About Tea - Greens Germany GmbH :: Consulting & Trading between China and Germany

                   About tea

1. Tea is ...?
2. The word "tea"
3. When  the tea reached Europe ...
4. The harvest of tea
5. The difference between green and black tea
6. Teas & Processing
7. Tea and Health



1.Tea is ...?

Tea does not have the arrogant-stature of wine,
nor the  self-confidence  of  coffee ,
nor the child-like innocence of cocoa.
The taste of tea is a delicate charm
that makes it hard to resist
and easy  to  idealize .

Zhang Yu (Chinese poet)

Tea is world-wide known and loved, but  not everything that is generally regarded as "tea" actually is . Real tea comes from tea leaves of which have been obtained from a tea plant.
Or as   the International Organization for standardization, ISO, put it: The leaves are the infusion of the tea plant (Sinensis ).  The tea plant , which  is related to the beautiful camellia,  grows  mainly in China ,  Japan and India, and is drawn in from large plantations .

2. The word "tea"

Whoever may be king, tea will be the queen!
anonymous

"Tea" is a word that is originally Chinese and is now present in almost all languages of the world. Depending on the nation and its individual experience with first coming into contact with tea, the word "tea" can be found to have various interpretations in many languages.
In standard Chinese or Mandarin the word is "Cha". In the area of Canton, located in the south of China, the same word is pronounced as "Taha" or "Thek". In Japan it is called"Tsjaa".
In countries which have learned of tea from travelling sailors, the word is spoken as:

tea in English
thé in French
tè in Italian

In countries which have come into  contact  with tea by roadway, the  word is  chai,  for example,  as in India and Russia .

to be continued...