China

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Kombucha

It’s difficult to say Kombucha, never mind know what it is.  I only heard about it a year or so ago while researching teas online.  Since then I have tasted it, read about it and now finally, I have a brewing kit to make some of my own!  As I’ll be posting pictures of my brewing process and its (hopefully) successes, I thought it might be useful to do a blog post about it, so that people can see my pics then read up about it too.

So, Kombucha is a fermented drink, made up of tea.  It is usually black or green tea used and the tea is fermented using bacteria and yeast (aka SCOBY).  Kombucha is claimed to have many health benefits such as aiding digestion, detoxification, joint care and boosting your immune system, however there is little scientific evidence for this.  While it is considered generally safe, there have also been some concerns.

It seems to have been present in many cultures for centuries, such as Russia and Japan and according to Wikipedia, Kombucha was popular in China in the 50s & 60s with many people making it at home.  It has recently seen a surge in Western culture as more people start to learn about it and brew it at home.

So, keep an eye out for my Kombucha updates both here and on the Facebook and twitter pages.  Here’s a picture below of my brewing kit, right out of the box (I love that it has a colourful muslin cloth with it!).  I hope that you enjoy reading about some more tea adventures!

Kombucha kit

Kombucha kit

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Russian Caravan – a smoky story

I’m not a fan of Russian Caravan tea; not because it tastes horrible but because I’m not a big smoky flavour fan.  I don’t drink coffee (hence my obsession with tea!)  Coffee is a drink that I’ve never drunk and the smell just doesn’t appeal to me, so I’ve not taken to Russian caravan as a drink but I have friends who just love smoky teas.  HOWEVER, I do love the story about how Russian Caravan became the tea that it is today with all its smoky flavours.

So let me tell you…Back in the day, tea was transported across countries and continents by wagon or sea.  Russian Caravan is a black tea, composed of a mixture of Darjeeling, Keemun Mao Feng and Oolong.  It originated in China and was transported to far away places such as Europe during the 17th – 19th centuries.  Tea had reached Europe and was growing in popularity.

On the journeys by sea the tea was said to lose or suffer in its flavour, however on the journeys made by caravan the flavour was said to improve.  It took a year and a half for the journey from China to Europe by land and it is thought that the tea’s flavour was improved by the conditions as well as nightly campfires and the smoke infusing the tea over time.

An exert from the Dublin Review in 1888 (from wikipedia)

“The southern route by Odessa is far cheaper, but the tea is supposed to suffer in flavour in its transit through the tropical seas, while it improves in its passage through the cold dry climate of Mongolia and Siberia, by losing that unpleasant taste of firing [whereby tea was dried using direct heat]. As Russian epicures believe that a peculiar delicacy of flavor is imparted to it by the slight moisture it absorbs when nightly unloaded and placed on the snow-covered steppes, the enhanced price it commands compensates for the greater expense and difficulty of its carriage by this route.[5]” 

It would appear that the consumers receiving the tea were much happier with the ‘caravan’ tea than the boat tea despite the extra cost for it to be transported by land over Russia by caravan.  And to this day we still have Russian Caravan tea!

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A history of tea – China

Tea is steeped in history 🙂

It is one of the oldest beverages on the planet and is deeply rooted within cultures around the world.  It is the most widely drunk beverage in the world and its journey is still going strong.

Let’s take a look at where it all began.

Although we Brits like to think that tea began with us, it goes back much further.  Before 2000BC, the story goes that the Chinese emperor was in a field and a boiling pot of water was being prepared nearby.  A leaf (a tea leaf) fell into the pot and the emperor decided to try this infusion.  And this is how it is believed that the drink, tea, was created.  Whether or not, you believe this story containers for tea have been found in tombs dating from the Han dynasty(206 BC – 220 AD) but it was under the Tang dynasty (618-906 AD) that tea become known as a national drink. 

By the time of the Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD) tea was the national drink of China,  and was widespread throughout the court circles of the day and during this time tea was sent to the emperor’s court to honour him.

Tea was manufactured in brick form at this time: the tea leaves were pounded and pressed into a brick-shaped mold, then dried.   In order to prepare the tea, part of the brick was ground down, and the result was boiled in water.  During the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 AD), powdered tea was developed from green tea leaves, and boiled water was poured onto the powder and left to brew and then whisked into a frothy tea.  Tea was introduced to Japan at this time which is why this method of tea preparation is the basis of the tea ceremony and the most traditional way of drinking tea in Japan.

Japan’s history with tea will be the next history blog post and we’ll carry on our story there…