To: Phatt Jake who wrote (2781 ) 5/19/1999 6:54:00 PM From: grw5 Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Just a little FYI----nobleharbor.com >>What is TEA?TEA is the second most popular beverage in the world. Only water is rated higher in world consumption than tea. It is estimated that somewhere between 18 and 20 billion 6 oz. cups of tea are drunk daily on our planet. An extension of numbers would indicate that the United States only imports enough tea annually to keep world usage rates going for 2 days.Tea is a stimulant, a very mild stimulant, since it contains caffeine. Tea contains fewer miligrams of caffeine per equal-sized cup than does coffee or cocoa. Tea contains small quantities of tannic compounds technically called polyphenols (not tannic acid used in tanning leather), vitamin A, B2, C, D, K, and P, plus a number of minerals in trace amounts and also aromatic oils. The tannin compounds and essential oils are, in the main, responsible for the flavor of tea, the color, the astringency (dryness), and the delightful aromatics. These last two substances or compounds which combine to produce the delicate and sought-after nuance flavors of tea, cannot be determined chemically by analysis of the tea. All tea analysis comes out basically the same regardless of the variety or where in the world the tea is grown. It is in the well-developed
