The following post is a quick guide to tea for beginners, and also is currently a work in process. I plan using this crash course as a Pechu Kechu presentation and could use your help. If you have any suggestions on what to add, what to omit, and sites for “further reading” I would greatly appreciate it.  


Tea is the 2nd most consumed drink in the world. Outside of the teabags in grandma’s kitchen cabinet, there is loose leaf tea, ceremonies, practices, and people from all around the globe. To me there is nothing like brewing a pot of tea, experiencing cultures and history through every sip. For those interested in learning about tea or learning something new in general this is the presentation (or post in this situation) for you.

The History of Tea

The origins like everything is somewhat shrouded in mystery.  According to Chinese mythos, tea was discovered on accident around 2737 BC By Shen Nong (Yan Di or Shen Nong Shi), who was the second Emperor  to reign in the San Huang period.  He was known for his wisdom in agriculture and considered the father of Chinese herbal medicine.  For hygienic precaution he would boil his drinking water.  One day while he was on a trip, he stopped to rest and drink some water. While he was boiling water, leaves from a nearby tree  fell into the boiling water, turning the water brown. Curious the Emperor tried the new liquid, and found it very refreshing. That tree was a wild tea tree, and so, tea was discovered.

Geography

China: The birthplace of tea and the culture surrounding, actually only produces ten percent of the tea sold around the world. China does produces the greatest assortment of teas, with roughly sixty percent of Chinese teas being green teas variants.

India: By producing about a third of all tea consumed, this country is the current market leader. Most of the tea coming out of India is black. Tea historians believe that until Britain colonized and introduced tea cultivation to India, that Indians didn’t drink tea.

Sri Lanka: Also known as Ceylon, is the world’s leading producer of tea worldwide. Thomas Lipton, founder of the Lipton Tea Company established a direct source of tea for his company in Sri Lanka. Like India, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) teas are black.

Japan: Most of the tea production from Japan stays inland. All tea in Japan are considered green, and are packaged in a variety of qualities. Different methods of tea production include using tea that has been steamed, roasted, grinded to a power, or blended with roasted brown rice.

Taiwan: Much like Japan, Taiwanese consume much of their tea locally, however they also export a variety of high quality green and oolong teas. Many of these teas have been said to have fruit, floral, and nutty notes in their flavors. From Taiwan you can find among some of the most expensive teas around.

Tea vs. Tisanes

The “common man’s” meaning for tea can be broken into two classifications, Tea and Tisanes.

“True” tea (white,black,green,oolong and pu-erh) all come from the same plant: the camellia sinensis. The way in which it is dried or fermented determines what type of tea it will be later become.

Tisanes is every other delicious leaf that also steeped in hot water. Commonly dried flowers, fruits or herbs. Like tea, tisanes have historically been consumed for medical reasons, but are also used as a caffeine-free alternative.

Steeping

There can be somewhat of a science to get the best in taste by focusing on steep time, water temperature, number of steeps. When I was doing my research for this presentation (or in this case, post) I found that boiling water can actually burn certain teas, most commonly white, green, light oolongs teas and some tisanes.

The following information is general steep times (per steep) and water temperature. Just note that you can alter this to your tastes and preferences.  

(Gebely, Tony. “Hackers Guide to Tea.” World of Tea. 22 Nov. 2010. Web. <http://worldoftea.org/hackers-guide-to-tea/>.)

Loose Leaf vs. Tea Bags/Infusers

A lot of tea people consume tea via tea bags/infusers. Some may consider this to be evil, and when it comes to convenience, it is a necessary evil at times. In reality it’s really good for tea to have a lot of space to expand and hydrate while steeping. In many cases though,  in the manufacturing of tea bags, companies will pack the bags with poor-quality, tea “dust” that remains after using the good tea for loose tea sales.

“Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes,

Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure, measure a year?”

-Chorus from Seasons of Love, Written/Composed by: Jonathan Larson

This song is something I often hear at graduations, right up there next to “Friends Forever” and “Its So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.” When I hear this song though, it evokes thoughts of time, and how it tends to go by really fast.

As the days go by, it seems like I have less and less hours within the day. So I’ve been recently been reading a lot about time saving and productivity. Through my reading, I’ve come up with three ways that are the most effective in finding more time in my day, that I hope you can use to find more time in your day.

1. Limit Your Time in Front of the “Tube”

According to Nielsen Wire (a source used by the New York Times), the average American consumes 34 hours of tv a week. If you’re like me, Netflix can be your best friend. Once I’m home, you can often find me sitting on the couch focused on the “tube.” So recently I’ve been trying to limit myself to one or two programs a night. I’ve even started to try going without tv for a night, to finish the book I’m reading or work on projects I’ve been putting aside for the past few months.

(Nielson Wire blog post)

2. Learn to Say No!
It’s simple, just say no. It’s something that I think is important to having a simplified schedule and with getting things done. Daily we receive requests that all demand our time. When we say yes to these requests, we are giving up our time and committing to doing something for someone else. You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew when taking on things that are not in line with your priorities. I understand how hard this can be to say no, we hate to disappoint others. Often if you explain to others that you don’t have the time to commit time to what ever it is that they ask of you, they generally understand.

(Post from Zen Habits : 7 Simple Ways to Say “No” )

3. Prioritize Everything.
I find it most effective to prioritize my tasks. Once I start getting to work, I like to get the most important task done (note: always the easiest ones or most urgent). I’ve noticed by structuring my tasks in this manner, that even the least urgent tasks get done in a timely manner, and I don’t spend hours procrastinating over the most important ones.

(Post from Life Organizers: How to Prioritize and Get Things Done)

With all the things we have to do, its good to re-adjust some things to open more time in the day for yourself. These three tips have been very beneficial in getting things done and adding time in my day. I’m always interested in different tips on productivity and time saving, what are some of your tricks and tips for adding an extra hour to your day?

Minimalism, the act of living with less.

I first stumbled on this interesting movement when I came across the website, Cult of   Less. It is a project started by one of my favorite bloggers, Kelly Sutton, and is based on his drive to have all that he possesses in 2 bags and 2 boxes. Kelly hopes it will allow him to live anywhere and move instantaneously if needed.

  After doing more research about this movement, I came across great blogs like Rowdy Kittens and Zen Habits. I was lucky enough to interview the author of Zen Habits, Leo Babauta, back when I was working on my Blogivation  project.

The minimalist lifestyle at first glance appears to be just living with less, but the more I looked into it, I found three fundamental ideas behind being a Minimalist.

1. Simplifying, resulting in a more productive, less cluttered, and less complicated life; free from confusion and distraction.

2. Capturing the moments normally overlooked, and basically experiencing life for all its wonderful pleasures.

3. Constantly challenging one’s self to become a better person.

Living in this day in age, we are constantly bombarded with countless messages, where status is often measured by the things we own. Sadly, these messages can begin shaping our lives and desires of a need for things.

On a personal note, I’ve been slowly adapting my life to the minimalist way of thinking. The first area that I have applied this way of life was my health by simplifying my diet with the Slow Carb Diet. I also began structuring my time more by working out with my coworker, and I’ve lost quite of few pounds. I am proud to say that I lost a total of 12 pounds in the first month with these changes alone.

Through my experience, I think that taking the time to free life’s clutter allows you to appreciate all the experiences whether big or small. I really wanted to take the time to experience all that life has to offer, and that is really at the core of what brought me to a minimalist lifestyle.

Later Dayz,

-Jordan M. Williams

For more information on minimalism and and the art of living with less, I encourage you to read 11 First Steps to Becoming a Minimalist. You can also check out Cult of Less, Rowdy Kittens and Zen Habits.