Ceylon Tea FAQ

What is Real Tea?

Tea in its true sense is defined by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) as, “tea derived solely and exclusively, and produced by acceptable processes, notably withering, leaf maceration, aeration and drying, from the tender shoots of varieties of the species Camellia sinensis, known to be suitable for making tea for consumption as a beverage.

Real tea is tea produced in the traditional, orthodox manner from the tender shoots of Camellia sinensis. The process of manufacture, perfected over centuries is the most widespread in Sri Lanka with its drying, rolling, fermentation and baking into the form most people are familiar with – black tea, green tea, oolong tea and white tea. Orthodox Tea is distinct from the more recent process – CTC (or Cut, Twist and Curl) which was developed by companies seeking to offer quick colour in a teabag. CTC teas rob tea of its soul, losing the subtlety of flavour, aroma, variety and character that Orthodox Teas are prized for. CTC consists of just three grades or forms, whilst Orthodox Tea produces almost infinite variety of leaf size, colour, subtlety of character and body. Dilmah offers Real Tea from a Single Origin Tea, offering quality, flavour and richness of taste in both teabag and leaf tea formats.

What are herbal infusions?

Herbal Infusions, fruit-based tisanes and floral infusions are not technically “tea”. In many countries, these infusions are usurping the health and other benefits of tea falsely. Dilmah offers a variety of herbal infusions including chamomile, peppermint and rosehip.

Is the quality of a large size leaf better than small size tea grades?

The size of tea particles (known as the grade of tea) has no bearing on quality and only influences strength. When we harvest tea leaves and make them into tea, we use the traditional, artisanal method – withering, rolling, and in the case of black tea fermenting and baking the leaf. While rolling, the leaf can become elongated and wiry, tightly curled or smaller particles which come out as OPA, Pekoe, BOP or finer Dust or Fannings grades.

A single batch of good leaf can yield several of these grades and whilst they would all be good, the only difference in the size of particles would be the strength. That is related to the surface area of the leaf when brewed with hot water. A teaspoonful of Dust tea can have four times or larger surface area than the equivalent quantity of OPA, and hence offer better extraction, and a thicker, stronger brew.

Does the water affect the tea brew?

The water used to brew the tea significantly affects the colour and the taste of a cup of tea. Tea brewed in soft water or permanently hard water (which contains CaSO4) appears brighter than if it is brewed in temporary hard water (that contains Calcium bicarbonate CaCO3). High pH water that contains bicarbonate makes the infusion look darker brown due to the greater ionisation of the tea polyphenols. While lower pH as in lemon tea makes the infusion turn yellow. As for taste some teas are more suited to softer water such as the orthodox manufactured Assam leaf, while high grown Ceylon and CTC manufactured teas are better with temporary hard water.

Can over boiled water affect the quality of tea?

Boiling water for too long does dramatically affect the quality of tea. The desirable brisk taste of tea is created by the interaction of two of its main components, caffeine and polyphenols. Each component is harsh on its own but as a complex, the compounds moderate each other. Acid levels of water affect the behaviour of these components.

Water contains minerals and gases absorbed from the earth bed and air. Carbon dioxide absorbed by air makes the water slightly acidic that influence the colour and taste. High temperature changes the acidity of water and the acidity is reduced by gradually driving out carbon-dioxide. Therefore, re-boiled water might well brew tea of a different colour and strength and is unsuitable to brew a good cup of tea

Why should one never re-boil water when brewing tea?

Taste, colour and mouth feel depend on the interaction between the two main components of tea, polyphenols and caffeine. Each component is astringent on its own, but as a complex the astringent character is reduced. Water is known to contain dissolved gases absorbed from the air. Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas that is present in water affects the acidity. Acidity of water plays a critical role in the ionisation of tea polyphenols and it contributes to the stability of the above complex. CO2 in water is gradually released during the boiling process. Re-boiling will in fact further reduce CO2 levels, resulting in a decrease in the acidity. As mentioned above this will affect the caffeine and polyphenol complexion, and bring about changes in the colour as well as the character of the brew.

Twice boiled water will therefore affect the taste of a good tea and hence our request that only freshly boiled water is used for brewing Dilmah tea.

What is decaffeinated tea?

For teas to be labelled decaffeinated, the caffeine content should not exceed 0.4% by dry weight, which is equivalent to approximately 4 mg of caffeine per 170 ml serving.

The process of decaffeination extracts the caffeine in tea. The current commercially available methods for decaffeinating black tea are solvent based extraction using ethyl acetate or methylene chloride, and extraction using supercritical (solid) carbon dioxide. All three methods extract caffeine with minimal effect to the quality of tea.

Tannic acid – what is it and is it present in tea?

Tannins or tannic acid are not present in tea. Tea polyphenols were formerly referred to as tannins or tannic acids due to the similarities in the chemical structure. This has left many misguided notions about the effect of tea upon the human digestive system. Chemists generally group compounds into ‘families’ on account of common features in the synthesis of the molecules. For example, both strychnine and morphine are alkaloids and have common structural features but the action on the human body is different. Strychnine is a powerful stimulant and morphine a powerful hypnotic.
Vegetable tannins are a large chemical family and some of them are loosely called tannic acids. These compounds possess the property of hardening animal tissues and turning hide into leather. Tea polyphenols on the other hand are called catechins, theaflavins and thearubigens, and are responsible for many of the health benefits associated with tea. Such as anti-hypercholestemic action, anti-hyperglycemic action, fat reduction action, anti-hypertensive action, anti- cancer action and many other health promoting effects. Current scientific literature points to the fact that tea polyphenols are biochemically very different to tannins.

Why does tea cloud when it is cooled?

Clouding in tea is a result of the colloidal precipitate that is formed. This is called ‘tea cream’. Tea creaming takes place when black tea is cooled below 400°C. A weak complexion is formed between caffeine and polyphenols (theaflavins and thearubigins). The tendency to cream down varies from tea to tea. In black tea without milk complexation and subsequent precipitation that occurs is negligible due to just 4% of caffeine.

In tea with milk a similar association takes place between the milk protein casein and various polyphenols. Due to the availability of casein in milk tea the complexion is greater resulting in larger precipitation.

What is tea scum or the dark skin on top of the brewed tea?

It is the result of the high molecular weight components which are formed due to the influence of calcium and bicarbonate ions at the liquid water interface.

The scum can be removed in two ways:

• By filtering the calcium ions,
• By adding acids to covert bicarbonate ions to CO2.

Very little scum is formed on a cup of very strong tea. As the acidic tea polyphenols themselves partly neutralise the bicarbonate ions. It also should be noted that less than one mg of scum is formed in a cup of tea and it is not known to be harmful to human health.