#1a: Film Series


I chose min 0-4:37 of Shunan Teng: The history of tea in order to answer where and how do people raise tea? im titling this scene ” tea and how it came to be”. In this scene the video takes us through the history of where tea came from and also brings up the different types of tea and their uses. The same tea plant we use today is also the same one that pharaohs used 1500 years ago. Yet it wasnt drank it was eaten. Later in the video the narrator goes on to discuss the how tea was used to be pressed into cakes and eventually that came to loose leaf tea. At the end of the video it talks about the opium war and how tea played a part in the British war.

Tea Resources:

#1b: (un)Natural Histories (information you found interesting, e.g. life history, habitat, traditional/historical uses)

Tea has always played a role in Chinese history and in relations with foreign cultures for hundreds of years. Tea was actually a luxury product that defined Chinese civilization. Tea was also used in the opium war for its effects, medicinal, and moral values.

In 1978 forestry workers discovered a source of botanical fossils which dated back over 35 million years old. chinese tea historians debated for a long time about where the tea pant originated exactly but after scientific evidence and research they decided it originated in Huang Guiqiu but we thats just a guess, no one really knows where tea originated but it has been labeled as a ‘chinese’ beverage. Scholars cannot verify one hundred percent that the plants, planted in hedge-like rows next to what appears to be a dwelling place, are tea, but it seems likely. The ancestors of the present-day Bulang people are often credited with being one of the first peoples to harvest wild tea. The present-day Bulang people reside on the ‘tea mountains’ of Sipsongpanna. They historically have followed a system of belief that many would describe as ‘animist’, one that describes the importance of harmonious relations between ‘humans’ and ‘nature’. In Sipsongpanna where the villages have groves of tea trees, many of which are several hundreds of years old and its most likely the earliest form of human cultivation of the tea tree. It was only later that people began to use more intense forms of mass production for tea.

#1c: Regenerative Agriculture (information you found most interesting on topics such as how people growing/raising, harvesting, or processing your species, sustainability issues)

learning about the different types of tea I decided to stick to the most common because there is way to much to learn about the different types and put them in here. Camellia sinensis produces almost all of the world’s teas from black to oolong to white and green.

Camellias are popular garden specimens chosen for their lively color in the winter and fall when little else is in bloom. These are different cultivars than those grown for tea. Camellia sinensis can be grown in sunny to partially shaded areas in USDA zones 7-9. when growing, the plant grows naturally into a large shrub or small tree or it can be pruned to a height of about 3 feet inn order to make tea plant harvesting easier and to promote new growth.

C. sinensis is very hardy and can survive temperatures as low as 0 F. (-18 C.) but cooler temperatures will cause the plant to grow more slowly and/or become dormant. It takes about 2 years before the plant is mature enough for tea plant harvesting, and about 5 years for the plant to really become a tea leaf producer.

when harvestesting the tea just the top two new leaves and leaf bud on the new spring growth. Even commercially, harvesting is still done by hand since machinery can damage the tender leaves. Once the leaves are plucked, they are spread in a thin layer on a tray and then left to dry in the sun. You can harvest tea every 7-15 days depending upon the development of the tender shoots. Different processes are used to produce black teas which are usually harvested in July and August when temperatures are at their peak.

#1d: Case Study Tasing Research: (guest presentation highlights + tasting form with your lab set-up 

Tea: Camellia sinensis

Photo by Nakiah
 Tea type Aroma Color Flavor Body/Briskness
 Green- ‘TeiGuanYin’    fresh, floral,vegetal light brown, greenish vegetal, floral(rose), mossy it being a green tea its not thick at all in the mouth
 ‘Qilan Wuyi’     earthy,mineral,almost coffee smell darker earthy brown mossy,earthy, wet earth definitely heavier than the green
Oolong- ‘Bao Jao’ or ‘Oriental Beauty’ –leafhopper bitten   floral,vegetal,earthy,honeysucklelighter brown  a little nutty and earthy kind of a mix between the green tea and the Qilan Wuyi tea
Photo by Nakiah

#1f: Sustainable Entrepreneurship (consider using any of the sustainability metrics to analyze your food and/or describing sustainable entrepreneurial issues or opportunities related to your food)

More than any other crop, tea plantations have changed the face of many countries, but now they face the threats of climate change, the effects of deforestation ,water shortages, and demands of fair wages from workers. The increase in average temperatures can affect the production for tea industry. Multinationals such as Unilever, which operates a factory for instant tea in Sri Lanka, have embarked on several initiatives to educate workers on environmental issues; water conservation for example. As for low compensation among workers, Oxfam is striving to identify a minimum wage to be allocated to farmers who work on tea plantations, as sometimes worker’s earnings do not even reach the threshold necessary to be considered a living wage. The study, entitled “Understanding Wages in the Tea Industry”, revealed “systemic problems locking in low wages”. Among the key findings, are the salaries that are set at regional or local level, without taking into account the company’s standards; wages are affected by government policies that apply for every plantation and for all of their employees, thus enabling companies to manage costs and productivity; and finally outline the benefits, such as housing, which often make up a large part of the income.

Oxfam, in collaboration with the Ethical Tea Partnership, is carving out a role as a major player through a campaign involving multinational companies and aims to make progress towards an adequate income for both those who work in the plantations and for small landowners, so that they can lead a dignified existence.The coalition commissioned by Oxfam involves a wide range of subjects, including the largest industries in the tea, such as Twinings, Tetley, Taylors of Harrogate (Yorkshire Tea producers), De Master, Unilever, and retailers such as Tesco and Marks & Spencer, along with governments, trade unions and NGOs.The campaign will start from Malawi and then expand to different countries and on different fronts: support for business and investment, changes to the process by which wages are established, growth of workers’ representatives, access to financing  for small business owners, improving living conditions for farmers, skills training and the ability to access the banking services.

#1g: Climate and Resilience Event Series/Seminar (provide highlights of any Climate Justice and Resilience Event as it relates to your case study)

  • During the beginning Dewey discussed Lunar New years and the importance of it.
  • clearing out negative energy, made noise, and break up the energy.
  • she discusses the oxidation of oolong and the process used to make the tea more green or black
  • the different types of soils used affects the taste of the tea
  • as I watch the video I really get a sense of where these teas are from and makes me curious about where all my boxed tea on my shelf comes from
  • the more oxidised tea is the lighter one and the tea can be used multiple times!

#1h: Foodoir: Your Story of Tasting Place (your foodoir response to a quote from the foodoir of your choice, or response to prompts provided by faculty on the Tasting Research WordPress website)

” The two adult sisters, their husbands, their eight children, and their parents Mr. and Mrs. Dory are all squeezed into one five-bedroom house. It isn’t the most crowded house in the neighborhood, but I’m glad I don’t have to live like that.”(66)

while reading this part of the book it sent me back to went I was a child and all 7 of my siblings and I lived together. Usually in houses too small so we had to share rooms in broken down poverty stricken places most my life and were always short on everything in the household. It wasn’t until I was 14 and had to go live with my sister and her family due to family health issues. I took care of her kids till I reached 18 and taking care of 3 boys most of the time. Things like drinking tea became my daily and nightly routine. So not only does this quote bring back my childhood but researching tea also reminds me of the things I enjoyed when I was a teenager. Now I visit the kids every now and then and they like to steal my tea whenever I have any or bring any with me.

Photos by Nakiah

#1i: Bibliography (list key resources of your integrative post using a standard reference style such as APA or MLA as demonstrated here at the Online Writing Lab (OWL).

“Butler, Octavia – Parable of the Sower.pdf.” Butler, Octavia – Parable of the Sower.pdf – PDF Drive, www.pdfdrive.com/butler-octavia-parable-of-the-sowerpdf-d33543982.html.

Carnazzi, Stefano, et al. “The Challenges of the Tea Industry: Environmental and Social Sustainability.” EXPONet, 26 Nov. 2014, www.expo2015.org/magazine/en/economy/the-challenges-of-the-tea-industry–environmental-and-social-sustainability-.html.

Grant, Amy. “Harvesting Tea Plants.” StackPath, www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/tea-plant/harvesting-tea-plants.htm.

Teng, Shunan. “The History of Tea.” TED, www.ted.com/talks/shunan_teng_the_history_of_tea.