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Tea Archives – Gotta Tea
At the end of the 19th century some significant changes were taking place in tea drinking habits. In England there was a dramatic shift from buying tea of Chinese origin to buying tea from British owned plantations in India, Ceylon and Africa. This also led to an increase in tea drinking at the source, in…
History of Tea Cultivation and Processing – Gotta Tea
Tea is an evergreen plant, camellia sinensis, that grows wild in tropical climates and is indigenous to both China and India. It needs heavy rainfall of at least 100cm per year but deep, light, acidic, well drained soil. Providing these conditions are met it can grow up to 2100ft above sea level. Although there is…
Herbal Tea – Gotta Tea
Herbal infusions, often called tisanes or herbal teas, despite the fact that they do not have any actual leaves from the tea bush (Camellia sinensis), are caffeine free alternatives to tea or coffee for a hot drink. Rooibos and Mate are two examples of tisanes but herbal infusions can also cover a wide range of…
How to Make Tea – Gotta Tea
All tea is produced from a plant called Camellia sinensis. The thousands of different varieties of teas available in the world only vary by the region it was grown, the time of year picked, and the processing method. Our premium teas come from all over the world and many of our Chinese and Japanese teas…
History of the Tea Industry in the World – Gotta Tea
Tea has been cultivated in China since at least the 10th Century BC with legends going back even further but despite being so important to the economy that it was even used as currency, it was not until it started to gain worldwide appreciation that it could truly be said to become an industry. Traditionally…
Green Tea – Gotta Tea
Green tea is a type of Camellia sinensis that has undergone minimal fermentation. It originates from China and is associated with many areas of Asia such as China, Japan and the Middle East although it has recently become popular in the west where black tea is more traditionally consumed. Part of this revival is due…
Rooibos Teas – Gotta Tea
Rooibos is made from the plant Aspalathus linearis and not from the Camellia family at all despite often being called bush tea or redbush tea. This is because its name means “Red Bush” in Afrikaans and is often drunk as an alternative to tea. It is naturally caffeine free and low in tannins with numerous…
What’s Oolong Tea?
What’s Oolong tea? Oolong tea (also sometimes called Wu Long tea meaning “black dragon”) is a variety of Camellia sinensis that has been partially fermented to give it a colour between green and black tea. It is commonly served in Chinese restaurants or sold as “weight loss tea” due to its high caffeine content which…
What’s White Tea’s history and health benefits?
What’s White Tea? White tea is made from the buds and young leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant and sun dried or dried by steaming with no fermentation. As a result it has the least amount of caffeine of all the teas, about 1% that of a cup of coffee, and the most subtle…
Mate Teas – Gotta Tea
Mate, also known as Chimarrão or Cimarrón, is a traditional South American beverage made from steeping the dried leaves of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) in hot water. It is traditionally served in a calabash gourd and drunk through a metal straw called a bombilla. This straw has a flared end with small holes in that…