Gong Ting Pu-erh

I sampled the first of the mini pu-erh tea cakes this week. This was one of the 8 varieties of pu-erh which came in a container of 40 mini cakes. 

Pu-erh is one of the 6 tea types (white, yellow, green, oolong, black, pu-erh). It is produced exclusively in Yunnan Province and has been since ancient times.  Its popularity spread when Mongol horsemen carried this tea across Asia under Kublai Khan during the 13th Century.


This tea is named after Pu-er county which used to be a trading post for this tea during Imperial China.

What makes this tea unique is its secondary (or post) fermentation process it undergoes. (Those The exact nature of the process is a carefully guarded Chinese state secret. What is known is that a bacterium is applied to the tea which allows the tea to age in a way no other tea does. Thus, the tea improves with age and it value increases. Some pu-erh tea cakes are over 100 years old and are worth thousands of dollars each. Pu-erh tea is often compressed into bricks or cakes, whilst some is left as loose leaf. 

There are two main types of Pu-erh tea, cooked (shou):

... and raw (sheng):

The shou type refers to those varieties that have gone through an accelerated post-fermentation process,while the sheng types are those in the process of gradual darkening through exposure to the environmental elements.

Pu-erh develops very strong, unique qualities, with an aroma of rich garden soil or an autumn leaf pile. The flavours are earthy, smooth and roasted.

Using trusty Google translator, I could ascertain that the Pu-erh tea I sampled...

...is Gong Ting (which translates as Imperial Court). This is a popular Pu-erh title and does not in itself reveal that much about this particular tea.  The other information provided for this tea is that it is a 2003 vintage, is manufactured by the Ancient Tea Industry and that it is a cooked (shou) tea (as are all the pu-erh teas in this package)...

Our tea in question is formed in a 'tuocha' style, meaning bowl tea, referring to the form into which it is compressed:

Weighing around 5 grams, I placed the entire mini-tea cake into the gaiwan, added freshly boiled water (Pu-erh tea needs water at as close to 100 degrees Celsius as possible to draw out its deep levels of flavours) and allowed to steep for a bit under 2 minutes.

By this time the cake had mostly broken up, but the leaves had only begun to reveal the depth of their character.

The aroma was classic cooked pu-erh earthiness - fresh topsoil and forest floor.  The flavour was remarkably rich - reminding me of the roasted nature of a stout.  Again, the earthy character is obvious in the flavour, but there was no mustiness.  The mouth-feel is very creamy - one of the signs of a well-aged pu-erh.

By the third infusion, the leaves were revealing how much depth of flavour they contained.  (The second and subsequent infusions were short - 40-50 seconds each).

After seven infusions, this pu-erh tea showed no signs of letting up, with a deep coffee-coloured liquor still being produced.

I was very pleased with this tea.  I did not have high expectations of this tea to be honest, as the 'gift pack/assortments' products can sometimes be a way of selling off products that otherwise wouldn't sell very well.  It was evident from the earthy yet smooth aroma and flavour of this tea, and particularly creamy mouth-feel that this is a fine pu-erh which has benefited well from nearly 10 years of aging.  I think I will keep a few of the mini toucha cakes aside to see what a few more years will add to the flavour profile of this tea.


One variety down, seven to go.  Will keep you posted on the other seven at some stage.  But must write a post or two first about some of the other teas in the Dragon Tea House order, including a fabulous Ba Xian (Eight Immortals) Phoenix Dan Cong Oolong.

Tai Ping Hou Kui

As promised, a post about this inimitable tea - Taiping Hou Kui (pronounced tie ping ho kway).  Taiping refers to the county in Anhui province where the tea originates.  Hou refers to Hou Keng village where the highest grade of this tea is made, whilst Kui refers to Wang Kui-cheng who made this tea by improving the processing of a local green tea - Jian Cha - in around 1900.  Literally, Taiping Hou Kui translates as Peaceful Monkey King and the title of Monkey King is often added to the tea by tea sellers.  This tea won the 'King of Teas' award at the Chinese Tea Exhibition in 2004.

This particular Tai Ping I purchased from Dragon Tea House.  As mentioned in a previous post, the leaves are huge.  In fact, they are the longest leaf of all tea plants and come from the Shi Ye cultivar.  Here are some of the leaves - placed in a traditional Chinese 'origami' vase design I made (fitting I thought...)

For $20.99 for 100grams, this is on the lower end of the price range for Taiping Hou Kui.  Falsified Taiping's are apparently common and without visiting the tea farm itself it is difficult to ascertain the authenticity of this particular batch.  One of the signs to look for is that the majority of leaf sets should consist of one bud and two leaves.  Whilst there were many such sets in the infusion I prepared there were also some single leaves:

Nevertheless, I was happy with the quality of the leaves overall.  You can see from the above photo there was a considerable size range between leaves (the one on the right is 11cm long!)  With such large, flat, straight and delicate leaves, the way this tea is processed takes great care.  I was concerned about how this tea would handle the journey from Shanghai, but allmost all the leaves were intact when I opened the package, indicating care had been taken by both the tea producers and the people at Dragon Tea House.  

This tea is group on the northern slopes of Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) range...

...where the combination of rain and mist and clouds, together with the shade of the northern slopes, provides ideal conditions for growing this type of tea.  Thanks to James Norwood Pratt and his Tea Dictionary for this info.  N.B. Future post to review this and other tea books...

This tea is delicate, with a fresh, sweet aroma and a mild vegetal flavour which is balanced by floral notes.  I used more leaf in my second attempt at this tea yesterday and was rewarded with a more satisfying result - greater depth of flavour without bitterness and just the faintest astringency.

The opened, relaxed leaves, swirled around in the gaiwan like a school of emerald eels (perhaps not the best visual image to ponder before drinking, but that was my instant impression so I have to go with it I guess!)

So, a pleasant, relaxing, subtle green tea which is a pleasure to prepare and consume.  My tip - be generous with the amount of leaf you use.  The size of the leaves suggests that you should only use a few, but I found that quite a number can be used in a small vessel like my gaiwan (which is around 150ml) without it becoming too strong.  Keep the water temperature at around 80 degrees Celsius. Any lower and I found the full flavour wasn't drawn out of these large leaves. 

One last thought - I wonder if anyone will ever be mad (or evil) enough to attempt to produce Taiping Houkui in a teabag form.  The bags would either need to be the size of hair-nets or the leaves would have to be broken into hundreds of fragments...but could they still be rightly called Taiping Hou Kui in that case?

Shuppin Gyokuro

Was treated to some Shuppin Gyokuro at Chado - The Way of Tea on Thursday.

Gyokuro (pronounced gee-o-koo-row)- meaning Pearl Dew - is a Japanese green tea which is shaded from direct sun for the last 2-3 weeks before harvesting.  This shading alters the chemical structure of the leaves, reducing  polyphenol content, making it sweeter and milder than regular Japanese sencha tea.  The shading also increases chlorophyll, making the leaves darker.  Gyokuro makes up only 1% of  Japan's total tea production and is one of world's costliest teas.

I was served the Shuppin Gyokuro in a houhin, which is a handle-less teapot used predominantly for gyokuro and sometimes high quality sencha teas.

Shuppin is Japanese for 'exhibition' and refers to the the pinnacle of gyokuro which is examined by the highest tea evaluating authority in Japan.  The emerald-coloured leaves were a delight to behold...

...and an even greater delight to taste.  This tea is an amazing harmony of grassiness and creaminess.  The mouth feel is incredibly smooth and the lingering aftertaste is herbacious and sweet.  Low water temperature (often around 60 degrees Celcius) is used to delicately draw out the flavours and aromas of this tea.


Thanks again, Varuni for a wonderful tea experience!

An Ji Bai Pian

Made my first pot (gaiwan actually) of An Ji Bai Pian today.  Anji refers to the county in the northwest area of Zhejiang province (area famous for bamboo and the location of much of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon film).  Despite the term 'white' (Bai), this is a green tea.  The white refers to the pale colour of the infusion and the minimal processing the leaves undergo, usually being half baked and half fried.

Whilst I have bought Anji Bai Cha before, this is the first Pian variety I have ever tasted, and so was interested to try it out.  The harvest of this tea occurs in late April to early May and so this is a great time of year for this tea (and indeed most Chinese and Japanese green teas).

DRY LEAF:
The freshness of this tea was evident as soon as I opened the packet.  Bright green leaves and a fresh, grassy aroma.

The first thing I noticed was that the leaves were not completely uniform in style or colour.  As you can see on the photo above (although until I invest in a decent camera, rather than using the one on my phone, the photo quality will be limited), some of the leaves are twisted quite thinly, whilst others are almost entirely open.  Also, the colour range is from bright, light green through to an almost purple at times.  To some extent I expected this as I ordered the regular quality as opposed to the premium or supreme.  One would expect these two higher quality cousins to have greater uniformity in leaf/bud shape and colour.  This being said, however, most of the leaf/bud pairs are in tact and do not show signs of poor handling or damage.

WET LEAF:

The first infusion brought out much of what one looks for in a spring Chinese green tea, including a pronounced vegetal and fresh grassy aroma off the wet leaves.  It is always worth taking a moment to watch the leaves floating in the pot or gaiwan as they unfurl and release their magic...

After the second infusion, most of the leaves had unfurled, giving me the opportunity to examine them in more detail.  The photo below shows one of the many two leaf-one bud sets that I found in this batch, which is what is sought after in this tea style, often (somewhat erroneously) referred to as mao feng. 

The two leaves are completely in tact, and the bud is still unopened, thus being picked at the optimal time.  There were also single leaves and twin leaves without a bud present as you can probably make out from this photo:

CUP:

The colour in the cup was pale yellow, with just a hint of green. The aroma of the tea liquid is reminiscent of a field of tall, new season grass.  Sweet floral aromas are also prominent.   The taste matched this in many regards, with an initial vegetal briskness evident but with very little astringency. I kept the water temperature down to around 70-75 degrees Celsius as this style of new harvest green tea can become quite astringent if the water is too hot.  I prefer my teas quite strong and therefore try to bring out some astringency in most of the teas I brew - it's just a matter of controlling the water temperature, amount of leaf and infusion time to draw out all the desired flavours (which will vary from one person to another).  I increased the water temperature on the second infusion and much of the sweetness still came through.

CONCLUSION:

So, overall, I was pleased with this tea.  As the lowest quality of the three An Ji Bai Pian's on offer at Dragon Tea House (selling for around $20 Australian per 100grams) this is a very decent tea.  It has the sought-after spring-freshness and clarity of a good quality Chinese green and its considerably sweetness (which lingers for some time) is a highlight.  It held up well to three infusions - the fourth lost much of its sweetness and started to taste a bit thin.  As noted earlier, the leaves lacked some  uniformity in colour and style - the effect of this on the aroma and taste is difficult to discern, although with a higher percentage of brighter-green leaves, one would expect an even fresher flavour.

I hope to write up my tasting of the Lu Shan Yun Wu (Mount Lu, Cloud and Mist) soon, as having just finished my second tasting of this tea (after sort of ruining the first one yesterday with too much leaf and heat) I am excited to share my findings...

Not to mention two amazing new-season gyokuro teas I had today, thanks to Chado - the way of tea!  Too many teas, not enough time...

Fresh teas...fresh blog

With the arrival of my tea order today, I thought it was time to visit my long-neglected tea blog.  So, after giving the page a fresh look I plan to post more regularly from now on.  Will this eventuate?  Time will tell.  I hope to post some tasting notes on the 10 plus teas that have arrived from Dragon Tea House. Whilst typing this I am drinking the Tai Ping Hou Kui.  This is one of the (10) Famous Chinese Teas and originates in Anhui Province.  This tea has the largest leaves of any varietal (I measured one of them at 11cm).  You can see from the photo below that the leaves did not fit in my gaiwan - until the 'agony of the leaves' softened them that is.

It is a delicate and wonderfully sweet green tea. I will provide more detail in a subsequent post.

And the little tea cup which you see on the left of the photo was a gift included in my order by the lovely people at Dragon Tea House!

CHANOYU

Tea Master Allan Halyk hosted a chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony) on Saturday at Chado - The Way of Tea. Allan began with an explanation of his background and study of tea (including studying under a tea sensei in Melbourne to gain his tea mastership, under the Urasenke tea school (originating from Sen no Rikyu in the 15th Century). Allan then performed chanoyu (usucha - thin tea) for one of the dozen guests present.

The matcha served was absolutely wonderful - brilliant jade colour, thick layer of foam and an intense, grassy, yet perfectly balanced sweetness. Japanese snacks were also served, including sushi and mochi (red-bean-filled rice cake with black sesame seed coating).

Watching Allan perform chanoyu was among other things, incredibly relaxing. His composure, eloquence and serenity made it a most enjoyable occasion.

Chinese Green Tea New Harvest Tea Tasting Event

Last Saturday, Varuni from Chado Teahouse (Hobart) hosted a Chinese New Harvest Green Tea Tasting Event. Using gongfu (gaiwan) tea service, a dozen of us were treated to an afternoon of sampling some of the finest new-harvest teas available. After beginning with an introductory tea of Reserve Grade Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle), we were served the following:
1. Anji Bai Cha (An Ji County, Zhejiang)
2. Dong Ting Pi Lo Chun (Dong ting, Jiangsu)
3. Valley Peak Da Fang (Huang Shan, Anhui)
4. Huang Shan Mao Feng (Huang Shan, Anhui)
5. Tai Ping Hou Kui (Taiping, Hubei)
6. En Shi Jade Dew (En Shi City, Hubei)
7. Green Bamboo Leaf (E Mei Shan, Sichuan)
8. Mount Meng Sweet Dew (Meng Shan, Sichuan)
9. Xu Fu Dragon Tooth (Yi Bin City, Sichuan)
10. West Lake Imperial Dragonwell (West Lake, Zhejiang)
11. Wuyi Shan Green (Wuyi Shan, Fujian)
12. Organic White Monkey (Taimu Shan, Fujian)
13. Purple Bamboo Shoot (Chang Xing, Zhejiang)

It was at once a relaxing and informative time - a group of people with various degrees of tea experience all sharing their enjoyment of some quite amazing teas- a splendid way to spend three hours!

CHADO: The Way of Tea

Finally! A wonderful teahouse has opened up in Hobart called "Chado: The Way of Tea". The owner, Varuni Kulasekera, is both immensely knowledgable on all things tea and wonderfully hospitable to boot. She and her husband (ex-Violent Femmes bassist and now shakuhachi player, Brian Ritchie) have made a sea-change from New York to Hobart Town. The teahouse stocks a wide selection of fantastic teas, with the dozens I've sampled thus far have been of exceptional quality. It also sells a great range of tea accessories, including numerous teapot styles, Japanese tea ceremony items (chasen, chawan, chashaku etc), gaiwan, gongfu service equipment, tea cannisters and much more. It is such a wonderful place to spend a good hour or so, enjoying multiple infusions of exceptional tea and chatting with Varuni or one of the staff on all things tea. They also prepare some tasty treats to accompany the tea, including onigiri (the bonito variety is my personal favourite)!

If you're ever in Hobart, get yourself along and enjoy a tea or two. The number of friends I've thus far dragged along have all been highly impressed with the service, the food and the tea.

Signing off to make myself one now... a Superior Tieguanyin methinks...

Shincha and Mattcha from Hibiki-an

It has arrived! After a brief stop-over at Quarantine, the tea arrived on Friday. I am very pleased with this, my second purchase from Hibiki-an. The tea arrived inside Japanese-style wrapping paper and included within was a postcard from the company and two informative sheets on tea brewing and storage.

The Sencha Premium (shincha) came vacuum-packed in a foil-lined pouch and the Mattcha Premium (also vacuum-sealed in foil came in a delighful little container. I always look forward to that wonderfully grassy aroma when opening a packet of shincha. And this batch did not disappoint. It's deep, rich greeness was as evident in its scent as much as its appearance. I must admit my first brew was not overly successful (not enough leaf/too much water). By the time I realised it was too late to try to correct (as steepage time is crucial with shincha). So I simply resolved to consume (the still very drinkable) first brew, then try again. This time I took more care with measuring the tea, the water and the temperature, resulting in a fantastic brew. Watching the jade-green liquor in the cup as I poured this brew confirmed I had got it right this time. The natural sweetness tempered by the characteristic astringency is so well balanced (perhaps even more so than the previous year's harvest). The tea also holds up well to three infusions (and may perhaps handle a fourth if the correct water temperature is used throughout). In summary, another fine new season sencha from Hibiki-an!

This is the first mattcha I have purchased from Hibiki-an. As I opened the pouch inside the container, I was immediately struck by the intensity and brightness of the powder's colour - it is an almost flourescent light green. Getting some of the powder on my fingers while opening it, I tasted the tea straight on my tongue and could instantly tell that this was indeed a fine mattcha (which is all the more immpressive when one considers that they produce two mattcha's of even higher quality than this one). I prepared a chawan of this mattcha, using water at just over 70 degrees Celcius, whisking it vigourously with my chasen for around a minute, by which time a pleasant layer of froth had appeared on the tea's surface. My previous mattcha purchase was around seven dollars cheaper than this one (thought I'd see what an anonymous, lower-end-of-the scale mattcha tasted like), and the contrast between the two is phenomenal! When one breaks down the seven dollar difference across the entire number of bowls of mattcha can be made from a 40 gram container of the stuff, the few cents (or less) per bowl extra is more than worth it. The (never to be bought again) mattcha was so flat in colour and flavour, whilst this Hibiki-an mattcha has such a rich, intensely grassy flavour with a wonderful sweetness. The problem I face is that I want to enjoy this tea for longer than the three months it will remain fresh for, so must ensure that I don't let it get bad by 'keeping it for special occasions'. (I let this happen to the first mattcha I ever bought and ended up making mattcha icecream with it!) All this writing about tea is making me itchy to get to the kitchen and make a pot of one tea or another, so that's all for now.

New Tea Arrivals

I recently ordered three teas from the Tea Centre (http://www.theteacentre.com.au), my first purchase from this company. The tea they stocked which I was particularly interested in was a Yunnan Finest FOP (flowery orange pekoe). Their website described this tea as follows: This remarkable tea is littered with fine tips for a delicate yet full flavour. This indeed is a fair description. The appearance of the leaves is an intriguing caramel colour with plenty of tips throughout. It brews into a rich reddish colour in the cup, not dissimilar to a standard Yunnan, (I was expecting a much lighter liquor based on the colour of the leaf). It's aroma is suggestive of peaches and other stone fruits with some maltiness also evident. I was impressed with the depth of flavour and also its ability to maintain this depth through at least three infusions. Overall, a wonderful tea which has replaced Yunnan Golden Monkey as my current favourite black tea.

The second tea is a Chinese Green tea called Lin Yun White Downy. The leaves are slightly wrinkled in appearance and quite large, blended with white tips (as the name suggests). It is therefore quite a delicate tea but still displaying the characteristically unassuming astringency of a Chinese green tea. The website suggests it has a smoky flavour, although I could detect very little of this during my first sampling. I must brew another pot tonight and see what happens. It was a gentler tea than I anticipated, so will need to use more leaf and perhaps slightly hotter water (I used around 75 degrees Celcius the first time) in order to bring out its characteristics more fully. An enjoyable alternative to Long Jing (Dragonwell) or Gunpowder.

The final tea I ordered was a Formosa Fancy Oolong (Taiwan). This is described as a semi-fermented tea, neat leaf, aromatic & fragrant character. 'Fancy' refers to the grade of the tea (higher than 'choice'. This is a much smoother style of oolong than many of the Chinese oolongs I've had, perhaps slightly stronger than a 'green-style' Ti Kuan Yin, yet with a quite different taste altogether. It would be more accurate to describe it as a smoother version of a Wuyi Rock Oolong, because it definately appears more oxidised than most Ti Kuan Yin's I've tried. Like the Lin Yun tea, I was a bit over-cautious with the amount of tea and temperature of the water, so will try increasing both slightly and will expect the aromatic qualities to become more pronounced.

I'm very pleased with all three teas and will consider buying from this company again sometime. I am having difficulty finding an Australian online tea company who stocks the range of teas of the American companies like Uptons and CooksShopHere.

Looking forward to the imminent arrival of my Shincha and Mattcha purchases from Hibiki-an (http://www.hibiki-an.com), a Japanese, family owned tea farm (which I ordered from last year - see earlier post). I should have sampled and reviewed these in the next few days.

Until then,

Happy Gongfu-cha.

Yunnan Golden Monkey

Upon my latest visit to Jeffersons Tea shop, the purveyor drew my attention to a new tea which he had in stock by accident - a wrong delivery of Yunnan Golden Monkey. This tea gets its name from where it is grown (Yunnan province of China), the quality of the leaf (high percentage of gold tips and buds), and the original method of its harvesting (monkeys were used to pick the leaves of the large trees growing precariously on the side of mountains. The 'monkey' reference may also refer to the appearance of the leaf resembling the hair (or the claws) of the Golden Yunnan Monkey which is native to this area.

This tea is fantastic! The aroma has an amazingly sweet bouquet. The tea brews a lovely bright reddish-amber colour and the taste is a blend of Yunnan's unique pepperyness and a well rounded fruitiness with a hint of honey.

Yunnan Golden Monkey continues to brew well after three infusions, remaining clear in the cup and surprisingly bright in flavour. At this point in time, this tea is my favourite black tea. The search is now on for another to replace it!

Dragonwell Tea (Long Jing / Lung Ching)

I have since found a Chinese Emporium in Hobart which sells Dragonwell tea. I am trying to consume my current Adelaide batch so that I am 'forced' to buy some. I am really enjoying the Dragonwell tea. It is perhaps one of the most well-balanced Chinese Green teas I have tried. It is smoother than a Gunpowder or Chun Mee, and yet deeper than the Monkey Green. I wonder how different the top of the range Dragonwell tea would be. Mmmm, must find out some time...

The origin of Dragonwell tea is rather fascinating. It is China’s most famous tea and has over a thousand year history and is referred to in the first ever tea book (Cha Ching) by Lu Yu in the Tang dynasty. Longjing comes from a small village on the Fenghuang Hill, in Hangzhou Zhengjiang Province. It is said that residents in ancient times believed that a dragon dwelt there and controlled the rainfall. This caused people to travel to this well from all the surrounding areas whenever there was a drought to pray for rainfall, from as early as the Three Kingdoms Period (221-280AD). The origin of this belief may be due to the fact that when rain water floats on the denser well water it makes shapes appear which resemble the movement of a dragon.

Adelaide Visit

I went to Adelaide a few weeks ago with my wife and sons to visit my brother and his wife. While over there I hunted around for some tea shops. I purchased tea from three different vendors.

The first teas I bought were a Dragonwell Green Tea aka Long Jing aka Lung Ching, and a Pu-erh tea.

The second venue was a tea-shop called "Kappy's & Wright Plantation Teas". Visiting this shop was an enjoyable experience. It had a relaxed feel, with friendly staff. The tables tops were made from Indian tea crates and along one wall was an extensive range of teas, covering a large number of varieties. From this shop I purchased two teas, a Margaret's Hope Autumnal Darjeeling and a Monkey Green Tea. The latter is a bud-rich, delicate green with a natural sweetness, making it a very pleasant drink.

The final tea purchase was made only minutes before leaving for the airport back home. It was from a lovely Chinese teahouse and homwares shop called Saldechin. Among the teas available for drinking or purchasing was a Baihou Yinzhen (Silver Needle) tea. Not seeing any on the shelf but having read that they stocked it, I enquired and was informed that some had just arrived but hadn't been packaged yet. Therefore I was able to purchase it in as fresh condition as possible. And upon making my first pot later that day (back in Hobart), I could tell why it was costlier than Pai Mu Tan. Silver Needle tea gets its name from the fact that it is made up completely of closed buds which have a silvery, downy and slightly pointy appearance. A wonderful drink, especially for evenings. The shop also sold cakes of aged pu-erh tea for around $75 each. I must return there some time for this purchase.

So, all in all, I was very happy with my tea-exploration of Adelaide. The Silver Needle (Baihou Yinzhen) and Monkey Green teas are both unavailable in Tasmania (as far as I'm aware) and so they have made fine additions to my tea collection.

Gyokuro and Shincha arrivals

A few weeks ago I ordered Gyokuro Premium and Shincha Tradional tea from http://www.hibiki-an.com/

Upon opening the packages the initial aroma revealed the teas' freshness and quality. As Hibiki-an is a family-owned company time and money was saved by buying directly from them, as the order was sent straight from the tea farm to my house. In the case of the shincha only days had passed between its picking and being in my teapot.

It has been interesting learning how to master the art of brewing Gyokuro and I have found 55 degrees Celcius seems to be the best temperature for this particular type.

More later...

Tea Card has been posted.

Hooray! Click on the card to enlarge

One small step...

Well, I've managed to place one of the tea cards along the sidebar (under my profile). But have not as yet discovered how to insert it in the main body of the post. Will keep trying...

Tea Cards Complete!

Over the last few months I have been sporadically working on Tea Cards. They were initally intended to have very few words on each card to be used for a tea game. But as I went along I decided to make them more comprehensive (as much as cards can be at any rate). Thus the result is 33 cards, made up of three cards per variety and 3 cards on tea grading. Each card provides the following information:

1. Type of Tea Variety
2. Name of Tea (with its meaning in English)
3. Country of Origin
4. General Information - including historical and/or interesting facts
5. Appearance - of both the leaf and the infusion
6. Aroma
7. Taste
8. Brewing Instructions
9. Information on Tea Type
10. Card Number

The tea varieties represented are:

1. Ceylon Teas
2. Chinese White Teas
3. Chinese Yellow Teas
4. Chinese Green Teas
5. Chinese Oolong Teas
6. Chinese Black Teas
7. Chinese Pu-erh Teas
8. Indian Teas
9. Japanese Teas
10. Taiwanese Teas

And the last three cards have information on tea grading.

I would still like to create a game around these cards - my next project. But for the moment I am happy with the outcome. I aim to post these cards on the blog. Will have to figure out how to do this first, however.

Happy Gongfucha!

SHINCHA ARRIVAL

Around two weeks ago now my arrival of two shincha teas arrived from Japan (see previous post for definition of shincha). It was a 30th birthday purchase (my first online purchase infact - although my wife has bought a number of things for me online before). The teas were purchased as a gift set, packaged in two wonderful tins. Click the link below to see the company's ad for this gift set:
http://www.o-cha.com/green-tea/Green-Tea-Gift-Set-pr-16268.html

The teas are fantastic! One is a Miyabi sencha from the Uji region (near Kyoto) which is Japan's oldest and most regarded tea growing area. This sencha is among the finest money can buy. It has an intense aroma and a strong grassy taste, producing a strong green colour in the cup.

The other tea is a Yutaka Midori sencha from the Kagoshima prefecture (near the southern tip of Japan). It is slightly less astringent in taste and darker in colour than the the Miyabi, but I find both teas to be quite similar in terms of the fresh, grassiness of their flavour and natural sweetness which lingers long after the drink is finished.

You still have a chance to get hold of these two shinchas, and I heartily recommend doing so. Don't forget to reduce the brewing time to around 1 1/2 minutes for both teas to avoid any bitterness.

Until next post,

Happy gongfucha!

SENCHA

I've finally got around to writing the promised post on unwrapping a tea type in more depth. Over the last year or so I have become increasingly captivated by green teas, particularly those from Japan. One of my favourite green teas is Sencha, and it is this tea I want to 'unwrap' below.

WHAT IS SENCHA?

Sencha is the term for Japanese green tea that is grown in full sun, as distinct from gyokuro (which is grown in shade for up to 3 weeks), or genmai cha (which contains puffed brown rice) or matcha (which is made from finely ground gyokuro leaves and used in the traditional Japanese tea ceremonies). Sencha makes up around 75% of all Japanese tea production, and varies considerably in quality.


WHAT DOES SENCHA LOOK LIKE?

Sencha leaves are usually rather long and narrow in appearance with a colour ranging from pale to dark green. As a general rule the darker and more intense the colour, the better quality/fresher it is.
In the cup, sencha brews a light yellow to powerful green colour (again, the darker the better). After steeping, the leaves unfurl to a rather more roundish shape with a glossy green appearance.


WHAT DOES SENCHA SMELL LIKE?

Sencha leaves usually have a distinct grassy smell (if this is lacking it 'may' be a sign that tea is not fresh). Also, sencha often has a smell of the sea - that sea-weed beachiness that sets it apart from Chinese green teas.


WHAT DOES SENCHA TASTE LIKE?

I believe the marks of a good sencha is in the balance between its natural sweetness and its astringency. A fresh, fine quality sencha should be quite rebust in flavour, exhibiting it's grassiness without being bitter. When brewed correctly, the sweetness merges with this grassiness to make it such a memorable drink.


HOW DO I BREW SENCHA?

It is usually recommended to use 1 heaping teaspoon of sencha for every 250-300 mls of water. The water should be at around 80 Celcius (leave the water in the kettle for 3 minutes after boiling, then transfer water between pot and cups - thus also prewarming the tea vessels), and allow to steep for 1-2 minutes. Leaving any longer than 2 minutes will cause your brew to become bitter. For what it's worth, I tend to use more tea for my brew (1 heaping teaspoon for 200-250ml of water), and a slightly cooler water temperature (around 70-75 degrees - leave kettle for around 4 minutes before transferring to pot/cups). This results in a sweeter, smoother flavour. Also, it allows for better tasting second and third infusions as the tea leaves haven't been 'burnt' of their taste in the first infusion.


HOW DO I STORE SENCHA?

Like all teas, it is important to store sencha in an air-tight container away from light and heat. Doing so will leave your sencha reasonably fresh for up to a year - although you will notice a deterioration in taste already after a couple of months.


SOME REMARKS IN CONCLUSION...

If you haven't tried sencha before - you must! However, do ensure you purchase genuine sencha tea. Some Chinese companies market their tea as sencha, usually referring to it as 'Japanese-style '. This usually indicates that the tea has been processed using steaming rather than the usual Chinese pan-fry method - but does not guarantee the tea will resemble the true Japanese sencha tea in quality of appearance, aroma and taste.

Secondly, try to get as good and fresh a sencha as possible. Anything bought from a supermarket or general grocery store will be vastly inferior to sencha bought from a reputable tea-merchant. If possible, discover when the tea was harvested and from where. Uji is the oldest tea-growing area in Japan and is usually the source of the finest teas.

Thirdly, any tea-bag sencha will be of a rather dubious quality - usually the late season harvest and lower-grade leaves - resulting in a comparatively tasteless brew.

Fourthly, during May-July it is possible to buy Shincha tea ('shin=new, cha=tea). This is first harvest sencha which has only been slightly steamed. The result is a very aromatic and fresh tea. Due to its limited processing, shincha is a rather perishable tea which is why it is only available during the harvest months of May-July and should be consumed within three months (which in actuality is the 'best consumed within' period of most sencha tea).

Fifthly, if you find you are a little disappointed with your sencha experience upon your first attempt, don't despair. Two things are important to keep in mind. One, you will need to experiment with brewing times/amounts before you get it right. Two, like most extra special food and drink items, sencha tea is an acquired taste. Whilst some are hooked by the first cup, others will need a few drinks for their tastebuds to fully appreciate this unique flavour (especially if they are used to drinking black tea and perhaps subconsciously expecting a similar flavour).

I hope this has provided you with sufficient information to whet your appetite (or if you are a seasoned sencha drinker, confirmed what you already know) on sencha.


Until next post,

Happy gongfucha!

Tea Varieties - The Chinese Six Colour System

Below is a brief introduction to the main tea varieties available. Understanding some of the processes involved in the various tea types is crucial for appreciating their different qualities, and preparing the teas appropriately.

I received a wonderful book on tea from my wife a few months ago called The Time of Tea by Dominique Pasqualini and Bruno Suet (translated from French). It has a very interesting section on tea classification and I drew heavily on this for the post below.

In the West, tea is often divided into three main types, based on their level of post-plucking fermentation:

1. Green (unfermented)
2. Oolong (semi-fermented)
3. Black (fully-fermented)

Although this is helpful, the Chinese recognise six tea families. They are not only classified based on fermentation levels, but also on their differing effects and the manner of drinking them:

1. White
2. Yellow
3. Green (lu)
4. Blue-Green (qing)
5. Red
6. Black

These can be further divided into triplets:
1. White, Yellow and Green (unfermented)
2. Blue-Green, Red and Black (fermented)

They can then be further classified into pairs based on leaf type and Processing method:
1. White/Yellow: only downy buds used. Only dried in sun.
2. Green/Blue-Green: buds and young, delicate leaves. Steamed or heated in pots.
3. Red/Black: adult leaves. Dried, crushed, fermented, fired.


These six teas can be generally defined as follows:

1. White Tea: made entirely of downy buds - Bai Mu Dan (Pai Mu Tan) "White Peony, or Yin Zhen "Silver Needles". The tea is immediately dried in the sun without other treatment. White tea come from rare genuine varieties, each with a world production of less than 300 kg. They produce a clear drink in the cup with a natural sweetness.

2. Yellow Tea: similar to white, except that they have undergone a form of light and stewed fermentation in a pan. Even rarer than white tea. Both white and yellow tea will keep for up to two years.

3. Green Tea: in their dry state, green teas have very different appearances. The buds and leaves are fragile and should be used from three months to a year. Fermentation is halted straight after plucking, either by steaming (Japanese preferred) or by heating in large copper pots (Chinese preferred). The most widely consumed tea variety in Asia and arguably the most diverse in flavour, in Japan, ranging from the coarse Bancha (particularly the "Kukicha" - stalks only variety) to the finest, spinach-green Gyokuro.

4. Green-Blue Tea: oolong (wulong) tea is fermented between 12 to 65 percent. Although one of the lesser known teas in the West, in China and Taiwan there are several thousand vintages, representing the largest range of teas. The dried leaves are dense gren with bluish reflections. Least fermented types, such as "Wen Shan Bao Zhong" have a fresh floral aroma, while the higher fermented oolongs, such as the "Bai Hao" or "Dan Cong" have a leathery aroma and a taste of muscat.

5. Red Tea: this is what the West know as black tea. It is reddish, amber or crimson in the cup and its aromas should be fruity, woody, sometimes chocolatey. It has a roundness in the mouth. It is fermented from 90 to 100 percent. Ceylon and Indian red teas (such as Assam) are usually darker and stronger in flavour than those from China (Keemun, Yunnan), although the Indian Darjeeling is an exception.

6. Black Tea: post-fermented tea; aged tea. Predominantly Pu Er or compressed tea. They are teas that have been given an extended period of fermentation, a method of maturation similar to that of wine for keeping. During this process, the tea completely loses its theine but gains in tannins and flavinols. Black tea has a smell of humus and undergrowth and is arguably drunk as much than for its physical effects and sensations than for its taste or aroma. Compressed tea (cake tea) often has an emblem impressed on it and was used as currency, marked sections being able to be broken off as required. Beware of cheap imitations such as "Tua Cha", with its rapid forced fermentation in factories and its blending with red tea!

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In a future post I will unwrap these tea types in much more detail. I have been enjoying green teas a great deal of late (particulary Japanese Sencha) so that may have to be one of the first I'll address!

A brief (but hopefully concise) account of the history of tea will also be coming along some time soon.

Until then,

Happy gongfucha!