O'Tea & JIGYASU

The term 'chai' doesn't refer to an actual kind of tea or a specific drink, but a style of preparing it. Chai tea is usually served with a milk or cream, and is heavily spiced. Common spices in chai are cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, pepper, and allspice.

Chai has come to North America, UK, Belgium from India, and has gained much popularity at coffeehouses and tea shops everywhere.

Masala Chai
A personal favorite. This is another basic chai recipe, but the hint of cinnamon makes a world of difference.

Kashmiri Chai Tea
The powdered almonds add a nutty touch.

Thai Iced Tea
Better for warmer weather, this iced chai tea is rich and creamy and lightly spiced.

Not only does India produce the most tea in the world, it grows some of the very best. Nearly every part of the country has a tea-growing region. Approximately 4% of the national income of India comes from its tea, there are over 14,000 tea estates.

The geography of India allows for many different climatic conditions, and the resulting teas can be dramtically different from each other.

There are 3 main kinds of tea produced in India:

Assam
Assam tea comes from the North Eastern section of the country. This heavily forested region is home to much wildlife, including the rhinocerous. Tea from here is rich and full-bodied. It was in Assam that the first tea estate was established, in 1837.

Darjeeling
The Darjeeling region is cool and wet, and tucked in the foothills of the Himalayans.
The tea is exquisite and delicately flavoured, and considered to be one of the finest teas in the world. The Darjeeling plantations have 3 distinct harvests, and the tea produced from each 'flush' has a unique flavour. First flush teas are light and aromatic, while the second flush produces tea with a bit more bite. The third, or autumn flush gives a tea that is lesser in quality.

Nilgiri
This tea comes from an even higher part of India than Darjeeling. This southern Indian region has elevations between 1,000 and 2,5000 metres. The flavours of Nilgiri teas are subtle and rather gentle. They are frequently blended with other, more robust teas.


Besides the different kinds of tea that come from India, there is also a very unique style of making tea. It's called chai. There are lots of various recipes to make chai, but the basic ingredients are: black tea, milk, sugar, and spices. It's the combination of spices that make chai so wonderful. The most common are cardamom, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and even pepper. If you're tired of plain tea, give chai a try.

A small bud forms at the end of each stem and quickly becomes a young shoot. This end leaf is usually curled and forms the bud.

Other leaves are found on the stem and their number below the bud will determine the quality of the plucking: the more are removed, the lesser quality plucking.

There are three types of plucking:

- the imperial plucking: the bud and the leaf that directly follows.
- the fine plucking: the bud and the two leaves that follow. This is a harvest of excellent quality.
- the average plucking: the bud and the three leaves that follow. This gives a lesser quality tea than the previous two but it allows the tea plant to grow better.

The leaves are never plucked separately: the part of the stem that unites the young shoot and the leaves is always plucked as a whole.

There are several tea categories depending of the process made after plucking. We call them categories:

Here are the main tea categories :

Black Tea :


For black teas, the fermentation process is allowed to run its full course. Legend has it that in the 17th century, a cargo of green tea from China arrived in London after a particularly long trip. During the journey the tea chests had gone mouldy and the tea they contained had turned from green to black. Not great tea connoisseurs, the English enjoyed it so much that they asked for a new delivery to the Chinese…

Withering
This first procedure is to give to the leaf pliability for subsequent rolling. Fresh leaves lose 50% of their moisture. The harvest is spread out evenly on bamboo or hessian racks placed 12 to 18cm apart in a room. The room temperature is kept constant between 20°C-24°C with fans circulating air. This process usually takes between 18 and 32 hours.

Rolling
The rolling of black tea differs from green teas: its objective is not to twist the leaf but to break down its cell structure, in order to facilitate the enzymes reaction of the fermentation. If the leaves are lightly rolled they will produce a mild tea; if they are more twisted the tea will have a more pronounced flavour. Rolling can be carried out either by hand or by machine.

Fermentation
The leaves are sent next to the fermentation room. In these rooms the humidity ranges from 90% to 95% with a temperature from 20°C to 22°C. Ventilation needs to be good however without any draughts. The leaves are spread out in layers of between 3-6cm. Fermentation can last for anything from 1 to 4 hours, depending on the quality of the leaves, the season, the region and according to the strong colour desired.

Roasting
To stop fermentation the tea has to be brought to a high temperature as quickly as possible. Roasting usually takes place in large, cylindrical drying machines that heat the leaves to an average temperature of 90°C for 15 to 20 minutes.

Grading
The next thing that must be done is to sort the tea by grade. The tea is immediately sorted into two grades:

broken leaves
whole leaves
Broken leaves are obtained either naturally when, whole leaves are broken during handling, or artificially by being cut with a machine. Whole leaves are classified according to the fineness of the harvest.

- Green Teas :


Green teas are unfermented teas. Their preparation therefore aims to avoid any hint of fermentation. The leaves go through three processes: roasting, rolling and firing.

Roasting
The purpose of roasting is to kill those enzymes in the leaves that cause fermentation. In order to do this, the leaves are brutally heated to a temperature of around 100°C, either in large pans (the Chinese method) or by steam cooking (the Japanese way), for anything from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. The leaves thus become soft and easily bendable for the rolling process.

Rolling
The leaves are then rolled or folded by hand to give them the appearance of small sticks, balls, coils or actual tea leaves as is the case, for example with Long Jing tea. The operation can be carried out either hot or cold, according to the fineness of the harvest: young shoots are easily rolled cold since they have high water content, as opposed to more mature leaves which require immediate rolling after the roasting process, while they are still hot.

The firing process
The leaves are dried on racks called "tats" with hot air being circulated for two or three minutes. Then this process stops for half an hour leaving the leaves to rest, after which time the drying is repeated until the moisture content of the leaves is no more than 5 to 6%.


- Oolong :

These are teas in which the fermentation has been interrupted mid-process. More mature leaves that therefore contain less tannin and caffeine are often used for this category of tea.

Wu Long (Oolong) teas are a speciality of the Fujian province in China and of Taiwan.

These Wu Long teas are currently divided into two categories: lightly fermented teas (10%-15% fermentation) prepared in the so-called Chinese way; and others where the fermentation process is much more important (60%-70%) in which the teas are processed according to a method more specifically developed in Taiwan.

- White Teas :


These are teas that have remained in their natural state. The leaves in this case only undergo two procedures: withering and firing. In order to obtain a level of moisture loss comparable to other teas, the leaves are left to wither for a much longer period of time: from 52 to 60 hours. They are then immediately dried in large pans for approximately half an hour. The process might appear simple but the production of white teas is nevertheless one of the most delicate. Withering in the open air is an operation impossible to control in terms of humidity and heat: the skill of the tea planter lies in accurately predicting weather conditions and organising the timing of the plucking accordingly. White teas are a Chinese speciality from the Fujian region.

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SRI LANKA

The weather and landscape of this island nation are ideal for growing tea, which is its largest agricultural crop. When the nation, for years called Ceylon in the West, gained its independence in 1972, it renamed itself Sri Lanka. However, the tea produced in estates in the verdant hills is still called Ceylon. Sri Lanka was once the world's largest exporter of tea, but economic and political setbacks have forced it to drop in this category. Nevertheless, it remains a top producer and certainly an esteemed one, being known for some of the best tea estates in the world.


BLACK TEAS

Ceylon: This black tea is very flavorful and mildly astringent, with enough body to stand up to milk. Its beautiful long, thin leaves steep to make a mellow tea that is a favorite the world over.

Pettigalla: Similar to the teas produced by Kenilworth estate, the slightly fruity OP tea grown and processed on this estate is wonderful as an afternoon tea.

Allen Valley: Known as an excellent FOP tea (Flowery Orange Pekoe), this tea is made from high-quality fine-plucked leaves with golden buds that give it a mellow flavor. This is an afternoon tea of distinction.

Uva Highlands: As another example of an FP tea that can be served morning or afternoon, this is a full flavored brew. Also from this estate is a superior BOP (Broken Orange Pekoe) tea that is wonderful in the morning.

Berubeula: here is another FOP of distinction that makes a delightful afternoon tea.

Nuwara Eliya: This rich, heady, brisk OP (Orange Pekoe) tea is produced as thigh altitudes. It is a tea with a lovely bouquet and excellent clarity that sometimes is referred to as the Champagen of Ceylon teas.

Kenilworth: The long leaves produce bright red color and robust aroma in a tea that is brisk and strong. This tea accomodates milk very nicely and is best enjoyed in the mid to late afternoon.

Saint James: From this estate comes an excellent BOP with good character and full flavor, two qualities of a good morning beverage.

Dryaaba: This FP (Flowery Pekoe) tea is a well balanced, aromatic one that serves as a morning or afternoon tea.


GREENS TEAS

Ceylon: Green Ceylon tea is a rarity, but well worth drinking whne found. It is marvelously aromatic and mellow with the subtle character and full body of the black Ceylon tea.

Nature's Garden OP (or Koslande): Most teas produced in Sri Lanka are black teas, but this estate makes a fresh, fruity green tea as well as a black tea. The green tea marries well with the flavors of fresh greens or roasted vegetables and so is a pleasant accompaniment to a lunch or light supper.