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Tea
- Drink made as hot water infusion of roasted leaves
- Made from the leaves of camelia sinensisnative to SE Asia and China
- grown today in India, Sri Lanka, Japan, Africa, and S. America
- best teas=young bud and leaves
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Black Teas
- rolled to break internal cell walls and release essential oils
- spread out in a cool humid place to ferment and oxidize
- then roasted to further enhance flavor
- linnaeus though this came from a different plant than green tea
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Green Teas
- leave briefly heated after picking to destroy microbial activity
- leaves are rolled to release essential oils and break cells walls
- NOT fermented and oxidized
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Tea History
- written records of tea consumption in china date back 3000 years
- china had ritual tea consumption, ceremonies that flourished in Buddhist temples and monastaries
- introduced in Japan by Buddhist monks 1000 years ago, ceremonies became even more highly developed
- unknown in Europe until the 1500s
- brought back to Portugal from Japan in the 1580
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Dutch East India Company
- established in 1602, the richest company in the world in the 1600s
- at its peak it employed 20,000 sailors, 10,000 soldiers, and 50,000 civilians
- exclusive rights for trade in Asia
- interested in spices (cloves, black pepper, tea)
- always in fights with England, formally dissolved in 1798
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British East India Company
- established in 1600, strong presence in India in early 1600s
- captured most of European tea market during the 17002 and 1800s
- tea was grown in India and sold in Europe and America, taxed by England
- tea smuggling was a large industry to avoid taxes
- British East India company had tons of unsold tea
- 1773 British governement gave permission to company to sell tea in the American colonies w/out paying taxes, therefore bypassing American merchants
- Dec 1773 Boston Tea Party!!
- set stage for American independence, contributed to social rejection of tea in America
- early 1800s BEIC was responsible for developing the opium industry in India and forcing importation from china
- late 1800s British gov took over
- dissolved in 1874
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Caffeine
- primary sources: tea (china and se asia), coffee (NE africa), cacao (S america)
- caffeine firts isolated from coffee in 1820
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Physiological Effects of Caffeine/ other Xanathines
- arousal, alertness, wakefulness
- increased HR and BP
- bronchial dilation
- increased kidney output (diuretic)
- increased metabolic rate
- effects are dose dependent
- individual variability and tolerance
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Caffeine withdrawl
- fatigue
- headache
- irratability
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Caffeine in the Brain
- Caffeine and other xanthines are adenosine receptor antagonists (adenosine is an inhibitory NT)
- vasodialation of respiratory systems
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