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Organic Tea（有机茶）

What is Organic Tea

Organic tea is tea that has been produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or other chemicals. Tea is certified as organic by a number of different organizations, and generally requires the avoidance of synthetic chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides, and additives, and prohibits the use of genetically-modified organisms (GMO's). It also specifies that the land used to produce the tea has been free of synthetic chemical usage for a number of years, and has strict requirements about the separation of organic and non-organic materials. Detailed record keeping and periodic inspections are required in order to ensure that the requirements are being met.

Organic Certification

Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic food and other organic agricultural products. In general, any business directly involved in food production can be certified, including seed suppliers, farmers, food processors, retailers and restaurants. Requirements vary from country to country, and generally involve a set of production standards for growing, storage, processing, packaging and shipping.

Why buy organic tea?

The two main benefits of organic food are minimizing health risks by avoiding toxic chemicals in the food, and protecting the environment. Even when toxic chemicals do not make it into the food supply, exposure to these chemicals can pose health risks both for the workers applying the chemicals, and for people living in areas that become contaminated by the chemicals.

The use of synthetic fertilizers in commercial agriculture results in nutrient pollution in runoff, particularly nitrogen, which damages aquatic ecosystems and can harm or destroy the fishing industry in areas downstream. The use of organic fertilizer in organic agriculture greatly reduces the runoff of nitrogen and the damage caused by such nutrient pollution.[

Environmental damage caused by tea production: The tea plant does requires periodic fertilization as the leaves are continually harvested and organic matter is taken away. Heavy application of nitrogen in tea fields can cause soil acidification and serious contamination of local water with nitrates. In China, some tea planters use pesticides such as DDT which have serious ecological impacts, although in 2004 China's Ministry of Agriculture asked planters to reduce their use of a number of such pesticides. Organic practices are thus important for tea as for many other agricultural commodities.

Toxic pesticides in tea: At least 13 pesticides are commonly used in tea production in India, and if residue from these pesticides is left in processed tea, it can be leached into the cup of tea when it is brewed. The rate of leaching varies greatly from one pesticide to another and can be small or negligible for some pesticides but significant for others.

See Also:

• Yellow Tea
• Dark Tea
• Lu'an Guapian

• Taiping Houkui
• Chamomile Tea
• Gunpowder Tea
• Da Fang Tea
• Huo QingTea
• Tea Storage
• Caffeine and Tea
• Burdock Tea
• Ceylon Tea
• Flowering Tea
• Bi Luo Chun
• Green Tea Benefits
• Chrysanthemum Tea
• Yunnan Black Tea
• Huangshan Maofeng
• Lapsang Souchong
• Green Tea Effect Study
• Black Tea Effect Study
• Anxi Tie Guan Yin