Have a question for Dr. Tea?

Q. How many different tea plants are there?

A. There is one tea plant called Camellia Sinensis. All tea comes from this one plant, white, green, oolong and black. It is a matter of how the tea plantations process the tea leaves and buds which dictates which tea is produced?

Q. How many tea leaves are harvested?

A. Interesting question, as it depends on the plantation. Most take two mature leaves and the bud. The bud is in fact a baby leaf which has not yet opened. Some tea plantations take three mature leaves and some take four and five.

Q. What is the white dust on the tea leaves?

A. This is called Hao. It grows on the leaf, and is especially prominent on the buds. The finer single lea teas will have a tremendous amount of Hao.

Q. When was tea discovered?

A. There are many theories and legends about the discovery of tea. It is commonly accepted that Emperor Shen Nung in 2737 BC discovered tea quite by accident. He was tremendously ahead of his time as he believed in boiling his drinking water to cleanse it of harmful substances in the water. While having his water boiling one day, a few leaves ell into the water from a Tea Tree and after he drank the tea water, he felt energized and of clear mind. Tea was then discovered and with Chinese herbs was taken medicinally for centuries before being consumed as an every day beverage.

Q. Is Rooibos a tea?

A. Rooibos is in fact not a tea. Rooibos is a plant from South Africa and considered an herbal drink.

Q. Where does Rooibos come from?

A. It is a Dutch word which translates into Red Bush. The Dutch used this plant for every medicinal need. Similar in nature to the way tea was originally consumed as and for medicinal reasons. In 1903 an Englishman Benjamin Ginsberg came to South Africa and recognized the similarities between the Rooibos and Camellia Sinensis. Mr. Ginsberg was educated in Russia and married a Russian woman whose family had ties to the tea trade since 1828. Taking advantage of his knowledge and the high prices of tea at that time he developed an every day beverage.

Q. Why is white tea called white tea when it looks green?

A. This question had me asking the same question. I posed it to a Tea master and the response was that the white color refers to the high amount of Hao (white dust) which appears on the buds of the white tea.

Q. When did the USA start to drink tea?

A. Our country was introduced to green tea by the Dutch. The Dutch originally brought tea to their country in the early 1600’s via the establishment of the Dutch West Indies trading company. As tea grew in popularity in Holland it was brought to New Amsterdam (now New York) in 1610. And yes, we had tea before England.

Q. What type of tea was emptied during the Boston Tea Party?

A. The men clad as Indians emptied 40 plus tons of black tea into the harbor. One must consider that the emptying of tea was done throughout the colonies on that evening. Interesting to note it was the women of the day that grouped together and started the ban on drinking tea which lead to the Boston Tea Party and eventually the start of our country.

Q. What tea has the most caffeine?

A. Black tea has the most caffeine as it is a fully oxidized (fermented) tea.

Q. What is your opinion on drinking caffeinated teas?

A. I am not a true MD, so this question should be posed to your MD. My general opinion is a small amount of caffeine is not harmful. If you have issues with caffeine, then drinking white or green teas is your best bet as they are not oxidized or fermented teas and have the smallest amount of caffeine.

Q. How can I reduce the amount of caffeine in my tea?

A. Rinsing: If you were to take your tea before preparation and add an inch of hot water and let it steep for a minute (longer if you want to remove more caffeine) and RINSE out the tea liquid and then proceed to prepare your first steep, you will find a good amount of the caffeine has been eliminated. Surely by the third steep all of the caffeine has been removed.

Q. Should I use boiling water to make my tea?

A. Dr. Tea’s rule of thumb is not to use boiling water at anytime as it will reduce the nose and palate of your fine tea. Now some tea experts indicate that the use of boiling water is good when you are dealing with tightly rolled teas like the Oolong teas. As I always say, the way you drink tea is the best way for you.

Q. What do you think of tea bags?

A. Tea bags are a good and simple way to have your tea. It will provide you all of the medicinal benefits of why you are drinking your tea. Now the only problem with the tea bags is the taste of the tea. You see, the tea in tea bags is made from fannings and or dust. Fannings is the residue of leaves and buds from the packaging of the fine leaves and buds for tea houses like the Tea Garden. Dust is just that, the dust left over after all of the sorting and packaging. As your tea taste is determined by the quality of the leaf and bud, not having the best leaves and buds, as you have with fannings and dust, creates a bitter tasting tea, and one which also does not provide you all of the fine steeps of quality loose leaf tea. So, you are drinking poor tasting tea which is also more expensive per cup than the fine loose leaf tea.

Q. Where do you, Dr. Tea get your TG tea from?

A. We obtain our teas from all tea producing tea countries around the world. China, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, South Africa (Rooibos). I am continually sampling different teas to continue to have the finest tea menu in our country. I have some teas coming in from Kenya, and Southern India.

Q. How do I make the perfect pot of tea?

A. We are asked this everyday at the TG and I receive many requests to explain how to make the perfect pot of tea. Our last Tea 101 lecture covered this and I have inserted the outline below to explain the process, the do’s and don’ts and other issues one has to deal with to make the perfect pot of tea:

Brewing the Perfect Pot of Tea

The perfect pot of tea is personal to the drinker. Always remember you have the finest nose and palate and the way you brew your pot of tea is the best for you. Below, Dr. Tea will give you some historic rules for preparing a perfect pot of tea.

1. Use Fresh Cold Water. Do not use hot water to begin the boiling process as this will impede the taste of the water. Wu Yu, the water expert, always said spring water was best, followed by river water and then well water. As we live in a different world today, sadly, try to find the best bottled spring water or filtered tap water.

2. Never use boiling water as it is too hot and will reduce the taste of the tea. Some people believe the use of rolling boiling water adds to the saturation of the leaves. Decide on your own.

3. Always pre-heat your preparation vessel by placing some hot water into the pot and then discarding the water.

4. The rule of thumb is to add one teaspoon of tea for each cup of water. Dr. Tea believes in coating the bottom of your preparation vessel with a thin line of tea and adding one additional dash of tea.

5. Tea Balls or Infusers: Most tea experts, and Dr. Tea, frown on the use of balls or infusers because the metal does not allow the water to fully saturate the tea leaves. This is the same criticism tea bags receive. If you have to use the ball or infuser, please to only fill it half way to allow for complete saturation and expansion of the tea leaves.

6. To rinse or not to rinse? You already know Dr. Tea does not rinse at the Tea Garden as we believe in presenting the tea as it is meant to be presented, then allowing our clients decide to rinse or not to rinse. If you do choose to rinse, add a small amount of the hot water to cover the tea and drain immediately. This is a good way of reducing the amount of caffeine in your tea.

7. Pour your hot water over the tea and cover. Now if you are using a high grade of tea, like we serve at the TG, then leave your lid off so as not to create a stewing of your tea leaves in the water.

a. Fine tea needs a short steep time 2-3 minutes.

b. Curled leaves need a longer steep time closer to 5 minutes

c. Tannins come out early in the steep.

d. Scientists are now stating longer steep times are necessary for the medicinal benefits of tea to take effect.

e. YOU must decide for yourself!

8. Caffeine rule: About three-fourths of the caffeine comes out at five minutes of steeping.

9. If you want strong tea, do not steep longer, instead add more tea.

10. Rinse cups with hot water

11. Milk? If you add milk now is the time to add the milk, before the liquid tea, as the British say it provides a flavor unique to the milk tea combination. Never use cream as tea will cause the cream to curdle. Milk is said never to be used with green tea, and sometimes with oolong.

12. Before pouring the tea, shake the tea pot a little and then let the tea leaves settle again.

13. Pouring the tea: Sweetener: it is here any sweetener is added and then lemon.

14. Any liquid tea left in the vessel should be strained out of the pot and kept to the side. This will allow the leaves to dry awaiting the subsequent steeps. If you cannot steep again, then sadly throw away the leaves and do not leave them overnight as harmful bacteria will grow onto the leaves causing stomach issues and even the possibility of cancer causing cells.

15. If you have the time to make the additional steeps, but not drink the tea, place them into a pitcher and then enjoy your tea for one additional day if left out or up to three days if left in the fridge.

Q. Why is black tea red in color?

A. In China black tea is often referred to as red tea because the color o the liquid tea is red. You see the complete fermentation of the tea will produce a black colored tea leaf. The beauty of the black tea leaf is in fact how it brews up into a wonderfully sweet red colored liquid. The fermentation process changes the chemical construction of the tea leaf and therefore the resulting color of the liquid tea.

Q. What does steep mean?

A. Steep is a tea term used to describe the process of adding water to the tea leaves. Some people refer to this as flushing the tea. Flushing tea, in tea terms refers to the harvesting of the leaves and buds at the tea plantations.