Tea
- Scientific name: camellia sinensis
- Japanese: お茶 (ocha)
Tea, in a variety of forms, is a central element of Japanese culture, and is commonly drunk in a variety of contexts, from the everyday, at home, in restaurants and teashops/cafés, to the more formal context of the tea ceremony.
With the exception of herbal teas, which include infusions of a wide variety of plant products from ginger to chrysanthemum or buckwheat, all "true" tea, including green tea, black tea, and white tea, is made from the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant.[1]
Tea in China was traditionally most heavily grown in Fujian and Guangdong provinces. Harvested tea leaves were first rolled in bamboo containers to draw out their oils, and were then place in iron woks over flames, in order to stop them from oxidizing further. The leaves were then dried, and ready to be packaged up for shipment or sale.[1]
The first sample batches of tea reached England around 1664. By the 1830s, more than 30 million pounds of tea were shipped from China to Britain every year.[1]
