WEBVTT - Tea: The Splendid Elixir, Part 2 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:05.920 The immortal Dan Chew abandoned eating jade elixirs, picking tea instead. 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:11.440 He drank and grew feathered wings. The world is unaware 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.200 of the mansion of imminent and hidden immortals. People do 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:19.000 not know of the palace of transmuting bone into clouds. 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.079 The lad of Cloudy Mountain blended it in a gold cauldron. 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:26.159 How hollow the fame of the Man of Chew and 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:29.840 his book of Tea. Late on a frosty night, breaking 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:34.280 cakes off fragrant tea brood to overflowing of the pale 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:39.080 yellow frock. I sip and am reborn, Bestowed by the gentleman. 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:43.760 This tea dispels my suffering, cleansing my mind from worry 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:47.440 and fear, come mourning. The emotions of the fragrant brazier 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.879 remain intoxicated. Still we walk across the clouds reflected in 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:56.240 tiger stream in high song, I send the gentleman off 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.080 well to stuff to blow your mind. Production of my 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:12.040 Heart Radio. Hey, you welcome to stuff to blow your mind. 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:15.120 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. That 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:19.120 is from a song of Drinking Tea On the departure 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:25.000 of zing wrong by Jao Ran. This particular bit of 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:30.000 Chinese poetry UM, I came across when I was reading 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:32.959 a blog post four ancient Chinese poems on t in 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:37.360 one symphony. This was on the website Tranquility Tuesdays, and 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:40.400 I found this one interesting because the the author of 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:44.000 this piece pointed out that the piece that we opened 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.120 the first episode off with the seven bowls of tea 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.120 is just very well sided. You'll find it referenced in 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.480 just about any history of tea. Uh, it's it frequently 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:56.320 shows up on tea blogs and so forth. The author 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:58.840 here noted that, you know, given that it is you 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:02.760 know overm cited, uh, that one should also include other 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:05.840 poems of note, and this is one such poem well 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:08.880 so in the original poem, I'd say the major theme 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:12.800 was sort of the mounting levels of of experience that 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.280 come with each successive cup of tea up until you 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.320 hit the danger zone, crossing the threshold from the sixth 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:22.600 to the dreaded seventh cup. In this case, what what 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:24.639 would you say? The main themes are I see here 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.919 um kind of a kind of a community or a 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:31.920 filial aspect to to the tea talking about you know, 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:34.520 the lab bruise it, and then these two drink it together, 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:36.600 though I'm not sure exactly who these two people are 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.120 supposed to be. Yeah, there's definitely more of an earth 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.440 bound since here I'm getting you know. It is of 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:46.960 course beautifully written and has that kind of ethereal quality 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:49.920 to it as well. But the Tea is not just 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:53.200 taking you and transforming you and into into an immortal 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:56.560 and sending you to a mythical land. Uh, It's it's 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.920 making you feel reborn, but also all of the world 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:02.520 as well, or at least that's my interpretation of it. 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.440 So anyway, Yeah, this is part two of our look 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.520 at T're we're already hearing from some folks regarding our 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:14.079 first episode, and in the second episode we're gonna continue 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.720 the journey. So go back and listen to part one 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:18.720 if you haven't heard it yet, because in that last 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:22.359 episode we discussed the botanical facts concerning T as well 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.839 as some myths about its origin. But now that we've 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.000 established what T is and where it's spring from and 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.880 reference some of the mythological ideas about te and read 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:34.320 a couple of poems. Uh. This most recent was the 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.200 most tank dynasty by the way. Um. At this point, 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:39.280 I think it's time to discuss the history of t 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.119 uh in a little more detail, especially as it concerns 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.160 the ways that it can be prepared and was prepared 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.920 across time. So I think that it makes sense, first 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:54.400 of all, to just look at some of the steps 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:59.600 that are frequently employed in preparing tea uh in uh 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:03.040 you know, after it's been harvest what happens between it 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:05.720 growing on the plant that we discussed in part one 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:10.040 and somehow making it into a cup or bowl of 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:13.960 tea the beverage, right, and so one thing we talked 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.080 about in the previous episode is how different types of 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.680 tea that you get, say black tea versus green tea 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.440 versus wide or oolong, they will usually be from the 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.960 same plant or the same of a couple of variants 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.080 of this plant Camellia sinensis. There there's one t plant, 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:32.800 and so the differences you get in the different tea 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.720 s are based on how it is processed and prepared, 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.120 right right. So um. One of the books that I've 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:41.839 been looking at here is Laura C. Martin's A History 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.400 of Tea, and I think the author here does a 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:48.279 fabulous job laying out the history and and also the 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:52.839 different steps involved in creating these beverages of tea. She 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.680 points out that no matter what sort of tea preparation 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.760 you're talking about, certain steps are common, too many of them. 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:02.320 Not all varieties of tea involve all the steps, but 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:04.720 it's worth going over them all and then we can say, well, 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:06.920 this one doesn't involve this step, and this one does 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:10.240 involve this step. Okay. So it starts, of course, with 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:14.200 the gathering of the leaves. Usually on tea farms, they 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.320 will be collected as flushes, these sort of top buds 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:19.320 of a couple of leaves and a shoot coming off 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.000 the top of the plant. Uh. Those will be harvested 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:23.599 and the rest of the plan will be left there 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.040 to produce new flushes in the future. And so you 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.280 gather a bunch of these flushes of leaves, and then 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:30.760 what do you do with them? Yeah, you could, I guess, 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.680 just stick them in your mouth. But here's the thing. 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:35.520 If you do that, and certainly we have some of 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.240 these tales of some of these mythical origins of tea 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:40.400 saying that's what happened. People stuck it in their mouth, 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.200 and and you know that might well be connected to 0:05:43.279 --> 0:05:46.880 some of the original ways that that human beings explore 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.839 the natures of the tea plant leaves and even gain 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.000 some of the effects. But if you just stick them 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:53.600 in your mouth and start chewing, it's going to be 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.839 really bitter. So this is at this point we have 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:01.039 the first step of withering. So the freat green leaves 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:04.120 and buds are dried out, either in a heated room 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:06.680 of some sort or they're left in the sun, and 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.760 this causes the starch and the leaves to begin transforming 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:14.640 into sugar and the moisture content drops by, and this 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.640 allows the next possible step to take place, which is 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.560 the rolling of the tea leaves and then be able 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.720 to roll it without breaking the leaves. Um. This is 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.080 something you might have to think back to your childhood 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:30.120 days of like playing with leaves and sticks. But sometimes 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:31.840 if a leaf is fresh and you go to like 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.920 roll it up, it's going to it's gonna break, m 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:39.120 all right. The rolling hard here is often done via 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:43.000 machines today but is historically done by hand, and the 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.719 rolling without breaking here twists and crushes the leaves in 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.560 a way that releases sap, exposes it to oxygen, and 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:55.200 stimulates fermentation. Additional rolling and or sifting may take place 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.480 here as well, so that's step two. Now. One reason 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.880 you might be roll ling or or sort of bruising 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:05.040 these leaves in some way and essentially handling them roughly 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:11.760 is in order to stimulate oxidation. Oxidation in general refers 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.200 to a broad class of chemical reactions that take place 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:19.600 when molecules are exposed to oxygen or another oxidizing agent. 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.240 And a core feature of an oxidation reaction is that 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:26.080 the molecules that are getting oxidized are losing electrons, but 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.000 that doesn't tell us much. It's usually it's some type 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:34.000 of chemical reaction. Now, it's interesting that the deliberate oxidation 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.040 of tea leaves is an important stage, and they're processing 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:41.920 especially for producing darker tease, not less so for greener teas, 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.920 because most often oxidation in foods is not something you want. 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:52.720 It's an undesirable outcome associated with spoilage and rancidity. So 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.440 some examples, and I guess these would be the closest 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:59.400 analogies their oxidation reactions of various types, Like there's oxidation 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.760 of of ats and so forth in in oils. But 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.120 for an analogy in plants. Think about when you cut 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:07.960 an apple. So you cut an apple in half and 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:12.280 you leave it out on the counter, what happens brown right, Uh? 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:16.600 And this browning is not generally considered good. It's not 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:20.120 something that makes the apple harmful to eat, but most 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:22.640 of the time people don't find it very appetizing. It 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:27.000 changes the appearance and sometimes the flavor and texture as well. 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.600 And uh, you know, taste can vary, but most people 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:31.560 would not say that is a type of browning that 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.680 they seek out on purpose. And this is actually true 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.040 of many foods, especially fruits. So you can think of 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:40.160 the way avocados brown wants they're cut or smashed and 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.080 left out on the counter, or or potatoes or any 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:47.160 number of other plant based foods. The chemical reaction taking 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.040 place here is a form of oxidation called in sematic browning, 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.560 and in sematic browning is due to an enzyme called 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:59.480 polyphenol oxidase. Fruits and vegetables have compounds in them called 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:04.640 phenol compounds, and when these compounds get exposed to both 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.960 oxygen and to that enzyme to polyphenol oxidase at the 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:12.960 same time, they react with the oxygen and go through 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:17.320 a multi step transformation process that ends with them turning 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.760 into melanin. Melanin is a natural brown pigment that you 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.480 can find in all forms of life. It's in plants, 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.520 it's in fungi, it's in animals including us. It's the 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:31.079 brown pigment in human hair and skin and inner irises. 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.320 And so that process naturally takes place once once you 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:36.480 cut an apple or a banana or any any of 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:40.199 these foods. But how come this chemical reaction turning phenolic 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:44.440 compounds into melanin doesn't happen once they when the apple 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.040 is just like sitting there on the counter uncut. How 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:49.679 come it only happens once you cut it. This is 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.040 because in order for the reaction to happen, we need 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:56.000 three different substances to come into contact with one another. 0:09:56.440 --> 0:10:00.840 So you need the phenolic compounds the base molecules were transforming. 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.800 You need the enzyme, which in this case is polyphenol oxidase, 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.040 and you need the free oxygen in the air. And 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.480 when all three elements are present there together, then you 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:15.840 get this browning process. So in plant tissue, the enzyme, 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:20.160 the polyphenol oxidase, and the phenolic compounds are usually kept 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:24.080 separate from one another. But damage to the plant, such 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.280 as cutting it open or bashing it and bruising it 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:31.720 will rupture cells and cause these chemicals to blend together 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.680 in unite, and then you expose them to air and 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.040 the oxidation happens. Now, coming back to what I said earlier, 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:41.840 in somatic browning is considered undesirable in lots of foods 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:44.880 like uh, you know you do you, But most people 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.200 would rather eat their apple slices, bananas, avocados, and so 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.360 forth before they sit out on the counter for a 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.440 few hours and turn brown. The browned versions of these 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:57.640 plants kind of look and taste degraded, not exactly fresh. 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:02.040 But in other plants, the brown unning process has a 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:06.280 desirable outcome. It is used on purpose to achieve desirable 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:11.079 improvements in appearance, texture, and flavor. One example would be 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.960 in certain dried fruits like raisins go through enzymatic browning 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:19.199 it deliberately in order to create new and interesting flavors 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:22.199 that people like. And another example might be in seeds 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:26.640 or leaves used to bruce strongly flavored caffeinated beverages. Oxidative 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.080 browning is specifically sought out as part of the preparation 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:33.679 process for tea leaves. So you can think about the 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.720 process of say, rolling tea leaves around, like smashing them 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.000 or rolling them in a in a tumbler of some 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.880 kind in order to kind of like bruise and uh, 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.120 and just rough up the leaves to get these get 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.600 these different compounds coming together and expose them to oxygen 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.320 to to trigger this browning process. Yeah. I like to 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.720 come back to the apple example, the apple that that's spilled, 0:11:57.800 --> 0:11:59.920 it falls out of the bowl and falls off the 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:02.760 owner and rolls across the floor. Uh. You know that's 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:04.760 the one that gets all bruised up, and those bruises 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.880 are brown. That's the oxidation taking place. Yeah, exactly. And 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.600 again you know you don't usually want that in an apple, 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:12.360 but it turns out you do it to a tea leaf, 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.760 and oh it's producing all these nice, interesting new aromas 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.120 and flavors. It's making the tea taste. I think a 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.280 lot of tea producers would say it makes it. It 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.040 sort of takes away some of the fresh, grassy flavor 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:28.600 of green tea and introduces these complex sweet flavors that 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:32.440 taste more like a floral aromas or like fruits. Yeah, 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:36.319 it creates this this whole additional dimension of flavor. Now, 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:40.959 this this stage of oxidation here, Martin stresses that it's 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:44.920 it's super important for determining the flavor destination of the tea. 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:48.440 It typically takes about three hours. Uh. If it is done, 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:50.839 the leaves are left on trays and a cool, damp 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:54.440 place often and the oxidation causes them to turn from 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.200 green to kind of a copper color. Uh. They also 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.880 heat up during this phase. And you also and you 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.720 have to depending on exactly what you're doing with the 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:04.880 tea leaves, you may have to halt it as well, 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.240 because you don't want the oxidation to go too far, 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:10.559 because then you'll end up with what's described as kind 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.960 of a burnt taste. It's also really important to note 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:17.480 here that not all teas go through this phase. Um, 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:20.679 and this should seem pretty obvious that black tea does 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.840 go through the oxidation phase and is therefore fully oxidized. Uh. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.120 Yet that is why it is this black or red color. Yeah. 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:30.280 And to and to pick up on and clarify something 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.959 you said a minute ago. Heating, I think is usually 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:36.520 specifically used to stop the oxidation process. So if you 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.720 want a green tea that has a nice fresh, sort 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:43.880 of grassy vegetable flavor and keeps its green color, those 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:46.520 are usually going to be heated earlier to stop the 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:50.440 oxidation from progressing any further, whereas a black tea you 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.719 would let go through way more oxidation before heating it 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:56.599 in uh, in a little oven. Now, just this is 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:58.559 a cultivation note, but I ended up throwing it in 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.080 my notes here, so I'm gonna read it before I 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:04.840 forget about it. Um. Originally tea trees were, of course wild, 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:06.840 and they would grow in the wild, and they grew 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:10.400 quite tall. Uh. The higher leaves were obtained by simply 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.360 cutting down the tree. Uh. This wouldn't work long term, 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:16.960 of course, and so with cultivation comes the pruning and 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.200 the non lethal harvesting of the leaves. So I just 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:22.760 found that interesting. Okay, So that's why you get this 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.120 process of like taking the flushes off of the top 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.680 instead of fully culling the plant. Yeah, but back to 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.480 the process. Okay, so we've had we we've had the 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:36.560 first step here of withering, than rolling, than oxidation, and 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.320 then we get into the step of drying. This is 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:42.360 a quick drying to stop the oxidation of desired levels, 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:44.640 So we've kind of alluded to this already as well 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:48.480 as to remove enough moisture to prevent mold from forming. 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:50.680 But you also can't dry it out too much or 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:52.920 the tea could again taste burnt or on the other 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.280 end of the spectrum, you could lose its flavor, all right, 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:57.560 And then with the fourth step done, we're under the fifth, 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:01.720 and this is grating and sorting. Basically, what you're left with. 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.040 You've got to figure out what you've got, and generally 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:06.160 what you have is you have whole leaves, you have 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.200 broken leaves, you have you have the dinnings, and you 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.600 have dust. Whole is the best, that's the highest quality 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.400 while um and then then the broken leaves, and then 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.600 fannings and dust that tends to go into cheaper things 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:21.640 like you know, tea bags and so forth. Again, not 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.000 all teas go through all of these phases. Black tea 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:29.680 goes through all five. Oolong tea is partially oxidized. Green 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:32.800 teas are dried after rolling to prevent oxidation at all. 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:36.960 White tea doesn't go through withering, fermentation or rolling. Now, 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.880 this doesn't cover anywhere near all the teas out there 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:41.520 in the different types of tease. There are plenty of 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:44.960 sub varieties of each, and then there are blends as well, 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:47.880 Like one common example is English Breakfast Tea, which is 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:59.480 a blend of black teas. Thank thank Now there's a 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:03.440 whole other class of complex chemical reactions that tease undergo, 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.240 separate from the baseline oxidation process we've been talking about, 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.560 which is fermentation, a whole other thing where you are 0:16:10.760 --> 0:16:16.800 deliberately introducing microbial growth to further create complex flavors and aromas. 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:18.800 That's right, And at this point, I want to mention 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:23.120 the puerities. Um, these are a special case. These are 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:25.920 again one of my favorite tea varieties. And actually our 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.760 producer j J I was chatting with him he also 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:31.240 really likes these. Uh, and I imagine we have a 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:33.000 number of listeners who are fond of these as well. 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.880 But these are fermented teas, right, yeah, it's um. So 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.400 these teas are generally made from larger, older leaves that 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.800 I believe Martin described as almost being kind of like hairy, 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:48.960 you know, they're they're they're they're really big old leaves. Um. 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:52.320 And also there's an enough moisture is allowed to remain 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:56.320 in them so that they can continue to ferment for years. Uh. 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:59.120 This is this is the only variety of tea that 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.680 improves with age. Uh. The tea stored away in bricks 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.800 or cakes. Also, they're often various wrappings, like sometimes it's 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.439 like a like a bamboo type in situation, or some 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.239 sort of fabric wrapping, and and ends up with just 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.760 a wide beret of flavors that are, at least in 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:20.400 my experience, unlike any other tease I've tried. Uh, they 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:23.520 often have the ones I've I've keep coming back to 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:26.840 have kind of often kind of like a barnyard flavor, 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.760 kind of straw or hay to them. Um. One of 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.600 them that I really love is just especially dark. It's 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:35.960 like it's like a bowl or a cup of midnight. 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:39.080 And like I said, they're often you'll often you'll find 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:40.879 these in kind of like a loose leaf situation, but 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.160 you also find them in a little pucks, little bricks, 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:45.240 big cakes that you have to chip away with a 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:48.840 special little ornate knife. I mean you could use a 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.160 normal butter knife or your car keys, I guess, but 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:56.280 you know, get into it. This is tea we're talking about. UM. 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.720 But these have a fascinating history, not only is just 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:03.040 being tea bricks, but being used as money as well, 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.760 with the prime example being uh taking place in Tibet. 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:11.240 As Wolfgang Birch points out in the use of tea 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:14.359 bricks as currency among the Tibetans in the Tibet Journal, 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:18.399 the Chinese introduced tea to Tibet sometime prior to seven 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:22.399 eight c E. And while it was first used as 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:25.320 more of a pure bartering commodity, uh, you know, I'll 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:27.680 trade you a brick of tea for this, that or 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.399 the other, it eventually took on a form that we 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.800 might reasonably refer to as currency, a regimented system of 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.480 tea bricks based on the tease quality and pureness, and 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.800 eventually imprinted with trademarks and seals. So you might think 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:44.199 of it almost like you know, you think of like 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:49.320 a bar of gold that has been imprinted with governmental information, 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:51.919 like here's the seal of the of the governing body 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.480 saying like this is an approved grade of gold, the 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.680 amount of gold, etcetera. It's the exact same thing with 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:02.119 these tea bricks. Uh. The the governing authority has said 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.160 this is such and such tea of such and such quality, 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.080 and it is a certain amount of it. Uh, it's 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.199 usable as currency in this scenario. That's interesting and it 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.680 makes me think, I don't know this, but I'm wondering. 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.160 So in this case, would this have been a fermented 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:19.280 type of tea since its int form? That makes me 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:21.880 think about how, you know, if you're going to try 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:26.159 to use a commonly consumed save food or drink item 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:29.640 as a currency, it would be difficult to use one 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:33.280 that quickly degrades in quality for like its use value. 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.800 So if it's something where freshness really matters, you would 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:39.800 not want the use value of your currency to degrade 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.360 fast over the course of a few months. But if 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:44.760 it's like a fermented tea, you mentioned that these get 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:48.560 better with age rather than rather than declining, so you 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:51.159 can at least hope your currency there keeps its value. 0:19:51.359 --> 0:19:54.080 Is it Does that make sense? Yeah? Yeah, it would 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.560 keep its value. Of anything, it would increase in value, 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:59.680 though I don't remember reading anything about how that would 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.880 be decided upon, like but but I guess it would 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:06.919 be subject to to like the going rate for tease 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:11.600 of the particular harvest and um and maturity level, you know, 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:13.840 like you all the information would be there on the seal. 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.200 This is a side note. I wonder how economies are 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:22.080 different when they have a currency that does have in 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:24.919 in some cases a use value of its own, like 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:27.040 you know, if you're not going to use it for trade, 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:28.920 you would use it for something else, like you would 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:32.520 literally eat it or drink it, versus economies that just 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:35.520 have a currency that is purely useless on its own, 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:39.280 it's only for facilitating trade, like like U S dollars. Yeah, 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:42.200 I mean for gold, I guess is not quite an 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:46.240 example of that, because even historically gold was still desired 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:50.639 as something that could be used for ornamentation, whereas today 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:55.600 it also has um technolog electronics uses as well. Um. 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:57.560 I think the other really good example of this is 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:01.520 the the the the use of chocolate in some um 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:06.639 Mesoamerican cultures, where the chocolate was such a highly regarded 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:09.480 commodity and and one that I guess had kind of 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:14.000 generalized sizes and measurements that it could be used as 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.040 currency as well. Yeah. Interesting question. Maybe we'll come back 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:19.760 to that one day. Yeah, so at this point that 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:22.280 we might get more into the timeline of tea with 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:25.240 the primary interest in sort of the evolution of the 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:29.880 way that it is prepared and and ultimately consumed. As 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:31.920 we explored in the last episode, the origin of tea 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:34.919 drinking is more mythology than historical fact. It's one of 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:37.159 those things where if you if you try and answer 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:40.600 the question of like, well, who invented te who came 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:44.520 up with this? Uh, it's basically lost to two prehistory. 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:47.480 These are things where we have some interesting myths that 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:50.880 kind of sum up some of the general ideas and 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:53.359 and ultimately some of the general realities of how human 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:58.840 beings experimented with and chronicled the nature of their botanical world. 0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:02.480 But in general we can't answer there. There's no one 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:06.160 person um though again, some of some of these accounts 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:08.720 do have a sort of an interesting shred of truth 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:11.080 to them, like one of the ones that, in addition 0:22:11.080 --> 0:22:13.360 to the ones we discussed in the last episode, there's 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:15.720 one that Michael d. Co brings up in seventy grade 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:19.040 Inventions of the Ancient World, Uh, in a chapter about 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:22.720 I Believe chocolate and tea. UH. There's another myth where 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:25.719 a past Chinese emperor was boiling some water and some 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:28.960 wild leaves just kind of blew into his water boiling 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:32.919 in the pot. Thus creating tea that of course sounds 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:35.879