Tea: It Does the Body Good

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Historically, tea’s origins date back to around 2700 BC. It is thought to have first been discovered in the mountainous areas of China’s far western Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. It was originally taken as a detoxifying medicine though it grew to great social prominence during the Tang (620-907 AD) and Sung (960-1279 AD) Dynasties. In addition to tea’s attributed health benefits, the high level of “tea culture” was appealing to people outside of China as well. Since the fifth century AD, tea has been exported by land and sea throughout Asia and reached Europe in 1610. It was Dutch traders that first brought tea to Europe but the British who greatly developed it, transplanting it to India in the early 1800′s.

A Tea Drier should be considered as a body or vessel within which a quality of air is circulated with a pre-determined number of changes per minute. In this manner, some direct relationship between its size and its capacity can be made.

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APRICOT TEA COOKIES 
SERVING: 20 COOKIES
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup rolled oats (not instant oatmeal)
1/2 cup Sucanat, sugar, or alternate dry sweetener of choice
1 cup raw almonds, chopped
1 cup dried apricots, preferably unsulphured, chopped
1/2 cup sunflower or other light oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/4 cup plain or vanilla soy milk (approximate) 
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Sift the flour, soda, powder, and salt together into a large mixing bowl. Mix in the oats, sugar, almonds, and apricots. Stir in the oil, vanilla, and soy milk, mixing well. If the mixture seems too dry, add more soy milk a few drops at a time until the mixture holds together but isn’t liquid. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until just beginning to brown around the edges.

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Openly exploring the wide range of flavors produced by teas from India, Japan, China and Africa, however, requires a great deal of care and discrimination. There is not only a tea for every taste, but also for every moment of the day. Some outstanding teas can be compared to great vintage wines, where as other perfectly worthy yet more conventional teas are to be drunk daily like decent table wines. This is why white tea, one of the most exclusive varieties in the world, should really be tasted one if one is only a connoisseur. To a less experienced palate, the crystal-clear liquid made from these pretty, velvety buds will simply appear bland – an expensive mistake to make, given the price of white tea!

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More tea is drunk, worldwide, than any other beverage- except water. From China to England, from India to America, has acquired a vast multitude of followers, leaving its mark on every civilization. Each day, over one and a half billion cups of tea are consumed on the planet. This success is due to the fact that tea has been able to adapt itself to the cultures it has encountered. For unlike modern soft drinks that sweep across the planet with the help of colossal advertising campaigns, tea has never been perceived as a threat to a way of life, has never been synonymous with uniformity. It is not generally a ready made beverage consumed straight from a can or bottle. To the contrary, tea requires a sometimes lengthy rite of preparation, stimulating an inventiveness that is conducive to the free expression of individual taste. Many different attitudes and cultures are thus encountered along the route that leads from a steaming bowl of cha with yak butter to a tall glass of iced tea with lemon from ceremonial Matcha to the au lait.

Continuation….

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If a drier is considered a vessel within a room, it can be considered to be a vessel within a vessel. If air is being passed through vessel A than the outer vessel, vessel B, will allow to escape. If more air can escape from vessel B then it is forced through vessel A, it will increase pressure in vessel B until this pressure neutralizes the force pumping the air. This is back pressure.

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