It’s no joke: drinking tea helps with caries!

Drunk beautiful hilly landscapes full of lush green bushes: I have rarely seen more beautiful places than Sri Lanka’s tea growing areas. Neighboring Indians call such plantations Tea Gardens, and I really thought then that I was in the Garden of Eden. After walking past the pickers, we went to the tea factory. Before that, I did not know that such a natural product is produced in a factory. From the tea garden to the factory, the conceptual contrast cannot be greater.

“Today, the tea industry is the backbone of the Sri Lankan economy,” writes German tea sommelier Peter Rorsen (80) in his recently brewed book. “A small island the size of Bavaria exports about 300,000 tons more tea than giant India.” There are two world famous growing regions, Assam and Darjeeling. India may export less but produces much more (1.26 million tons), making it the second largest tea producer in the world after China (2.74 million tons).

While tea has a long tradition in Asia, the word has only been used in Germany since the 18th century. However, according to Rorsen, there is one mistake in centuries of history: “There are no white, green, and black tea plants.” Each type of tea is made from the same green leaves of Camellia sinensis, the original Chinese variety of camellia. “The colors are the result of extremely different processing of the collected leaves,” writes a former professor of English cultural history at the University of Göttingen (Germany).

While white tea leaves are only dried very thoroughly, for green tea they are heated to just over 70 degrees Celsius and the black tea comes from the factory. “Tea leaves, pliable after withering, are now rolled between the metal plates of the rolling machine—unlike green tea without preheating,” Rorsen writes. The leaves break, the pulp comes out, oxidizes. “To stop the oxidation, the tea is dried for about 20 minutes,” Rorsen continues. To do this, the tea passes through a hot air dryer on a conveyor belt – essentially, in a factory.

In this fascinating book, we will learn everything not only about the origin and production, but also about the preparation and effects. The tea sommelier comments: “Ever since tea has been around, it has been credited with beneficial and health-promoting effects on the human body.” Therefore, in Europe, it has been part of the recipes of pharmacists since 1650. Rorsen: “It is believed that tea can help prevent tooth decay due to its high fluoride content (…)”. So: black tea in the evening instead of white toothpaste.

Peter Rorsen, “Tea Book – Varieties, Cultures, Trade”, CH Beck