Introduction to the Tea Plant:

Tea often refers to any herb steeped in water. True tea, however, only comes from one species of plant, Camellia sinensis.

Depending on how this plant is picked, processed, and stored, will determine the type of tea. This is how we get green, black/red, oolong, white, yellow, and puerh tea all from the same plant. 

Plants that are brewed as tea, but aren't specifically Camellia sinensis are referred to as "tisanes", of which there are many different kinds. 

Tea has been consumed by humans for thousands of years, likely starting in China. It's said to have been discovered by a Chinese emperor named Shennong. He believed that water was cleaner if it was boiled, so only consumed his water in this way. When a leaf from a nearby tea tree fell in his cup of hot water he was amazed by the flavour. 

As the years went on, and people started to move around, companies like the East India trading company, and the Dutch trading company began to ship tea all over the world. It has since become one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. In the UK for example, it's estimated that 84% of the population drink tea on a daily basis. 

There are many health benefits to drinking tea. It's full of antioxidants which have a wide range of protective actions on their own. On top of this, tea contains tannins, L-theanine, caffeine, vitamins & minerals, and polyphenols. All of these compounds have medicinal benefit to offer in one form or another. 

Something that needs to be considered when drinking tea for health is how long the tea is steeped for. Short steeping times is generally preferred for flavour, but often lacks the heavier, and less water soluble compounds like the catechins, caffeine, and minerals. Shorter steeping times will contain many of the lighter antioxidants, essential oils, L-theanine, and some caffeine and catechin content however and is still useful as a daily health promoter. 

Perhaps the heaviest hitter in terms of health is matcha green tea. This is because the entire leaf is consumed, rather than steeped, leaving nothing behind.  

Each type of tea requires slightly different brewing techniques in order to maintain the best flavor. The simplest way is to simply add a small amount of tea to a teapot, infuser, or in a tea bag, and pour hot water over them. Allow the tea to infuse for 2-5 minutes and then remove the tea and enjoy.

In each section we will discuss the various different tweaks you can make to each kind of tea in order to achieve the best flavour.

There are also several different philosophies when it comes to tea brewing based on culture and personal preference.

1. Western Style Brewing

Western style tea brewing tends to use smaller amounts of leaves, and a longer brewing time (about 1g per 250 mL water, and 2-3 minutes). While this conserves tea better, it doesn't lend much to the flavour. This style will produce a more biter and astringent tea than Asian gongfu style.

2. Gongfu Style

Gongfu style brewing is the traditional Chinese method of brewing tea. It uses much more tea leaves than Wester style (about 6g per 250mL water) and much shorter brewing times (45 seconds). This will produce a much more herby, and sweeter tea. Although it uses roughly 6 times the amount of tea leaves, it can be re-steeped as many as a dozen times, each one producing slightly different flavours as the chemistry is extracted from the leaves.