Mengding Ganlu tea

Ganlu tea is a tea from Meng Mountain (Meng Shan), Sichuan Province in the southwest part of China. Meng Shan is reputed to be the place where tea was first cultivated.

According to legend, a Taoist Master Wu Lizhen (吴理真) first planted seven tea bushes on Meng Mountain during the Ganlu era (53-50 BCE) of Emperor Xuan of Han dynasty. Prior to this, tea were picked from wild tea bushes. After he died, the tea was called "tea of the immortals" (仙茶). Buddhist monasteries were later established on the five peaks of the mountain, and from the Tang dynasty to the Qing dynasty, 360 tea leaves were picked and prepared each spring by the Buddhist monks to be presented to the emperor. The tea was used as ceremonial offering by the emperor. Wu Lizhen was conferred the posthumous honorific title of Master of Ganlu (meaning "Sweet Dew", full title Ganlu Puhui Miaoji Dashi 甘露普惠妙济大师) by Emperor Xiaozong of the Sung dynasty, from which the tea acquired its name.

Before the mid-Tang dynasty, tea from the Meng Mountain was rare and highly prized; and as demand grew, more tea bushes were planted. Mengding Ganlu is one of the teas produced in the Meng Mountain and it is a green tea, other teas from Meng Mountain include "Mengding Huangya" (蒙顶黄芽) and "Mengding Shihua" (蒙顶石花) which are yellow teas. According to the 16th century scholar Li Shizhen who compiled Compendium of Materia Medica, tea produced from Meng Mountain is "warm and able to take charge of disease," unlike other kinds of tea which are generally cool in nature.

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to Asia. After water, it is the most widely consumed drink in the world. There are many different types of tea; some teas, like Darjeeling and Chinese greens, have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have vastly different profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral or grassy notes.

Tea originated in southwestern China, where it was used as a medicinal drink. It was popularized as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to the West during the 16th century. During the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among Britons, who started large-scale production and commercialization of the plant in India to bypass a Chinese monopoly at that time.

The phrase herbal tea usually refers to infusions of fruit or herbs made without the tea plant, such as steeps of rosehip, chamomile, or rooibos. These are also known as tisanes or herbal infusions to distinguish them from "tea" as it is commonly construed.

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker (Russian: Щелкунчик, Балет-феерия / Shchelkunchik, Balet-feyeriya; French: Casse-Noisette, ballet-féerie) is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (op. 71). The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on Sunday, December 18, 1892, on a double-bill with Tchaikovsky's opera Iolanta.

Although the original production was not a success, the 20-minute suite that Tchaikovsky extracted from the ballet was. However, the complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s, and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in North America. Major American ballet companies generate around 40 percent of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker.

Tchaikovsky's score has become one of his most famous compositions, in particular the pieces featured in the suite. Among other things, the score is noted for its use of the celesta, an instrument that the composer had already employed in his much lesser known symphonic ballad The Voyevoda.

Tea, South Dakota

Tea is a city in Lincoln County, South Dakota, United States and is a suburb of Sioux Falls. The population was 3,806 at the 2010 census.

Tea was laid out in 1894.

Geography

Tea is located at 43°26′53″N 96°50′15″W / 43.44806°N 96.83750°W / 43.44806; -96.83750 (43.448055, -96.837587).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.69 square miles (4.38 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 3,806 people, 1,254 households, and 1,009 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,252.1 inhabitants per square mile (869.5/km²). There were 1,354 housing units at an average density of 801.2 per square mile (309.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.9% White, 0.7% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.3% of the population.

There were 1,254 households of which 59.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.2% were married couples living together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 19.5% were non-families. 14.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.04 and the average family size was 3.35.