Tea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tea - Essay Example Tea is a popular beverage manufactured from the leaves of a plant known in Latin as Camellia sinesis. As the old folks in the tea industry used to call it, some still refer to it by its now outmoded name â€Å"Thea sinensis†. The now popular name for tea, â€Å"Chai†, originated from Persian â€Å"chay† and spread to other parts of the world. Well, take little focus on that tongue irritating phrase and focus on the pot’s content, delicious! Tea is a mild stimulant. Its stimulating effect is associated with caffeine as one of its main components. It caffeine content is lower than that of coffee but exceeds that in cocoa. It also contains small amounts of tannic compounds referred to as polyphenols. It is these tannin compounds that tea its flavor, which makes it one of the most cherished beverages in the world. Talking of tannic, the mind will often focus on leather, a good but blind wild guess. Tannic compounds in tea refer to elements such as vitamin A, B2, C, D, K and P and numerous minerals together with scented oils. The tannic compounds also give the beverage its color and dryness. Tea plant is believed to have originated from East and South Asia. Despite numerous tales on the initial use of tea as a beverage, not a single person is absolutely sure of the claims. Many people believe that China is the first country where tea was initially taken as a beverage before spreading to other nations. Classification of tea is based on their mode of processing. Some popular categories of tea include white, green, oolong and black tea among others. After picking tea leaves, they are dried and fermented, a process that leads to darkening of the leaves. For black tea, the fermented leaves are heated at a suitable temperature. In most occasions, the processed tea is blended to obtain better flavor and quality to fetch higher prices in the market. Blending conceals varieties with low taste and hooks the consumer to the brands. Catherine, Charles II’s wife