While tea has long been a favorite drink of the Chinese, in the last few years, quite a few tea-flavored drinks are on the market. Supermarket statistics show that sales of Kangshifu Icy Black Tea, Green Tea or Afternoon Milk tea are far ahead of other drinks such as juice, water and bubble drinks. While it’s wonderful to see the success of this traditional Chinese drink today, there are also concerns about choosing the right tea. Here’s some information about tea.

Most tea related drinks are made by combining tea extracts with their original recipe, which leads to drinks like milk tea, and tea-flavored juice. A way of setting the good teas apart from the bad ones is the tea polyphenol content. National standards say the minimum tea polyphenol content for tea drinks is 600 milligrams per liter.

To pick the right tea, consumers need to know the tea first. Ordinary tea contains the following beneficial elements:

1 Alkaloid: It can help refresh the mind, boost the heart, eliminate toxins, relieve inflammation and get rid of hangover discomfort.

2 Tea polyphenol: It protects people from radioactive material, counter arteriosclerosis and activate capillaries.

3 Vitamins and fluoride: Various vitamins enhance the effect of alkaloid and tea polyphenol. Abundant fluoride is good for teeth.

4 Catechins: This antioxidant can do wonders to the skin by eliminating pigment residues.

Here’s a list on how to choose among the different teas:

Different teas in different seasons

As the Chinese saying goes, “Green tea is for summer, black tea is for winter and oolong tea works all year around”, people choose different teas for the various seasons.

Spring is the season for flower teas, which can lift the spirit from drowsiness. Winter is a season for black tea whose hot nature helps protect the body against winter chills.

Summer is a season for green tea. The cooling nature of this tea can counter summer heat, boost the heart and eliminate toxins. For those who prefer icy cold drinks and those who have a weak stomach, oolong tea is recommended over green tea. Barley tea is also a nice choice in summer as it can eliminate pigment residues on the skin.

Autumn is a dry season so it’s good to pick qingcha tea, which is between black and green tea. Qingcha tea includes oolong and Tieguanyin, which can boost the secretion of saliva, improve the lungs and moisturize the skin.

Different teas at different times of the day

In the morning Green tea: Rich in antioxidants and vitamin C, green tea can eliminate free radicals in the body and secrete anti-pressure hormones.

In the afternoon Chrysanthemum tea: It enhances the function of the liver and relieves the eyes. When combined with medlar or honey, chrysanthemum tea helps counter depression and anxiety.

In the evening Medlar tea: It’s rich in Beta-Carotene, vitamin B1, vitamin C, calcium and iron, as well as enhances the liver and kidney functions.

When working overtime Cassia seed tea: It’s good for the brain, liver, tendons and bones, as well as eyes. And if you suffer from constipation, have of a cup cassia seed tea after dinner. It’s guaranteed to be effective.

After a big meal Pu’er tea: Most teas boost the metabolism of fat, and Pu’er it is the leader in this area. There are some beneficial elements in the tea to help burn the fat reserves in the stomach.

Different teas for different people

Office workers: Chrysanthemum tea and green tea
Sport lovers: Oolong tea and black tea
Those averse to sports: Green tea and flower teas
Those exposed to heavy air pollution: Green tea
Smokers and drinkers: Green tea
Meat lovers: Oolong tea
Those suffering constipation: Honey tea
Those wanting to lose fat: Oolong tea, Pu’er tea and green tea
Those with a weak spleen and stomach: Oolong tea and flower teas
Those hoping for longevity: Oolong tea and black tea

Scientists have proven that drinking tea can help people
lose weight.

During a five-year study, researchers discovered five new genes related to obesity, which point to the cause of the condition. However they also found that the polyphenol compound in tea - especially Oolong tea - can help obese people battle the bulge.

"The genetic conditions of the individuals could predispose, or even cause, children and adolescents to become overweight."

Guo won the Soong Ching Ling Foundation Pediatrics Award last week for his pioneering research in identifying the new genes related to obesity and suggesting new intervention strategies.

Despite their findings, Guo admits there is no magic bullet for treating childhood obesity. But he said a healthier diet and lifestyle will help.

According to Guo, the seeds of obesity can be planted in children much earlier than generally believed.

When children are still in the fetus, they tend to become obese later in life if pregnant mothers eat too much and have a dramatic increase in weight.

Compared to bottle-fed infants, babies who are breastfed are less likely to become obese later in their life because the secretion of breast milk is limited. Bottle-fed babies tend to develop a larger appetite because they are fed each time they cry.

Chinese have long believed in the link between tea drinking and weight loss but many health authorities in the West have been skeptical about it.

Guo particularly recommends Oolong tea, one of the lesser-known teas in the West. Of the total amount of tea produced and consumed in the world, 78 percent is black, 20 percent is green, and less then 2 percent is Oolong tea.

Black tea is consumed primarily in Western countries, the Middle East and South Asia whereas green tea is drunk primarily in China, Japan and a few countries in North Africa.

The production and consumption of Oolong tea are primarily confined to southeastern China.

In China, there are various kinds of exquisite tea sets of both practical and artistic values. Chinese tea sets are well known at home and abroad and favored by tea lovers through the ages. Over the long developing history of tea drinking in China, both the customs and the processes have gone through great changes. As for special tools for drinking tea, tea sets have also undergone an evolution.

A tea set, in the Western tradition is a suite of dishes sold in a group for use at afternoon tea or a formal tea party.

Tea sets vary greatly in quality and price, from inexpensive mass produced items to high end, limited edition items. The finest tea sets are made by well known manufacturers of porcelain or bone china. Another opulent tea set is the silver tea service, a formal tea set made of sterling silver, although again, mass produced sets in silverplate abound.

The accepted history of the tea set begins during the Han Dynasty (206-220 B.C.). At this time, tea ware was made of porcelain and consisted of two styles: a northern white porcelain and a southern light blue porcelain. It’s important to understand that these ancient tea sets were not the creamer/sugar bowl companions we know today. Rather, as is stated in a third century A.D. written document from China, tea leaves were pressed into cakes or bricks. These patties were then crushed and mixed with a variety of spices, including orange, ginger, onions, and flower petals. Hot water was poured over the mixture, which was both heated and served in bowls, not teapots. The bowls were multi-purpose, and used for a variety of cooking needs. In this period, evidence suggests that tea was mainly used as a medicinal elixir, not as a daily drink for pleasure’s sake.

In China,Major types of tea sets include: Fictile Tea Sets ,Porcelain Tea Sets,Metal Tea Sets,Bamboo and Wooden Tea Sets,Glass Tea Sets,Lacquer Tea Sets.

1. Fictile Tea Sets

Among all the fictile tea sets, the purple clay tea set made in Yixing is regarded as best tea sets in the word ,The purple clay teapot is made of unglazed clay, which is baked with purple and red mud specially found in the local area. Since it is densely agglomerated and finely molded at a high temperature, such a teapot not only can hold water without leakage but also can absorb liquid and retain some of the flavor of the tea due to its porous nature unperceivable by naked eye. The purple clay teapot is slow in heat transfer, preventing one from scalding one’s hand. It can also keep tealeaves from spoiling in hot days. More over, such kind of teapot can stand sharp changes in temperature and even be put directly on fire to stew tea if required. The purple clay tea set also features simple design and unsophisticated color and takes various shapes, such as bamboo knot, lotus root, pine tree knot and bronze ware imitating that of the Shang Dynasties and Zhou Dynasties.

2. Porcelain Tea Sets

1) White-porcelain tea sets: the most famous white-porcelain producing area is Jingdezhen, and other areas include Liling of Hunan Province, Tangshan of Hebei Province and Qimen of Anhui Province. In the Yuan Dynasty, Jingdezhen was well known for its celadon that enjoyed a hot sale overseas.

2) Celadon tea sets: celadon tea sets began to enjoy popularity from the Jin Dynasty, and reached its height of splendor in the Song Dynasty when Longquange Kiln of Zhejiang Province, one of the five famous kilns at the time, produced various kinds of celadon products, including teapots, tea bowls, cups and trays, etc.

3) Black-porcelain tea sets: In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), tea contest was prevalent in Fujian. Contestants believed that black-porcelain tea cup made in Jian’an was the most suitable ware to improve tea quality, thus such tea sets gradually gained a high reputation far and near. As described in the Record of Tea by Cai Xiang of the Song Dynasty, To make the water appear limpid, better use black-porcelain cups. Cups made in Jian’an are dark purple in color, with fine lines like rabbit hair. The most notable advantage of these cups is that they are hard to cool down if heated for a long time due to their thick base. Cups made in other places, either thin or of purple color, cannot compare to such cups. Contestants don not use celadon cups.

3. Lacquer Tea Sets
Lacquer tea sets were put into use in the Qing Dynasty and mainly made in Fuzhou ,Fujian Province. Various kinds of lacquer tea sets were produced in Fuzhou, such as shining treasure sands, glazed spun gold, archaized porcelain, carved and paint and silver-embedded. After the adoption of new techniques, such as red gold dust and carved pattern of flowers, the tea sets became more colorful and lovable.

4. Glass Tea Sets

In modern times, glass tea sets have gone through great development. Glass, transparent and with dazzling luster, is a plastic material used widely. Using glass cup to make tea, one can enjoy a good view of the bright color of the water and the tender tealeaves that are pushed up and down when water is poured in and then slowly stretch. Watching such a process is like appreciating a kind of dynamic art, especially when one makes top-grade tea. Mist rises from green water in the crystal-clear glass cup, with tender tea buds and leaves lying at the bottom. However glass tea sets have some disadvantages, such as breakable and easier to transfer heat than porcelain,etc..

5. Metal Tea Sets
Metal has great advantage over other materials in tea storage, and tin is the best one compared to all other metals such as gold, silver and copper. Tin pot is mostly made with small mouth and long neck together with a tube-shaped body. Such kind of airproof tin pot can guard tea against moisture, oxidation, light and peculiar smell. In the Tang Dynasty, imperial family drank Guzhu tea which should be made with water from the Jinsha Spring. The spring water was sent directly to Chang’an in unbreakable tin pots. Of course ordinary people could not afford such pots as they were too expensive.

6. Bamboo and Wooden Tea Sets

In past days, large rural areas, including tea-producing areas,such as Fujian,Yunnan, used bamboo or wooden tea sets to make tea because they were cheap and with good quality. But such tea sets are seldom used nowadays, except some bamboo and wooden teapots that are used to store tea, especially teapots made of Boxwood and Reed-bamboo. These two kinds of teapots are artworks, both precious presents to friends and practical articles for one’s own use.

In the history of chinese tea culture, there were also tea sets made of jade, crystal and agate,etc., but which did not play an important role in the evolution of tea sets because they were expensive, hard to make and of little practical value.

China is the home country of tea. Before the Tang Dynasty(618-907), Chinese tea was exported by land and sea, first to Japan(Today the Japanese tea ceremony is very famous all over the world) and Korea, then to India and Central Asia and, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, to the Arabian Peninsula.

In the early period of the 17th century, Chinese tea was exported to Europe, where the upper class adopted the fashion of drinking tea. Chinese tea-like Chinese silk and china has become synonymous worldwide with refined culture. At the heart of the art of tea the study and practice of tea in all its aspects is the simple gesture of offering a cup of tea to a guest that for Chinese people today is a fundamental social custom, as it has been for centuries.

China traces the development of tea as an art form to Lu Yu, known as “the Saint of Tea” in Chinese history, who lived during the Tang Dynasty and who wrote The Book of Tea, the first ever treatise on tea and tea culture. The spirit of tea permeates Chinese culture, and throughout the country there are many kinds of teas, teahouses, tea legends, tea artifacts and tea customs. Better-known places to enjoy a good cup of tea in China include Beijing noted for its variety of teahouses; Fujian and Guangdong provinces and other places in the southeast of China that serve gongfu tea - one kind of oolong or wu long tea, a formal serving of tea in tiny cups; the West Lake in Hangzhou, also the home of the Tea Connoisseurs Association, noted for its excellent green tea; and provinces in southwest China like Yunnan where the ethnic groups less affected by foreign cultures retain tea ceremonies and customs in original tea growing areas.

Chinese tea may be classified into five categories according to the different methods by which it is processed. Green tea is perhaps the most natural, with no fermentation or processing of the leaves,Longjin (Dragon Well), MaoFeng and Biluochun are the most famous varieties. Black tea, known in China as red tea, is fermented before being baked. This is the kind of tea most commonly consumed in the West. Wulong tea is a variety half way between green and black teas, being made after partial fermentation. It is a specialty from southeast China, particularly Fujian, Guangdong and Taiwan Map.
More: Differences between Green Tea,Black Tea and Wu Long Tea

Before modern tea house came into being, the older generation used to meet and savor tea, using small Yixing teapots

Yixing teapots :Yixing,located in Jiangsu provice,China, It’s teapots have long been known in China for their simple beauty and unique tea brewing qualities. Yixing zisha (purple clay) teapots have been in use since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), became popular in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) & Qing Dynasty(1645-1910), Now they are popular all over the world.Yixing zisha teapots are made from zisha - a purple clay found only in and near the Yixing region.The Song Dynasty (960-1279), people began to use teapots not very popular.

During the Ming Dyanasty (1368-1644) there are many well known Yixing teapot masters. Some of the more well known ones are Zhao Liang, Dong Han, Yuan Chang and Shi Peng. Later Shi Da Bing (shi Peng’s son) became very well known.
At that time,something changed people replaced the tea bowl with a tea pot and replaced boiled tea with tea steeped in hot water, replacing the fermented tea cake with tea leaves and the process of infusion that we know today. The smaller pots were designed for individual users and often the tea was drunk from the spout of the pot. Drinking from the spout of a teapot is still a common practice even among some members of the necessiteas family.

The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) , higher level of decoration of the Yixing teapots is developed. The artists began creating pots with with painting, inlaid gold and silver, bas-relief, color glaze painting etc. Kang Xi and early emperor in the dyanasty liked colored enamel pots which were more formal than many of the pots you see today. All of the Yixing pots that entered the palace could only have the seal of the emperors reign and not the artists chop. During his reign China began exporting the zisha teapots to Europe along with Chinese tea. The Europeans began to copy the designs. Of course these teapots were not made with the actual purple clay which is only found in China.

for tea-making and small cups for sipping and drinking. This was called “Old Man’s Tea”. In Teochew, South-East Asia and Taiwan, the same method was followed. On account of time consumed and its elaborate procedure, it was also known as “oolong Tea”. This elaborate method of tea-making has now been widely adopted.

Chinese traditional ways of Preparing wu long tea is an art. The method is refered to as Kungfu or Gongfu. it’s very detailed and complicated.
Ways to Brew Oolong Tea