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bruce
 
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> > > I am very puzzled by the fact that albeit people in China do not drink
> > > red tea, they do produce and export a lot of it for the West. Who and
> > > why invented the red tea in China, and when did it happen? Was it a
> > > special invention for or by the Europeans?


Black/Red tea is roughly 100 years old and was a sort of happy
accident, it was not invented with anyone in mind. The story of
modern day Keemun is that of an accidental change in the processing of
green Keemun. Green tea has a much longer history in China than
Black/Red and must be more wrapped up in their traditions and culture.
The Book of Tea talks about which types of tea are favored in asia
and why, it's a very interesting book, highly reccomeded!

Was it red tea at all that
> > > the first Dutch ships carried to Europe - or was it the tea the
> > > Chinese used to drink, for example some kind of oolong?


I think the first tea Europeans drank was green but when given the
choice the European culture with it's different taste preferences must
have been really taken with Red/Black tea. Then in the ninteenth
century when India really took off as a tea growing region the
Europeans were able to process tea however they wanted, (the
processing of tea had been unknown to the Europeans for a long time)
black tea was their main choice.