Guest Author - Caroline Baker

Tea has been a major part of Chinese culture, having been supposedly invented back in the time of the Yellow Emperor. It is a major part of daily life, being as basic to drink as water.

As a child, a right of passage is when you get to have your first cup of hot tea. It is polite and proper to offer someone a cup of tea as soon as they enter your house as a guest. A dim sum, a Chinese meal, is catered around the idea that you can drink tea slowly and enjoy it. Teas appear in literature and art. It is part of a marriage ceremony to show respect and honor to one's parents.

In olden day of China, business was normally conducted over a cup of tea. Unspoken communication occurred during these sessions. If the discussions were going well, the two would continue to drink. A light tap on the table directly to the side of the cup would alert the server to continue to bring tea. And if things were done, or have not gone well, one person would turn their cup over refusing to continue the discussion.

There are many different teas used in China, made of a variety of different plants. The range of colors in teas are from very pale, known as white teas, to dark liquids as thick as coffee. There are light teas, such as green tea or, my personal favorite, chrysanthemum. And dark teas from leaves that have been fermented, such as black tea and dian hong.

Chinese serve their teas with loose leaves. The leaves are either placed within the ceramic teapot or directly into the cup. Hot water is then poured over the leaves in order to brew. While there might be some straining of the leaves that occurs while transferring the liquid from the teapot to the cup, it is very common to have leaves still within the fluid. Thus, there's an art to drinking tea. One cannot simply gulp the fluid without regard for what they are doing.

Unlike British or American teas, traditionally cream and sugar were not added to the drinks. Today, because of the influence of other cultures and tastes, there are some drinks that appear with additives. For instance, a very popular drink to have in the morning in Chinatown, NY is oolong tea with cream and sugar. Tea houses have become very popular over the last few years, featuring teas mixed with various fruity flavors, such as lyche and coconut, and tapioca.

In order to judge a good tea, there are several characteristics to look at. All the leaves within the batch should be similar in shape. When boiling water is poured on it, the color of the liquid and aroma are important to measure. The leaves should have opened up fully and all sunk to the bottom of the cup, with none remaining in the dried state floating on top. And of course, the most important characteristic is that it tastes good.