WEBVTT - How Tea Works 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:04.360 Welcome to Stuff you should know from house stuff Works 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:12.799 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:16.840 Clark with Charles W. Chuck Bryant Jerry in Studio one A. 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.160 You just pointed us out to each other as if 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:23.079 I was going to be like, who it was Jerry, 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:26.680 and it wasn't me Jerry. So I'm Chuck here Chuck, Okay, 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.200 that's Jerry. All right. That was a little confused, right there, gotcha. 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:34.519 Here's a lady. I'm a dude. All right, now that 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.560 we have that sort of let's talk to you. Uh, 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:40.560 or we could change the name of the podcast to 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:43.240 two dudes and a lady. Yeah, we could. Maybe that'll 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.640 be our side cast where we talk about this podcast. 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.960 Sidecast that's right coined by Josh Clark Circond two thousand. 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:54.600 So now you own that. I just put it on wax. 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:59.840 Pretty pretty sweet, pretty slick, ye, So Chuck, Yeah, you 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:02.240 have or drink tea? I just stuff finished up some 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.759 green tea. Are you still a green tea drinker? Yeah? 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:06.360 I mean I like all kinds of tea, but I 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:10.080 uh drank some green because I was studying for this 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:11.920 and it just was like, yeah, sure you used to 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:14.520 drink it by like the mini pitcher full. Yeah. I 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.640 used to drink it cold. Yeah, um, you don't need that. 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:23.440 I had this hot. Well it is wintertime. Yeah. Do 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:25.920 you like? I like green tea. Yeah, I like green 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:30.520 tea the most. Um. I like chilled green tea. I 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:35.440 don't like woolong, which until I guess today or yesterday, 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.120 I thought it was long. Did you know it was woolong? 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:42.280 I had no idea and I've never had it I have. 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:46.320 It's very woody. It's almost like roots, like you put 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:50.920 some roots in some water, um, warm water, seep for 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.280 a while or steep steep. I don't know why I 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:58.120 always have trouble with that. It's clearly steep. Seep is different. Yeah, 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:01.960 that's a different word. But for my whole life of 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.320 confused steep and seep when it comes really yeah interesting 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:09.440 Uh Anyway, Wolong not the biggest fan. I like green 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:11.760 tea and I like it chilled black tea. I'm not 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:14.800 really big on. Yeah. I like a good English breakfast tea. Love. 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:17.640 Do you or Earl Gray? You like those two sure 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:20.480 man little little cream, little sugar. Yeah, And then of 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.920 course you've got your herbal teas like I don't like this. 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:29.120 Are you don't know? I've been drinking celestial seasonings tension 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:33.440 tamer So that's actually right. Well no, well that was 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:37.239 the big reveal that I was working up to, but 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.120 just plodding along. But now that you've rushed me, I 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.200 will agree with you. No, not all those are t right. 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:49.200 Those aren't. Here's the really big reveal. Tho, okay, English 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:55.560 breakfast tea, green tea, woo loong uh. White tea. Remember 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.760 that snap a lad where that old man shows the 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.160 backpacker dude, Oh, it's like a Snapple white tea and 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.480 he just goes, we put up to the top and 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:07.120 it's like that's it and he goes, that's it. That's 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.760 white tea. All of those are the same thing. They're 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.360 all the same They come from the same plant. One plant. 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:16.600 Did you know that? Um? I did not know that 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.320 until I've researched. It's a Chamelia senensus is the t 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:24.040 plant the tea bushes. Uh. And now we have to 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:28.400 say there are different varieties of chamelea sentensus c sentensus 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:34.120 is what those in the no call it. Uh. Well, horticulturists, sure, um, 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.520 but the plant itself. There's one species of key plant, 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.000 and that's what it's. That's what it all comes from. 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:46.120 It's how the tea is made. That that Um explains, 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.400 explains the differences, and then you know, you add some 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.920 stuff like apparently Earl Gray has the essential oil of 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:56.560 the bergamot orange mixed in, which is nice, but that's 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.400 still it is t yes, right, it's got something added 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:01.800 to it. Now, if he just took burgamot orange, dried 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:03.960 it out, put it in a tea bag, and sold 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.560 it as herbal tea as like orange dream, we wouldn't 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:10.000 have tea. The tension tamer, it's not tea, it's a 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:13.560 It's a dried herb that you steep or steep depending 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.960 on your preference in warm water. Yeah, it's a steeped 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:21.039 hot beverage. Beverage. That's a good way of saying it, 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.520 because that's exactly what it is. So the cats out 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:26.880 of the bag, which means now that we've done that, 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.320 we have to explain everything there is to know about tea. 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:31.760 That is right. Uh, And I guess there's no better 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:37.680 place to start than the seven b C. Of course, 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:40.000 and the Emperor of China um No One knows that 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.200 this story is true. Of course. It's a pretty good 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:44.400 story though. But it's a good story because we don't 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.480 know the exact origin of tea um. It's been around 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:50.719 for a long time. But some people say Chinese Emperor 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:55.040 Shin nung Um, who ruled about five thousand years ago, 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:59.160 was traveling through China and he was big into sanitation. 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.320 Uh like boil your water kind of sanitation. This is 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:07.480 thousands of years before germ theory, which is a couple 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.200 hundred years old. I wonder what led him to that conclusion, 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.320 which was spot on. You know, I don't know, I 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.239 don't know. We're getting the way back machine and ask him, yeah, 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:19.240 that's right. Okay, it's a lot of fuel for that 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:22.320 one question, but it's a pretty good question because yeah, 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:24.400 you're you're right, it's spot on. How how do you 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:26.919 know that boiling water kills germs if you don't know 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.120 what germs are exactly? Uh So he was traveling through 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.680 China and reportedly stopped to rest and was preparing some 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.919 boiled water, some delicious boiled water, and a gust of 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.600 wind blew some leaves from a bush into the water, 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.120 changing the color, and he was like Hey, this is 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.360 a different color. Now let me try it well, and 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.840 it's delicious. He was renowned as a scientist. Yeah sure, 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:54.040 he was definitely at the very least securious fella. Um, 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:56.560 and yeah, he decided to try it. He's like different 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:58.839 colored boiled water. Of course, I'm going to try that 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:00.800 and see what it's like. He had his right hand 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:05.080 try it first, then five minutes later was like okay, yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:07.320 He didn't die. I think that's what all the fat 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.600 cats did back then. Um. So it turns out that 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:19.440 that was debris detritus from the Camelia senensus. He was born. 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:22.159 He was born in China. No one knows that that 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.599 story is true. I think, like you said, um, but 0:06:25.720 --> 0:06:27.960 it's a pretty great story. And since we don't know 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.719 the true origin, ty, why not. Yeah, I'll go with that. 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:34.520 It's not that far fetched. When the Western Zoo dynasty 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:38.600 was around, the tea was a religious offering, and during 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:42.039 the Han dynasty it was pretty limited, so it was 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.320 safe for royalty. Um. By the time the Tang dynasty 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:48.520 came around, which was six six eighteen to nine oh seven, 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:51.480 they found a bunch uh. They found discovered a lot 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:54.440 of more tea plants, and that ironic that t became 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:59.360 established during the Tang dynasty. Yeah, that was pretty funny, um, 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:04.159 because tang as the opposite of tea, right yeah, I 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.440 mean they're both water based, so probably not the opposite. 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:13.320 I don't know, it would be the opposite of tea. Um. So, 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:15.640 like I said, they found a bunch more plants in 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:18.440 the Tang dynasty, and the Chinese government actually said, you 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:20.680 know what, everyone should drink tea because it's good for 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.160 you and so, and we can make money off of 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:26.000 it of course. Uh. And then from the Tang dynasty 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:29.679 it spread to Japan by priests. You were studying in China. 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.560 They also brought Buddhism at the same time. Both of 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:36.160 them took root. The Japanese said we like this, let's 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.880 try making some other stuff out of it, and that 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:43.360 they actually created them teeth ceremony, which is a big 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.120 deal in Japan still to this day. Have you taken 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:48.160 part one of those? I have not. You me took 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:52.360 um some classes when she taught in Japan yours back. Um, 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.000 But apparently it's just one of these things where you 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:59.360 you're just constantly learning. It's never you're never like I'm 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:03.840 a I'm a master at t You're you're always learning more, 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.720 you're always trying to be perfect. And the thing that's 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:11.200 so elusive about it is it's supposed to be utterly simple. Yeah, 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.640 it's it's a it's elaborate, but the steps are meant 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.680 to be simple, Like it's a very simple plane form 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:22.040 thing like the sushi rice. It's like, uh, right, why 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:26.000 are the Japanese obsessed with doing things really well? They 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:28.960 really are that they don't phone it in right, Um. 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.920 But the whole thing behind the tea ceremony and the 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:34.920 Japanese adoption of it is that there's this idea that 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:40.520 t share, sitting down and sharing ceremonially and in a ritually, 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.120 a ritual manner, a cup of tea can bring peace 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:49.319 between people. Yeah, what's the the tea ceremony? I know 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:56.800 you there's a saying, there's another saying, Yeah, it's a 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:02.280 cup of tea with me ichi go ichi e one time, 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:05.480 one meeting, which is the idea that every encounter is 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:10.520 unique and can't be duplicated. Very nice, That is nice. Um. 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.280 So in Europe, you know, I think a lot of 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.439 people associate with tea. Of course, with England and Europe, 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.760 the UK Britain took a little while though. All those 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:23.320 places there was a lag. Yeah, there was. We're in 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.800 like the seventeenth century now, and the Portuguese were the 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:30.960 first people to uh not imports tea, but drink tea 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.360 in England. Yeah, they were. They were trading in the 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:37.640 East Indies, specifically Java and the Dutch. If you'll remember 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.440 from did we ever do a full nutmeg episode? I 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:43.800 think we did right cinnamon too, that this all this 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.160 showed up back then in the seventeenth century in the 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:51.440 East Indies around Indonesia, Java. Um, the Portuguese just had 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:53.640 the place on lockdown until the Dutch came in and 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.560 we're like, we're taken over. One of the things that 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:58.880 came out of that was the import or the introduction 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.600 tea to you Europe through the Dutch. Yeah, they pretty 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:06.000 much horned in on their trading routes and brought t 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:09.200 to Holland from China, and then from Holland of course 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.800 it spread throughout Europe. Uh. And I think the King 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:16.360 of England at one point married at Portuguese uh woman 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:18.360 and the princess, Yeah, princess that had a lot to 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:20.439 do with it too. Of course, Charles the Second did 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:25.120 married Catherine of Braganza, who was, it says in this article, 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.960 a t addict and she was like, must drink some tea, man, 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.360 and uh, all of Great Britain kind of followed suit 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:36.120 because back then, once a princess did something, sure, you know, 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:39.200 everybody wanted to do that. Yeah, even if she was 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:43.200 a fiend of some sort, like a caffeine fiend. Um. 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:46.960 So the end of the East India Company's monopoly on 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.680 trade in China, which happened in eighteen thirty four, was 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:54.640 a really big deal because basically they you know, everything 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:56.840 was coming from China until then. And then at that 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:00.360 point the East India Company said, hey, we could grow 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.160 our own tea in India and we're gonna start doing it. 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:06.400 Uh And they did, and by eight thirty nine they 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.280 had enough cultivation going on, um that they had the 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.920 first auction of a psamte in Britain, which is that's 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.240 a big deal. That's the variety that they used to 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.880 make Darjeeling tea. How was it? And I think their 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:22.880 number two in production today right Yeah, India, China, Kenya 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:26.479 and Sri Lanka are the big four tea producers the Indonesia. 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.160 I think it's fifth, and they're like, can't you just 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.839 say top five? You don't produce Well, they do produce 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:34.760 a lot, but not nearly as much. Uh. The other 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:39.000 thing too that happened during that the monopoly was, um, 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:43.960 the tea Clipper was born, which is pretty neat. When 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:48.280 the company had the monopoly, there was basically no rush 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.120 to get it there because they had the monopoly, like, 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:52.920 you'll get the tea and you will sail over there 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:54.360 and will all be good. Have you ever heard of 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:57.320 Slow Boat to China? Is that where it came from? Cold? 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:03.880 What about High Road to China with your boy Tom Selleck? Well, 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:06.280 oh yeah remember that movie? I never saw it. Yeah, 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.600 it wasn't very good. That was his brief foray into 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.720 a major motion pictures. Didn't he play like the King 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.320 of Spain in one of the Columbus pictures back in 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:19.080 the early nineties? I think I remember that? Yeah? What 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:24.720 was that either or Columbus? Yeah, I can't remember. So 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.120 the t Clipper, yes, uh, there was no rush, but 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:29.880 until when that monopoly ended, it was basically like the 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:33.720 fastest boat to get there, the fastest ship will be 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.520 the one that gets the sail. So they started making 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:40.600 these uh these new ships that were had huge sails 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:43.839 and tall masts could go a lot faster, and it 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:48.280 started the era of the t clipper races. Um. Basically, 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.400 you would leave the Canton River in China, go down 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.960 the China Sea, across the Indian Ocean, slink around the 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.960 Cape of Good Hope, up the Atlantic, pass these oars 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.160 and into the English Channel. Then you were to to 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.679 up the River Thames by a tugboat, and the first 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:06.400 boat to throw their their load up on the docks 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.720 would be the winner, which is pretty neat until they 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.840 built the Ses Canal and then it was like, well, 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.400 out of that, it sounds like a pretty great race though, 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.640 Yeah it was. Yeah, I wonder how long that took. 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:21.120 I think they were just holl And but the whole 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:23.320 time too. Yeah, but even still had to take weeks, 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:25.920 you know, I would think, so, um, and this we 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.920 should say this is the that was the mid nineteenth century. Um. 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.000 The we would be remissed to do an episode on 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.000 tea and not mention the Boston Tea Party, which was 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:38.640 a thing. Everybody knows about the Boston Tea Party. What 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:43.520 I didn't realize is that the British Royalty, the British 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:48.360 Crown still, even after losing the colonies in part over 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:54.120 tea taxes, UH, still continue to just tax the heck 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:58.240 out of tea for for at least a decade afterward 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:02.440 before they finally relented and started to like drastically reduce 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.440 it in the face of tons and tons of piracy 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:09.640 and smuggling. Apparently, in the late eighteenth century, UH seven 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:15.200 million pounds of tea were smuggled into Britain and five 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:19.760 million pounds were legally imported, so the smuggling there was 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.680 more smuggled teeth than legal tea in Great Britain in 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.680 the late eighteenth century. Right. But apparently despite all this, 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.760 it wasn't until nineteen sixty four that the Brits, the 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.160 British government finally said, you know what, We're gonna stop 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:36.280 fiddling with the t tax and just not tax tea anyway. 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:40.560 Was this nineteen sixties, Yeah, nineteen sixty crazy, Yeah, tea 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:42.800 it's huge in Britain. Yeah. And at this point in 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:45.640 the late nineteenth century is when I think the average 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:52.000 UH Britain was consuming about six pounds a year per person. 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:54.560 It's a lot of tea. Yeah, I wonder what that 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:56.280 would be today. I meant to look that up. Is 0:14:56.280 --> 0:15:00.040 that what harvest? Dry harvest or man? Is that a 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:04.560 seeped tea bag? It's not seeped. That's a lot of tea. Yeah, 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.120 there's a lot of man. So Chuck, we got the 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.800 history under our belt. We'll move into how tea is 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:32.720 actually made after this. Okay, buddy, we were talking about 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:34.960 the history, and then before that we mentioned that there 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:39.840 were four main types of tea, green, black, woolong, wu tang, 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:44.000 and white tea. I just don't understand how O O 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:49.240 l O n g is woolong. It's oolong. I guess 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:53.800 the w is both. It's invisible but not silent, you know. 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:58.320 And like we said, all those teas come from Camellia sinensis. Uh, 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:04.280 and there's different varieties of them. The awesome makes start dealing. Um, 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:08.600 But the way that you process the leaves is where 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:12.400 the differences come about. Right, that's right. What's interesting to 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:15.600 me is all t almost all tea in the whole 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:21.040 wide world is harvested by hand. Yeah, like uh, I think, um, 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:25.720 what was the spice we were talking about? Saffron? Saffron? Yeah, 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:27.960 I think n make too. When did we talk about saffron? 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.080 I think I mentioned it in the Cinnamon podcasts. It's 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:35.200 expensive because it can only begin harvested and anytime you're 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:38.600 involving people, it's gonna cost more than some big, stupid 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.160 machine that can do tons of it at once. And 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:43.720 that is certainly the case with t because there are 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.760 only a couple of harvest a year, the first flush 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.800 in the early spring, the second flush in the summer. 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:53.120 And they they really care for the tea plant. They 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.440 pick and prune at them year round, but they only 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.520 choose what a couple of leaves from each plant when 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:02.200 they're actually harvesting. Yes, so they they're the top two 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.680 leaves and the bud in between. That's your tea. Everything 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:11.480 else is just basically the home for the tea that's harvested. 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:14.679 Like the rest of the plant, This huge enormous like 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:18.920 plant bullush shrub is just there to like sprout out 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:20.880 these little bits and the little sprouts or the tea 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:22.960 that we drink. It's amazing, And that's all the tea. 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:26.680 That's the oolong, that's the black tea, that's the white tea, 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.960 that's the green tea. That's all of them. It's from 0:17:29.040 --> 0:17:32.960 these shrubs, just the top two little white leaves in 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:35.639 the bud, that's right. And from there, once they're picked 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:39.120 by hand, uh, they are taken to the factory, which 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:43.000 is on the plantation because something starts happening as soon 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:47.560 as you pick it, and that's called oxidation. And oxidation 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:50.879 needs to be very controlled because it's not necessarily a 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.680 bad thing, because it actually is partially why you get 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.760 certain varieties of tea, right. Yeah, depending on the kind 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:58.800 of tea you want either want oxidation or you want 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:02.639 to prevent oxidation. And we should probably say oxidation basically 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:08.280 is when UM any kind of molecule, but specifically an 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:14.840 oxygen molecule UM or O two uh interacts with something 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.400 like UM the metal in a car, or the inside 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:22.480 of an apple, the leaf off of a t shrub. Um. 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:25.360 Once the oxygen interacts with it, it starts to chain 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:30.560 reaction inside where these oxygen molecules that have to pair 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:37.560 or two unstable or unpaired electrons. Once the oxygen interacts 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:41.000 with some other atoms in the cells of these things, 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:45.800 it robs those atoms of their electrons, right, because it 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.080 wants to pair up and when it does this, it 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.320 starts the process of oxidation. Yeah, which is actually John 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.240 Fuller or old Buddy wrote this one. Uh and he 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.800 was a big t guy, big imagine he still is. 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:01.640 Um he he's characterized it as actually burning it. So 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.639 like when you eat your apple bite and you go 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:06.639 to your desk and you leave it there, and then 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:08.280 you go to the bathroom for an hour or so, 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:12.160 you come back. The reason your apple is brown now 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:15.879 is because you've exposed that inside to the to the 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.440 O two and it's burning it. Yeah, because normally the apple, 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.600 the inside of the apple is protected from the oxygen 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.520 in the air we breathe in the atmosphere by the skin. 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:27.480 Once you puncture the skin, when you break the skin, 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.240 it's exposed to oxygen and that process of oxidation takes place. 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.159 The same thing happens with a leaf from a t shrub. 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:37.840 When it's attached to the shrub, it's protected from the 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:41.480 outside air. Once you pluck it from there, and especially 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.080 once you like break it or tear it apart or 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.240 do something with it, it's exposed to that air and 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.439 oxidation takes place and it withers in very much the 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.240 same way that UM a leaf on a tree, a 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:55.800 dead leaf in the fall withers and changes color. That's 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.280 oxidation as well. Yeah, the same like you said to 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:00.360 the same thing, like that can happen to a car 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:03.160 if you don't get that true code. Yeah, that's why 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:06.560 you pay thousands and thousands of dollars more the dealership 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:11.119 for that true. That's right. Uh. Black tea is the 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:17.000 leader of all teas that counts for about production and uh, 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:19.280 like you said, the Earl Gray or the English breakfast tea, 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:23.239 that's black tea. UM. And it's not always I mean, 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:25.560 doesn't necessarily look black. It's kind of a reddish brown 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:31.000 when when you seep it. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I'm 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:33.879 not gonna help out your problem, am I. And then no, 0:20:34.160 --> 0:20:36.520 I'm just gonna confuse you. I thought I might knock 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:39.560 it out today, but now it's gotten worse. I think. 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:43.040 Actually you've also said too long a couple of times. Yeah, 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:46.679 that's kind of my choice. Okay. Um, So with black 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:51.600 tea in particular, that's like the um the oxidation master, 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:55.040 that's right, that's the one you want oxidation for. Uh. 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:59.000 So with the actual process of making tea, of processing 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:03.400 tea leaves into black t you're actually inviting oxidation. Um, 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:05.359 and you're doing that. Well, you want to talk about 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:09.159 how you how you make black tea? Yeah, it's a 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:11.520 it's a five step process. I mean, there's a couple 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:15.800 of methods, but they both include generally these five steps. 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:18.879 Yet one is by robot and the other is by yeah, 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:22.120 human hand pretty much the Orthodox method and the CTC 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.119 or the cut tear curl method, which sounds cool, but 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:29.040 it's not um because Orthodox is you know, by hand, 0:21:29.440 --> 0:21:32.000 which means it's better. Uh. And all of this again 0:21:33.080 --> 0:21:36.000 is it takes place in the factory on the plantation 0:21:36.080 --> 0:21:40.160 grounds after the human hands have harvested the tea leaves 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:45.080 and brought them to the factory. A couple of fields over. Okay, 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:47.600 the first step is withering, and that's when you're gonna 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:49.920 spread it out and let them wither. Like we're talking 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:53.960 about with the leaf that falls, it's just basically losing moisture. Yes, 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:57.719 after that, you've got rolling where if you're using the 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:01.399 Orthodox method, the human hand method, you're actually rolling out 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:04.560 and pressing the leaves so that you're kind of pressing 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.720 the moisture out, but you're also simultaneously pressing some of 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:11.960 the oils, those beneficial oils inside the tea leaf out 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:14.320 so that they stick to the outside of the leap, 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:18.640 so they're kind of retained and dehydrated. Yeah, and if 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:21.080 if you're doing the hand method, you it's a gentle process. 0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:24.919 You're trying not to break the leaf. With the CTC method, 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:28.120 they're just chopping it up. And you know, because it's 0:22:28.119 --> 0:22:31.200 a big dumb machine, right and with with say other 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.480 types of tea, you wouldn't use that method because when 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:37.200 you do chop it up, you're exposing it to oxidation 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:39.679 even more. Right, you're right, which is part of the 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:42.760 part of the process that's actually the third step is oxidation. 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:45.120 So after the leads are either pressed by the orthodox 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:48.600 method or cut by robots, it's left out in a 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:54.680 kind of a damp, cool space to basically oxidize even further, 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:58.240 to turn copper turn brown with her and then lose 0:22:58.320 --> 0:23:00.760 the rest of their moisture. That's which is a good 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:04.439 thing in the case of black tea. Yes, from here 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:06.960 you're gonna dry it out with some hot air and 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:09.720 the color is gonna change even more, uh, from that 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:12.600 copper that came from the green. And now you've got 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:14.760 your brown and your black color and going on. And 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:19.440 then you put the leaves by size and by quality, 0:23:19.600 --> 0:23:22.200 or if it's going to become say bag tea or something, 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:25.920 it's chopped up almost into like a powder. Yeah, kind 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:29.120 of just little tiny bits and then bagged and all 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:31.080 that stuff. But if it's just loose leaf, then it's 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:34.320