Hello everyone.
This is Keko, the online staff.
Today, I'd like to talk about something that has piqued my curiosity: the color of tea.
While tea leaves are green, why is tea itself often referred to as "brown"?
When we look at traditional color charts or dictionaries, "brown" typically refers to a shade that resembles soil or has variations of gray.
So, why isn't the color associated with tea the same green as its leaves?
The reason lies in the history of tea.
Tea was introduced to Japan from China during the Heian period.
At that time, tea was commonly made by roasting and drying freshly picked tea leaves, resulting in a brown-colored beverage.
Additionally, since tea leaves were also used as a natural dye for fabrics, resulting in a brown hue, the name "brown" may have stuck.
However, during the mid-Edo period, a new method emerged: steaming and kneading the tea leaves.
This led to the preservation of the green color of the leaves, resulting in what we now know as green tea.
So, until the Edo period, tea was not green but rather "brown" (or brownish).
It's fascinating to see how the color of tea has evolved over time!
Those of us involved in the tea industry use a specific term to refer to the color of tea when evaluating its quality.
This term commonly used is "Suisyoku" (水色) in Japanese.
It denotes the color of the tea liquid that emerges during the extraction process.
When hot water is poured over tea leaves, a liquid of various shades of brown is extracted from the leaves.
The term "Suisyoku" is used to assess the hue of this liquid. Depending on the quality and type of tea, the "Suisyoku" can exhibit various nuances and characteristics.
Interestingly, while "Suisyoku" translates to "water color" in English, it's used as a specialized term to describe the color of the tea extraction liquid, which may include shades of brown or green.
Therefore, the association of "Suisyoku" with the color blue is a rather intriguing point.