Archive for the ‘Red Tea’ Category

The Art of a Tribute Tea

Friday, November 20th, 2009

This week we are extremely happy to tell you a story we’ve been waiting two years to tell you.

On our first visit to Taiwan, we met with a tea competition judge in Pinglin village on Wenshan mountain.  He introduced us to several tea farmers who produced outstanding teas in their category: competition winning Baochongs.   At the end of a long day he asked us:  “Do you have a little more time to visit one more farm?” Now, when you’re on a tea buying trip and you’ve already had a lot of luck meeting some great people, and someone asks you to do something a little mysterious, that’s when you know things are probably about to get very very good.  We traveled even higher up Wenshan to Anxi area to a Buddhist monastery.  There, we met a group of farmers who are farming tea organically.  They produce 4 types of tea. A traditional Baochong, a rolled oolong, a GABA oolong, and a red tea.

Red tea is usually a summer harvest, and since there are more pests in summer, usually summer harvests are known for needing more pesticides than other harvests and are generally disregarded.  But…. when you farm organically, that pesticide issue is eliminated, leaving the question – how does it taste?  That question was quickly answered when I was presented with a tea cupping opportunity. All the teas were quite good, but one stood out above the rest. The red tea they produce was beyond compare.  When I inquired further, I learned that in fact the red tea was a hand rolled small test-batch to see if the tea was ready for harvesting and processing. Is it available for sale?

The answer was no and it was no for two years.  So, we have carried a beautiful batch of the machine processed red tea we are very proud of and continue to sell. But I was compelled to keep requesting this hand rolled tea, and did every spring and fall harvest season for the next two years.

I kept wondering: what would it say about a farm, about a community, about a country that had the presence of mind and respect for tea traditions to hand process tea from start to finish?  Would the general American tea drinking public, albeit foodies, get it? Let me elaborate a little about the depth and breath of what we’re talking about here. What does hand processing involve? Skill to pick the leaves when they are at their prime. That takes patience and scientific knowledge and an intimate relationship with the land a farm community works. And the processing? Time. Lots of time. Once the tea is picked, it takes an hour and a half to produce 2 ounces of this tea. One man, two hands, a bamboo basket to roll the leaves in and 90 minutes.  Repeat that last step over 100 times, and you have not just tea but Art. 2 kilos of high art. Leaves that embody a love of the traditions, people and a respect for the mountains and people that give us tea.

Last week, we finally got the answer we were hoping for. “We have made your hand rolled tea.”  I couldn’t believe it! We received a sample of the tea in advance of the whole shipment, and it bore out my highest hopes. This is a phenomenal tea.  The depth of character and complexity that is evoked comes directly from the human spirit connecting with the tea plant on it’s most personal level.

What does it taste like? This is a Burmese Assam varietal grafted onto an indigenous Taiwanese varietal to produce what is referred to as Red Jade #18.

TributeRedJade

The Assam lends a malty sweet potato note.  Rich and smooth, when steeped properly, with extra hot water and for only a few exciting seconds, this tea has almost no tannins. Middle notes of juicy sweet tangerine peel and a soft whisper of an unpredictably delicious cooling minty top note mingle together in perfect harmony. Technically, this tea is perfect. The color is flawless, the leaves are expertly oxidized to their fullest potential. This tea was no novice effort.

This tea is important on so many levels, for its integrity of flavor, for its organic farming methods, and most importantly it is a symbol, a paragon, heralding a new spirit of direct connection between growers and tea drinkers. And most of all, it is a lucky omen that portends the rebirth of traditional tea processing. Hand processed tea is not history, is not something of the past that we can only dream and wonder about, it is here to be appreciated and enjoyed today.

We have also chosen to make sure that over 80% of the proceeds of this tea go directly back to the farm, to continue to support organic farming in Taiwan.

Hun Hao Cha!

Check out this tea here on our Rare Tea page. This tea is for available pre-sale, and will ship in 2 weeks.

Posted in Black Tea, Oolong, Red Tea, Tea Q & A, Travel | No Comments »

Antioxidants in teas, especially Red Teas (Hong Cha) 紅茶

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

We had a great time tasting red teas side by side last weekend, and had some great follow up questions about Red Teas.

Here’s what Kristie wanted to know:  “Do red teas have antioxidants?”

Answer:

To answer your question let’s start by defining oxidation, antioxidants and free radicals.  We won’t go too deep. Oxidation is exposure to air.  Withering tea leaves after they’re picked is when oxidation first occurs in tea processing.  Other forms of oxidation we’re used to seeing in daily life might be that banana in your fruit basket getting brown spots, or the iron gate in  your yard rusting just a bit.   Antioxidants are the substances or compounds that inhibit oxidation, or, inhibits reactions promoted by free radicals.  Free radicals damage the body’s cells and can sometimes lead to disease or cancer. (For more on free radicals go here).

What does this have to do with tea? Antioxidants in tea leaves inhibit free radicals effect in the body to help keep you healthy.  Teas have antioxidants just like other fruits and veggies, and tea should be part of a healthy diet.

Which teas have more antioxidants?  In order of least oxidized teas to most oxidized teas:

White teas have the most anti-oxidents because they’re the least oxidized
then green tea
then oolong
then red tea
then Puerh doesn’t have many if at all.

So here’s the breakdown:

White and Green teas have antioxidants, and are are cooling to the body.

However,  oolongs have high levels of EGCG which is a free-radical fighting compound too.

Red tea is stimulating with out the punch or crash of coffee, and is good for increasing heat in the body.  It’s a great morning or cold day tea or if you’re feeling cold.

Puerh has “Qi” literally translated as wind, it usually refers to the life force or “energy” that a tea develops as it ages. You will experience this as increased heat flow in your body.  This helps move your Qi blockages you might have. And, Puerh lowers cholesterol and high blood pressure and is a digestive aide, and body function regulator (it helps you poop).

All the benefits of tea are canceled out when you buy old, stale, low grade, pesticide treated or poorly processed broken leaf tea. Tea bags do not give you any benefits, neither do grocery store teas. These benefits come from fresh, seasonal, hand picked artisan, minimally processed products.  And tea is not a weight loss aide. ;)   Similarly, you should not drink tea with prescription medicine, as it can inhibit many of the effects of drugs.  When I’m sick, I stick with Chrysanthemums or mint leaves as tea.

Keep the questions coming!

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Organic Taiwanese Red Tea

Sunday, May 17th, 2009

After Vietnam, we visited some of the highest peaks on Wen Shan in an area called Ping Zhi, up at 800 meters there is an organic Buddhist tea farm. I visited these friends last year briefly and have been waiting to visit again, all year long.

We were happily welcomed with a vegetarian lunch of vegetables, tofu, beans and rice. Everything was amazingly good to eat!

Because this farm is run by Buddhist monks and nuns, and they do not eat meat and respect the earth so much, they refuse to use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Their fertilizer is made from honey and soybean paste and enzymes. They use a similar formula for a topical “pesticide” and use fly paper to attract and trap bugs. Every aspect of their farming has a holistic approach that is deeply admirable.

After lunch, we started tasting tea and began with this year’s Baochong. It has a softness and sweetness resembling some of the best Baochong Wen Shan has to offer. But we were here for a different tea this time. It’s a tea we tasted last year that was a huge hit at our tea tastings, a red tea.

This is fascinating tea. It is a Taiwanese Baochong varietal #18 or “Red Jade” that is picked in summer.  Now, normally summer teas are not of the highest quality, and have the most risk of being contaminated with pesticides; because in the summer, naturally, there are more bugs. However, since this is an organic farm, there are no pesticides used – ever!  And, furthermore this tea has some fantastic and very classical flavor characteristics that make it an incredible tea to enjoy.

This is a red tea meaning that it is picked, withered, processed (rolled) until it is 80% oxidized. It is sprayed with water, covered, and left to rest, partially fermenting the tea and speeding the oxidation process.

This tea has notes of cedar, wood, iron, sweet potato and a sweet fruit quality that pronounces itself under the tongue that is delightful- juicy red raspberry seeds. There is also a cooling sensation at the back of the throat, not unlike a dark roasted Chinese oolong, Monkey Picked TKY.

We’ll have this tea for sale shortly and we look forward to sharing it at our tea tastings too.

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New Teas

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

We have four new great teas available! Jasmine Pearls, Wu Yi Yan Cha, 10 Year Old Tree TKY, and Ying De Red.

Real Jasmine Pearls. These are long buds and leaves that are scented with real jasmine flowers.  Some green teas are perfumed with oil, others scented with natural or unnatural fragrances. In those cases, whether or not it’s natural doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it’s all done just to cover up an inferior green tea that’s otherwise not worthy of drinking. Not these pearls, they are curled into perfect spheres and have the sweetest, most natural jasmine taste that compliments the taste of the green tea they are made from.  Put 3-4 in a cup and pour boiling water on them. Watch them sink to the bottom and sip off the top.  As they sit, lower grade green teas go bitter or sour or get too strong. A good sign of an ultra high grade jasmine tea is that it does not go bitter. These leaves, when used in the right proportions (less is more!), will give a huge taste and never go bitter. If you’d like to steep them in a gaiwan I’d suggest using up to 8 pearls if you like your tea strong.  In a gaiwan they can be steeped up to 4 times. These are a great value, because you use so few for a fantastic cup of tea!

We also have a new Wu Yi tea in, a spring-fall sort of tea. Picked in the spring, this tea was not finished being processed until the fall. This means a fresh roasted taste to the tea will give it plenty of juicy plum notes and a hint of cinnamon at the finish. It is said that in the best most “classic” tasting Wu Yi teas, which can give up to 20 steepings, that in the last 5 steepings, rock teas give off an orchid flower note that only presents itself only at this time.  Today after 10 -12 steepings, most rock teas just peter out and go watery. We chose this Wu Yi tea because it has that orchid flower note at the end.  This is a great rock tea to teach yourself about Wu Yi teas.   When you brew this tea be very selective about your water source and it’s mineral content as that will have a dramatic effect on this tea.

Our newest “old” addition to our Ti Kuan Yin family is our 10 year-old TKY. There are a few things that make this a spectacular tea.  Most oolong tea bushes today have shorter lives than they used to. To find 10 year old trees, and in addition, to have so many leaves hand picked from that bush are a terrific find. In addition to starting with a good tea, having an expert hand to process it brings out the best flavors.  A longer oxidation time gives the tea a “Sook Heung” toasty, roasted, grainy, bready taste.

We also have our best selling Ying De red tea back. You’ll remember this is the hybrid plant bred from Yunnan big leaf and Feng Huang Dan Chong.  This is an ultra high grade of “Hong Cha” red tea. With huge leaves and buds, this tea has a deep red color, a bittersweet cocoa note. On days when the wind is howling and the rain is coming down in sheets, it is an excellent paring with milk for an authentic Chinese style milk tea to keep you warm.

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Keemun and Mixed Brick Puerh

Sunday, August 31st, 2008

For this Slow Food event we chose to feature two, possibly three teas. We brought our Red Heart Oolong, one of my favorites, and a crowd pleaser. We wanted to introduce people who love oolong to another great oolong from this years harvest. And, we wanted to open the eyes and palates of people who had not yet had good oolong to this great tea. Unfortunately, the mineral content in the tea did not take to the mineral content in the water, and when we tried the first brew of our tea is was almost unrecognizably … well uninteresting. What tea is this? Where is the characteristic warmth? The lovable top note of red rose? All gone. Thin and uninteresting, a day-when-you-don’t-care-what-you-drink oolong had appeared in it’s place.

This is all to say that sometimes you don’t know what kind of water will be available and how it will affect your tea.  What characteristics will it bring out and what will it hide? Too mineraly and the flavor will front load, leaving you with fewer steepings and strange tasting tea. Not enough minerals and you’ll have flat, boring tea. Ideally, tea at it’s best is steeped with water that has a mineral profile as close to the mineral profile of the earth and water used in the tea growing region.  This way, the mineral content in the water used to brew the tea will compliment and highlight the mineral content in the dry leaf of the plant.  Two more factors come in to play. First, regionality / nationality of the tea drinker and availability of water source. What if you live in Wisconsin, but your tea is from China? What if you live in Brazil, but your tea is from Taiwan?  If you are using tap water, then ultimately, you choose the water you prefer.  Maybe you add bamboo charcoal to soften your water and balance negative ions.  Then, this will make the tea you like to drink, and that is good tea.  Second, what bottled water choices are available to you and which are appropriate to the tea you’re drinking? If you live in Japan, and drink Pi water would you use that for a Fuding White? If you live in France and drink Evian water, would you use that on a Wu Yi Rock tea?  Lastly, when you travel, what water sources are available to you and how can you maximize your tea drinking experience abroad. I want to encourage you to taste more water around you. Pay attention to the water at the restaurant you eat at, water from your neighbors house, bottled waters from around the world and water from (safe) foreign drinking sources.

So what did we wind up serving at the Slow Food Nation Expo? After feeling a little deflated and now conscious of our water source we tried our Special Reserve Keemun top grade from Yellow Mountain in Anhui Province. There is only one grade of this tea that is higher than this one, it is the tribute grade. Reserved for the Emperor or government officials, given to the temples or used in gifts and for bribes, it is almost never for sale and the price is astronomical. After that tea, this is the top grade of keemun available for sale. The leaves are tiny and wiry, needle thin and even, and soft tiny gold buds punctuate the uniform dark look. We brewed it and ta-da! Juicy fruit, rich winey-ness, and a light smokey finish. Best of all, there it was on the lid of the gaiwan: blackberry. Happily, we set about organizing a tea station for preparing Keemun.

Then, we brought out our just-in-case tea.  Our Puerh Brick Half cooked (also referred to as a mixed brick) from 2006. This is a great half-fermented tea from Yunnan province. Originally picked and pressed into cakes when the leaves are green, puerh is meant to age over time, the leaves turn brown and the taste deepens and mellows. In the late 70’s and early 80’s the population of Hong Kong wanted more aged puerh. Thus, they developed the method of “cooking” or fermenting puerh artificially and re-creating that “aged” taste. They taught this technique to the puerh factories and the practice has come to dominate puerh production, so much so that when offering a puerh to a tea drinker often the first question is: is it raw or cooked?  Generally, cooked over a period of time, this brick is cooked for half that time, offering a mixed appearance of leaves that fermented fully and leaves that did not ferment.  Because of this, this is a great tea to enjoy today, or, to age over time. It is also a fantastic introduction to puerh, it’s complexities, it’s appealing earthy taste and unique status in the tea world.

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