How is it grown?
The tea plant, which grows naturally in the wild through much of Asia, is cultivated in a variety of settings from small family gardens to giant estates covering thousands of acres. The best tea is usually grown at elevation, and often, on steep slopes. The terrain requires that these premium teas be hand-picked. Many of the teas that are grown for tea bags or iced teas, on the other hand, are grown on large, flat, lowland areas to allow for machine harvesting.
Teas that are hand picked and processed in the traditional fashion are called Orthodox Teas. Orthodox teas generally contain only the top two leaves and the unopened bud, which are picked carefully by hand and then processed in varying ways to reach the desired result and bring out the characteristics of the tea. While tea plants do have yellow-white flowers approximately 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter, the "buds" referred to in the tea trade are the young, unopened leaves - the newest, freshest growth.
Machine picked and processed teas are typically called CTC (Cut-Tear-Curl or sometimes, Crush-Tear-Curl) teas. These teas usually include the uppermost leaves and unopened buds, but also typically contain varying amounts of older leaves, stalks and stems. Depending on the quality of the tea and the care used in picking and processing, CTC teas can be of very good quality, but cannot compare to the quality of the best orthodox teas.
The tea plant, which grows naturally in the wild through much of Asia, is cultivated in a variety of settings from small family gardens to giant estates covering thousands of acres. The best tea is usually grown at elevation, and often, on steep slopes. The terrain requires that these premium teas be hand-picked. Many of the teas that are grown for tea bags or iced teas, on the other hand, are grown on large, flat, lowland areas to allow for machine harvesting.
Teas that are hand picked and processed in the traditional fashion are called Orthodox Teas. Orthodox teas generally contain only the top two leaves and the unopened bud, which are picked carefully by hand and then processed in varying ways to reach the desired result and bring out the characteristics of the tea. While tea plants do have yellow-white flowers approximately 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter, the "buds" referred to in the tea trade are the young, unopened leaves - the newest, freshest growth.
Machine picked and processed teas are typically called CTC (Cut-Tear-Curl or sometimes, Crush-Tear-Curl) teas. These teas usually include the uppermost leaves and unopened buds, but also typically contain varying amounts of older leaves, stalks and stems. Depending on the quality of the tea and the care used in picking and processing, CTC teas can be of very good quality, but cannot compare to the quality of the best orthodox teas.
