CEYLONESE TEA“I must drink lots of tea or I cannot work. Tea unleashes the potential which slumbers in
the depth of my soul.”
-Leo Tolstoy.
The tea-growing regions of Sri Lanka are clustered mostly among the mountains of the island's central massif and its southern foothils. Once thickly forested and largely inaccessible to humans, the central mountains were known to the ancient Sinhalese as Mayarata, the Country of Illusions. It was said to be haunted by demons and spirits. This fearsome reputation, together with more tangible threats posed by wild beasts, venomous snakes, landslides, rockfalls and the ever-present danger of simply losing one's way in the forest, kept most people away from the high hills. Settlement was almost nonexistent except in the valleys and around the city of Kandy. Only foresters, hermits and fugitives had any reason to enter the Mayarata. Thus it was that after the annexation of the Kandyan kingdom in 1815, the British found themselves in possession of vast tracts of virgin montaine forest. Imperial enterprise soon found a way of putting the acquisition to good use. By 1840, there were already about two hundred coffee-estates dotted about the hills; then came a boom in coffee on the London market, fuelling a land-rush. Down came the high forests, acre after acre, to be replaced by endless, regimented rows of coffee-bushes. At the peak of the coffee enterprise in 1878, no less than 113,000 ha. (278,000 acres) were under cultivation.
The tea manufacturing process is an intricate one that begins with the plucking of good leaf - two leaves and a bud and results in the final tea leaf that you see. Ceylon tea is manufactured predominantly using the orthodox tea manufacturing process that has been practised for over a century.
Although the following steps ensure the systematic manufacture of tea, the skill of the teamaker is crucial, as it is he who decides the exact timing, level and extent to which each step is executed, based on his experience and what kind of tea he finally wants. This is a process that comes with practice, knowledge and experience and cannot be merely replicated by anyone.
The teamaker's role is therefore a vital one.
Natural substances, called polyphenols, are found in both caffeinated and herbal teas. These substances are antioxidants, compounds that may help reduce the risk of certain chronic diseases.
During processing, some of the polyphenols in tea are destroyed. Thus, tea powders, decaffeinated teas and bottled tea drinks may not offer the same health benefits. Additionally, research suggests that green teas offer a greater antioxidant punch compared to most other varieties.
effects,