Chinese tea, just like Chinese people, extends to every corner of America. From the east coast to the west coast there are huge advertising bill boards and TV commercials for all sorts of beverages, but none for tea, yet Chinese tea can be found everywhere, sending forth its delicate fragrance.
Americans don't drink hot water, so they don't have thermos bottles and teapots. It doesn't matter about teapots, but without thermos bottles, we are unable to make a cup of pure Chinese tea. In flight the tea given to us was made with warm water. The taste was inferior, reducing our desire to drink. My poor companions! Before going abroad, they were told no hot water was supplied in American hotels. For a cup of Chinese tea every day they carried electro thermal cups across the Pacific Ocean, but upon arrival in America, they found the voltage was different. The electro thermal cups were put aside and they had to drink cool water. Sometimes it was more than they could endure, so they even made tea with the hot water form bathroom sinks. However, without the delicate fragrance, can the bitter, yellow liquid be called Chinese tea?
Fortunately, the tea in Chinese restaurants has a pure taste. Before and after the meal the waiters never forget to serve you a cup of steaming hot tea, enabling you to experience the hospitality of the Chinese restaurant. While in America we were invited to the home of an overseas Chinese, Mr. Z., He made us a cup of typical Chinese tea with an exquisite Yixing tea set, boiling water and new Wulong tea of top quality. We were talking while leisurely savoring the flavor of the tea, carefree and tranquil. Mr. Z., however, said to us, "If you hadn't come today and it was only I at home, I would not have bothered to boil water and make tea."
Perhaps Mr. Z. also makes do with warm water. That kind of tea must be bitter and puckery. I am afraid all he tastes is a sense of solitude caused by living in a foreign land.
Savoring tea and thinking of one's hometown maybe, for American-Chinese, peculiar sort of consolation after a day's work. In New York we lived in the home of a Chinese. After supper every day our host, Mr. L., would always make a cup of tea and talk with us. Although he was an American citizen, he insisted he was still a native Chinese. He liked the scorching heat of the tea, considering it as something that warmed the heart. His daughter, however, was born and brought up in America. As a second-generation Chinese, 'hometown" existed only in her father's life, she drank American beverages freely, unlike her father, who always loved tasting the past in the delicate fragrance and weak bitterness of tea.
In both alternative and traditional circles, people are drinking more green tea today in order to maintain good health. Numerous Studies in the Shizuoka Prefecture have shown that the residents of that area have lower mortality rates from stomach, lung and liver cancers. Some of the disease fighting properties in green tea are:
Green tea and Health
One of the most significant areas of research has been in the cancer fighting elements in green tea. Studies have demonstrated that the antioxidant properties of tea inhibit the formation of cancer causing substances such as carcinogens.
Green tea consumption is also important for the prevention of heart disease and stroke. The tea properties have been shown to strengthen blood vessels and to decrease the cholesterol level in the blood stream.
Green tea also aids the digestion process and decreases fat content in the blood. Additionally, tea can be used as a mild germicide for cleansing wounds, fungi infections and fighting bacteria in the mouth.
In the 13th century, monks used green tea to enable them to stay awake for long period of time during their meditations. Recent tests have demonstrated that increased alertness and concentration results from drinking green tea.
HUANG SHAN MAO FENG
While not strictly a scented tea, this variety produces an apricot-flavored beverage with the fragrance of magnolias, even though none grow nearby. Perhaps the wild peach trees blossoming all over the hills surrounding Huangshan in Anhui province make some contribution. And perhaps that is why one authority lists it among the five best-known teas in China. Huangshan tea drinkers have a saying: the first cup is most fragrant, the second sweetest, the third, strongest.
Plucked very young at the stage of only a bud and a single unfolding leaf, the leaves when processed are yellowish green, flat with a very slight upturn, and covered with silvery hair. The Qingming (early April) picking is sold as a special choice grade.
