Darjeeling Tea

So what is Darjeeling tea?? I saw a movie called Darjeeling Limited with Owen Wilson and Jason Schwarzman..

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darjeeling_tea

"Darjeeling tea, tea from the Darjeeling region in West Bengal, India, has traditionally been prized above all other black teas, especially in the United Kingdom and the countries comprising the former British Empire. When properly brewed it yields a thin-bodied, light-colored liquor with a floral aroma. The flavor also displays a tinge of astringent tannic characteristics, and a musky spiciness often referred to by tea connoisseurs as "muscatel." A sweet cooling aftertaste should be felt in the mouth.

Most Darjeeling teas are made into black teas; however, Darjeeling oolong and green teas are becoming more commonly produced and easier to find, and a growing number of estates are also producing prized white teas."

Links on Darjeeling Tea:

History of Darjeeling Tea: http://www.darjeelingnews.net/darjeeling_tea.html
Darjeeling Tea Official Site: http://www.darjeelingtea.net/darjeelingtea/
Darjeeling Tea Blog: http://www.darjeelingcuppa.com/

Tea Association of the USA!

At the Tea Association website they provided information from the Fourth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health. Published in the August, 2008 issue of The Journal of Nutrition..

This is the Introduction to the Proceedings of the Fourth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health (Lenore Arab and Jeffrey B. Blumberg).. There are 12 more entries in the journal. It is all from the Journal of Nutrition website, which is also posted on the Tea Association's website. There are some science geniuses explaining all the benefits of tea, it is fascinating.

All In This Tea (Sundance Channel)

All In This Tea, A film by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht

See the trailer here, the description below is from the about section of the website.

All In This Tea (2007), Les Blank’s handheld camera takes us into the hidden world of tea by following world-renowned tea expert David Lee Hoffman to some of the most remote regions of China in search of the best handmade teas in the world. Hoffman is obsessed; during his youth, he spent four years with Tibetan monks in Nepal, which included a friendship with the Dalai Lama, and was introduced to some of the finest tea--that golden nectar with which we can taste the distant past.

Unable to find anything but insipid tea bags in the U.S., Hoffman began traveling to China to find tea for himself. In the process, he discovered the rarity of good, handmade tea, even in China, where the ancient craft of making tea has given way to mass production.

Hoffman struggles against language barriers and Byzantine business codes to convince the Chinese that the farmers make better tea and that their craft should be honored and preserved. This craft cannot be learned from a book, but has been handed down through generations of tea makers for thousands of years. He drags the reluctant tea factory aficionados up a lush, terraced mountainside in their blue suits and penny loafers to bring them face to face with those “dirty” farmers. In an ironic twist, Hoffman reintroduces them to their own country and one of its oldest traditions. It is as if he is saying, “Hey, don’t look too far forward before you take a look back and see what gems you already possess.”

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It was a great movie if you want to see what the tea industry is like in China, and see the tea farms directly.

Salada's "Unbottle Your Tea" Campaign

Salada's "Unbottle Your Tea" Campaign (Source: Marketwatch.com)

"LITTLE FALLS, N.Y., Sep 15, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Salada Tea announced today the launch of its national "Unbottle Your Tea" educational campaign to promote the consumption of freshly brewed tea as a healthier, less expensive and more environmentally friendly alternative to bottled teas. Consumers that switch from drinking bottled tea to freshly brewed tea made with tea bags will take in approximately 95 percent more antioxidants, help decrease pollution and greenhouse gases, and save money.

Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world next to water and over the last 10 years, sales of ready-to-drink tea have grown nearly 10 fold. The amount of plastic bottles wasted per year increased by nearly 1.5 billion pounds from 1998 to 2008, according to the Container Recycling Institute. Today, 200 million beverage containers are wasted each year, which is nearly double the amount recycled.

Freshly brewed tea has been shown to have the following benefits compared to bottled tea:
Health Benefits

-- Freshly brewed green tea has up to 95 percent higher levels of the antioxidant EGCG than bottled tea (2006 U.S. Department of Agriculture database of flavonoid content in foods). Antioxidants in green tea are sensitive to heat, oxygen, sweeteners and other additives and can easily be destroyed during processing, transportation and storage of bottled tea. Studies have shown that antioxidants help with weight loss, cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases and stress.

-- Salada's 100% Green Tea has approximately 140 mg of EGCG in a 16 ounce serving, more than double what is in an equal serving of some leading bottled teas.

-- On average, bottled sweetened iced teas have 60 calories per 8 ounce serving compared to zero calories for an equal serving of freshly brewed tea.".....

Read more here, http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/saladas-unbottle-your-tea-campaign/story.aspx?guid=%7BBF20C4DD-B050-4743-BF6E-A8294C329719%7D&dist=hppr

http://www.unbottleyourtea.com/

10 Benefits of Drinking Green Tea (HealthMad)

I also found the 10 Great Benefits of Drinking Green Tea, from HealthMad.com. Click to read more.


"1. It is used to treat multiple sclerosis.
2. It is used for treatment and prevention of cancer.
3. It is used to stop Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
4. It is used to raise the metabolism and increase fat oxidation.
5. It reduces the risk of heart diseases and heart attacks by reducing the risk of trombosis.
6. It reduces the risk of esophageal cancer.
7. Drinking green tea inhibits the growth of certain cancer cells, reduces the level of cholesterol in blood, improves the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol.
8. It is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular diseases
9. It is used to treat impaired immune function. .
10. Some researches show that, drinking green tea regularly may help prevent tooth decay by killing the bacteria which causes the dental plaque."

http://www.healthmad.com/Alternative/10-Great-Benefits-of-Drinking-Green-Tea.93407

Benefits of Drinking Green Tea

This was quoted from the American Chronicle.

"But first, just what is it about the green tea that makes experts and health buffs so excited? Well, there´s the concentrated amount of antioxidants. Specifically, green tea consists of 30-40% flavonoids, of which the type called catechins is most abundant. A good percentage of these catechins are epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG, which is a lot more potent than other antioxidants, including the more widely familiar vitamins C and E. All teas contain EGCG, but green tea has more than black or oolong tea.Antioxidants are our best defense against aging, from our external appearance to the more serious health risks that we face as we grow older. Even younger adults are not safe and can reap the benefits of drinking green tea in terms of fighting premature aging and reducing the risks of chronic illnesses......"

Sounds good to me, to read more go here

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65303

Green Tea Strengthens Immune System

This information is from the book, Green Tea, The Natural Secret for a Healthier Life, it states that "in addition to its devastating effect on bacteria and viruses, green tea may help the body fight off invaders by stimulating the immune system to work harder and better. One study revealed that EGCg encourages the production of interleukin-1, which in turn causes an increase in the numbers of T-cells. These T-cells then secrete chemicals that spur giant cell-eating structures called macrophages to gobble up foreign invaders"....

What is tea? The History

From Wikipedia

"Camellia sinensis is the tea plant, the plant species whose leaves and leaf buds are used to produce tea. It is of the genus Camellia (Chinese: 茶花; pinyin: Cháhuā), a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. White tea, green tea, oolong and black tea are all harvested from this species, but are processed differently to attain different levels of oxidation. Kukicha (twig tea) is also harvested from camellia sinensis, but uses twigs and stems rather than leaves. The name sinensis means Chinese in Latin. Camellia is taken from the Latinized name of Rev. Georg Kamel, S.J. (1661-1706), a Czech-born Jesuit priest who became both a prominent botanist and a missionary to the Philippines (it is not uncommon for members of the Catholic Jesuit order to combine careers in scholarship with their religious work). Though Kamel did not discover or name the plant, Carl Linnaeus, the creator of the system of taxonomy still used today, chose his name for the genus of this tree to honor Kamel's contributions to science. Older names for the tea plant include Thea bohea, Thea sinensis and Thea viridis. Camellia sinensis is native to mainland South and Southeast Asia, but is today cultivated across the world, in tropical and subtropical regions. It is an evergreen shrub or small tree that is usually trimmed to below two metres (six feet) when cultivated for its leaves. It has a strong taproot. The flowers are yellow-white, 2.5–4 cm in diameter, with 7 to 8 petals.

The seeds of Camellia sinensis and Camellia oleifera can be pressed to yield tea oil, a sweetish seasoning and cooking oil that should not be confused with tea tree oil, an essential oil that is used for medical and cosmetical purposes and originates from the leaves of a different plant."

click here for the complete wikipedia description.