Green tea is a great source of pleasure and health to humans. With just two or three cups a day you will feel a difference in your body and mind. It cleans the toxins from the body while assisting many organs to achieve a better over all condition. Its benefits have been recognized for thousands of years while combining a great taste and aroma. It has many different types and tastes. Green tea is a wonderful introduction into the joys of Tea Culture.
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The five best known Chinese green teas are Lung Ching, Huang shan Mao Feng, Pi Lo Chun, Puto Fo Cha, and Lu'an Guapian.
Teas are marketed under the name China Green, or bear the name of the province, for instance Fujian Green, Guangxi Green (Guiqing). This does not necessarily indicate that they are an inferior grade of tea, and in fact some sold this way may be quite as good or identical with some of the "name brands".
Since mentioned by Lu Yu himself, Lung Ching tea, one of China's most famous, has been celebrated in prose and poem, including works by famed Tang poet Su Dong po. It is known for "four uniques": its green color, mellow taste, aroma, and beautiful shape. It is considered to have a cooling effect and is frequently served in hot weather.
The flat, green leaves produce a clear, yellow-green tea with a slightly sweet, aromatic fresh flavor and a lingering aftertaste which is one of this tea's particular characteristics.
Lung Ching means Dragon Well (the dragon is the king of the waters in Chinese mythology). The home of this tea is the village of that name west of the famed West Lake in Zhejiang province. Another growing area southwest of the lake is known as Nine Crooks and Eighteen Gullies (Jiuqu Shibajian), which includes Meijia Village and Lion Peak. At lion Peak, Qing dynasty Emperor Qian Long drank this tea at the Wugong Temple. So pleased was he that he conferred the title Imperial Tea on the produce of the eighteen tea trees growing outside the temple.
LungChing has some unique and wonderful features. The finest grade, Qiqiang (Flagged Spear) Lung Ching has a bud and only one leaf, thus being younger and superior to the customary "two leaves and a bud" tea. In the cup, the buds float in the water with the leaves pointing upright like spears, hence the name. The next grade, with two leaves, is known as Queshe (Sparrow's Tongue) Lung Ching.
A pound of dry Lung Ching contains 25,000 bud-and-leaf sets, each snipped off individually by skilled fingers. Lung Ching, unlike other teas, is not rolled to shape the leaves. Pan-frying the leaves requires great skill to match the temperature to the tenderness of the leaves. Lung Ching tea won the Gold Medal with Palms at the 1988 meeting of the International Institute for Quality Selection.
The best infusion of Lung Ching is made with water from Hupao (tiger Run) Spring, one of four nearby famous for their clear, sweet water. This is a fault area of the Tiyun Mountains, with plenty of quartzite rock which provides good filtration for the spring water. Visitors to Hangzhou are almost always taken to Hupao Spring for a cup of Lung Ching tea.
Henan's Xinyang prefecture has been famous for its Maojian tea since the Tang dynasty. Today it is one of the country's most thriving areas of agricultural and sideline production, quite often visited and written about, so its tea is being sampled by more people.
Though Xinyang is on the edge of the arid North China plain, the mountainous southern and western parts, crisscrossed by streams and brooks, have plenty of the clouds and mist needed for good tea. The processed leaves are in fine, taut strips. They make a delicious tea with a chestnut flavor and a long-lasting aftertaste.
This tea has been produced with only very simple equipment. What makes it different are the skillful hand movements of rolling, adjusted to the heat and softness or dryness of the tender leaves.
Mt. Putuo, rising like a mirage out of the sea, is one of the three hundred islands of the Zhoushan Archipelago just outside the Yangtze estuary. It is a famous Buddhist retreat and one of China's four mountains sacred to that faith. Legend has it that the bodhisattva Guanyin meditated and preached there before attaining enlightenment.
The island and its three hundred temples are maintained chiefly by monks, who grow fruit and also produce Puto Fo Cha. It is held to be one of the five most famous regions for Puto Fo Chan production in China. Served to guests, it is sold only on the island, and is highly prized as souvenir gift. It is reputed to be a remedy for diarrhoea and lung lesions. The great Ming dynasty pharmacologist Li Shizhen wrote in his Canon of Medicinal Herbs that it was used to treat hemorrhages and dysentery.
The glossy green finished leaves are tadpole shaped, and this clear tea has an invigorating, fresh aroma.
There is a proverb in Chinese
A daily cup of tea or more, keeps you out of the pharmacy.
Research indicates that tea may work against heart attacks, strokes and thrombosis. Tea contributes to this in several ways. Firstly it does this in a general way through its role as a gentle stimulant to the heart and circulatory system. Secondly, it strengthens and keeps the blood vessel walls soft. Thirdly, there is evidence that the phenols in tea inhibit the absorption of cholesterol in the digestive tract, which could help decrease the cholesterol in the bloodstream. Fourthly, it may decrease the blood's tendency to form thrombi, or unwanted clots. Often several of these functions operate together against a stoke or heart attack. Strokes and thrombosis often occur because the blood vessels have lost their elasticity. Rutin has long been prescribed to keep these walls soft.
In both China and other countries it was at one time believed that green tea contained a substance known as vitamin P which worked with vitamin C to strengthen the walls of the capillaries, the smallest blood vessels, preventing leakage of blood nutrients.
Tea has turned out to be a double-barrelled threat to tooth decay for both the polyphenols (tannin) and the fluoride it contains. Polyphenols tend to reduce the formation of plaque, while fluoride strengthens tooth enamel so that it can resist decay.
Considerable research is being carried out on the role of tea drinking in preventing cancer. Out of 25 papers related to health presented at the Hangzhou Symposium, seven reported on research on cancer and tumors. Green tea seems to get the best results, with Lung Ching preferred. Stomach cancer, the number one cause of death in Japan, is at its lowest rate in Shizuoka prefecture along the coast southwest of Tokyo. One explanation is that Shizuoka is a tea-growing district and its inhabitants drink large amounts of green tea.
Tea has some effect against cancer because it inhibits the formation or action of cancer-causing substances. Tea may block the action of nitrosamines which can cause cancer, said Dr. Han Chi, and associate professor at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene under the Chinese Academy of Preventative Medicine. In a test of 145 types of tea, she and her colleagues rated green tea highest, with a blocking rate of 90 percent. Brick, Jasmine, oolong, and black tea followed in that order.
Another way tea may help fight cancer is through preventing cell mutation. The antioxidation actions of the polyphenols in green tea inhibit mutation of the DNA in healthy cells, which can cause them to become cancer cells.
In China it is widely stated that green tea is a source of vitamin C. Since
this vitamin is destroyed by heat and tea is made in hot water, this statement
seems somewhat contradictory. However, recent tests in China have found that
heat destruction of vitamin C does occur, but not in tea. Something in tea,
as yet undetermined, apparently helps stabilize vitamin C.
The amount of vitamin C contained in green tea varies greatly depending on
growing conditions, the age of the leaves at picking, and how long they have
been stored. According to Chinese calculations, typical green tea made with
three grams of dry leaves to a cup should yield about six milligrams of vitamin
C in three infusions in water at 158 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit (70 to 100 degrees
centigrade). Eighty-five percent of the vitamin C is released in one five minute
infusion at 176 degrees Fahrenheit (80 degrees centigrade). Tea also contains
vitamins B1, B2, K, and P, and niacin, folic acid, and manganese, but in such
small amounts as to be negligible.
Another way tea may help fight cancer is through preventing cell mutation. The antioxidation actions of the polyphenols in green tea inhibit mutation of the DNA in healthy cells, which can cause them to become cancer cells. In rats injected with a cancer-causing substance and fed green tea, cancer did not develop, but it did in the control group without tea.
An antioxidant made from green tea applied to the skin significantly inhibited growth of induced skin cancer in mice. It is the EGCG catechin that improves fidelity of DNA replication.
In similar tests in Fujian province, green tea markedly decreased the incidence of Lung cancer in rats.
Some researchers claim tea acts as a mild germicide in the digestive tract to help prevent food poisoning and diseases like cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. "The antibacterial effects of tea have been well documented in Chinese scientific literature," writes Dr. Albert Y. Leung in Chinese Herbal Remedies. "Green teas have stronger effects than black teas. They are effective against any types of bacteria, including those that cause dysentery, diphtheria, and cholera in treating bacillary dysentery, amoebic dysentery, acute gastroenteritis (inflammation of stomach and intestine), and enteritis (inflammation of the intestine)."
You can use the tea bags and simply pour two or three tea spoons of the leaves inside the tea bag, twist the bag and place it in the cup. Alternatively if you do not use the tea bags, simply add the leaves to the cup and let them settle in the bottom, this is “The Chinese way”. With the latter, not only do you enjoy the taste and aroma of the tea, but you also get to see the wonderful display of the leaves and how they “blossom” when they come in contact with the water.
The Water :
An important role in making a nice cup of tea is the quality of water.
The quality of water will affect the way the tea leaves dissolve in and therefore the quality of the tea. Lu Yu said “spring water was best, followed by river water, and then well water”. The amount of minerals in the water seems to have been an important consideration. However, for most people nowadays the problem is that it’s practically impossible to find such “natural” water that is unpolluted. As for tap water, that is often highly chlorinated. The best option therefore is one of the various types of bottled spring water, now available everywhere.
Drinking Tea is an exquisite and traditional ancient Culture that has lasted for over 5000 years; drinking Tea is indeed a Way of Life. Enjoy the ritual of preparing it as much as drinking it. Drink the tea with all your senses; sight, touch; taste; and smell. They all play an important part in the tea drinking experience.
Instructions on how to prepare a nice cup of tea:
1. Use fresh cold water. If you are using tap water, let the cold tap run for awhile first to avoid flat-tasting water. Never make tea with water from the hot tap.
2. While the water is heating, get the tea things ready. (We suggest using a glass cup to make green tea). A small glass cup is preferable to a large one, as the amount of boiling water used in a large one may “stew” the leaves and results in flat-tasting tea.
3. Warm the glass cup by rinsing them with hot water.
4. Just before the water in the kettle boils, empty the cups and add tea.
5. An optional step before adding boiling water to tea is called “rinsing the tea leaves.” After the tea leaves have been added to the glass cup, pour in a little boiling water and drain it off immediately.
6. Finally, not to use the boiling water, but pour the 80 degrees water into the glass cup to the desired level and cover. Chinese avoid keeping the glass cup warm with a padded tea cosy, feeling that it causes the leaves to stew, making them bitter. If high-grade green tea is used, authorities from the Chinese Agricultural Institutes advise leaving the lid off the pot, for these teas are easily stewed.
7. Let the tea stand. The best tea is made by infusing for a short time rather than steeping for a longer period. 3 to 5 minutes is recommended, with the shorter time preferred. Very fine tea needs an extremely short time.
8. Rinse cups with hot water.
9. Never use cream. The tannin causes cream to curdle. Milk is sometimes used with oolong.
10. Before pouring, stir the tea or shake the glass cup and then let the leaves settle, Pour into cups through a tea strainer. Green tea is of course taken without anything in it.
11. Strain off any tea left in the pot/cup into another warmed pot/cup, and cover it. Don’t let the tea stand with the leaves in for too long.
12. The second infusion. Many people say the second infusion is the best.
