Such a different tea: the secrets of the drink from a tea expert

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We drink tea almost every day, but we don't know much about it. We talked with a tea expert, Alexander Platonov, and he told us what types of tea there are, what pu-erh is good for, and why you shouldn't add anything superfluous to your tea.

You covered yourself with a blanket, turned on your favorite movie or TV series, and grabbed a mug of hot tea. This is how often evenings pass during the cold season. And if we cannot help with the choice of our favorite TV shows and a blanket, then the situation is different with tea. We asked a few questions to the tea expert and the owner of the chain of tea boutiques "". He talked about the types of tea, its benefits and gave many tips.

Tell us about the types of tea. Personally, I only know black and green. Is this all or are there others?

- Although there are several typologies, I divide tea into six types: black, green, white, herbal mixtures, fruit mixtures, exotic drinks. For black teas, I include Darjeelings, Assams, aged Yunnani, Ceylons and other teas with black leaf color. Green - oolongs, senchu, gunpowder from different regions of the world. White tea is not a variety, but a type of fermentation, but I distinguish it because of its special properties.

Herbal teas include all blends that contain more or only medicinal herbs. Fruit mixes are "teas" made from hibiscus, rose hips, dried fruits and berries. Exotic drinks include rooibos, honeybush, mate, lapacho. It is important to understand that the color of a tea leaf is not determined by the type of bush, but by the way the tea is prepared and the degree of fermentation.

Are there any health benefits from tea? Or is it just a nice drink?

"Everything is poison, and everything is medicine." With the help of tea, you can bring great benefits to health and great harm. Therefore, it is important to know its properties. If I ended up on a desert island and could only take one bag of tea with me, I would choose. This is a tea of maximum fermentation, it is stored in the ground for many years and acquires a specific smell and taste. It normalizes blood sugar and cholesterol levels and invigorates more than coffee. It also lowers acidity, improves the functioning of all body systems.

If I could take 10 bags, they would all be with pu-erh! But if I could take three different ones, then I would take the second one. This tea has an anti-cancer effect, removes toxins, also fights cholesterol, and aids digestion. But on an empty stomach and in large quantities, green tea can be dangerous for its acidity, especially for the stomach and tooth enamel. The third bag would be with spicy tea, because spices also have so much benefit and pleasure!

What can be added to tea, except for the usual and not the most useful sugar?

- Good tea does not require sugar, lemon or other additives. Only in its pure form can you truly taste its taste and aroma, guess the shade. Yunnan smells like the smoke of a hamlet at the foot of the tea hills, ceylon tastes like mountain honey, assam is tart and has hints of wild plum. Why deprive yourself of such pleasure?

How to brew tea correctly?

- Brew black tea with boiling water and leave for 3-5 minutes. Green tea is brewed with 80–90 ° C water and infused to taste.

You probably come across unusual sorts of tea. Tell us about them

- Exotic teas can be considered unusual. I strongly advise everyone to try, honeybush, lapacho, properly brewed good mate. Rooibos and honeybush can be drunk at night, they do not have an invigorating effect, they contain a lot of vitamins. Mate, on the other hand, very strongly invigorates, promotes harmony and concentration. The preparation of a tea leaf is unusual, I mean twisted and bound teas - balls, pearls, nests. Watching the green ball spin up and two garlands of clover and ylang-ylang flowers floating out of it is an aesthetic pleasure.

Price = quality? Does it make sense to buy the most expensive tea?

- Life is short - it makes sense to buy only good tea, but it is expensive. The normal price for good tea in Moscow is from 500 rubles per 100 g and up to several thousand. But the high price itself does not guarantee anything. Trust your taste, buy tea only in good tea shops, if on the Internet, then from those who have retail outlets, since retail is checked for safety certificates.

Online suppliers from China can bring dangerous tea according to chemical, radiation, bacteriological criteria. Those who have been to China understand me well. There are both the best tea samples and the most unsafe ones.

Give some "tea" advice to readers

1. Green tea brewed for less than 2 minutes will invigorate, more than 5 minutes - soothe. This is due to the fact that tannins are released first, and then.
2. If you need to sharply invigorate, drink a cup of strong perennial pu-erh, it invigorates more than coffee.
3. Hibiscus will help from a hangover instead of brine, but this advice is not for people with high acidity in the stomach. Puer will help these people!
4. Chamomile with hibiscus helps with colds.
5. If you breathe bad air and stand in traffic jams, drink oolongs.
6. If, when brewing green tea, the opened leaves have uneven brown edges - this is machine-assembled tea, the red price for it is 200 rubles per 100 g! Good tea is the top three leaves, hand-picked.
7. The Chinese divide teas not by the color of the leaf, but by the color of the infusion. Therefore, they call black red, and some black and green in appearance - yellow.
8. Clay teapots are suitable only for natural tea without fruits and berries; gourmets keep a separate teapot for each favorite type of tea.
9. The main life hack - from everything and for everything, just drink puer. This is the healthiest tea in the world!