose leaf tea. Genmaicha is a stronger version of a green tea, while kukicha makes use of the stems and not the leaves of the plant. Tea is a staple in almost every traditional Japanese dish.

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Cupping a home-roasting experiment with a Shiraore tea from Karatsu (2018). • 2,4gr / ~120ml / 100°C / 4m • From left to right: 1 – original shiraore (kukicha) 2 – roasted 10 min in horoku 3 – roasted 15 min in horoku • I’m surprised at how well the green tea (1) came through the 4 min hot brew. No bitterness (only when it cooled down), slight astringency and quite aromatic wet leaves. • I often prefer dark roast houjicha teas to lighter one, but my 15 min roast experiment (3) despite not being burnt had gone too far: flat, too earthy, touch of blackened toast. I did like the smell of the wet leaves: earthy & resin notes. • The winner of the three: tea (2), with a 10 min roast. It’s sweeter than (1), notes of brown sugar and some fruitiness. Fascinating as the wet leaves were my least favourite, smelling like charcoal/over-roasted wood. • A lot of fun to taste these side-by-side and see how much a tea can transform and change flavours due to roasting. • • • #teahead #tea #homeroasting #horokuroasting #cha #shiraore #kukicha #houjicha #teacupping #japanesetea #nihoncha #お茶 #茶 #日本茶 #teaexperiment

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United Kingdom

The UK also usually drinks loose leaf tea – oftentimes mixed with milk. The British are also fond of Darjeeling and Assam tea, which has a stronger tasting flavor and scent.

Turkey

Turkish tea, as well as Turkish coffee, is quite popular in family households. Most of the tea is collected from the province called Rize, which lies along the Black Sea coast – this tea is black.