Tea

Tea is the magic key

to the vault where

my brain is kept.

Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.

Lin Yutang

Any tea bearing the name ‘Ceylon Tea’ must have been grown and manufactured entirely in Sri Lanka, and must also adhere to strict regulations defined by the Sri Lanka Tea Board.

What we call ‘black tea’ the Chinese refer to as ‘red tea’, reserving the term ‘black tea’ for fermented teas

Leaf buds picked in the spring from mountainous tea-cultivating areas are considered to produce the best-quality teas

Yunnan province in the far south-west is widely considered to be the most ancient of tea-growing regions and the birthplace of tea, claiming to have wild tea trees that are thousands of years old.

1368–1644 – During the Ming Dynasty, Chinese producers devise a method of manufacturing tea leaves that will ensure they last longer and travel better. The tea leaves are naturally oxidised for longer to create a darker dried end product. Black tea is born