Tea

Speaking of the Cameron Highlands in the last ‘Blog’ made me cast my thoughts towards one of my favourite pastimes.

Tea.

Well, drinking tea, actually. I have no concern over how or where it is grown nor do I bother myself over the processes of turning the tea into an exquisite drink. Blending tea is for others with finer taste buds than mine.

Blending?

Ah, well. It is rare to get a ‘pure’ tea. Most of the commercial tea packets available are a mixture of tea leaves from various sources.

African tea, which is a little bitter, is used to bring out the colour, for example. You only need to brew that for a few minutes to get the benefit.

Ceylon tea is another matter. A full eleven minutes is needed to get the best from that.

We have, grown here in Malaysia, the benefit of ‘Boh’ tea and Bharratt’s ‘Cameron Valley’ tea. Both are fine teas but ‘Boh’ is lighter, more delicate, whereas ‘Cameron Valley’ tea is more robust with a fuller flavour.

'Boh' Tea plantation and Cafe

'Boh' Tea

Bharratt Tea House

'Cameron Valley' Tea

Many teas are available here from overseas. ‘Liptons’, ‘PG Tips’, ‘Tetleys’, ‘Adams’ and many others.

We are fortunate to have so much choice. In the Chinese restaurants they will often have green tea from China on offer; this is exceptionally tasty. There are variations of this where they will add dried fruits to form a type of Sichuan tea.

There are different forms. My personal liking is for plain tea – no milk and no sugar. I like to taste the tea. But teh tarik is very popular here.

Teh tarik is ‘pulled tea’. Condensed milk and sugar is added to the tea, which is then poured from a great height and with great accuracy into another container. The process is then repeated until the tea is at a comfortable temperature for consumption and well mixed.

Teh Tarik

Making Teh Tarik

Teh tarik is delicious and fattening!

There is also a ‘three layer’ tea that is similar to teh tarik except that it is not mixed.

Three Layer Tea

Of course, the flavour of the tea is dependent upon the water that is used to make it. Just like boiling eggs, if you use tainted water then the flavour of the end product will also be tainted.

The hardness of the water also counts. Most teas benefit from being brewed in soft water.

The Bharratt tea mentioned earlier tastes much better up in the Cameron Highlands, where they have a tea house just South of Tanah Rata, than it does down here in the lowlands of Kuala Lumpur.

Naturally, the taste can be improved by using the best water. That would be ionised water in the pH8.5 to pH9.5 range.

If, like me, you love tea then Malaysia is the place to go. While you are here you can also enjoy the benefits of wonderful food and great scenery.