tea

THE SAGA CONTINUES;

"Tea is anti-ageing 'written' all over" -- who says so? Apart from its scientifically confirmed 'Antioxidant Activity' [that 'fights' free radicals] -- most 50 plus and indeed men and women in their 60s & 70s who look at least 10 to 15 years younger attribute their youthful looks to TEA -- that invigorating beverage a.k.a. 'cuppa'! Read on;.

ORIGINS OF TEA

The word comes from the Chinese Amoy dialect word "t'e" pronounced "tay" which in the Cantonese dialect was rendered cha. Tea is very much taken for granted by the millions of 'earthlings' who sip their 'cup that cheers' with no thought given to its fascinating history dating back to several centuries, or to its unique chemical composition. The discovery and origin of tea is generally attributed to the Chinese Emperor Shen Nong who, in 2737 BC, is said to have observed that a brew of fresh tea leaves had a wonderful stimulant effect. He studied its properties further and in "The Herbal Canon of Sheng Nong," claimed that tea was able to detoxify 72 different kinds of poison! It was considered to be a valuable commodity, and naturally became so much in demand that in 1066 BC, at which time tea was used - half for medicinal purposes, people living in South West China were required to include tea as an item of tribute payable to the Emperor. In fact the ecology of Tea trees was described in detail in the Erh Ya published in 130 BC by which time tea was used both for medicinal purposes as well as a social drink.

Towards the end of the 13th century major tea plantations were widely dispersed in South East China after originating from the Yunnan province. Tea had become a much sought after commodity, so much so that by 1398 AD the barter price of tea of 250,000 kg was 13,584 fine horses which were scarce in regions of inland China. By this time, tea had become such a necessity of life in China that people would rather go without rice for three days, than forego tea for a single day!

THE SPREAD OF TEA

The spread of tea from China to other parts of the world is said to have begun as early as 221 BC, with the migration of minority nationalities to Vietnam, Burma, Laos and Thailand. These migrations were the result of wars which were common then. During the 5th Century AD the custom of tea drinking became widespread as a result of the establishment of trade ties between China, Istanbul, Rome, Arabia, Iran, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Korea and Japan. It was at this time that trade on the famed Silk Road reached its zenith.

TEA TO THE WEST AND BEYOND

Earliest records of tea in the West are documented in the diary [850 AD] of an Arab traveler, Soliman, and two books [559 AD] by the Venetian writer, Giambatista Ramusio. However, the first export of tea to the then coffee drinking Europe occurred only in 1610, and it was not until 1657, just 349 years ago that the first tea packet from China was sold in Galway's Coffee House in London -- where the beneficial effects of drinking tea were eulogized. Subsequently in 1684, J.I.L.L. Jacobson, a Dutch tea taster was able to penetrate the well guarded and forbidden tea gardens of China and, at great personal risk, succeeded in transferring tea seeds to Indonesia -- and so was broken the monopoly of China in tea production.

Soon after, tea drinking became a very popular, but expensive habit. The first authenticated attempt to commercially cultivate tea in India followed the discovery by Major Robert Bruce in 1823, of tea growing wild in the Sibsagar district of Assam, whence the 'jat' Assam tea variety originated.

The 'Assam' variety of tea, discovered by Robert Bruce, known botanically as Camellia sinensis var. assamica soon replaced the Chinese variety designated as Camellia sinensis var. sinenesis. It was also soon found that the Assam variety was suitable for processing to fermented black tea, whereas the sinensis variety was more suitable for processing to unfermented green tea.

TEA TO CEYLON

Tea was first introduced into Ceylon in 1824, and again in 1839, for experimental purposes. A few seeds from China and north-east India [Assam] were planted at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya, Kandy and allowed to grow freely.

Many years later, in the 1860s, the commercial planting of tea was tried out by James Taylor, a Scotsman, by then a coffee and cinchona planter. In 1867 James Taylor successfully raised tea bushes in a 19-acre field on the estate he managed at Loolecondera in Hewaheta, close to Kandy. The intrepid Taylor manufactured the tea leaf on the verandah of his log cabin and later in a rudimentary factory. Taylor's efforts seems to have been the first focused and demand-driven research into tea production in Ceylon, becoming the harbinger of all that those who followed, before and after the establishment of the Tea Research Institute. Taylor was a devoted planter who spent his entire life on his estate. He disliked Cricket, dressing for dinner, dances and big-game hunting. Instead, he maintained a wonderful flower garden, acquired a reputation for generous hospitality in his own home, and trained a line of assistants who subsequently achieved fame in their own rights as successful planters.

Taylor was largely responsible for the success of the tea industry in the country. He established the first of the many tea gardens, and developed machinery to process the leaf, built many factories, and obtained excellent quality in the tea he produced.

Indeed, James Taylor will be remembered, nay, venerated to this day and hopefully, forever as the 'Father of Tea Planting' in the island of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka.

The conversion of hills in the present tea-growing districts, from jungle or coffee to tea, went on apace in the later decades of the nineteenth and the early decades of the twentieth century in Sri Lanka. The cumulative, trial-and-error experience of planters in field management and agricultural practices increased productivity and quality, and the manufacturing technology developed by them quickly established the reputation of Ceylon tea in the shops, drawing-rooms and kitchens of Britain and Western Europe. There can be no doubt that it was the efforts of those early, mostly English planters and their estate workers in preparing the land, nurturing the bushes and improvising agricultural and technological practices that had, in a relatively short time, made the name, Ceylon, synonymous with the best tea on this planet. It still is!

The history of the tea plantations in Ceylon has an element that marks it off from that of every other tea-producing country. The plantations were not originally planned, and certainly not for planting tea. They were coffee estates crudely set up to meet an agricultural and financial crisis. They were built on cramped sites, close to waterways in order to take advantage of water [hydro] power. When tea took over, it required spacious and airy facilities for withering the plucked leaf. These facilities had to be built upwards, unlike in most other countries where they had separate leaf houses.

In 1867, Loolecondera, with its seven hectares of tea, opened a new chapter in the history of the plantation industry in the island. Progress thereafter was slow for a few years, as the growth of the tea industry could be described as being 'at nursery strength', when tea plants were being prepared for transplanting into fields for commercial production. By 1876, the total tea extent had increased to 700 hectares, and by 1883 about 13,000 hectares had been planted in tea. The first lot of 10 kg of made tea, plucked and processed at Loolecondera Estate, was shipped to London in 1873.

Kandy has been the focal point in the advancement of agriculture in the country, and a ramble in any direction from the hill capital will present a landscape portraying the vestiges of a bygone agricultural era. Hewaheta, near Kandy, where tea planting originated in Ceylon, with Loolecondera as the pioneer, was later found to have been chosen not for its ideal conditions but for its convenience and accessibility!

By the latter part of 1874, Hope Estate, located near Hewaheta, had expanded its tea coverage to 55 hectares, while Loolecondera itself remained at 40 hectares. By the 1870s, tea had taken root in the pioneer belt south of Kandy, comprising Nilambe, Pussellawa, Gampola and Hewaheta. There was Sinnapitiya and Mariyawatte in Gampola, Sogama, Le Vallon, Delta, Black Forest, Glenloch and Rothschild in Pussellawa and Loolecondera, Stellenburg, Hope, Mooloya and Rockwood in Hewaheta [the writer had the good fortune to have served as an Assistant and Superintendent in Delta and Moolya Estates respectively in the 1970s.]

LIVING AND WORKING WITH TEA

Tea planting in both India and Ceylon had been an active and a busy life for the planters, but it is perhaps untrue to say that it was all work and no play. During the early 'coffee days', being cut off from a social life, would have driven many a planter to desperation, but soon all the agreeable pursuits and amenities for social interaction were made available to them, including the more vigorous games such as Cricket, Football, Hockey and later Rugby and even motor car racing, especially 'Hill Climbing'. There were also race-courses for those with a gambling instinct and Croquet for the ladies!

At the other end of the social spectrum on plantations was the poor Tamil worker. He may have appeared totally unsophisticated in matters of the intellect when compared with the British masters, but he was by no means an unfortunate or desperate creature. Compared with his living conditions in India, he was much better off in Ceylon. He was housed and guaranteed food and had medical attention. He was also permitted to raise livestock and given land to grow fruits and vegetables. The planter on the other hand respected his workers' customs and habits. [Some of the finest men with sincere, loyal and indeed gentlemanly qualities have been displayed by quite a few Tamil workers during the 35 plus years the writer of this article worked as a Tea Planter in the High, Medium and Low country districts of Sri Lanka - of course you need to speak their language fluently to really understand their.inner selves.]

The Ceylon tea pluckers, nearly all ladies and instantly recognized all over the world from their fetching images on tea packets, are admirably adept at using their dainty fingers to pick only the bud and the two tender leaves which bring quality to the tea. They add colour to the scene whilst attending to their work amongst the tea bushes. Their fine glossy hair and dreamy black eyes, their ears, necks, arms and even ankles decorated with silver ornaments; their gay cloths of many colours falling in graceful folds -- a pretty and alluring picture indeed in the backdrop of a green carpet of tea!

To such an extent does practice quicken the action of eye, brain and finger that it is difficult for the uninitiated to believe how carefully chosen is each leaf that falls into the basket. Only the young and tender leaves are used in the manufacture of tea. It is a truism: The younger the leaf the finer the quality of the final product.

The legendary 'tea-pluckers' have for many decades brought a reputation to Ceylon tea and maintained a steady pace with few mechanical props to assist them. They have produced the teas which today are wanted the world over. Bless them!

QUALITY TEAS FROM THE MANY DISTRICTS
Sri Lanka could boast of different liquoring qualities that she offers the global trade. It is the topography of the hill country, with undulating basins that bring about variances in the teas. Tea is a product of infinite variety: the 'jat' of the tea bush, soil, altitude, climatic changes, wind velocity, the monsoonal rains and seasons, all play their part in infusing the varying degrees of 'quality' into tea. It is so sensitive to atmospheric changes that even weather changes, day-to-day, leave their impression on the quality of the liquor of the tea-cup when tasted.
Only dry winds blow over the eastern sector of the island during the South-West Monsoon, where tea is grown at a wide range of altitudes, ranging from 700 to 2000 metres in the Uva Province. During May to September, the 'Uva' experiences a dry period with strong desiccating winds. These environmental factors bring about a natural chemical compound characteristic of the tea shoots growing in the Uva area. These natural chemicals found in the leaves generate the 'Uva flavour' which cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world. This unique character is the most sought after in the world of tea during the 'Uva Season' in Sri Lanka.
