Category: Uncategorized

I came across this list in Wikipedia and thought to share. This is a list of countries ordered by annual per capita consumption of tea, as of 2016. This list doesn’t say which type of tea was used more.

For example main type of tea consumed in Turkey is black tea (CTC). The average person drinks up to 10 cups of tea per day! The traditional black tea is served strong and sweet.Turkey produces almost as much tea as Sri Lanka but only 5% of Turkish grown tea is exported. Turkey is one of the few countries outside Italy to grow bergamot citrus which is an ingredient for making Earl Grey tea.

Country	Tea consumption
Turkey	6.96 lb (3.16 kg)
Ireland	4.83 lb (2.19 kg)
United Kingdom	4.28 lb (1.94 kg)
Russia	3.05 lb (1.38 kg)
Morocco	2.68 lb (1.22 kg)
New Zealand	2.63 lb (1.19 kg)
Egypt	2.23 lb (1.01 kg)
Poland	2.2 lb (1.00 kg)
Japan	2.13 lb (0.97 kg)
Saudi Arabia	1.98 lb (0.90 kg)
South Africa	1.79 lb (0.81 kg)
Netherlands	1.72 lb (0.78 kg)
Australia	1.65 lb (0.75 kg)
Chile	1.61 lb (0.73 kg)
United Arab Emirates	1.59 lb (0.72 kg)
Germany	1.52 lb (0.69 kg)
Hong Kong	1.43 lb (0.65 kg)
Ukraine	1.28 lb (0.58 kg)
China	1.25 lb (0.57 kg)
Canada	1.12 lb (0.51 kg)
Malaysia	1.06 lb (0.48 kg)
Indonesia	1.01 lb (0.46 kg)
Switzerland	0.97 lb (0.44 kg)
Czech Republic	0.93 lb (0.42 kg)
Singapore	0.81 lb (0.37 kg)
Slovakia	0.8 lb (0.36 kg)
India	0.72 lb (0.33 kg)
Taiwan	0.65 lb (0.29 kg)
Sweden	0.64 lb (0.29 kg)
Hungary	0.62 lb (0.28 kg)
Norway	0.6 lb (0.27 kg)
Austria	0.59 lb (0.27 kg)
Finland	0.54 lb (0.24 kg)
United States	0.5 lb (0.23 kg)
Argentina	0.47 lb (0.21 kg)
Israel	0.45 lb (0.20 kg)
France	0.44 lb (0.20 kg)
Vietnam	0.44 lb (0.20 kg)
South Korea	0.37 lb (0.17 kg)
Spain	0.32 lb (0.15 kg)
Denmark	0.32 lb (0.15 kg)
Italy	0.31 lb (0.14 kg)
Belgium	0.28 lb (0.13 kg)
Bulgaria	0.24 lb (0.11 kg)
Romania	0.16 lb (0.073 kg)
Portugal	0.14 lb (0.064 kg)
Thailand	0.11 lb (0.050 kg)
Philippines	0.06 lb (0.027 kg)
Greece	0.05 lb (0.023 kg)
Venezuela	0.05 lb (0.023 kg)
Peru	0.05 lb (0.023 kg)
Colombia	0.04 lb (0.018 kg)
Brazil	0.04 lb (0.018 kg)
Mexico	0.03 lb (0.014 kg)

 

Many compounds in tea provide protection from stress and disease and strengthen the bones and the immune system.

Skin
The detoxing effects of antioxidants in tea can regenerate and repair cells and protect skin. tea is hydrating since it is mostly water (despite the caffeine)

Dental health
Antimicrobial characteristics of tea prevents dental cavities and bad breath and the flouride in tea strengthens the teeth.Mature leaves like those used in making Oolongs have higher fluoride content.

Head
Polyphenols found in tea leaves are believed to enhance learning and memory.

Stress
Tea lowers stress. Green tea in particular has a unique amino Acid, L-theanine which increases Alpha waves in the brain, relaxes the mind and combined with caffeine promotes alertness.

Heart
Flavonoids found in tea help protect the heart from cardiovascular disease. Drinking green tea reduces risk of high blood pressure significantly. Polyphenols in tea are rich source of antioxidants which help prevent cancer.

Bones
Due to fluoride amount in tea, it is believed that tea helps in having stronger bones.

Digestion
Tea and Oolong in particular has been used as post meal digestive drink. Puèr is particularly good for digestion due to its probiotic properties and has been used as fat burning tool. Green tea can help to stimulate metabolisim and burn calories.

 

 

Green tea (and tea in general) have many mineral compunds like aluminum, magnesium, potassium, Iodine and flourine. Flourine is one of the compunds which helps maintaining healthy teeth. I have a blog on tea compounds for more information: Tea compounds and chemistry

Read Reza Danesh's answer to Does green tea help clean or harm your teeth in any way? on Quora

 

Polyphenols
These compounds help tea plant fight off pests and diseases. especially useful for the younger leaves and shoots. Among the polyphenols are flavonoids which are broken down during oxidization and then join with  to other molecules to create theaflavins and thearubigins, which are responsible for the darker color and stronger flavors that develop during oxidization. Other flavonids such as catechins are important as they are thought to be responsible for not only taste and color but also antioxidants.

Ezymes
Enzymes are important in tea processing especially the oxidization process as this is a reaction of enzymes that causes both the color and the flavor of leaves to change. This reaction can be halted by applying heat which is why -in case of green tea- tea leaves are heated before oxidization occurs to preserve the original color and flavors.

Amino Acids
Theanine is the most important amino acid in tea leaf. Amino acids turn turn into polyphenols when plant is exposed to light. It is Theanine compounds which are said to have a positive effect on your mind when absorbed into body alongside caffeine molecules: an effect described as a relaxed uplift but with no crash later, as can happen when you absorb caffeine from coffee.

Thearubigins
Catechins are converted into thearubigins as a result of oxidization. they are also known as tannins and usually make the tea darker and more astringent. the higher the oxidization the higher the amount of thearubigins/tannins generated and the darker and more astringent the teas becomes.

Carbohydrates
Tea plant stores energy as carbohydrates to use it for important reactions in tea leaves.

Minerals
Selenium, aluminum, fluorine, potassium, zinc, magnesium and iodine are present in tea leaves. Fluorine helps maintaining healthy teeth.

Volatiles
There are different volatile flavor and aroma compounds in tea leaves that when combined make a unique and complex structures that contributes to the taste and aromas in the brewed tea.

Caffeine
Caffeine is the natural stimulant created by tea leaves to form a protection against bugs and pests. Caffeine can affect your heart rate, brain waves and physical function both positively and negatively. Caffeine levels in tea leaves can vary depending on climate and terrain and also the types of leaves being processed. Compare caffeine contents in tea and coffee here: caffeine content of tea and coffee

 

Read Reza Danesh's answer to What is the best way to drink black tea? With or without sugar? With water or with milk? on Quora

Read Reza Danesh's answer to What's the difference between Chinese teas and English teas? on Quora

Read Reza Danesh's answer to What is the best way to drink black tea? With or without sugar? With water or with milk? on Quora

Process of manufacruring for different types of tea:

All types of tea need to get dried out to a maximum of 3% water content. The first stage of processing tea is withering which is done by transporting fresh leaves as quickly as possible to the processing plant and spreading tea leaves on trays (usually bamboo trays in case of chinese tea) or in troughs in larger facilities and let them dry for 3 hours or so. 

This would be the only step for white tea (except that whitering may take longer) before they send tea leaves for further drying for final stage.

The second step is rolling tea leaves to break wall cells of tea leaves. This would initiate reaction of air/oxygen with tea leave enzymes and also let the enzymes break out of tea leaves which contribute to the flavors of the tea.

Green tea at this point takes a different turn. Tea leaves get heated up in pans (pan frying for Chinese green tea) or steamed (Japanese green tea). This is to stop the enzymes to react with oxygen and preserve the colors and original flavors.

Black teas on the other hand go through a process of oxidization (third step)  by spreading tea leaves on trays or on concrete floorings for 3 to 4 hours or more to ensure close to 100% oxidization. Tea processors and experts would know when oxidation is completed by aromas of tea leaves.

Oolong teas (besides from getting made of different tea leaves which are usually bigger leaves from lower part of the plant) are partially oxidized at this stage and depending on type of the oolong tea they may get oxidized anywhere from 5% -%95. The less oxidized Ooling teas are more similar to green teas in look and flavors.

 

Finally tea leaves go through last stage of heating in which they pass the tea leaves through furnaces and heat them up so that final product has less than 3% water content.

 

Once tea leaves are dry they will preserve their flavors until they are brewed with water where all aromas and flavors unfold.

So which tea goes through least amout of treatment?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee drinks	Size in oz. (mL)	Caffeine (mg)
Brewed	8 (237)	95-165
Brewed, decaf	8 (237)	2-5
Espresso	1 (30)	47-64
Espresso, decaf	1 (30)	0
Instant	8 (237)	63
Instant, decaf	8 (237)	2
Latte or mocha	8 (237)	63-126

Teas	Size in oz. (mL)	Caffeine (mg)
Brewed black	8 (237)	25-48
Brewed black, decaf	8 (237)	2-5
Brewed green	8 (237)	25-29
Ready-to-drink, bottled	8 (237)	5-40

Caffeine levels in different teas: Caffeine free, Decaf, Low caffeine, Medium Caffeine

Read here in The Telegraph