Té negro
Té negro - oxidación sustancial. Realmente un té marrón, rojizo y oscuro cuando se hace, el té negro totalmente condimentado es popular en naciones occidentales. Es té muy procesado y más fuerte condimentado. Después de que las hojas se escogen, se fermentan en el sol abierto siendo secado antes. El tamaño de las hojas de té determina la graduación de té negro. Las variedades negras comunes del té incluyen Ceilán, Assam, Darjeeling y Sikkim, considerado por muchos los dos tés negros más finos.
Black tea is a type of tea that is more oxidized than oolong, green and white teas. All four types are made from leaves of the shrub (or small tree) Camellia sinensis. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor than the less oxidized teas. Two principal varieties of the species are used – the small-leaved Chinese variety plant (C. sinensis subsp. sinensis), used for most other types of teas, and the large-leaved Assamese plant (C. sinensis subsp. assamica), which was traditionally mainly used for black tea, although in recent years some green and white have been produced.
In Chinese languages and the languages of neighboring countries, black tea is known as "red tea" (紅茶], Mandarin Chinese hóngchá; Japanese kōcha; 홍차, Korean hongcha), a description of the colour of the liquid; the Western term "black tea" refers to the colour of the oxidized leaves. In Chinese, "black tea" is a commonly-used classification for post-fermented teas, such as Pu-erh tea; outside of China and its neighbouring countries, "red tea" more commonly refers to rooibos, a South African tisane.
While green tea usually loses its flavor within a year, black tea retains its flavour for several years. For this reason, it has long been an article of trade, and compressed bricks of black tea even served as a form of de facto currency in Mongolia, Tibet and Siberia into the 19th century. Although green tea has recently seen a revival due to its purported health benefits, black tea still accounts for over ninety percent of all tea sold in the West.
Varieties
Generally, unblended black teas are named after the region in which they are produced. Often, different regions are known for producing teas with characteristic flavors.
| Tea | Hanzi | English | Origin | Source city | Source region | Source country | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tanyang Gongfu | 坦洋 工 夫 | Tanyang | Fujian Province | China | The king of the Fujian Artisan Red Teas. One of the three Famous Fujian Reds. | ||
| Zhenghe Gongfu | 政和 工 夫 | Zhenghe | Fujian Province | One of the three Famous Fujian Reds, with a slight honey flavor. | |||
| Bailin Gongfu | 白琳 工 夫 (白琳功夫) | Bailin | Fujian Province | One of the three Famous Fujian Reds. | |||
| Zhengshan xiaozhong (Lapsang Souchong) | 正山小种 | Wuyi Mountains | Fujian Province | Dried over burning pine, thereby developing a strong smoky flavour. | |||
| 烟小种 | |||||||
| Yin Jun Mei | 银骏 眉 | Silver Steed Eyebrow | Wuyi Mountains | Fujian Province | A higher grade version of Zhengshan xiaozhong (aka. Lapsang Souchong) | ||
| Jin Jun Mei | 金骏 眉 | Golden Steed Eyebrow | Wuyi Mountains | Fujian Province | One of the highest grade red teas in mainland China. | ||
| Keemun | 祁門 | Qimen | Anhui Province | One of China's Famous Teas. The aroma of tea is fruity, with hints of pine, dried plum and floweriness. | |||
| Dian Hong | 滇紅 | Yunnan Province | Well known for dark malty teas and golden bud teas. | ||||
| Ying De Hong | 英徳紅 | Guangdong Province | The tea has a cocoa-like aroma and a sweet aftertaste, one can find a peppery note. | ||||
| Jiu Qu Hong Mei | 九曲红梅 | "Nine Winding Red Plum" | Hu Fou district | Hangzhou | Zhejiang Province | This tea is characterised by tight fishhook-like leaves with a lustrous black color. The infusion is brightly reddish and has a long smooth aftertaste. | |
| Sun Moon Lake | 英徳紅 | Sun Moon Lake | Nantou County | Taiwan | Honey rich tones, sweet osmanthus, cinnamon and peppermint. | ||
| Tibeti | 藏茶 | Ya'an | Sichuan Province | A unique tea that can also be called brick tea; it is has been known as "Tibetan tea" for centuries. | |||
| Assam | Assam | India | Full bodied, strong and distinctively malty tea from the lowlands of Assam. It is the highest produced tea in the world. | ||||
| Darjeeling | West Bengal | Thin bodied, floral and fruity tea from Darjeeling with defining muscatel tones. Today often processed as a mixture of black, green and oolong elements, though still classed as black. Many consider it to be the best black tea in the world, because of its unique spice. | |||||
| Munnar | Kerala | ||||||
| Kangra | Himachal Pradesh | ||||||
| Nilgiri | Tamil Nadu | Intensely aromatic, strong, and fragrant tea from the Nilgiri Hills of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. | |||||
| Ceylon | Sri Lanka | It is grown on numerous estates which vary in altitude and taste. High-grown tea is honey golden liquor and light. Low-grown teas are a burgundy brown liquor and stronger. Mid-grown teas are strong, rich and full-bodied. |
Blends
Black tea is often blended and mixed with various other plants in order to obtain a beverage.
| Blend | Description |
|---|---|
| Earl Grey | Black tea with bergamot oil. |
| English Breakfast | Full-bodied, robust, and/or rich, and blended to go well with milk and sugar. |
| English afternoon tea | Medium bodied, bright and refreshing. Strong Assam and Kenyan teas are blended with Ceylon which adds a light, brisk quality to the blend. |
| Irish Breakfast | Blend of several black teas: most often Assam teas and, less often, other types of black tea. |
| Masala chai | Combines black tea, spices, milk, and a sweetener such as sugar or honey; a traditional beverage from India which has been adapted in the West with changes to the method of preparation. |
In the United States, citrus fruits such as orange or lemon, or their respective rinds, are often used to create flavored black teas, sometimes in conjunction with spices (such as cinnamon). These products can be easily confused with citrus-based herbal teas, but the herbal products will generally be labelled as having no caffeine; whereas, the tea-based products do contain caffeine.
Manufacture
- After the harvest, the leaves are first withered by blowing air on them.
- Then black teas are processed in either of two ways, CTC (Crush, Tear, Curl) or orthodox. The CTC method produces leaves of fannings or dust grades that are commonly used in tea bags and are processed by machines. This method is efficient and effective for producing a better quality product from medium and lower quality leaves of consistently dark color. Orthodox processing is done either by machines or by hand. Hand processing is used for high quality teas. While the methods employed in orthodox processing differ by tea type, this style of processing results in the high quality loose tea sought by many connoisseurs. The tea leaves are allowed to completely oxidize.
- Orthodox: The withered tea leaves are heavily rolled either by hand or mechanically through the use of a cylindrical rolling table or a rotovane. The rolling table consists of a ridged table-top moving in an eccentric manner to a large hopper of tea leaves, of which the leaves are pressed down onto the table-top. The process produces a mixture of whole and broken leaves, and particles which are then sorted, oxidized, and dried. The rotorvane (rotovane), created by Ian McTear in 1957 can be used to replicate the orthodox process. The rotovane consisted on an auger pushing withered tea leaves through a vane cylinder which crushes and evenly cuts the leaves, however the process is more recently superseded by the boruah continuous roller, which consists of a oscillating conical roller around the inside a ridged cylinder. The broken leaves and particles from the orthodox method can feed into the CTC method for further processing into fanning or dust grade teas.
- CTC: "Cut, tear, curl" or "Crush, tear, curl" black teas is a production method developed by William McKercher in 1930. It is consider by some as a significantly improved method of producing black tea to the orthodox through the mincing of wither tea leaves. The use of a rotovane to precut the withered tea is a common preprocessing method prior to feeding into the CTC
- Next, the leaves are oxidized under controlled temperature and humidity. (This process is also called "fermentation", which is a misnomer since no actual fermentation takes place.) The level of oxidation determines the quality of the tea. This can be done on the floor in batches or an a conveyor bed with air flow for proper oxidation and temperature control. Since oxidation begins at the rolling stage itself, the time between these stages is also a crucial factor in the quality of the tea however fast processing of the tea leaves through continuous methods can effectively make this a separate step.
- Then the leaves are dried to arrest the oxidation process.
- Finally, the leaves are sorted into grades according to their sizes (whole leaf, brokens, fannings and dust), usually with the use of sieves. The tea could be further sub-graded according to other criteria.
The tea is then ready for packaging.
Tea grading
Black tea is usually graded on one of four scales of quality. Whole leaf teas are highest quality followed by broken leaves, fannings, and dusts. Whole leaf teas are produced with little or no alteration to the tea leaf. This results in a finished product with a coarser texture than that of bagged teas. Whole leaf teas are widely considered the most valuable, especially if they contain leaf tips. Broken leaves are commonly sold as medium grade loose teas. Smaller broken varieties may be included in tea bags. Fannings are usually small particles of tea left over from the production of larger tea varieties, but are occasionally manufactured specifically for use in bagged teas. Dusts are the finest particles of tea left over from production of the above varieties, and are often used for tea bags with very fast, very harsh brews. Fannings and dust are useful in bagged teas because the greater surface area of the many particles allows for a fast, complete diffusion of the tea into the water. Fannings and dusts usually have a darker colour, lack of sweetness, and stronger flavor when brewed.
Brewing
Generally, 2.25 grams of tea per 180 ml of water, or about a teaspoon of black tea per 6 oz. cup, should be used. Unlike green teas, which turn bitter when brewed at higher temperatures, black tea should be steeped in freshly boiled water. The more delicate black teas, such as Darjeeling, should be steeped for 3 to 4 minutes. The same holds for broken leaf teas, which have more surface area and need less brewing time than whole leaves. Whole leaf black teas, and black teas that will be served with milk or lemon, should be steeped 4 to 5 minutes. Longer steeping times make the tea bitter (at this point, in the UK it is referred to as being "stewed"). When the tea has brewed long enough to suit the tastes of the drinker, it should be strained while serving.
El estándard ISO 3103 define cómo mezclar té para su cata.
Mayores productores
Los mayores productores de té negro en el mundo (con su porcentaje sobre el total) son:
| Compañía | Marca | Porcentaje |
|---|---|---|
| Unilever | Lipton | 17.6 |
| PG Tips | ||
| Associated British Foods | Twinings | 4.4 |
| Tata Global Beverages | Tetley | 4.0 |
Salud y Nutrición
El té negro sin edulcorantes ni aditivos contiene cantidades inapreciables de calorías, proteínas, sodio y grasa. Algunos tés saborizados con diferentes hierbas añadidas pueden tener menos de 1 gramo de carbohidratos. Todos los tés elaborados a partir de la planta de la camellia son ricos en polifenoles, que son un tipo de antioxidantes.
Beneficios
Un estudio del 2001 de la Universidad de Boston concluyó que el consumo de té negro tanto en el corto como en el largo plazo revierte la disfunción vasomotriz endotelial en pacientes con problemas en la arteria coronaria. Esto puede explicar parcialmente la asociación entre la ingesta de té y la disminución de enfermedades cardiovasculares.
Ver también