'A HISTORY OF...'//'PRODUCT/PUBLICATION RESEARCH'//OUGD504-SUMMER

I looked into some posters and post cards as these were the things I was most interested in trying to create:

I would quite like to create some kind of package that the postcards could go in, I quite like the idea of using brown/parchment style stock but I don't know if that would go with the theme of Chinese culture.

I really like the simple design of this piece of work, I like the way they incorporate the Chinese language into the design and I think it looks simple but effective.  The colour scheme is basic but I think the orange looks good against the stock.

 I quite like the repetition in this poster, again another simple design but I think the concept is good, the stages of making a cup of tea.  I was thinking of doing something similar in design with tea bags.

'A HISTORY OF...'//'TWININGS TEA CLIPS'//OUGD504-SUMMER

TWININGS TEA TASTER CLIPS
These are some short films I watched from the Twinings website to see if I could get anymore information:

TEA TASTER OOLONG TEA CLASS VIDEO

TWININGS BRAZILIAN TEA TASTER VIDEO

BLACK TEA - RUSSIAN CARAVAN - TWININGS TEA TASTERS

SECOND FLUSH ASSAM TEA - TWININGS TEA TASTERS

GREEN TEA - TAI PING HOI KUI - TWININGS TEA TASTERS

GREEN TEA - FAIRY LADIES GOLDEN RINGS - TWININGS TEA TASTERS

WHITE TEA - BUTTERFLIES IN LOVE - TWININGS TEA TASTERS

'A HISTORY OF...'//'TEA TIMELINE'//OUGD504-SUMMER

TEA TIMELINE

16TH CENTURY
-1597 First mention of tea in English.

17TH AND 18TH CENTURY 

• 1601 English East India Company founded.

• 1610 Dutch East India Company market tea.

• 1657 Tea sold at Garaway's Coffee House, London.

• 1664 The English East India Company present Charles II with some tea.

• 1706 Twinings founded.

• 1744 First attempt at tea cultivation in the United States.

• 1772 Tea first successfully cultivated in the United States.

• 1773 The Boston Tea Party protesting taxes on tea.

• 1799 French botanist Francois Andre Michaux, brought the Camellia sinensis plant to the United States and gave it to Henry Middleton.

19TH CENTURY

• 1812 Andrew Melrose founded Melrose's tea company.

• Tea planting in the Indian district of Darjeeling had begun Dr. Campbell, a civil surgeon of the Indian Medical Service. Campbell was transferred to Darjeeling in 1839 and used seeds from China to begin experimental tea planting, a practice he and others continued during the 1840s. The government also established tea nurseries during that period. Commercial development began during the 1850s

• 1867 Tea first sown in Ceylon/Sri Lanka

• 1866 James Taylor visited India to learn about tea plantations.

• 1867 James Taylor established a tea factory at Loolecondera

• 1869 Cutty Sark clipper built - the last merchant ship to be so built. Coffee-rust fungus destroyed most of the coffee plants in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka): this led to the establishment of the tea industry there.

• 1872 James Taylor started upon the construction of a larger tea factory in Loolecondera.

• 1875 James Taylor sent the first consigment of tea to the UK. Yu Quianchen developed Keemun tea

• 1891 Nilgiri Planters Association founded.

20TH CENTURY

• 1900 Scientific Department of Indian Tea Asociation (ITA) established.

• 1903 First patents on tea bags. Indian Tea Cess Bill

• 1904 First commercial sale of tea bags. Benjamin Ginsberg, Russian immigrant to Southern Africa became interested in Roobois and started its commercial development.

• 1906 The Book of Tea (茶の本) by Okakura Kakuzō published.

• 1911 Tocklai Experimental Station established, India.

• 1924 Mrs Florence Philips, a tea planter's wife smuggled a box of tea seeds out of India and these were planed in Chipinge (Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe): led to the development of the tea industry in the then colony.

• 1953 Clanwilliam Tea Cooperative established South Africa.

• 1953 Tea Act India established the Tea Board of India

• 1954 Rooibos Tea Control Board established.

• 1958 Rain Flower tea developed.

• 1964 Tea Research Association TRA established, India, with Tocklai as the centre of activities.

• 1977 Tea Ordinance 1977 established the Bangladesh Tea Board.
• 1987 The Charleston Tea Plantation established in its present form.

• 1991 Hangzhou National Tea Museum opened.
• 1992 Museum to commemorate James Taylor built in Ceylon.

21ST CENTURY

-2007 Tenfu Tea College established.

'A HISTORY OF...'//'THE TEA HOUSE'//OUGD504-SUMMER

I needed some more places to take some interesting photos for primary research, after going to various tea shops and the Twinings strand store I came across the Tea House in Covent Garden, I did some research before I went to see if it would benefit me:
TEA HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN
This shop is all about tea - with a difference.

It sells tea - rather than cups of tea..

Boasting more than 70 quality teas and tisanes imported, roasted and blended to original recipes with the Christina Smith touch.

The list is long - and includes whole-fruit blends, the best tea of China (Gunpowder, jasmine with flowers) India (Assam leaf choice Darjeeling), Japan (Genmaicha green), and Sri Lanka (pure Ceylon) plus such longtime favorite English blended teas as Earl Grey and Earl Grey citrus (often known as Lady Grey.

The shop also offers fun teapots and mugs, among other items and 'tea-phernalia'.
http://www.covent-garden.co.uk/SITES/theteahouse/

'A HISTORY OF...'//'TEA4HEALTH FACTS'//OUGD504-SUMMER

FACTS FROM THE TEA COUNCIL WEBSITE:
http://www.tea.co.uk/news-article/tea4health-facts-and-figures

19th January 2005

The British have been drinking tea for nearly 400 years - and other facts...

Background

- The British have been drinking tea for nearly 400 years

- Tea breaks are traditions that have been with us for approximately 200 years. Initially when workers commenced their day at around 5 or 6am, employers allowed a break in the morning when food and tea were served. Some employers repeated the break in the afternoon as well.

- Tea costs approximately 3p per cup to make. Coffee costs 6.5p

- Tea outsells coffee by 2 to 1

- There are 36 tea-growing nations. The principal ones are India, China, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Indonesia

- Over 50% of our tea comes from East Africa – Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe

Market Figures

- The UK imports around 160 thousand tonnes of tea per year

- The UK drinks 165 million cups per day - 62 billion cups per year.

- There are estimated to be about 1,500 different varieties of tea

- In a recent study, 80% of staff claim they find out more about what's going on at work over a cup of tea than in any other way.

- The UK tea market is worth circa £700 million annually

Consumption patterns

- Average consumption is circa 3 cups per day (10 years old and over)

- 70% of population (over 10yrs) drank tea yesterday

- 96% of tea is consumed in tea bags

- 90% of tea is consumed at home, 10% out of home

- 93% of tea consumed is blend – 7% speciality tea. Earl Grey 50% of speciality market

- Over 25% of milk consumed in UK is taken with tea

- 98% of people take milk with tea

- 45% of people take sugar with their tea

Making the perfect cup of tea

- Always boil fresh water. Re-boiling the water takes the oxygen out and can give a slightly metallic taste.

- Milk in second.

- Brew for 1 to 2 minutes or to taste.

Making the perfect pot of tea

- Always boil fresh water. Re-boiling the water takes the oxygen out and can give a slightly metallic taste.

- Milk in first – this avoids scalding the fats in the milk

- Brew for 3 to 5 minutes or to taste.

Health Facts

- Approximately 40% of the nation’s fluid intake today will be tea

- Tea without milk has no calories. Using semi-skimmed milk adds around 13 calories per cup, but you also benefit from valuable minerals and calcium.

- Tea with milk provides 16% of daily calcium requirement in 4 cups. Tea contains some zinc and folic acid.

- Tea with milk contains Vitamin B6, Riboflavin B2 and Thiamin B1

- Tea is a rich source of minerals manganese, essential for bone growth and body development, and potassium, vital for maintaining body fluid levels

- The average cup of tea contains less than half the level of caffeine than coffee. One cup contains only 50mg per 190ml cup

- Tea is a natural source of fluoride and delivers 45% of your daily requirement if you take 3/4 cups per day

- Only 11% of UK water supply has fluoride added

- Green and black teas are from the same plant, Camelia sinensis, and contain similar amounts of antioxidants and caffeine.

http://www.teaandcakes.co.uk/tea_facts.html

Tea replaced Gin as the drink of the masses in Eighteenth century England.

The oriental tea ceremony was developed by Zen Buddhist monks. Their ritual of making tea expressed 'the quest of greatness in the smallest details of life', and are 'an outward form of an inner belief in the importance of peace and harmony'. Tea ceremonies would be run by Tea Masters, and follow the Way of Tea.

Coffee actually pre-dates tea in England - early coffee houses started selling tea but it was slow to catch on until Catherine of Braganza, Charles II's wife made it trendy (like Posh Spice and St Tropez).

Tea used to be so heavily taxed that it was imported and distributed by a black market of underground smugglers. Pitt the Younger (surely the best named Prime Minster in the history of England) realised that the 119% rate of tax was a bit daft, and slashed this to 12.5%. Tea smuggling ceased remarkably quickly.

Early medics worried that tea drinking among the working classes would lead to weakness and melancholy (unlike Gin...!).

During both the First and Second World War, the British Government took over the importing of tea, to make sure that our favourite hot cup of sustenance would still be within reach.

'A HISTORY OF...'//'VISUALS'//OUGD504-SUMMER

VISUALS

These are some visuals I've collected from various websites,  I have chosen ones that I think look visually appealing and could possibly lead to some inspiration when taking my own tea photographs.  This is the kind of style of photography that I can hopefully attempt when trying to take some for my final graphic design products.

'A HISTORY OF...'//'CASE STUDY: TWININGS'//OUGD504-SUMMER

WHY CHOOSE LOOSE TEA

WHY CHOOSE LOOSE TEA?

We live in a world where convenience is king, whether that is nipping to the out of town supermarket to avoid the traffic, purchasing a "dine in meal" that we can put straight in the oven after a busy day or paying more for petrol out in the country because it is more convenient to stop somewhere on the way than head back to the main roads.  All of these things we do, but often these come with a slight compromise.

The Tea Bag

The humble teabag is idea for making a delicious cup of your favourite blend.  If, like us, you have your tea making down to a tea (excuse the pun) you may be able to boil, brew and slurp your favourite tea within just 10minutes ; perfect for the busy lives we lead. However, there is another side to tea which up until the mid 1950s was the only way to drink your tea here in the UK; using loose leaf tea, and what a wonderful thing it is...

LOOSE TEA

Loose tea comes in many shapes and sizes, from small pellets to long rolled leave and can be white tea, black tea, green tea, an infusion of herbs or fruits or as a hand made, flowering tea.

Whilst we simply couldn't live without the teabag, loose tea is so captivating and mystifying with such romantic origins and histories that it is an absolute must for any tea drinker when the occasion presents itself. 

It is enjoyed by millions of tea lovers around the world and as with teabags, each person has their own special way of drinking it, from the depths of China to the streets of the UK.

Importantly, what makes loose tea so incredible encapsulating is the artisan method by which it is produced.  A method that breaks down the cell integrity of freshly plucked leaves known as orthodox rolling...this releases all the enzymes and juices from the inside of the leaf to coat the outside of the leaf, which when left to oxidise becomes our familiar black tea.  Some of these teas are then twisted to release a flavour explosion which when brewed correctly will give you one of the finest flavour experiences whilst others are enjoyed simply as whole leaf.  Often, the craftsmanship is passed down through families, some as complex as tying each leaf into a little known knot like that of the Jin Shan Tien Hau flowering tea, which unfurls as it brews, offering up the most beautiful of aromas and flavours.