What is Tea?

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The scientific name of this versatile plant more commonly known as tea is Camellia sinensis. Camellia sinensis is a sub-tropical, evergreen plant first discovered over 3,000 years ago in China, but is now grown around the world. The tea plant grows best in loose, deep, well-drained soil. We recently had the pleasure of visiting various tea gardens in Hawaii and found Camellia sinensis to be quite happy in the well-draining, volcanic soils (yes, Hawaii has a growing tea industry–pun intended!) of the islands.

Tea Fields in Hawaii

Tea is the second most consumed drink in the world, second only to water. Sorry bean addicts, it’s water first and tea second. Where does coffee rank on that list? Well, we’ll leave that for someone else to discuss. :)

Tea Type

Something many consumers new to the tea world are surprised to hear is that all five types of tea (Black, Green, Oolong, White, and Pu'erh) actually originate from the same tea plant, Camellia sinensis. And what determines a tea’s type? The simple answer is that it has to do with oxidation, or the amount of oxygen exposure the leaves undergo, which causes chemical changes. Think about what happens to a freshly cut apple after a few minutes of sitting on the kitchen counter. We’ll get into all the science details in a future post, so stay tuned! So, to clarify, true tea is the beverage created when leaves from the Camellia sinensis plant are infused in either hot or cold water. Anything else, while sometimes called tea, is more accurately referred to as an herbal infusion or tisane. Here at Ancient Leaf Tea, for example, our most popular herbal infusion is Hawaiian Paradise, a hibiscus tea with pineapple and coconut.

How is Tea Grown?

As mentioned above, Camellia sinensis is an evergreen bush or small tree. When allowed to bloom, the tea plant produces beautiful, fragrant flowers, and eventually seed pods in clusters of two or three seeds per pod. Because tea can adapt to high altitudes and mountainous terrain, as well as flat plains and (as we learned on our trip to Hawaii) even ocean breezes, two distinct picking styles have naturally emerged: orthodox and unorthodox. While we generally believe that the best teas come from orthodox or hand-picking methods, our tasters have been surprised more than once by unique flavors from teas produced by unorthodox, or machine-picking methods.

Ancient Leaf Tea

What we enjoy most at Ancient Leaf Tea is touring tea plantations and establishing relationships with passionate growers who take pride in what they produce. What a great pleasure, after a long day in the tea field, to sit back and enjoy a cup of tea while listening to the surf crash. It’s truly an honor to be a small part of carrying on the traditions that were started thousands of years ago. So, have we tempted you to learn more about tea or to taste one of these orthodox “true” tea treasures??? We’d suggest a delicious and somewhat malty Hawaiian Black, or a slightly vegetal Hawaiian Green!

If you are looking for a caffeine-free herbal infusion also packed with antioxidants, try our organic hibiscus tea.

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