"There are few hours in life

more agreeable than the hour

dedicated to the ceremony
known as afternoon tea."
Henry James

Tea’s Wonderful History

Tea is among the world’s oldest and most revered beverages. It is today’s
most popular beverage in the world, next to water. Tea drinking has long
been an important aspect of Chinese culture. A Chinese saying identifies
the seven basic daily necessities as fuel, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar,
and tea. According to Chinese legend, tea was invented accidentally by the
Chinese Emperor Shen Nong in 2737 B.C. Emperor Shen Nong was a
scholar and herbalist, as well as a creative scientist and patron of the arts.
Among other things, the emperor believed that drinking boiled water
contributed to good health. By his decree, his subjects and servants had to
boil their water before drinking it as a hygiene precaution. On one summer
day while he was visiting a distant region, he and his entourage stopped to
rest. The servants began to boil water for the skilled ruler and his subjects
to drink. Dried leaves from a nearby camellia bush fell into the boiling water.
The emperor was interested in the new liquid because it had a pleasing
aroma in this new brew interested the emperor, so he drank the infusion
and discovered that it was very refreshing and had a delightful flavor. He
declared that tea gives vigor to the body, thus. That was when tea was
invented, but it was considered as a medicinal beverage. It was around 300
A.D. when, tea became a daily drink.
It was not until the Tang and Song Dynasties when tea showed some
significance in Chinese tradition. During the mid-Tang Dynasty (780 A.D.), a
scholar named Lu Yu published the first definitive book, Cha Ching or The
Tea Classic, on tea after he spent over twenty years studying the subject.
This documentation included his knowledge of planting, processing, tasting,
and brewing tea. His research helped to elevate tea drinking to a high
status throughout China. This was when the art of tea drinking was born.
Later, a Song Dynasty emperor helped the spread of tea consumption
further by indulging in this wonderful custom. He enjoyed tea drinking so
much, that he bestowed tea as gifts only to those who were worthy. During
this time, tea inspired many of books, poems, songs, and paintings. This
not only popularized tea, it also elevated tea’s value which drew tea-
growers to the capital.
Between the Yuan and Qing Dynasties, the technology of tea production
continuously advanced to become more simplified and to improve the
methods of enhancing tea flavor. During this period, tea houses and other
tea-drinking establishments were opening up all over China. By 900 A.D.,
tea drinking spread from China to Japan where the Japanese Tea
Ceremony or Chanoyu, was created. In Japan, tea was elevated to an art
form which requires years of dedicated studying. Unlike the Japanese
people, the Chinese people tend to view tea drinking as a form of
enjoyment: to have after a meal or to serve when guests visit.
Tea was introduced to Europe in the 1600s; it was introduced to England in
1669. At that time, the drink was enjoyed only by the aristocracy because a
pound of tea cost an average British laborer the equivalent of nine months
in wages. The British began to import tea in larger qualities to satisfy the
rapidly expanding market. Tea became Britain’s most important item of
trade from China. All classes were able to drink tea as the tea trade
increased and became less of a luxury. Now, tea is low in price and readily
available.
The word “tea” was derived from ancient Chinese dialects. Such words as
“Tchai,” “"Cha,” and “Tay” were used to describe the tea leaf as well as the
beverage. The tea plant’s scientific name is Camellia Sinensis, and it is
indigenous to China and parts of India. The tea plant is an evergreen shrub
that develops fragrant white, five-petaled flowers, and; it is related to the
magnolia. Tea is made from young leaves and leaf buds from the tea tree.
Two main varieties are cultivated: Camellia sinensis, a Chinese plant with
small leaves, and C. sinensis assamica, an Indian plant with large leaves.
Hybrids of these two varieties are also cultivated. What we call “herbal tea”
is technically not tea because it does not come from the tea plant but
consists a mixture of flowers, fruit, herbs or spices from other plants.
Today, there are more than 1,500 types of teas to choose from because
over 25 countries cultivate tea as a plantation crop. China is one of the
main producers of tea, and tea remains China’s national drink.
History of Tea in Europe
By the time Europe began hearing rumors of tea in the early 1600's, they
were just starting to become advanced in their navy. When tea landed in
Europe, Rembrandt was only six years old and Elizabeth I was still alive. At
this time, tea was very expensive, costing over $100 per pound, which
made it a delicacy that was only available to the extremely wealthy. As the
amount of tea which was imported increased, the price fell and it was now
available to places like apothecaries and common food shops throughout
Holland. However this didn't happen until 1675.
As consumption rose, the health benefits of tea began to become
controversial between doctors and university authorities. This controversy
lasted from 1635 to roughly 1657, and during this period France and
Holland consumed the most tea.
This tea craze swept throughout Europe, and it became a common thing
that people now had to drink. Tea sets were now coming out, and it was
starting to be served in restaurants. People were now having "tea parties"
outside their houses with a few guests.

Tea Arrives in England

Many stories about tea end with a marriage, this story is different. It starts
with a marriage. In 1662, Prince Charles II married the Portuguese
Princess, Catherine of Braganza. The princess was very fond of tea and
accustomed her royal spouse to this new drink. I must say that tea was
familiar to the English before the marriage of the high-standing persons;
Garway's Coffee House, for example, traded in tea in London since 1657.
However, tea was mostly known as a medicinal drink, and was much less
popular than coffee.

After Charles II became king, a whim of the foreign princess became the
Drink of the Queen. This fact secured the success of tea first among
aristocracy, and then among other English citizens. The popularity was
formed slowly but forever.

The spreading of tea in England had very serious opponents — coffee and
beer merchants. Suspecting (not without grounds) that the new drink can be
a serious business rival, they lobbied (in 1684) high import duties on tea.
The duties quintupled the cost of the drink and led to the emergency of tea
smuggling (from the Netherlands) and wide spread of counterfeit tea. It was
in this period (the end of the 17th century) that the English began to show
preference for black tea and not green. Because black tea was more
difficult to imitate.

In 1706, on the Strand, in London, Thomas Twining opened Tom’s Coffee

House — where one could buy not only coffee but also tea. In 1717, in the
coffee house, a dry-tea shop appeared, the whole establishment was called
Golden Lyon, and thus a new, and, probably, the main leaf in the English
tea history was turned. Having started a wide retail trade in tea, Thomas
Twining provided great masses of English ladies with the access to the
fashionable drink. These masses, actually, formed the phenomenon known
as the English tea tradition. The matter was that in the 17th-18th centuries
ladies were not allowed into proper coffee shops. Let the advocates of
equality forgive me, but the wise English thought that the woman should sit
at home and adorn the family house — and they were right! While
gentlemen were at war, conquering vast expanses of the sea, and creating
the Great British Empire, ladies, partly — paying tribute to fashion, and
partly — in search of entertainment, created a wonderful means of human
communication — the English tea party. In its final shape the English
Afternoon Tea tradition had been formed by the middle of the 19th century
— I will tell you later about it, because now we better get back to the
18th century.

In 1708, East India Company was created.East India Company is one of the
wonders of the world. It is not an exaggeration. There has not been another
event like this in world history. It was this company, with its own fleet, own
army, and unlimited for that time financial capacity, that created the British
Empire. For us, however, the Empire is of no importance ; all the more
since nothing has remained of it. What is important is that for East India
Company to import tea was more profitable than to import coffee. Despite
the popularity and precedence of coffee, it was doomed (though finally tea
surpassed coffee by popularity only in the latter half of the 19th century).
From 1700 to 1721 import rates of tea into England increased fifty times.
Tea was brought from China ; until the middle of the 19 th century there was
no other tea but Chinese (Japan exported next to nothing).

There was one problem in the tea trade between England and China. The
Chinese sold tea only in exchange for silver. Shipping silver from England
was not profitable — in 1776 a splendid idea struck the English. They
started to bring opium from India into China; there they sold it to the
Chinese for silver, and this silver they used to pay for tea. Everything was
just fine — ships loaded with one herb came to China, and then ships with
another herb left China. Despite the illegality of such trade, the Chinese
tolerated it until 1839.

In 1784 English Parliament decreased tea import duties almost ten times. It
was tea lobbying this time and the initiator was Daniel Twining. Tea fell in
price and became national English drink. At the same time tea smuggling
failed. In 1802 tea was introduced into the ration of the British army. In 1824
a daily portion of rum at the Royal British Navy was decreased from a half-
pint to a quarter of a pint. Rum was partially replaced by tea in the ration.
The reaction was immediate — seamen called the mixture of tea with rum
grog after the nickname of Admiral Edward Vernon (Old Grogram — from
his grogram cloak), who initiated this change.

Foreseeing possible problems with the trade with China, the English were
trying to find ways to grow tea in their own colonies. In 1823, on the
government’s instructions, Charles Bruce smuggled tea seeds and saplings
from China. In 1820 (according to another version in 1826) in Assam, an
Indian state, wild growing tea trees were discovered — and the idea of
growing tea outside China from the revolutionary one began to become
evident. In 1834 a special committee on analysing possibilities of cultivating
tea in India was created. In 1835 first tea estates in Assam were marked
out. And, finally, in 1836 the first consignment of Assam tea appeared in
Calcutta’s markets.

In 1839 the Chinese destroyed a large consignment of the English opium —

thus, starting the First Opium War. Opium Wars continued until 1860 and
ended with China’s total defeat. While the Wars were on, the trade between
England and China fell into relative decay; and this fact, in the end,
contributed to the development of the tea industry in India.

In 1840 the most beautiful part of English tea history started. First, Anna
Maria Stanhope, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, completely formed the English
tea tradition, and invented afternoon tea — tea between lunch and dinner,
accompanied with refined conversation, sweet gossip and fine etiquette,
which was polished in Victorian time and exceeded any oriental tea
ceremony by complexity.
Second, at this time, the famous tea clipper (high-speed sailing vessel
designed in the USA and successfully reproduced in Britain) races began.
These beauties of vessels brought tea from China into England incredibly
fast — in 90-100 days. The speed was very important — regardless of any
packaging, during the sea voyage tea got spoiled and its price dropped.
One and a half century ago time was already money. On 30th May, 1866
dramatically ended the most famous tea clipper race. After 99 days of
sailing side by side Ariel was the first to enter the mouth of the Themes. But
having lower draft she could not moor and had to wait for the rising
tide. Taiping moored first and won the race, being only 12 minutes faster
than Ariel. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 made the tea races
senseless and clippers began to bring wool from Australia.

In 1870, R. Twining & Co. Ltd. first began to blend teas to improve the taste
of the final drink, on the one hand, and to provide customers with the
stability of quality, on the other hand. The matter is that quality, taste, and
flavor of tea depend on many different things. There are no two identical
consignments of tea — even if they were plucked in the same tea garden.
The western business culture, however, is the culture of stable quality.
Buying tea labeled English Breakfast, the customer wants to get a particular
drink and he does not care what the weather was like in this or that tea
garden. Tea blending solved this problem. Nowadays almost all teas sold in
the West are blends of invariable quality and different content. Thanks to
the English.

In 1875, Thomas Lipton opened his first shop. Then he became the father
of the modern aggressive advertising, founder of the tea empire, and the
man who made Ceylon a tea island. The case with Ceylon was quite
amusing. Originally, it was an island of coffee (from 1825). But in 1869
some detrimental fungus destroyed almost all coffee plantations and they
were promptly replaced by tea gardens. And already in 1887, the amount of
tea brought from India and Ceylon to Britain exceeded the amount of tea
brought from China.

By the end of the 19th century, the forming of the Tea Britain was for the
most part over. Brooke Bond and Lipton (now both these trade marks
belong to Unilever NV/Plc) laid the foundation of the modern tea trade; in
England, blends of Indian and Ceylon teas became more popular than
Chinese tea; tea became an element of the English mass culture; tea
manufactories of India and Ceylon began to become tea industry.
Afternoon Tea is Born
Tea consumption increased dramatically during the early nineteenth century
and it is around this time that Anna Maria Stanhope, the 7th Duchess of
Bedford is said to have complained of "having that sinking feeling" during
the late afternoon. At the time it was usual for people to take only two main
meals a day, breakfast, and dinner at around 8 o'clock in the evening. The
solution for the Duchess was a pot a tea and a light snack, taken privately
in her boudoir during the afternoon.
Later friends were invited to join her in her rooms at Woburn Abbey and this
summer practice proved so popular that the Duchess continued it when she
returned to London, sending cards to her friends asking them to join her for
"tea and a walking the fields." Other social hostesses quickly picked up on
the idea and the practice became respectable enough to move it into the
drawing room. Before long all of fashionable society was sipping tea and
nibbling sandwiches in the middle of the afternoon.
Occasionally you will see hotels serving a ‘high tea'. Traditionally, the upper
classes would serve a ‘low' or ‘afternoon' tea around four o'clock, just
before the fashionable promenade in Hyde Park. The middle and lower
classes would have a more substantial ‘high' tea later in the day, at five or
six o'clock, in place of a late dinner. The names derive from the height of
the tables on which the meals are served, high tea being served at the
dinner table.
Many visitors from overseas still imagine that we are a nation where, in the
words of the well-known song, ‘at half past three, everything stops for tea'.
Sadly these days Afternoon Tea is usually only an occasional luxury for the
British; a birthday treat in a country house hotel, or a welcome break from a
hectic days shopping ‘in town'. Luckily the tourist is still able to indulge in a
little bit of British tradition for him or herself.
Types of tea

Introduction
With all the various kinds of tea on the market today – black, red, oolong, green, white –
it may surprise some people that all tea comes from the same plant. The different kinds
of tea are the result of how the leaves are processed after picking them.

The biggest factor that determines the kind of tea is the oxidation – sometimes called
fermentation – of the leaves. Oxidation is the natural chemical process that all vegetable
matter undergoes after being picked, and the level of oxidation of tea leaves produces
the various kinds of tea.

Of the three main kinds of tea, green tea has undergone the shortest oxidation period.
The leaves are steamed or fried as soon as possible after they are picked to stop the
oxidation process. Green tea is often referred to as an “un-oxidized” or “un-fermented”
tea.

Oolong tea is a semi-oxidized tea. The leaves undergo partial oxidation – somewhere
between 30% and 80%. The more the leaves are oxidized, the darker they become.

This brings us to the final and most popular of all the kinds of tea – black tea. Tea leaves
for black tea have been fully oxidized, and that is why they have a dark color and brew
to a dark liquid.
Green tea

What is green tea?

What exactly is the difference between green tea, and the comfortable black tea you are
used to? Well, it all comes from the same plant (Camellia sinensis), but the difference is
in the processing. Green tea is dried, but not fermented. The shorter processing gives
green tea a lighter flavor than black tea. It also helps keep all the beneficial chemicals
intact, which is why green tea is so good for you.

But what does it taste like?

Don't expect green tea to taste like your regular tea. All the different kinds of green tea
have different flavors, but they do have a taste in common. The flavor of green tea can
be described as: fresh, light, green, or grassy. Some varieties of green tea are have a bit
of sweetness to them, and some are a little astringent. Green tea is not usually served
with milk or sugar, but you can decide that for yourself.

Too many kinds to choose from!

If you really want to experiment with good green tea, you may need to look beyond your
grocery store. While most supermarkets will carry a few brands of green tea (usually in
bags), there won't be much selection. If your city has a Chinatown area, you'll probably
find some amazing green teas there, or you could try mail order. Some types to look for:
sencha, gunpowder or Dragon Well. I've got a list of the top types of green tea. Grocery
store packaged teas might just be marked 'green tea', without any distictive variety
given. You might want to avoid these types of tea, as they will likely be blends of poor
quality.

How do you brew green tea?

Just the same as you would brew any other kind of tea, whether you have bagged tea or
loose green tea. One thing to watch out for: don't use fully boiling water. Green tea is
more delicate than black, so you want to keep the water a little cooler. Brewing when
your water is just about to hit the boil is good.
Known as the birthplace of tea, for hundreds of years China produced the only teas known to the western
world. Although consuming much of her own production, China still accounts for over 18% of world
exports. China has 1,431,300 hectares planted with tea.

As well as black teas, China produces five other principal types for which the country is famous: Green,
Oolong, White, Flavoured and Compressed teas. With some exceptions - such as Lapsang Souchong,
Gunpowder and Keemun - most teas from China are not easily found in the general marketplace.

BLACK TEAS
Lapsang Souchon
Perhaps the most famous china tea, the best coming from the hills in north Fujian. It is a unique large leaf
tea distinguished by its smoky aroma and flavour. The tarry taste is acquired through drying over pine
wood fires.
The legend about the origin of Lapsang Souchong is that the smoking process was discovered
by accident. An army is said to have camped in a tea factory that was full of drying leaves which had to
be moved to accommodate the soldiers. When the soldiers left, the leaves needed to be dried quickly, so
the workers lit open fires of pinewood to speed up the drying. The tea reached the market on time and a
new flavour had been created.
The real story about why these teas from Fujian province have a smoky flavour is that in the early 17th
century when the Chinese tea producers began to export their teas to Europe and America, their
traditional green teas did not travel well and quickly lost quality during the 15-18 month journey across
land and sea. The producers developed a method of rolling, oxidising and drying their teas so that they
would hold their quality for longer. Once the teas had been oxidised, they were spread on bamboo
baskets which were placed on racks in the drying room. This was built over ovens that allowed the heat to
rise up through vents in the ceiling and into the drying room above. To fire the ovens, the tea
manufacturers used the local pine wood from the forests that surrounded (and still surround) the factories,
and as the wood slowly burned, it gave off a certain amount of smoke that was absorbed by the drying tea
and gave it a lightly smoked, sappy, pine character.
The factories that made those lightly smoked black teas in Fujian province still manufacture lightly smoked
Lapsangs in exactly the same way as they did 400 years ago. The teas are often called Bohea Lapsangs
- the term Bohea being a derivation of 'Wuyi', the name of the famous mountain area where these teas are
made. They also manufacture the much smokier Lapsang Souchongs that are popular today.

Keemun
A popular black tea from Anhui Province, this is a 'gonfu' tea - which means that it is made with disciplined
skill to produce the thin tight strips of leaf without breaking the leaves. The tight black leaves give a rich
brown liquor, which has a lightly scented nutty flavour and delicate aroma.

Yunnan
A black tea from the province of Yunnan in the south west of China. It has a rich, earthy, malty flavour
similar to Assam teas and is best drunk with milk. It makes an excellent breakfast tea.
Other recommended China black teas are Keemun Mao Feng (Hair Point) and Szechwan Imperial.

GREEN TEAS
Many green China teas are still traditionally made by hand using methods that have been handed down
from generation to generation. However, more and more teas are now made in mechanised factories.
Green teas are totally unoxidised (compared to black teas which are fully oxidised) and so the first stage
of the manufacturing process is to kill any enzymes that would otherwise cause oxidation to take place.
To de-enzyme them, the freshly plucked leaves are either steamed (to make 'sencha-type teas) or
tumbled quickly in a wok or panning machine (to make pan-fired teas) and are then rolled by hand or
machine to give the leaf a particular appearance - some teas are twisted, some curved, some rolled into
pellets, etc. To remove all but 2-3% of the remaining water, the tea is then dried in hot ovens or over
charcoal stoves.

Gunpowder
Most Gunpowder tea is produced in Pingshui in Zheijian Province. After it has been pan-fired to de-
enzyme it, the leaf is rolled into small pellets and then dried. The pellets look remarkably like lead shot or
gunpowder, giving the tea its descriptive name. The pellets come in different sizes - the smaller the leaf
plucked and rolled, the smaller the pellet - and grades range from tiny 'pinhead' gunpowder to larger
'peahead' gunpowder. Gunpowder tea has a soft honey or coppery liquor with a herby smooth light taste.

Chun Mee
Chun Mee literally means 'precious eyebrows' and the shape of the leaves give this tea its name. The
processing of 'eyebrow' teas demands great skill in order to hand roll and dry the leaves to the correct
shape at the right temperature for the correct length of time. These long, fine jade leaves give a clear, pale
yellow liquor with a smooth taste.
Other green teas from China include Longjing (Dragon's Well) from Zheijiang; Taiping Hon Kui (Monkey
King) from Anhui; and Youngxi Huo Qing (Firegreen).

Oolong
Traditionally from China's Fujian province and Taiwan, these are semi-oxidised teas that vary from
greenish rolled oolongs (that give a light, floral liquor reminiscent of lily of the valley, narcissus, orchid or
hyacinth) to dark brown leafed oolongs (that yield liquors with deeper, earthier flavours and lingering hints
of peach and apricot).
There are two distinct types of oolong tea: the dark one and the green one.
To manufacture the darker leafed oolongs, the freshly plucked leaf is withered, then shaken or 'rattled' in
bamboo baskets or in a bamboo tumbling machine to lightly bruise parts of the leaf, then oxidised for a
short time so that the bruised parts of the leaf begin to oxidise. When 60-70% oxidation has been
reached, the leaf is dried.
To manufacture the greener oolongs, the leaf is withered and then wrapped inside a large cloth and rolled
in a special machine. The bag is then opened and the leaf is spread out briefly to oxidise lightly. The leaf
is repeatedly wrapped, rolled and oxidised until approximately 30% oxidation has been achieved. The tea
is then dried to remove all but 2-3% of the remaining water. The most famous of these greener, light,
fragrant oolongs is Tie Kuan YIn which has a hyacinth or narcissus character.
All oolongs are better drunk without milk.

Tie Kuan Yin

This is made in China's Fuijan province and in Taiwan. The name means 'Tea of the Iron Goddess of
Mercy' who is said to have appeared in a dream to a local tea farmer, telling him to look in a cave behind
her temple. There he found a single tea shoot that he planted and cultivated. The bush he grew is said to
have been the parent bush from which cuttings have been grown and leaf plucked over the centuries to
make this very fragrant tea. It is today one of the most sought after oolongs around the world.
Other recommended China oolong teas are Fonghwang Tan-chung, Shui Hsien (Water Sprite), Oolong
Sechung and Wuyi Liu Hsiang, Huan Jin Qui (Yellow Golden Flower), Da Hong Pao (Great Red Robe),
Loui Gui (Meat Flower) and Wuyi Yan (Bohea Rock).
Pouchong
Produced in China's Fujian province and Taiwan, pouchong teas are more lightly oxidised that oolongs.
The name means 'the wrapped kind' which refers to the fact that the tea was traditionally wrapped in
paper after the manufacturing process when the tea was ready for sale. Long, stylish black leaves brew a
very mild cup with an amber infusion and a very smooth, sweet taste.

WHITE TEAS
White teas traditionally come from China's Fujian province and are made from leaf buds and leaves of the
Da Bai (Big White) tea varietal by the simplest process of all teas. Very young new leaf buds and baby
leaves are simply gathered and dried - often in the sun. The manufacturing process includes no withering,
no steaming, no rolling, no oxidising and no shaping. The best known white teas are Pai Mu Tan (White
Peony) which is made using new leaf buds and a few very young leaves, and Yin Zhen (Silver Needles)
which is made from just the new leaf buds.

Pai Mu Tan Imperial

This rare white tea is made from very small buds and a few baby leaves that are picked in the early
spring, and once they have been dried, they look like lots of tiny white blossoms with a few darker leaves
surrounding the white bud - the reason for it's name, 'White Peony'.

Yin Zhen
From the Fuijan province, this tea is made from tender new buds that are covered in silvery white hairs
and it's name means 'Silver Needles'.

PUERH TEAS
The official Chinese definition for Puerh tea is "Products fermented from green tea of big leaves picked
within Yunnan province". However, even Chinese specialists cannot agree on the true definition but, in
general terms, Puerh teas are teas from Yunnan that are aged for up to 50 years in humidity- and
temperature-controlled conditions to produce teas that have a typically earthy, mature, smooth flavour and
aroma.
There are two types of Puerh tea made by two different methods of manufacture: Naturally Fermented
Puerh tea (also known as Raw Tea or Sheng Tea) and Artificially Fermented Puerh tea (also known as
Ripe Tea or Shou Tea).
To make Naturally Fermented Puerh tea, fresh leaves from the bush are withered, de-enzymed in a
large wok, twisted and rolled by hand, dried in the sun, steamed to soften them and then left loose or
compressed into flat cakes or blocks of various shapes. The tea is then stored in controlled conditions to
age and acquire its typically earthy character.
To make Artificially Fermented Puerh tea, fresh tea leaves are withered, de-enzymed in a large wok,
twisted and rolled by hand, dried in the sun and then mixed with a fixed quantity of water, piled, covered
with large 'blankets' made from hide and left to ferment. The tea is stirred at intervals and the whole
process takes several weeks. When the teas have fermented to a suitable level, they are steamed and
then left loose or compressed in the same way as Naturally Fermented Puerh teas.
The teas are then stored in damp, cool conditions to age. Naturally Fermented Puerh teas are left for at
least 15 and up to 50 years; Artificially Fermented Puerh teas are aged for only a few weeks or months.
When ready, each cake of Puerh tea is wrapped in tissue paper or dried bamboo leaves.
The reason for manufacturing Puerh teas by artificial fermentation is to allow the tea producers to make
more Puerh in a shorter time. 50 years is a long time to wait for a good Puerh so the more modern
artificial method was developed to meet a growing demand for these teas.
Puerh tea is named after Puerh city in Yunnan province which was once the main trading centre
for teas made in the area.

http://www.starchefs.com/features/tea/html/types.shtml

http://www.enjoyengland.com/ideas/food-and-drink/drink/tea-in-england/tea-drinking-
customs.aspx

history of tea bags

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article4124211.ece
http://www.learn-about-tea.com/tea-bag-history.html
http://www.h-tea-o.com/h-tea-o/www/scripts/main/downloads/hundred.pdf