"Tea Tree"

Very often when you are travelling there is nothing better than a cup of strong and refreshing tea. However, even today tea is not always available during a long journey not to mention the earlier times. So being deprived of tea for long time, some our ancestors tried to find substitutes to it in different parts of the world. Well-known traveller James Cook especially excelled in discovering new "tea plants". Although they are called "tea" they have no relation to genuine tea plant.

Australian tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) was discovered by James Cook in 1770 during his famous voyage on the ship called "Endeavour". Cook and his command brewed the fresh leaves of this tree to obtain "tea", and only later Europeans learned, that the Australian aborigines had for centuries used these leaves for treating headache, cold and as protection against insects. They also used its antiseptic properties and disinfected cuts, wounds and bruises with the ground leaves of Melaleuca alternifolia.

In its wild form the Australian "tea tree" grows only in a very small area in New Southern Wales (Australia). This is a small tree with narrow, soft leaves and yellow flowers. In our days the cultivation and processing of Australian tea tree leaves turned into a real industry - around 100 tons of tea tree oil are produced annually. The yield of the oil is 1-2% of the weight of the leaves and branches that are steamed during the production process. The oil is used in medicine and aromatherapy.

There is one more "tea tree" which is called in Latin Leptospermum scoparium and grows in New Zealand. It was also discovered by captain Cook who praised the taste of the brew infused with its leaves for its pleasant bitterness. However, other members of Cook's command reported that hardly anyone returned for a second cup of this "tea".

So New Zealand "tea tree" is actually a small bush (its height rarely reaches 2 meters) with leaves of various form and most frequently white flowers that sometimes may be pink or red. Exactly as its Australian peer, this tree belongs to the family of Eugenia plants and special oil with a whole range of useful properties is produced from its branches and leaves. It is also worth mentioning that the indigenous Mayori people had been using it for long time before captain Cook dropped anchor at the coast of New Zealand.

Tea Colour

Human eye can discern up to 16 million colour tints. Very often we name a certain colour by the name of the subject possessing it in everyday life, for example olive, cocoa or coffee with milk. In this context it is rather sad to note that there is no "tea colour". Or, to be more precise, there are lots of colour tints that may be associated with or named "tea". So, probably due to this ambiguity arising out of diversity we do not use the attribute "tea" for any colour. However, various tints of tea may be quite useful and for this reason they are worth a more detailed discussion.

The colour of tea brew may be tender-green, light yellow, warm orange or deep red-brown. All these colours and their tints belong to the so-called "warm" colours. Only green and brown are located in the transition spectra from "warm" to "cold". However, the tints "green with yellow" and "brown with red" are already closer to warm colour group.

Warm colours are psychologically associated with comfort, happiness, joy, and cosiness. They do attract attention and are very capable of distinguishing an object from its environment, just think of a yellow car, an orange coat or red hat as examples.

Yellow and orange colours are mostly perceived as attributes of joy, optimism, and the sun. Yellow colour is believed to accelerate metabolism, increase concentration and favourably affect one's intellectual abilities. The orange is often used for treating depression, different phobia, and absence of appetite. It is also said to stimulate people lacking enthusiasm at workplace to increase productivity and satisfaction from work.

Therefore, orange colour may be effectively used in the office to increase employees' satisfaction from their work. Yellow colour is also quite effective in this respect as it is said to stimulate creativity and generation of new ideas.

Yellow and orange colours are considered quite suitable for clothing and leisure as they evoke the sense of cosiness and enhance good mood. Red colour is emotionally bright. On one hand it is associated with love, passion, blazing sun, on the other, with blood and aggression. From a medical point of view red colour increases blood circulation. It also stimulates people to take decisions more rapidly, increase communication and be merrier.

Red clothes are an excellent way to stand out and attract attention. Red is one of the most suitable colours for an evening dress but is not appropriate for business talks as it may provoke confrontation. In interior design red may be used to accentuate details but it should not be used excessively as it also provokes anxiety feelings.

Green and brown colours are more neutral. Green is mostly perceived as the colour of youth, renovation, and hope. It positively affects eyesight and has soothing effect bringing a feeling of satisfaction. For this reason it is appropriate to use green colour for a bedroom decor or a room for relaxation.

Brown is the colour of the earth, trees that as a rule is associated with reliability, confidence, force and maturity, it helps to create comfortable, open atmosphere. It is recommended as business suit colour. It is also true that excessive usage of brown tends to inflict melancholic mood. Therefore, brown should be mixed with "merrier" colours, i.e. yellow and orange or some neutral colours, for example, white.

The bottom line is (or something like this - the beginning of this sentence is too cumbersome for my taste, but yet again - it might be only meJ): tea colours may become excellent assistants in work and will be quite suitable in leisure time as the tea itself.