There are four main types of tea: white, green, oolong and black. White tea is the youngest leaves and the buds. It is the lightest flavor of all the teas. The oolong and black teas are made from different methods of oxidation, the longer the oxidation process the darker the color of the leaves. Green tea is only dried and therefore is slightly healthier than black or oolong tea.
Oolong comes from the words “black dragon” in Chinese.
Tea is the second most consumed beverage after water!
Tea comes from China and most languages use cha as their root word for tea as that is how it is said in Mandarin. Examples: Japanese ocha, chai in Indian languages and Russian, and Shay in Arabic. Most of the world likes black tea with the exceptions of Morocco, China, Korea and Japan.
Morocco and the southern U.S. are famous for how much they sweeten their tea. One recipe I found for Moroccan mint tea (tea with mint and green tea leaves) used roughly a tablespoon of sugar per cup of water!
There are other things that are called teas but are not as they are not made from the tea plant, these are technically tisanes of what variety of herb is put in the water instead.
A famous example of a tisane is raspberry leaf tea which is said to be helpful for the female reproductive system.
chai masala recipe
5 cardamon pods, broken.
a small peice of cinnamon
tbsp freshly grated nutmeg (mace is also good if you can’t find nutmeg, I would use slightly more mace than nutmeg)
tbsp powdered ginger
tbsp whole peppercorns
tsp whole cloves
Heat up a small pan. Toast all the spices in the pan until they start to get fragrant. This should take roughly 2-6 minutes .
Grind all the spices using either a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder.This is optional for the already ground spices, such as the ginger; however it is recommended as it mixes the flavors so they taste better together.
Use roughly a pinch per serving of tea.
masala chai recipe ( Makes approx. 1 3/4 cups)
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of water
2 bags of black tea
1/4 cup either milk , unsweetened almond or soy milk, or cream
pinch or more of chai masala.
sugar or honey to taste
tools needed
1 small saucepan
1 mug
1 spoon
strainer of some sort
How to make.
Boil the water, lower heat to a simmer.
Add the tea and the spices.
cook 1 minute then let stand 2-4 minutes (depending on how strong you like the flavor.)
Bring to a light boil and add the milk.
Turn off heat
Add sugar or honey, stirring quickly.
Strain the tea into the mug.
Em's Eclectic Eats 