00.05
Green Tea; a cure for the diseases of the western world or just the latest fad in designer drinks. In China the drink has long been hailed as a wonder drug. It's unique properties in preventing cancer and heart disease have been known in these parts for thousands of years. Now the Chinese are cashing in on Green tea's world fame and the export of its special leaves is breaking all records.
00.32
Not to be confused with the more popular black tea, it's green tea that's the preserve of rural China.
00.40
farmer
I just take two leaves and a bud.
00.46
And here in the Chinese province of Zhe-Dschang, is where the masters of green tea production ply their trade. China is the World centre of Green tea manufacturing and almost half of the planet's leaves originate here. The moist warm climate is ideal for the growth of the camellia Sinensis tea plant. Although the same plant produces both black and green tea the manufacturing processes are different.
01.13
In green tea, once the leaves are picked they're roasted in iron pans over wood fires. It's a process which is crucial to the tea's flavour and because it's so vital, roasting is usually done by the farmer himself.
01.27
Goa Ay
Tea Farmer
After they've been picked, you can't waste time. If the leaves wilt for
longer than 3 or 4 hours, the tea doesn't taste as aromatic. For expensive teas it has to be timed perfectly.
01.43
Goa Ay
Tea Farmer
Teas of a lower quality are dried more quickly in hot air. Naturally this takes some of the flavour away.
01.50
Goa Ay
Tea Farmer
The tea leaves get their green colour and typical 'green tea aroma' from
the roasting. We have to make sure that the leaves are dried for long
enough, otherwise the tea gets a nasty aftertaste.
The first roasting takes 15 minutes, and the second one takes a similar time,
but the temperature is kept lower.
02.17
Goa Ay's wife is also a tea farmer and they work as a team. Because of the demands of tea farming a tight knit family is crucial for a successful business venture.
02.32
Unlike black tea, the leaves of green tea are not allowed to oxidise and it's this factor which preserves their medicinal properties. Once roasted the tea is separated into various qualities of stock and naturally each has a different value attached.
02.49
Goa Ay
Tea Farmer
The Spring's first harvest is only 30 kilos, but it yields 1250 dollars. The remaining harvest of 170 kilos is not worth more than 2500. We go and pick the tea early in the morning. When I start roasting my wife makes the food, then afterwards she roasts.
03.13
Goa Ay
Tea Farmer
When we have roasted enough tea, we sell it at the market . But first we store the tea in clay jugs with lime in them, which keeps the tea dry. We put a layer of paper on the lime, and lay the tea on top.
03.29
Scientists believe that antioxidants such as polyphenol present in green tea protect the body from cell damage. The lower incidents of cancer and heart disease in China back this up. But Green Tea is more than a medicinal product.
03.45
The culture of tea drinking in the east is akin to the celebration of wine in the west. With dozens of different varieties the Chinese now recognise the marketing potential of having a vast array of green teas on offer.
04.07
(Business) manager:
Here we sell many different Londschin teas. The top quality has to be
harvested before the 4th of April, because then the leaves are shorter than
the buds, which gives it a particularly mild, sweet taste. But all the teas
harvested in April are first, second or third class and all have a fine aroma. Londschin teas hardly ever have a bitter taste, when the leaves are still small.
04.35
(Business) manager:
Here you see two Londschin teas. A good quality tea in the glass on the
right at 5 cents a kilo. On the left a top quality tea at 20 cents from
the same tea garden, but picked 2 weeks earlier.
04.50
A tea house in China. Despite the recent cultural changes, green tea drinking has always remained a focal point for Chinese society. Now the new drive is to export their favoured produce and the trade is big business. More than 250,000 tons of tea were exported last year bringing in almost 40 million dollars. And as word spreads globally about the potential benefits of drinking the green stuff, production looks set to rise. Of course for the locals this new found fame only strengthens their desire for the nation's number one tipple, despite its elderly status.
05.28
Woman: Is tea outdated?
Man: outdated! Even with China opening-up to the West, and the import of Western drinks our tea-drinking is as keen as ever.
Woman with child
05.37
Yes, every morning I start my day with a cup of tea. It's a habit.
05.44
Child
I like tea with ice.
05:46
Young man
I suppose I drink about 600 litres a year.
05.49
In another tea house Professor Wang Jiang from the Chinese institute of tea culture, waxes lyrical about the mythology surrounding green tea.
05.58
Professor
Legend has it that tea was first discovered when a leaf fell from a wild tea bush into a bowl of hot water. Such stories go back almost 5000 years. Here in the Zhejiang province we have been planting tea since the Tang dynasty, almost 1400 years ago. Even then green tea was widely enjoyed.
06.26
Tea trees are living witnesses of those times. This one is 2000 years old.
Back then it was just an ordinary tea bush.
06.38
In even earlier times, tea was exclusively used as a cure. Chinese doctors
were only paid as long as their patients were healthy. If they got sick,
the patient didn't pay until they were well again. So it was in the
doctors' best interests that people drank tea, so that they didn't fall ill.
07.00
As most doctors in those days were monks, a special ceremony accompanied the preparation of the tea. This has been carried through to the present day.
Sound up on tea ceremony
07.15
Resembling something like a spiritual quest, the Zen like preparation of the tea supposedly influences the taste and effect.
07.25
Firstly the cups are warmed, then boiling water which has been allowed to cool to around 80 degrees, is poured onto the tea. Depending on the desired strength of caffeine, the tea is brewed for a shorter or longer period of time. And this is the mystery of green tea. In the west the medical community stresses the dangers of caffeine but in China it's presence makes little difference to green tea's status as a theraputic drug.
08.08
Green tea has been a traditional Chinese medicine for 4000 years and here in this Chinese pharmacy prescriptions are prepared and sold as they always have been. Perhaps some of the preparations might seem a little unusual to
Westerners. However green tea definitely works, although I don't want to talk about exactly how, each person has to find out what it does for them, but the tea is definitely healthy. It's been researched and proven.
08.50
Proven up to a point. Whilst scientists acknowledge green tea's impact in preventing disease they don't exactly know how it achieves this. Research has indicated that the chemicals in green tea inhibit the growth of cancerous cells in the body. But more research is needed before there's a consensus amongst the medical profession. So green tea remains as elusive as ever but after the three hundred year dominance by black tea at least the west is finally catching on. If Chinese marketing is anything to go by, green tea is the drink of the future.
Ends
10.10
An ORF Production