Anyone studied the chemistry of Tea?

[silverneedles]

why ?

[vibrantdragon]

I just spoke with one of the tea masters that make some of my tea and he said that the air in the tea factory is filled with the fungi so no need to to touch the mat to most leaves. The raw teas do not need to be infused with the fungi, they naturally pick up the correct strains in the wild and as passing thru the piling and pressing.

For the cooked tea the most important part is to make sure of the temperature of the leaves and its moisture during fermenting.

[JAS-eTea Guy]

I am currently reading a book that seems to have some good information on the chemistry of tea. I will get back to you on the book name, and summarize some of the information regarding raw pu.

[vibrantdragon]

Great, Thanks. It really is a journey learning all these techniques. I found some good technical papers, but they were not completely correct I found out. I hope to continue finding good sources so any help is great.
The type of leaf and they way they stop the oxidation seems to be very important. The main steps that I have been able to find are:
For Sheng or Raw tea:
1. Pick leaf - Large, Med and Small size are all used it depends upon the type of tea being made. One item of great importance over the size is the thickness of the leaf. They want thicker leaves.
2. Stop Oxidation - now it is called Mao Cha
3. Dry leaf - Shai Qing Mao Cha - (the green leaves that has sat in Sunshine).
4. Store leaf
5. Press Bing

The leaves naturally have the fungi on them, one of the key jobs is to make sure they do not kill the fungi needed to transform the tea.

Thanks for any help.