While doing some reading on some of my favourite blogs, I came across an interview on TravelandTea. Nigel Melican from Teacraft was interviewed by Deborah Huff and she wrote in her blog the following quote "Ten years ago, as a tea scientist, I would never have believed that I could take fresh green leaf off a tea bush bred to produce commodity black tea selling at US$1 per lb and with some clever techniques process that same leaf into specialty white tea selling at US$200 per lb – that still amazes me." Hence, the title of this entry...this is amazing!!
Would this be considered "tea science"? My first thought of what the term "tea science" is really about was the effect of tea on health. However, after attending my tea garden management class and reading this interview, I really was missing a large area that I think could be included in what I would consider tea science - the production side. So, what is tea science? Well, I'm not sure if there is a formal definition and haven't found one yet as it is pretty vague, so I'll just start with my own opinion first. Tea science to me is the study of tea on health, the technical and chemical processes involved in tea production, and the development of new techniques to yield greater or improved product.
However, I don't want to make tea production sound so technical. I think when China was developing their tea techiques over hundreds of years (and even now among tea producers), it can be considered "tea science" but at the same time an ART; crafting the technique and style, observation, trial and error and some creativity mixed in.
No comments:
Post a Comment