However, the number of cups that might be considered optimum over a day will vary from person to person and be dependent on the type of tea you choose. Peter Mundy, a traveller and merchant who came across tea in Fujian in 1637, wrote, “chaa – only water with a kind of herb boyled in it”. Tea, however, was not widely consumed in the British Isles until the 18th century and remained expensive until the latter part of that period. English drinkers preferred to add sugar and milk to black tea, and black tea overtook green tea in popularity in the 1720s. Tea smuggling during the 18th century led to the general public being able to afford and consume tea. In Britain and Ireland, tea was initially consumed as a luxury item on special occasions, such as religious festivals, wakes, and domestic work gatherings.

• Tibetans and other Himalayan peoples traditionally drink tea with milk or yak butter and salt.

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• Thus, Western Yunnan Assam tea and Indian Assam tea both may have originated from the same parent plant in the area where southwestern China, Indo-Burma, and Tibet meet.

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• Caffeine makes up about 3% of tea’s dry weight, which translates to between 30 and 90 milligrams per 250-millilitre (8+1⁄2 US fl oz) cup depending on the type, brand, and brewing method.
• Furthermore, it would appear that adding a small amount of milk and sugar to tea appears to make little difference to the levels of l-theanine, but adding high amounts of milk does.

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• The Classic of Tea, a treatise on tea and its preparations, was written by the 8th century Chinese writer, Lu Yu.

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• We’ve worked out what makes an afternoon tea a truly memorable (and delicious) experience.

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Malted milk panna cotta

The Han dynasty work “The Contract for a Youth”, written by Wang Bao in 59 BC, contains the first known reference to boiling tea. Among the tasks listed to be undertaken by the youth, the contract states that “he shall boil tea and fill the utensils” and “he shall buy tea at Wuyang”. The first record of tea cultivation is dated to this period, during which tea was cultivated on Meng Mountain (蒙山) near Chengdu.

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• In 1848, Robert Fortune was sent by the East India Company on a mission to China to bring the tea plant back to Great Britain.

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• Without careful moisture and temperature control during manufacture and packaging, growth of undesired molds and bacteria may make tea unfit for consumption.

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• Its characteristic colour and powerful flavour come from the fermentation or oxidation process by which it’s produced.

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• The popular green tea is often served after every meal in the Pashtun belt of Balochistan and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• When acted upon by an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, polyphenols acquire a reddish colour and form the flavouring compounds of the beverage.

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• The loose tea is individually measured for use, allowing for flexibility and flavour control at the expense of convenience.

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Classification of teas

The loose tea is individually measured for use, allowing for flexibility and flavour control at the expense of convenience. Strainers, tea balls, tea presses, filtered teapots, and infusion bags prevent loose leaves from floating in the tea and over-brewing. A traditional method uses a three-piece lidded teacup called a gaiwan, the lid of which is tilted to decant the tea into a different cup for consumption.
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• These are the most abundant compounds in tea leaves, making up 30–40% of their composition.

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• Such teas may combine others from the same cultivation area or several different ones.

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• The earliest European reference to tea, written as chiai, came from Delle navigationi e viaggi written by Venetian Giambattista Ramusio in 1545.
• In the 15th century, oolong tea, in which the leaves are allowed to partially oxidize before being heated in the pan, was developed.

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• The current Chinese word for tea (茶) appeared in The Classic of Tea by removing a stroke from the word tu.

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• There are many types of tea; some have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral, or grassy notes.

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May support bone health

Tea blending is the combination of different teas together to achieve the final product. Such teas may combine others from the same cultivation area or several different ones. In 1567, Russian people came in contact with tea when the Cossack Atamans Petrov and Yalyshev visited China. The Mongolian Khan donated to Tsar Michael I four poods (65–70 kg) of tea in 1638. Starkov at first refused, seeing no use for a load of dead leaves, but the Khan insisted.

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In 1848, Robert Fortune was sent by the East India Company on a mission to China to bring the tea plant back to Great Britain. The Chinese tea plants he brought back were introduced to the Himalayas, though most did not survive. The British had discovered that a different variety of tea was endemic to Assam and the northeast region of India, which was then hybridized with Chinese small-leaf-type tea. Tea was originally consumed only by Anglo-Indians; however, it became widely popular in India in the 1950s because of a successful advertising campaign by the India Tea Board. Many types of Southern Yunnan Assam tea have been hybridized with the closely related species Camellia taliensis. Unlike Southern Yunnan Assam tea, Western Yunnan Assam tea shares many genetic similarities with Indian Assam-type tea (also C. sinensis var. assamica).

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The majority of black tea goes into blends such as English breakfast tea; commercial blends can contain up to 30 different teas. All tea is made from the processed leaves and buds of the evergreen ‘Camellia sinensis’ bush. There are a huge variety of teas, however, generally classified by the size of the leaves and the way in which they’re treated. Tea, beverage produced by steeping in freshly boiled water the young leaves and leaf buds of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis. That said, some studies suggest milk makes no difference and that in fact it may instead be the infusion time that holds the key to enjoying these benefits.
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Honey cake and caramelised apples

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More often than not, it is drunk in “doses” of small cups (referred to as “cutting” chai if sold at street tea vendors) rather than one large cup. Tea bricks or compressed tea are produced for convenience in transport, storage, and ageing. Compressed tea is prepared by loosening leaves from the cake using a small knife, and steeping the extracted pieces in water. During the Tang dynasty, as described by Lu Yu, compressed tea was ground into a powder, combined with hot water, and ladled into bowls, resulting in a “frothy” mixture. In the Song dynasty, the tea powder would instead Tea Spins be whisked with hot water in the bowl.
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May improve cardiovascular health

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Examples of additions added at the point of consumption include milk, sugar and lemon. In the production of black teas, halting by heating is carried out simultaneously with drying. Without careful moisture and temperature control during manufacture and packaging, growth of undesired molds and bacteria may make tea unfit for consumption. Caffeine makes up about 3% of tea’s dry weight, which translates to between 30 and 90 milligrams per 250-millilitre (8+1⁄2 US fl oz) cup depending on the type, brand, and brewing method. Tea contains small amounts of theobromine and theophylline, which are xanthines and stimulants, similar to caffeine. Its characteristic colour and powerful flavour come from the fermentation or oxidation process by which it’s produced.