All About Tea Source

Tea tree is an amazing plant growing in the South of China. Its height varies from less than one meter to dozens meter. In Chongqing and the west of Hubei, there was a giant tee tree whose trunk was so thick that could be circled by at least two persons. Since it was so tall, workers had to chop branches down and then pick the leaves. In general, tea tree shares a couple of features with other plants. For instance, the tree has the shape of gourd. Its leaves are similar with cape jasmine. And the flower looks like white rose. There are many names for tea in Chinese like “Cha” or “Ming”. From the perspective of pictograph, some of them belong to woody plant while others belong to herbs.

In terms of the growth environment, the tea plants growing in weathered stones have the highest quality. Then coarse sand brings tea medium quality. Whereas clay would destroy tea plants. If you want to plant a tea tree, get started with seeds rather than seedlings. Otherwise, the plant is unlikely to grow luxuriantly. With three-year cultivation, tea can be harvested, which is like the way melons grow. As for the product quality, the tea of wildness is better than cultivated plants. In the south hillside and under the shade of forest, the tea tree can grow well. Moreover, the quality of tea can be seen from its color. Purple ones are better than green ones. Additionally, the tea bud shaped like bamboo shoot is more favorable than a tiny one. And the backward-curled leaves are better than flat ones. The tea trees located in the north hillside or villages are often not able to produce quality leaves. Such tea makes people feel that there is a lump in stomach.

Tea is the best suitable for people who live a simple life since it has the function to let people cool down through drinking it. Fever, thirst, headache, dry eyes, and feebleness can be relieved with tea soup. Its effect can be compared with the best beverage rain in the morning as well as yogurt. If tea is harvested in an inappropriate period or crudely made, people who drink it will get ill. Similar with ginseng, the rare medicinal material is produced best in Shangdang, moderate in Baiji and Xinluo, while worst in Koryo. If you involve the worst quality ginseng in medicine, it will not only fail to heal patients but also deteriorate their conditions. Thus, if you know the harm of ginseng with bad quality, then you will not choose the low quality tea as well.

Tea Processing

The best time during one year for tea picking is in February, March, and April. Tea buds are so tender as baby bamboo. Growing in the high quality soil of weathered stones, they can be around 10 cm in height. Farmers go pick them in very early morning when there is still dew on these leaf buds. The tiny leaves always grow in Chapeng the bush. There can grow three, four, or five buds on a branch of tea tree. Tea farmers will choose to pick thick ones among them. As for the weather condition, the tea picking has to be stopped in rainy and cloudy days. When it is sunny, the picked buds will be processed. The first step is to steam them in caldron. Then they will be mashed, pressed with a model, and finally shaped as a tea pie. Next the tea pie will be roasted to be completely dry, then linked together and well packaged. Ultimately the pie-shaped tea can be stored dry in the long term.