Red Circle Tea

Oolong processing is above all a labor of love. When harvesting begins, everything else stops. I once spoke to a couple of young lovers whose families were tea farmers; they told me they had to postpone their wedding by two weeks because the harvest started early that year.  Tea harvesting first, marriage second.

Now, let me preface this short blog entry by saying that there have been and will continue to be books, annals, tomes even written about oolong processing, and what I would like to do here is give you just a taste of what it involves, looks like, smells like and means to the tea industry.

The oolong processing I have witnessed and learned about has been of both Taiwanese and Chinese oolongs. I have studied Taiwanese Baochong tea processing and Dong Ding high mountain oolong processing. And I was also on Phoenix mountain in China, and learned about Dan Chong processing as well as traditional charcoal style roasting of Ti Kuan Yin tea.  Today, I will detail Taiwanese Baochong tea processing, probably because I just have more pictures to share of this processing.  Then later I will continue with other processing styles. I think charcoal roasting is probably my favorite kind of processing, but let’s begin here for now.

Baochong tea is grown best at between 500-800 meters. High altitude and misty mornings help develop the chlorophyll in the leaves, and terracing helps the farmer get to the tea, fertilize and pick the leaves. The soil can sometimes be clay like, and here is a picture of the soil where our Baochong tea was grown.

Baochong tea leaves are preferably picked by hand. However they can be harvested CTC (cut, tear, cut). This harvesting is with a hand held lawnmower-type machine. It has what can best be described as a butterfly catcher on the back of it to catch the leaves as they are cut. Here are two photos detailing handpicking and CTC harvesting. See the difference?

When the tea is picked by hand , it’s picked by women who are usually over 45.  I have even seen women as old as 98 picking tea. They harvest tea not because they have to, their families take care of them. They do it because they enjoy doing it, have little else to do to entertain themselves in a farming community, and are highly respected, and still valuable to the industry and to their communities.  So they join in. All the Taiwanese tea pickers I have encountered are highly skilled and very fast at what they do, and thus are given quite a bit of respect. They are picked up in their village in the morning, and taken over to the tea farm, where they are provided breakfast, tea (of course), they do their daily tea picking, offered lunch and given a lift home. Baochong tea pickers carry their basket of tea leaves to the end of each row on the terrace and deposit it there, they do not carry a heavy load from one row to  the next. Unlike work on big industrial farms, these tea pickers are not subject to carrying heavy loads for hours at a time.

Weather conditions play a large role in tea processing too. Taiwanese Baochong tea processing is guided by help from the farmer’s almanac. When the almanac indicates processing season has arrived and the window of those precious few days to pick oolong is here, the farmer carefully studies the soil, the length of the tea’s leaves as they grow day by day, the subtle differences in the afternoon lifting of the fog, all these play into the decision of when exactly to pick.  A day early, and an astounding difference in quality can be seen, either for the better or worse. Last year’s Baochong Red Circle carried was far better than this year’s tea from the same farmer. Picked one day early, the leaves looked identical to last years, but the brew was weak, straw-like and dry in the throat. Thus, we went to different farmers to try their teas (see our post from 5 Generations on Wenshan) . When we finally found the taste we were looking for, we asked, did you pick early? No, replied the farmer, I picked this tea on the same day as I did last year.  A gamble can pay off, or not, depending largely on Mother Nature, and a farmer’s attention to detail. Happily, we had chosen a new tea for our menu that surpassed last years crop and was also a competition winning tea – lucky us!

Processing begins after picking when the leaves are withered. Again, depending on the weather, they could be withered in direct sunlight, under shade, on the hot tarmac of the roadside, or indoors. The farmer will know how withering the tea will compliment the early or late picking and just how this will affect the rest of the processing as well as final outcome of an individual batch of tea. Here is a covered area where tea is withered.

Then the tea is racked and awaits the “green killing” machine. This machine is like a large tumble dryer that “sets” the tea’s oxidation level, and it’s the reason why green teas don’t turn brown or black with time, because they’re “set”.

Next, Baochong tea is put in a tumbler.  This tumbler lightly bruises the tea leaves, bringing out more of the leaf’s juice, aiding in oxidation. It also bruises the leaves in a style that gives a classic “golden halo” to the leaf, and if done properly is a sign of good processing technique.

Then the Baochong is twisted.  Baochong literally means “wrapped kind” because it is wrapped like this (picture)  not rolled like this (picture).

The rolling and re-rolling and fluffing and more rolling can be repeated up to two dozen times to achieve the desired shape. This is where time, patience and an expert hand have a great chance to express themselves, resulting in an acceptable cup of tea or a cup of tea worthy of acclaim. This is also the tiring part where a farmer might not sleep for one or two nights, depending on how the harvest is going.

Lastly, the tea is baked insert (picture) and thus, Mao Cha or Raw Tea is achieved. When toasted 10-15%  the tea is at it’s finished state.

This is the point at which Baochong tea destined for export tea is blended for a specific flavor profile, packaged in bulk and shipped off. But higher grades, those that are single estate harvested, are submitted to the Wenshan Baochong competition for comparison and scrutiny, and ultimately to select a Baochong that is to be the gold standard of the 5 criteria judges use to ascertain what a truly good tea is: dry aroma, wet aroma, color, taste, and leaf size.

Check out our 3rd Place Competition Winning Baochong. It was processed on the farm you see here and crafted by an expert hand. … luckily for you, it’s also on sale!

Two weeks ago in San Francisco I noticed something odd, my neighbors camellia was budding.  What’s going on? What is this poor plant doing?  Reacting to the unseasonably warm spell we felt at the end of October, the camellia was blossoming again as if it were spring.  A pleasant and uplifting sight to see flowers, but it felt strange and somehow wrong, out of place.

On China’s Xi Ping this was a year like no other in living memory.  28 degrees and wearing T-shirts in October?  It was too warm.  Village elders asked one another if they remembered such a year when the osmanthus flowers blossomed so late?  No, none could remember; how strange that such a regular and seasonal flower would bloom two months late, something must be changing they agreed. It is.  Sometimes spotty and never predictable, warming trends across our planet are slowly but distinctly changing not only the growing season, but even the soil conditions of all agricultural products even tea.

So, we waited, waited for the inevitable cool spell that finally came to Xi Ping, finally pushing the tea plant into growing mode and bringing out the best qualities of a superb oolong. And it was worth the wait.  We finally have our best selling Golden Heart fall 2008 crop from Xi Ping here again!

Here is what it tastes like: The first thing you notice about this years tea is it’s toastiness. A deep roasty smell to the freshly washed leaves conjures the smell of roasting chestnuts that hangs in the chilly air and tempts you with a dream of resting comfortably at the fireside. This Golden Heart begins with that roastiness but impressively mellows in the mouth to a well balanced and flavorful oolong. It is surprisingly diverse in flavor, notes of sugar cane, juicy candied lemon and jackfruit harmonize almost inexplicably with a fresh-roasted taste. And it finishes with a resonating and lingering throat and mouth feel that is not overpowering, but absolutely complete.

Our tea was roasted over the weekend of the 25th and 26th of October and is still “settling”. The roastiness mellows out over the first two weeks and settles into a taste that will charm you for months to come.

As far as roasting goes, there are generally two kinds of roasting for oolong Ting Heung and Sook Heung.  Ting Heung is a light roast usually around 20 or 30%.  Sook Heung is tea roasted 50% or more. Sometimes this is referred to as a Hong Kong Style of roasting. (For example, our Monkey Picked TKY is a Hong  Kong Style roast, so darkly roasted that it has a cool mouthfeel and a menthol back bite.) I find most of the Guangzhou and Anxi styles of oolong tea for the American market to be roasted Ting Heung style. You’ve probably had that lighter, floral, gently sweet thin liquid with no depth.  Many have notes of Lilly or sweet citrus only and they are completely lacking in wei gam, (a lingering throat and mouth feel) that to me is intoxicating.

Well roasted oolongs are toasted just right to bring out the best qualities of the leaf, they have just enough toastiness to please, but do not have a burnt or scorched taste to the tea.

We also have a small quantity of a 20 year Old-Tree Anxi oolong that was roasted by the farmer himself in a  Sook Heung style (over 50% roasted) that is a blend of oolong varietals a majority of which are lovingly hand picked leaves, a rare treat. It is a private collection tea that will not be for sale on line and only available at our tea tasting.

So come join us at Modern Tea Restaurant at 602 Hayes Street at the corner of Hayes and Laguna (across the street from Supen Kuchen and Bar Jules) from 12-4 on Saturday the 15th of November. Come to taste our new Golden Heart, enjoy a flight of teas and choose some great holiday treats for yourself or loved ones. We will have the Old-Tree Ti Kuan Yin available and have some good deals on our Dragonwell and Baochong teas too!

See you there!

Sina and Carnie