A CAMELLIA FOR YOU

As part of the exposition “Camellias on the Lario -VI Ed.”, Villa Carlotta celebrates Camellia Sinensis, the plant from which tea is harvested, with an exhibition that is a real 3,000 year- journey back into the roads, traditions and stories that gave substance to the history of a beverage among the most popular in the world.

Herunder some oddities on the subject:

• The best drink is prepared using mineral water instead of tap water: the scale particles and other debris can indeed alter the taste. And pay attention to the infusion water temperature: it must never exceed 90 ° C. More precisely: Green Tea: 70 ° or 75 ° - Black Tea: 90 ° - White Tea: 85 ° - flavored teas: 85 ° - semi-fermented tea: 85 °
• Many years ago, in China, tea was not only used as a beverage, but also as a food: its whole leaves, once infused, were eaten.
• Still today many chefs add tea to sweet and savoury preparations. The infusion can be used to macerate plant foods such as tofu, to blur the risotto, to dissolve cornstarch in sweets, and can be turned into sweet syrup to accompany soft slices of cake.
• The Matcha Japanese variety (a very fine type of green tea, obtained from fresh leaves reduced to a fine powder) can be used as an ingredient for dumplings, biscuits, muffins and pies.
• The tea leaves should be stored carefully, possibly in a tin hermetically sealed, or in a wooden box that, according to the Chinese tradition, should be obtained from the cherry tree.