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The three rules
Let's starts with basic knowledge about tea that will probably make you appear an expert with some people. In fact if you can master these three truths you really will be so far ahead of the game in TV and they are very very easy.
The first one is really the easiest and that’s what all tea comes from the same plant. This plant is called Camellia Sinensis whether if it’s a black tea, a green tea, white tea, oolong it all comes from that same plant. Much like wines all come from grapes, teas all come from Camellia sinensis.
The second fact that I think is really an interesting one is that really the difference between white, black, oolong and green teas comes into processing or what we call the manufacture of the leaf and it’s really all tied to oxidation.
* A white tea for example is just a tea leaf that’s plucked and allowed to dry. It really isn’t oxidised at all. Nothing happens to other than plucking and drying. White tea, that’s pretty much the definition of it
* A green tea however it’s plucked, it’s withered, it’s rolled and then it’s dried.
* A black tea has this extra step called oxidation. The leaf is plucked, withered, rolled, allowed to oxidise or turn brown and react with the oxygen. The enzymes in the lead actually react with oxygen and then it’s dried.
* Then there’s that big variety called Oolong teas. Oolong teas are partially oxidised teas and they form a very large category of tea not so well known in the West yet but coming very soon and we have a beautiful one in our line called Royal Oolong, partially oxidised tea that I think you will find to be very very exclusive and popular at the same time.
The third thing that I think you really need to remember is what really makes up a cup of tea. It’s important and it’s easy. Tea only had three components :
* The first one are essential oils. The essential oils are the reason for the different shapes of tea leaves whether they’re folded flat, whether their folded in two little round like pellets or balls. All of this is done to preserve the essential oils within that leave. All of that folding and rolling so that the essential oils won’t evaporate out of the leaf during transport or storage.
* The second and very important addition of tea and one that you hear a lot about in the news these days are polyphenols. Polyphenols, flavonoids these are the health giving components of tea. They really bring the health benefit to the tea. They also bring mouthfeel to the tea and should back up a little bit, those essential oils, those essential oils bring aroma to the tea. Polyphenols bring mouthfeel and what mouthfeel is it’s what liveliness within your mouth.
* The third component is caffeine. Caffeine doesn’t beings those energy and maybe I’ve had a little too much today. I think that one the common misunderstanding also about caffeine and tea is that a white tea or green tea contains naturally less caffeine that a black tea. One of the reasons that people often think green tea does have less caffeine is because we often strep green teas in cooler water for shorter periods of time. So let’s talk a little about the teas themselves, other than the fact that they have three components and that they all come from the same shrub and their oxidation levels are different. There is something that’s very obvious when you look at our teas.
Let's get a bit more serious
So let’s talk a little about the teas themselves, other than the fact that they have three components and that they all come from the same shrub and their oxidation levels are different.
There is something that’s very obvious when you look at our teas. They are beautiful. They’re full leaf teas, coarse cut herbs, very different that industrial tea, that often is found in tea bags.
The problem with this type of tea is it has too much surface area these little bits of leaf have so much surface area that the essential oils escaped before they get into your cup. Very different than whole leaf which is folded or rolled so that there will be retention of oils into your cup. Whole leaf tea will give you exceptional colour, exceptional flavour and exceptional aroma. Also we choose our teas not only for the their beauty in the style of their leaf, meaning the role or the folds of their leaf but for their forgiving character or forgiving quality and what that means really if a tea is forgiving it means it has a very broad hand of tolerance. Meaning you can steep it at different temperatures and for different time lengths and still not ruin the tea. You can still bring a nice cup of tea to the table even if you have been delayed in getting it there or if the water wasn’t quite hot enough.
Our favourite step
I thought what I do is start with some general tea steeping tips and then we will talk about how we serve Klean Tea.
I think one of the most important things is to make sure you pre-heat your steeping vessels for tea. It’s really important because material like glass, porcelain, clay, ceramic, gets really cold and easy way to do that is just take your tea pot or service cup over to your hot water and just swish a little around the bottom.
And then just go ahead and get rid of that and then you can either steep your tea or fill this with hot water wherever you happen to be doing.
And another really important thing to remember with any tea is you always pour water over tea whether it’s loose tea or a tea bag. You don’t want to drop tea into water or try and sink a tea bag into water, always pour the water over the tea.
The other thing is when you are steeping tea, always cover the steeping vessel.
Just knowing those three little steps will really make a big difference in how the tea arrives at the table and that’s any tea.
What kind of tea do I serve to guests if they don’t know what they want or I’m trying to make it a suggestion ?
I think if you’re trying to make a suggestion it’s really helpful to remember what the guest is drinking it as a wine they’re drinking wine and if not what food they’re eating. Fish and lighter foods often go with green tea or even a light herbal. If they’re eating beef meal, something heavy and hardy and they’re drinking hearty red wines, you might want to recommend a black tea.
When you serve milk or honey, which tea would you serve it with ?
Well, generally milk and honey are served with black teas however a lot of people nowadays are sweetening their teas so you might ask them if they would like sweetener. Lemon usually comes with a straight black tea. Some people may enjoy with green tea but very very rarely with an herbal.
What is the recommended steep time for each tea ?
Black tea and Oolong is about 5 minutes, herbal tea is also 5 minutes and then green teas and white teas about 3 minutes.
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