Tea Blending-An Accidental Invention! It Needs More Support From Tea Research!

There was an English tea merchant selling tea packs in his town during the year 1660 A.D. He used to get a bag of tea from one estate or the other and make small packs and sell them to the people in his area.
People were buying from him, but used to make remarks on the quality of the tea he supplied.
THE GOODNESS OF TEAS!
The flavor was not always the same. Again, when the taste was good, the tea color was very low. Again, when the taste was not so.

Again, when the taste was not so. Again, when the taste was not so. When the color was good, the taste was good, the taste was not so. They said, "The tea was good last time, but it is different now".

It had become quite customary to hear comments of his customers about his tea.
The merchant was not able to find out a way to escape from the unsatisfied customers' remarks. Man could be a silent listener of all these things and cannot control. The tea characters change from grade to grade, season to season, process to process and even time to time.

This is because the teas grown in different estates differ in their characters. When ever he buys a new tea bag and distributes it in small packs, the customers' comments were also changed.
NO SINGLE TEA HAS ALL CHARACTERS IN PERFECT MATCH!
It was quite surprising to hear from almost all consumers that the tea was good that time in all respects. To cover up the time, he mixed all the remainings of tea bags and made into small packs and sold to his customers with all the reluctance. Once it happened that the merchant sold almost all the tea bags as remnants.
He had actually mixed all the leftover teas purchased so far and supplied to the consumers only to avoid the time gap. But, the customers were satisfied and started asking to supply only similar teas in future also.
MIXING MAKES IT BETTER - AN ACCIDENTAL INVENTION!
The color, taste and flavor are average and were acceptable to the people of the town. It was fine; blending of various kinds of tea had helped the merchant to run his business without much of bad comments. He started mixing and selling!

The trader understood the idea and started buying different kinds and grades of teas from a number of estates!
THANKS TO THE ANANYMOUS TEA MERCHANT!
We cannot continue with just mixing any kind or grade of tea available in the market as did by the merchant. But, this will not suffice the varying market needs of this modern day. It has its own merits!

So, tea blending was born. Though accidental, it was really an invention worth to be written in the history of tea industry!
WANTS ARE DIFFERENT! TEAS ARE DIFFERENT!
The tea taste changes with so many factors, natural and man made too. Some like leaf teas and others dust teas. Some love teas made by orthodox way and others the modern CTC way of production. There are different kinds of people loving different kinds of teas to make varying tea drinks.
NEED TO INVENT, INNOVATE AND STRATEGISE!
The growth of any product depends on the merits of invention to begin with, innovation in course of time and finally the strategy to cope up with the market competition.
RESEARCH NEEDED!

Hence, there is a need to do a research at a higher level with identification of tea grades, their physical and functional characters in relation to the final tea drink. There is also a compelling need to have an unbiased tea evaluation technique to judge true market values of the teas in question.
ART OF TEA TASTING - WITH HUMAN ERRORS!
Evaluation based on this gives only artistic values and do not speak about the real value of tea. It has erroneous influences of human mind. Simply because, the traditional tea tasting is an art and has no scientific base.

However, it has all the demerits of the human errors. It took a number of years gradually to improve up on the art or knowledge of tea tasting.
You know an art is enjoyable, but contains more of illusions and not the truth always. An art is always kept as a secret and not open for scientific analysis and confirmations.
SCIENCE IS TRUTH, A FOUNDATION FOR GROWTH!

However a revolutionary tea research culminating into a unique "scientific tea testing, tasting and blending technique" was done only very recently. Science is truth always and gives confirmative results and paves way for innovative and progressive growth of any business.
There is delay and it is due to the strong belief of the tea industry as a whole!
TEA TESTING, TASTING AND BLENDING TECHNIQUES:
Is it different from traditional tea tasting?
Yes. With all scientific base!

Is it a competition technique to the art of tea tasting?
No, it is complementary and supportive!

Tea researchers and students will also get benefited! In a big way! Yes.

Will this help the tea business and industry?
Tea blending, an accidental invention has opened new vistas to tea industry through scientific tea testing, tasting and blending techniques!
To know more about scientific tea testing, tasting and formulae of tea blending, please contact: pnkguru@yahoo.com Also visit:
http://www.teablends.blogspot.com/
RESOURCES:
FROM OWN RESEARCH AND BUSINESS EXPERIENCES OF THE TEA SCIENTIST AND THE AUTHOR.

Types Of Chinese Tea

Probably you are familiar with the Chinese saying, "Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day." Though tea is last on the list, we can still see how important the tea is for the Chinese.
These include green tea, oolong, black, red, white, yellow, flower, and compressed tea. However, if we will consider tea in terms of quality, there are actually eight classes of Chinese tea. These are usually classified by procedure, quality, and preparation methods and so on.

There are actually thousand of Chinese tea varieties.
Now, let's take a look at these classes one by one.
Green Tea
Green tea is said to be the most natural type of Chinese tea. It is usually picked, naturally dried and fried briefly to get rid of its grassy smell. Unlike the other types, green tea skipped fermentation process.
Today, about 50% of China's tea is green tea. The aroma of this type of Chinese type range from medium to high, while the flavor is usually light to medium. According to some experts, green tea has the most medicinal value and the least caffeine content of all Chinese tea classes.
Oolong Tea
Chinese also call it "Qing Cha" and its typical leaves are green in the middle and red on the edges as a result of the process to soften tea leaves. This type of Chinese tea is halfway between green tea and black tea in a sense that it is half fermented.
Then, it is fried, rolled and roasted. Oolong tea leaves are basically withered and spread before undergoing a brief fermentation process.
Black Tea
The leaves of this variety become completely oxidized after processing. Also, this type of Chinese tea undergoes withering, then left to ferment for a long while, and then roasted. The Chinese black tea produces full-bodied amber when brewed.
Red Tea
It is also considered that red tea has low aroma and medium flavor and it is now divided into three subclasses: Kung Fu Red Tea, Ted Tea Bits, and Small Species Red Tea. This color is strongly highlighted during the fermentation process. As the name implies, this type of Chinese tea has red leaves and red tea color.
White Tea
This type of Chinese tea is sometimes considered as subclass of green tea. Perhaps it is for the fact that it is only withered and then roasted. Just like green tea, white tea escaped fermentation process. And, it has low caffeine content.
Yellow Tea
Apparently, yellow tea has yellow leaves and yellow tea color. According to some experts, this type of Chinese tea is an uncommon class of Chinese tea. The flavor of yellow tea is usually mild and refreshing.
Flower Tea
Generally, this class has light to medium flavor and medium to strong aroma. The Scented Tea, on the other hand, uses green tea and red tea as base and mix with scent of flowers. Well, the Flower Tea is just based on a simple concept that dried flowers are used, without much processing, to make tea. It actually subdivides into Flower Tea and Scented Tea.

Here is a unique type of Chinese tea - the Flower tea.
Compressed Tea
The final type of Chinese tea is the compressed tea. This class uses black tea as base tea. It is steamed and compressed into bricks, cakes, columns, and other shapes. Also, compressed tea has all the characteristics of black tea. It can be stored for years and decades.
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