For Knowable Magazine, Amber Dance explored the complex world of tea making from a scientific perspective. The first thing she established was the central tea source: the Camellia sinensis plant (also known as the tea plant, tea shrub, or tea tree). From there, it’s all about the different varieties and how their molecules create different tastes and aromas:
Until recently, knowledge about such tea molecules was limited, and sometimes incorrect, says Kelly Miller, product development and innovation manager at the tea retailer DavidsTea in Mont-Royal, Quebec. Now, thanks to advanced scientific methods, scientists are getting a closer look at the molecules in tea leaves.
“We can get into the details, which is cool,” says Miller.
These investigations are revealing that, much like wine, the molecular profile of each tea variety, or even batch, is influenced by every phase of production, from the soil the bush grows in to the way the leaves are dried, rolled or heated in preparation for consumption. And these molecular patterns correspond to features that tea drinkers care about. Hong, for example, enjoys a brand made with young leaves picked from the first spring harvest of tea grown on South Korea’s Jeju Island.
It’s remarkable to think the tea we drink has existed in this form for 5 millennia, if not longer.
Filed under: food science plants tea