Tea Growing Regions Part 2 Video

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Tea Growing Regions Part 2

Ron: Teas are grown in many different countries all over the world unfortunately we can’t harvest any in Canada because we have to do with this type of climate. So tea likes a warm and humid, teas are found mostly around the equator, and so you find a lot of Asian countries are producing tea. African countries, there are some teas produced in South America, Argentina for example. There is one tea plantation in the United States, which doesn’t really produce it process really more for a tea for instant tea for ice teas and so forth. So you don’t really get the flavor profiles there that much because of the climate. Some of the most important tea producing regions are, I would probably say, China and India. Frank Weber: Okay Ron: China is the birthplace of teas. So tea is widely acknowledged that tea was discovered in 2737 by a Chinese herbalist Shen Nong, in Huai Nan in the mountainous region in South Western China. Frank Weber: Okay Ron: So China to this date produces all varieties of all different types of teas, so it does white tea for example, which we have here. So this is a white needle. White tea is the least processed of all teas, so it’s just picked and then very, very gently withered and either sun dried or slowly or often dried. So it’s the least process, it’s completely unoxidized Frank Weber: Okay. Ron: Which means it stays green. Frank Weber: So staying on China for minute, so China produces green teas, White teas, Oolongs, which we have and Oolong here, but it’s from Taiwan so we won’t go there right now. It produces Black teas, some of our most recognizable teas for example English breakfast blend. Ron: Yes. Frank Weber: Contains a large amount of China black. Ron: Okay. Frank Weber: So English breakfast is usually a blend of China black, Kimon, Ceylon. You know, it’s a recipe, so depending what company makes it, it can vary, but what essentially the tea company is trying to do is to create very much like wine, you know, the crop changes with the different vintage. So we’re trying to create something that it’s the same, has same taste, and same flavor profile year after year. So China black or Kimon is probably one of the most recognized China Black teas. It’s a large part of what we find in an English breakfast type blend. Then China also produces something that is called Pu-erh, which is only can be found in china, and Pu-erh is a very interesting tea because it often shows up in these cakes. So, I can show you here. So this for example is a Pu-erh, it’s pressed into this shape, and what happens is essentially a green tea is made first. Now if Pu-erh comes from Huai nan, which is we talked about already, mountains ridges in China, and it’s predominantly harvested from species of tea trees they don’t grow taller than a the regular tea bushes. The tea is essentially made into a green first and then it is steamed again to make more moisture into the leaves and it’s induced with yellow and White leaves. So what that does, it triggers actually fermentation process. So unless Black teas which are oxidized or Oolong which is semi-oxidized, Pu-erh tea is fermented . Frank Weber: Okay. Ron: So you have to think about that like a blue cheese or the bacteria in your yogurt so it’s a good bacteria, it’s a good fermentation and we are all full of millions of different bacteria that we need to survive. So Pu-erh is a tea that has been—a Chinese herbalist as believed for centuries that it helps to lower cholesterol and helps with weight loss. Frank Weber: Okay. Ron: They’re not really a lot of clinical studies out there that can 100% prove that but we won’t ague with 400 years of Chinese medicine. Frank Weber: And then how is it pressed into this block? Is it pressed as it is fermenting or before it ferments? Ron: It goes through the fermentation process, which is called a wet piling process, so they keep the tea in wrapped cheese clothe in very specific moisture and humidity, temperature condition for four weeks so that’s when this process happens. Then the leaves are then pressed into these molds, there is like a granite mold which they are pressed into, and they are dried, so they arrive at this cake form. In Pu-erh can also be found loose. Actually the other interesting thing about Pu-erh is that, it’s the only tea that improves with aging. Teas have a shelf life, usually about a year or sometimes if tightly rolled like this one, or like a gun powder there the flavors are locked in more so they can last longer. With a Pu-erh it’s traded in China like fine wines over here. So they offered us a 50 years even a 100 years old and go for thousands and thousands dollars or pound. They are very, very earthy and musky. So China still produces all varieties of tea.

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Ron: Teas are grown in many different countries all over the world unfortunately we can’t harvest any in Canada because we have to do with this type of climate. So tea likes a warm and humid, teas are found mostly around the equator, and so you find a lot of Asian countries are producing tea. African countries, there are some teas produced in South America, Argentina for example. There is one tea plantation in the United States, which doesn’t really produce it process really more for a tea for instant tea for ice teas and so forth. So you don’t really get the flavor profiles there that much because of the climate. Some of the most important tea producing regions are, I would probably say, China and India.

Frank Weber: Okay

Ron: China is the birthplace of teas. So tea is widely acknowledged that tea was discovered in 2737 by a Chinese herbalist Shen Nong, in Huai Nan in the mountainous region in South Western China.

Frank Weber: Okay

Ron: So China to this date produces all varieties of all different types of teas, so it does white tea for example, which we have here. So this is a white needle. White tea is the least processed of all teas, so it’s just picked and then very, very gently withered and either sun dried or slowly or often dried. So it’s the least process, it’s completely unoxidized

Frank Weber: Okay.

Ron: Which means it stays green.

Frank Weber: So staying on China for minute, so China produces green teas, White teas, Oolongs, which we have and Oolong here, but it’s from Taiwan so we won’t go there right now. It produces Black teas, some of our most recognizable teas for example English breakfast blend.

Ron: Yes.

Frank Weber: Contains a large amount of China black.

Ron: Okay.

Frank Weber: So English breakfast is usually a blend of China black, Kimon, Ceylon. You know, it’s a recipe, so depending what company makes it, it can vary, but what essentially the tea company is trying to do is to create very much like wine, you know, the crop changes with the different vintage. So we’re trying to create something that it’s the same, has same taste, and same flavor profile year after year. So China black or Kimon is probably one of the most recognized China Black teas. It’s a large part of what we find in an English breakfast type blend.

Then China also produces something that is called Pu-erh, which is only can be found in china, and Pu-erh is a very interesting tea because it often shows up in these cakes. So, I can show you here. So this for example is a Pu-erh, it’s pressed into this shape, and what happens is essentially a green tea is made first. Now if Pu-erh comes from Huai nan, which is we talked about already, mountains ridges in China, and it’s predominantly harvested from species of tea trees they don’t grow taller than a the regular tea bushes. The tea is essentially made into a green first and then it is steamed again to make more moisture into the leaves and it’s induced with yellow and White leaves. So what that does, it triggers actually fermentation process. So unless Black teas which are oxidized or Oolong which is semi-oxidized, Pu-erh tea is fermented
.
Frank Weber: Okay.

Ron: So you have to think about that like a blue cheese or the bacteria in your yogurt so it’s a good bacteria, it’s a good fermentation and we are all full of millions of different bacteria that we need to survive. So Pu-erh is a tea that has been—a Chinese herbalist as believed for centuries that it helps to lower cholesterol and helps with weight loss.

Frank Weber: Okay.

Ron: They’re not really a lot of clinical studies out there that can 100% prove that but we won’t ague with 400 years of Chinese medicine.

Frank Weber: And then how is it pressed into this block? Is it pressed as it is fermenting or before it ferments?

Ron: It goes through the fermentation process, which is called a wet piling process, so they keep the tea in wrapped cheese clothe in very specific moisture and humidity, temperature condition for four weeks so that’s when this process happens. Then the leaves are then pressed into these molds, there is like a granite mold which they are pressed into, and they are dried, so they arrive at this cake form. In Pu-erh can also be found loose. Actually the other interesting thing about Pu-erh is that, it’s the only tea that improves with aging. Teas have a shelf life, usually about a year or sometimes if tightly rolled like this one, or like a gun powder there the flavors are locked in more so they can last longer. With a Pu-erh it’s traded in China like fine wines over here. So they offered us a 50 years even a 100 years old and go for thousands and thousands dollars or pound. They are very, very earthy and musky. So China still produces all varieties of tea.

Transcription by: Scribe4you Transcription Services