Limelight: Anytime is tea-time By Lubna Abdel-Aziz How would the world do without tea? Sydney Smith. The love affair between the human race and a dulcet, sweet-smelling evergreen plant is nothing short of phenomenal. It is a love story that knows no bounds or boundaries, dating back 5,000 years. This highly coloured amber beverage has been relished through the centuries, exuding sensory pleasure and bodily enjoyment. It keeps growing in popularity, defying all restrictions of taste, race, colour or creed. No wonder tea ranks as the most popular drink in the world, after water. Tea smoothes the ruffled brow of care, in cold, temperate or warm weather, but grown in different countries it varies in taste, flavour and quality. Most of us drink "Black" tea, the most popular of the three kinds of teas, the others being "Green" tea and "Oolong" tea drank mostly in China, Japan, and Korea. Tea-tasters are employed by tea producers in order to obtain the best quality of teas, but the secret of a perfect cup of tea is in the finesse of the brewing. To achieve that perfection, you have to start with the right teapot. Clay pots came into being in 1,500 and are still preferred by many tea literati. Today porcelain is used most often. During the Ming Dynasty (1568-1644) the method of allowing tea leaves to soak (steep) in hot water for a long time became general practice, and only water from specific wells was used. Legend has it that Chinese Emperor Shen Nung (Divine Healer), reputed to have reigned in 2,737- 2,647 BC, had decreed that all drinking water should be boiled as a hygienic precaution. One windy summer day, 5,000 years ago, some dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the Emperor's boiling water, creating a brown liquid. The Emperor drank some of it and found it very refreshing and satisfying and so, the legendary cup of tea was born. In Japan tea was brought from China by Buddhist priests around 593 AD. It was elevated to an art form by the 16th century, resulting in the creation of the "tea ceremony" still used to this day. The tea ceremony -- "Cha-no-yu", or "hot water for tea", requires years of training and practice. "The supremely important matter is that the act be performed in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner." While tea was at its highest level of development in both Japan and China, information concerning this then unknown beverage began to filter back to Europe. The powerful fleets of Portugal and Holland were the first to develop trade with China and shipped tea to France, Holland and the Baltics. As the craze for things Oriental swept through Europe, tea became part of a way of life by 1675. The French added milk to their porcelain "tasse de thé", and Dutch inns and restaurants offered tea with their meals. Britain was the last of the sea-faring nations to break into the Chinese and East India trade route. With the first samples of tea reaching England in 1652, it quickly became popular and soon replaced ale as the national drink. Tea mania swept across England and the importation rose from 40,000 in 1699 to 240,000 pounds by 1708, increasing by 600 per cent in less than a decade. As they stop for afternoon tea everyday, all Brits should bless their Anna, Duchess of Bedford (1788-1861). This is how she started the much revered tradition. The elegant Duchess usually experienced a "sinking feeling" in the late afternoons, between the morning and evening meals. Adopting a European format of polish and grace, Anna invited friends to join her for an additional afternoon meal at 5pm at Belvoir Castle in the country. The menu centred around talk primarily, laced with delectable savoury tidbits of small cakes, bread and butter sandwiches, honeyed and candied with assorted sweets, washed down by a hot cup of citron tea. Sweetened by Scottish scones and English crumpets, by tales of love and scandal, this summer practice became an instant success. "High tea" and "low tea" evolved. "Low tea" was served in the low part of the afternoon in aristocratic circles with emphasis on presentation and conversation. "High tea" or "meal tea" was the major meal of the middle and low classes, and consisted mostly of full dinner items, roast beef, mashed potatoes, sweet peas and a hearty cup or two of the golden brew. Tea became the main drink served in "Coffee Houses", eclipsing coffee which had reached Europe a few years earlier. Exclusive for men, coffee houses were nicknamed "Penny Universities" because for a penny, customers could obtain a cup of tea, a news list -- a paper filled with news -- and could engage in conversation with the sharpest wits of the day. They were the forerunners of the exclusive English gentleman's private club. The first regular daily paper was Lloyd's List, so- called because it appeared at a coffee house owned by Edward Lloyd in 1734, frequented by ship-owners, merchants and marine insurers. That simple coffee house was the origin of Lloyd's of London, the renowned insurance firm, also considered the birthplace of modern journalism. Worth its weight in more than gold, tea was responsible for wars and revolutions. In the 19th century the British tried to trade opium in exchange for Chinese tea, but China outlawed the import of opium and the Opium War broke out between both countries. In the New World, the colonists resisted the high tax for tea placed by the British in 1773. Hundreds of pounds of tea were dumped in the Boston harbour, known as the "Boston Tea Party" thereby starting the American Revolution. In 1908 the tea bag was born. Thomas Sullivan, an American coffee and tea trader, sent samples of tea leaves packed in small silk bags for his customers to select from, instead of the usual tins. His customers found the bags so convenient for brewing that they began to order their tea in "tea bags". Even Hollywood reached out for some of the appeal and glamour of the brew in such films as Tea for Two (1950) with Doris Day, Tea and Sympathy (1956) with Deborah Kerr, Tea-House of the August Moon (1956) with Marlon Brando and most recently Franco Zeffirelli's star-studded production of Tea with Mussolini (1992), with Cher and a distinguished cast of English ladies and tea cognoscenti, Vanessa Redgrave, Judy Dench, and Joan Plowright. Warm and inviting, tea is good anytime, morning, noon and night. "If you are cold, tea will warm you, if you are heated it will cool you, if you are depressed it will cheer you, if you are excited it will calm you." Folk medicine has long valued it as a remedy for many ailments such as sore throats and upset stomachs. Recent studies have shown that certain chemicals in tea known as polyphenols may reduce the risk of far more serious illnesses, including atherosclerosis and some cancers. A serving of tea generally contains about 40 milligram of caffeine, half as much as in coffee. A cup of this vibrant refreshing brew "fills one with blissful rapture, soothing, softening, cheering and comforting". This gilded liquid that pleases and satisfies all palates, is light yet vigorous, a magnificent potion full of flavour and gusto, transporting its users to ecstatic fantasy and heavenly warmth. What a lucky day for mankind that was, when on a windy summer afternoon, leaves of an unknown bush landed into the boiling water of an emperor of China some 5,000 years ago. Sydney Smith, British clergyman and essayist (1771-1845), wondered how the world had existed without his favourite beverage and thanked his God for tea. "I am glad I was not born before tea," he mused. So are we. So, put the kettle on, fill another cup of tea any way you please -- with sugar, lemon, milk or honey, or none of these. Now is always the right time for a comforting, warming cup of tea.
