10 Steps Your Tea Went Through Before Getting to Your Cup
1. It got its name
The plant that all four teas come from is originally called Camellia Sinensis and from it comes Black Tea, Green Tea, White Tea and Ooolong.
2. It Probably Traveled
There are more than 30 countries currently planting and harvesting tea for commercial use, but the four main countries producing your tea and shipping it to you from all over the world are China, India, Kenya and Srilanka
It had to go through oxidization
Tea has to go through something called oxidization and that is where it gets its final identity. Depending on how long this delicate process takes place, the tea is determined to be caffeinated or not, considered "green", "black", "Ooolong" or "White".
4. It went through a "class" system
Every country has its own standards for quality, size, type and grade of tea leaves determined by the farm that harvested it before they arrived at the company that you are loyal to purchasing from. They are then further classified for manufacturing into tea bag quality or loose leaf quality.
7. Your tea bags were likely made of Wood and Vegetable Fibers
There had been a lot of controversy about the materials used in tea bags. Most Tea makers responded by removing all plastic residues and dye from the bags being used currently in the industry. Instead of the adhesives that leave the plastic residue, corn starch adhesives are used instead.
5. Green Tea Got to Skip Oxidization
What makes Green Tea Green is that it was never subjected to oxidization. Similarly, White Tea is barely oxidized at all. Both are left almost at their original plant self, with Green Tea being used mainly from the leaf while White tea is made solely from the buds giving it it's distinct champagne color.
8. Herbal Teas Were Never Tea
Though herbal teas are called teas because they have been enjoyed in the same way. They are steeped in hot water and enjoyed as a regular ritual. Traditional tea is considered those made out of the Camellia Sinensis plant. Herbal teas are made out of a blend of leaves, fruits, barks or flowers of plants that let out their flavor when steeped in hot water.
6. It Was Mostly Hand Made
Tea production is very much dependent on human labor. Be it for the plucking, drying or sorting, it is mostly done by human laborers and only fed to the machines in the very final packaging stages.
It is likely that your tea was a labor of a skilled worker who is in the tea industry by career. A bonus piece of info to know, is that it was most likely a woman who did this work, as woman have been dominant in the tea manufacturing business for decades.
9. If it wasn't steeped in hot water it is less caffeinated
When your tea is in your cup you finally get some control over what its final form will take. If you steep it in cold water as a cold brew, it most likely will not be very caffeinated. If you steep it in hot water, the longer the time, the more concentrated the effect of it will be as well as a pronounced increase in its level of caffeination.
10. A Cup of Lipton Tea Means It was Grown in Collaboration with Small Farmers
Lipton Tea supplies its tea to cups all over the world. Though it does grow tea on its own farms, it also works in collaboration with over 600,000 small farmers and over 1000 tea farms worldwide. By utilizing such collaborations, Lipton has helped sustainability in the tea growing ecosystem.