When: May 21
Tea is the second most consumed drink on Earth after water, with a history spanning at least 2,000 years and cultural traditions on every inhabited continent. The gap between a mediocre cup and an excellent one is smaller than people think and almost entirely about temperature and time.
The most consumed beverage in human history — and most people have never tasted it properly brewed.
All true tea — black, green, white, oolong, pu-erh — comes from a single plant: Camellia sinensis. The differences between these categories are entirely a function of what humans do to the leaf after picking. Green tea is heated immediately after harvest to stop oxidation, preserving the chlorophyll and fresh flavor. Black tea is allowed to oxidize fully before drying — the enzymes in the leaf convert catechins into theaflavins and thearubigins, which are darker, less astringent, and differently flavored. Oolong sits at various points along that oxidation spectrum. White tea is picked as young buds and minimally processed. Pu-erh is fermented and aged. The entire global diversity of tea is one plant, processed differently. Tea has a history extending at least 2,700 years in China, where it spread from being a medicinal preparation to a daily beverage. Buddhist monks carried it to Japan by the 6th century; Arab traders took it westward. The British East India Company's control of the...