Hello, I'm making this post to notify anybody who checks back on this site that I've created my own domain for the purposes of continuing this blog!
I will continue to post every Monday, on similar topics. Here is the link to my new domain: https://tristanjordan.com Cheers!
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Background Today I realized that I have not yet written a blog post about Wulong Tea (烏龍茶, or wulong cha in Chinese). For this reason I felt inspired to drink a spring harvest wulong tea from Taiwan, and write this blog post. Green teas are as close to no oxidation as one can get while picking and processing tea. Red teas on the other hand (black teas in English), are as close to full oxidation as one can get. However, wulong tea is a partially oxidized kind of tea. This oxidation can range from approximately 10-15% - 80% oxidation, so there is a great amount of variety and complexity that can be found while exploring these kinds of teas. This variety is due not only to oxidation, but also due to the complexity of processing the tea itself. Below I will summarize the main steps of processing a Taiwanese wulong tea. Some steps like shaking and withering may be repeated as necessary, depending on the degree of oxidation.
The tea that I chose to drink for today's blog post is called Wu She Gao Feng (霧社高峰 in Chinese). My rudimentary translation of this into English is 'misty summit / high peak'. The varietal of tea used to produce this tea is Gentle Heart (清心 or qing xin in Chinese). This varietal of the tea plant is very common in Taiwan. The vendor of this tea says that it has a greener / lighter degree of oxidation at approximately 25%. The vendor also says that this tea has not been roasted. The image below shows the dry leaves of the Wu She Gao Feng. It is amazing how the rolling of the tea tightly compresses the leaves into little knotted shapes. Tasting Notes This tea was enjoyable to drink. The dry leaves had an aroma that was clean, grassy, and somewhat nutty. The first few infusions of the tea had a flavor and fragrance that was very floral. This flavor & fragrance reminded me of blooming orchids and / or lilacs. After the first few infusions, the tightly knotted tea leaves expanded open. At this point the floral fragrance of this tea faded, and the tea started releasing a stronger milky green flavor that was grassy and vegetal. Throughout the session the texture of the tea was very smooth, and it had a good lingering feeling that remained after taking a break from drinking. The image below shows a good example of the color of the brewed tea, as well as how much the leaves unfurled during brewing. Despite the tight rolling of the leaves, they are able to remain fully intact. The image below will show what the leaves look like when fully unfurled outside of the tea cup. Final Thoughts This tea was all around good to drink, and lasted for roughly 7 - 9 infusions. My favorite part of the session however was the first 2-3 infusions when the tea had very sparkling & aromatic qualities, as well as a nutty, floral, & complex flavor. I feel as if this tea is a good example of a lightly oxidized and non roasted Taiwanese wulong. Because wulong tea is such a broad category, I plan on writing future blog posts about other wulong teas that have different kinds of oxidation, roasting, processing, etc. Overview Today's blog post is a followup to an earlier post of mine in which I brewed a tea 30 times in order to see whether or not I believed if a tea company's claims about a 5 gram sample of Wild Tong Mu Jin Jun Mei that could be brewed 30 times had any truth. I was inspired to write that original post because this tea company was selling 5 grams of tea for $38, which is an egregious price for 5 grams of tea. The vendor claimed that this price was due to "The incredible amount of labor required, the steep domestic demand and tiny supply . . . [which] make this one of the most valuable teas coming out of China, with demand for genuinely wild Jin Jun Mei growing every year." With this in mind another big part of their sales pitch was that they could brew "over thirty steepings with our five gram packet when we tried this tea for the first time, and the tea only seemed to get stronger and fuller each steeping instead of lighter." Based on my experience with tea, no tea I've tried can yield over thirty steepings with 5 grams. If it did, the steepings would definitely not get stronger and fuller with each infusion. However due to the incredibly high cost of the listed tea, I wasn't able to justify purchasing it for evaluation. Instead I evaluated a different bud set black tea over 30 steepings, to see if their brewing methodology had any good results. A few weeks after the release of the Wild Tongmu Jin Jun Mei, the same company released another packet of tea called Tongmu Mei Zhan Jin. This packet of tea cost only $8.75 for 5 grams, but remarkably the marketing claims were just as strong as the claims made about the Wild Tongmu Jin Jun Mei. For this tea, the company claimed:
Although this tea was over 4 times less expensive than the Wild Tongmu Jin Jun Mei, it was supposed to offer more steepings and a comparable tasting experience. Because the cost was not as high, two tea friends and I decided to bite the bullet and buy a packet for evaluation. The rest of this post will describe how we brewed the tea, and our final thoughts after the tasting. Brewing Methodology For this session we brewed the tea in the exact way outlined by the vendor in their marketing email. The process used to brew the tea outlined by the vendor includes: 1) Preheating a small (< 5 fl. oz.) gaiwan with boiling water. 2) Cooling the boiling water for 15 - 20 seconds in a glass pitcher, then rinsing the 5 grams of tea leaves for a few seconds. 3) Brewing the first 15 infusions with boiling water that has been cooled in a glass pitcher for 20 seconds, and then steeping the tea for 5 - 8 seconds. 4) Brewing the next 15+ infusions with boiling water that has been cooled in a glass pitcher for only 6 seconds, and then steeping the tea for up to 45+ seconds. Tasting Notes Steepings 1 - 3: The first 3 steepings of this tea brewed up a vibrant gold color. We thought that the texture was smooth, with a cool and lingering mouth feel. The flavor of these steepings were similar to standard Chinese black teas, and were mostly savory with roasted notes. Steepings 1, 2, & 3 Steepings 4 - 6: At this stage of brewing, the tea leaves started to open up and yield a slightly darker brew. The savory & roasted qualities remained, but the flavor also had citric notes. The texture at this stage of the session was splashy, and not as smooth and rich as the first 3 steepings. Steepings 4, 5, & 6 Steepings 7 - 9: At this stage of the session, the strength of steepings 4 - 6 backed down. There were still some citric, floral, & perfume like notes that were very enjoyable, but the majority of the rich body of the tea started to fade away at this point. Steepings 7, 8, & 9 Steepings 10 - 12: At this stage of the session, there was not much to say. Although the color of the tea remained, most of the flavor was gone. The texture started to lack richness, smoothness, or a splashy quality, and simply felt like normal water. Steepings 10, 11, & 12 Steepings 13 - 15: The quality of the tea really started to degrade during this part of the session. Even with the increased time and temperature in brewing as instructed, the color of the tea was lighter. It had a watery chalky texture, and left a slightly bitter aftertaste without having any of the enjoyable tea notes from earlier in the session. Steepings 13, 14, & 15 Steepings 16+: At this point we decided to abort the mission. All of the enjoyable qualities of the tea were gone, and we did not want to continue drinking sad tea for 20 more steepings just to prove a point. To try to see if there was anything left in the leaf I brewed two long steepings using boiling water. Steeping 16 was brewed for one minute with boiling water, and steeping 17 was brewed for 3-5 + minutes with boiling water. Although the color got stronger, this didn't help the flavor... if anything, the blandness got stronger. Steepings 16 & 17 Final Thoughts This tea yielded 7 - 9 steepings that were truly very enjoyable. We felt like even if sold at the same price, people would buy and enjoy this tea from the vendor without needing to be told that it would yield far beyond what is reasonable to expect from a sample of tea. It seems like telling people things that are unreasonable (35 steepings + 2 days of additional brewing from one small sample of tea) is a bad marketing practice in the long term for any tea business. It may also harm and confuse people who are new to the world of tea by giving them unrealistic expectations and standards for judging loose leaf tea. We don't mean to disparage or scoff at anyone's tea business or marketing practices, but want to try to offer our point of view on what we think these practices do. For this reason my tea friends and I are drafting a letter to send to the vendor of this tea in order to offer up this perspective, and see what their side of the story is. Today I met with an old friend who was returning home briefly after a period of work and travel abroad. After sharing tea and conversation from the late morning through the mid afternoon, I felt inspired to write a short piece on drinking tea slowly. Life is busy, and it is natural to be pulled in many different directions by our day to day obligations. I'm reminded of the quote from Confucius: "The [good person] never deserts benevolence... If [they] hurry and stumble one may be sure that it is in benevolence that [they] do so." (Book 4, Passage 5) **. I included this quote because I think it is important and necessary to attend to the things in life that can make us hurry and stumble about. Despite this I've recently come to appreciate the times when I've fully attended to my obligations in the immediate future, and have been able to sit and spend free time with tea. For me this kind of time is a good way to recharge my batteries, promote relaxation, and is good for my mental & physical health. I think this kind of time doesn't even have to be spent with tea. It could be any activity one enjoys, or even no activity at all. Rather than expecting ourselves to work at 100% all the time, taking a rest for the longer journey ahead. In my life this has been an important lesson that I've learned, and tea has been a good way to put it into practice. I'll end by offering a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh that you may or may not have heard: “Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.” If you find yourself reading this post I hope you have a chance to take a nice break, whether it is with tea, or anything else. ** The text in brackets is written material from Confucius that I altered. Confucius uses the term "gentleman" and the pronoun "he". However, I didn't feel like morals had to be tied to specific genders. Background Today I woke up to very cold temperatures and a substantial amount of rain. This is quite a change from the hot 85 degree days of the past week or two. For this reason my plans to exercise outside with friends were cut short, and instead I stayed in and brewed some tasty tea at home. This helped me warm up to a surprisingly dreary July morning. The tea that I chose to brew on this kind of day is a Gong Fu Hong Cha (功夫红茶). Translated to English, Gong Fu Hong Cha means 'red tea produced with skill & effort'. In English we know the characters Gong Fu (功夫) as 'Kung Fu', a martial arts term. Although the term definitely applies to martial arts, it can also apply to any thing that a person tries to cultivate and master. Artists, athletes, musicians, carpenters, fisherman, etc. could all be said to have Gong Fu if they've put effort towards cultivating and mastering their respective interests. When applied to tea, the term Gong Fu indicates that a tea was produced with care & attention by skilled workers. The term also can indicate that a better quality of source material was used to make a tea. The tea I brewed was produced in the Qi Men County (祁门县) of Anhui Province (安徽省) in China. The variety of tea plant used to produce the Qi Men Gong Fu Hong Cha that I drank are called Zhu Ye Zhong (櫧葉種) in Chinese, or sweet oak leaf varietal in English. I believe that this tea varietal is called Zhu Ye Zhong because the leaves are long, slender, and spear like, perhaps resembling the leaves of sweet oak. Although the dry tea leaves are curled, I will include an image of the unfurled tea leaves at the end of this post. The unfurled tea leaves are somewhat long and spear like in appearance. Tasting Notes The aroma of this tea was mostly woody and malty, with a faint smokey component. The flavors of the brewed tea matched the notes of its fragrance. The feeling and texture of this tea were very smooth, round, clean, and just generally pleasant. There was a good balance between the flavor and aroma of the tea, and I was able to get roughly 8 or 9 brews with substantial flavor from the same leaves. The color of the brewed tea was a very deep golden / red. Even though we would call this kind of tea a 'black tea' in English, it is clear by looking at the color of the brewed tea why it is known as Hong Cha (红茶) or 'red tea' in Chinese. After I finished drinking tea, I took a look at the fully brewed tea leaves. They wound up unfurling from their original curled shape, and had a somewhat long and slender shape. This is perhaps why the varietal of tea plant used to make this tea is called 'sweet oak leaf varietal'. Final Thoughts After drinking this tea I was reflecting a little bit on the term 'gong fu' and what it can mean when drinking tea in daily life. Although a tea may be produced as a gong fu tea, if we don't pay attention while brewing it we can miss out on its finer points. For this reason I think that it is important to drink tea with care and attention. With more focus it is possible to learn how to brew tea better by trial and error. More focus can also help us understand what qualities we enjoy in a tea, which in turn helps us better evaluate new teas that we try. Background Today I drank an interesting kind of black tea called purple black tea. Standard black tea is made from tea leaves that are picked, fully oxidized, shaped, dried, then packaged. Purple black tea is processed in the same way, but the source material is composed of purple tea leaves rather than regular tea leaves. The natural question that is asked is "what makes the tea leaves purple?". The answer to this question is an interesting defense mechanism of the tea plant. In some areas with high elevation and/or hot climates, tea bushes can have high levels of UV exposure from the sun. Over time, some of these plants started producing anthocyanins, a pigment that can help protect the tea leaves from UV exposure. This pigment causes the normally green tea leaves to turn a reddish purple color. The photo below will show some purple tea leaves growing on tea bushes. A Brief Clarification - Black Tea vs. Red Tea In China, what we call black tea is called hong cha (红茶), which literally translated means 'red tea'. There is another tea in China called hei cha (黑茶), which literally translated means 'black tea'. In English hei cha is known as fermented tea, because we already call what is truly red tea 'black tea'. It makes sense that there is this error in naming, because Chinese must have been a very hard language for people to translate back when tea traders first started buying tea. I mentioned this because the kind of tea I drank is really a 'red tea', fully oxidized but not fermented after production. However, for the blog post I call it 'Purple Black Tea of Yunnan', because this is the name listed by the vendor I purchased the tea from. Tasting Notes Before brewing the tea, the dry tea leaves had a strong and interesting aroma. These leaves smelled slightly sweet like sugar, with a little bit of a fruity note like grapes. However, the smell wasn't only sweet. It also had a smokey component that made the aroma more complex. These dry leaves were dark black and brown in color, with some leaves having a red / purple hue. While drinking the tea, it did not taste like the usual kinds of black tea that we are accustomed to as Westerners. It was less thick, malty, and sweet than some black teas from India or China can be. The texture was more thin and sparkling, and left a slightly bitter / astringent aftertaste on the mouth. This aftertaste was quite strong, and continued to build up over repeated steepings of the tea. This tea had the standard warm flavors you might expect from a Chinese black/red tea, but also had a slightly fruity component. This fruity component was slight, and not very sweet. Due to the lingering bitter / astringent aftertaste, this fruity flavor reminded me more of grapes or cranberries. Feelings & Final Thoughts The last thing I'd like to mention about this tea is the body feelings that I experienced while drinking it. It felt like a very energizing tea, and I did not need to drink much to feel awake and peppy. Despite the complex flavors and intense aftertaste, the tea still felt complex, smooth, and was overall enjoyable. If a person liked to add things like milk or sugar to their black tea, I may not recommend this tea for them. This is because I feel like the unique qualities of this tea might come across as funky when paired with milk or sugar. However this would be a good tea for a person who enjoys raw Pu'er tea, and/or may not mind some slightly bitter astringent complexities in their tea. With all of this in mind, the Purple Black Tea of Yunnan was interesting to try due to the unique qualities of purple tea. Below is an image of the tea leaves after being fully brewed. This offers another glimpse of the brown, red, & purple hues of the leaf caused by the anthocyanins. Background Today was a sunny, hot, and humid day. For this reason I chose to drink a tea called Huang Shan Mao Feng green tea (Huang Shan Mao Feng Lu Cha 黄山毛峰绿茶 in Chinese). Huang Shan is the mountain range near where the tea is grown in Anhui Province (An Hui Sheng 安徽省 in Chinese). The leaves of this tea are said to resemble the craggy mountain peaks of Huang Shan. Additionally, the tea leaves are covered in fine white hairs. For this reason the tea is called Mao Feng, or 'fur peak' tea. Usually just the bud and first leaf of the tea bush are picked to produce Huang Shan Mao Feng. Brewing Methodology I obtained this tea from a tea magazine which said that the tea was produced in a place called Xiang Tan Cun village (響潭村) in Anhui province. The people who sent the tea enjoy brewing the tea using just one bowl for tea ware. This can be an enjoyable and intimate way of drinking tea because it helps focus on the color, fragrance, and taste of the tea without many distractions. The steps for brewing bowl tea are outlined below. Step 1: Preheat the bowl using hot water. For this tea session I heated water until it had small bubbles, but did not reach a rolling boil. This temperature is around 85 degrees Celsius. Step 2: Put the dry tea leaves in the warm bowl. At this point the heat from the bowl releases the fragrance from the tea leaves. Step 3: Add hot water to fill the bowl roughly 2/3 full. The tea leaves float on the water, but can be blown back to create a clean space for drinking the tea. When the bowl is almost empty, more water is added so that more tea can be drunk easily. This can be repeated until the tea loses its flavor. Tasting Notes Brewing the first couple of bowls, this tea had a faint aroma and flavor which were both clean and refreshing. After the tea leaves opened up in the water, they had a more substantial vegetal flavor that was somewhat similar to greens and water chestnuts. However the best qualities were more in the feelings than the flavors of the tea. By this I mean that it was a clean tea that made me feel refreshed and uplifted. It did not have any unpleasant flavors, textures, and did not overly caffeinate me. Final Thoughts It can be easy for a lover of tea to be intrigued by different flavors, aromas, and tools used to make tea. However while drinking tea today, I thought about how tea drinking is ultimately very simple. Drinking tea in a bowl can be a good reminder of this because it just takes a bowl, tea leaves, & hot water. There is something about gazing at a bowl of fresh green tea leaves that makes it easy to find the beauty in a simple thing. Background In the world of Pu'er tea, it is very common for vendors and consumers to discuss the age of the trees used to produce any given tea. Although different people will have different things to say about tree age, it is generally believed that older trees produce better tea up to a certain point. There are a few different age groups that can be used to categorize Pu'er tea. These include:
Plantation tea usually consists of small bushes growing in rows on terraces. Arbor tea can consist of larger bushes or small trees, and can either grow on terraces or in wild areas. Old arbor and ancient tea trees are wild trees of various sizes that can grow in various locations. Because many people believe that older trees produce better teas, selling tree age is a very common marketing strategy in the world of Pu'er tea. I've seen different vendors market tea from 500, 800, and even 1200 year old tea trees. This is despite the fact that trees much older than 300 - 400 years old are becoming exceedingly rare, sometimes protected and prohibited from being picked, and produce less tea material due to their old age. For my blog post today, I drank two different Pu'er teas from 2011. The first tea is called the Yiwu Sheng Bing (易武生饼 ), and was supposedly produced using material from 20 year old plantation tea bushes. The second tea is called Mu Shu Cha (母树茶 ), and was supposedly produced using material blended from 100 - 300 year old tea trees. I drank each tea with an hour break in between, and recorded what my thoughts were about the flavors, aromas, and sensations of these teas produced from tea trees of different ages. Tasting Notes While looking at the dry leaves of each tea, I noticed that the Yiwu Sheng Bing included mostly medium & large leaves, and had a high proportion of stems. The Mu Shu Cha included a blend of medium leaves, large leaves, buds, and had less stems. Here are images of the dry leaves of each tea: 2011 Yiwu Sheng Bing 2011 Mu Shu Cha The Yiwu Sheng Bing brewed a pale and slightly cloudy yellow color. It's flavors and aromas were mellow, grassy, and somewhat floral. This tea had a thin and light mouth feel. When brewed too long this tea would become bitter and astringent, yet the mouth feel of the tea was still thin. It felt relaxing and comfortable in the body while being drunk. The Mu Shu Cha brewed a golden yellow color that was slightly more vibrant than the Yiwu Sheng Bing. It's flavors and aromas were complex, vegetal, & somewhat floral. Compared to the Yiwu Sheng Bing, it had a thicker mouth feel. Even with a thicker mouth feel, the tea was still smooth. When brewed too long this tea would become bitter and astringent, yet these qualities would be slightly balanced out by a complex and smooth feeling in the mouth and throat. It felt more energizing in the body while being drunk. After brewing each tea, I put the finished leaves in separate bowls to compare the material. The Yiwu Sheng Bing had leaves with a somewhat lackluster brownish & yellowish color, while the Mu Shu Cha had leaves with a somewhat dark and more vibrant olive green color. Here is a photo of the tea leaves after being brewed: 2011 Yiwu Sheng Bing 2011 Mu Shu Cha Final Thoughts After drinking these two teas I noticed that the tea produced from older trees was more complex, smooth, energizing, & vibrant in appearance. This is not to say that the tea made from plantation trees was bad, it just lacked some of the complexities and energizing qualities of the older tea. The plantation tea was still enjoyable while being more accessible than the old tree tea. I say it is more accessible because it was roughly 3x less expensive than the tea from 100 - 300 year old trees. A pot of the plantation tea that could be re-brewed roughly 6 - 8 times cost $0.88, while a similarly sized pot of the old tree tea cost $3.00. Thoughts on Buying Old Tree Tea The price difference between young tree and old tree tea becomes apparent because Pu'er is bought in large quantities of cakes. This can mean spending $20 - $50 per 357 gram cake compared with $80 - $200 per 357 gram cake. For this reason I think it makes sense to purchase more carefully, with the goal of winding up with a large quantity of tea that can be enjoyed through the future. I've developed a few opinions on buying Pu'er tea:
Background Today I drank a raw pu'er tea from 2014 called Impressions. This tea is interesting because it includes blended material from various locations and harvests, rather than being a production from a single origin and time period. The vendor of this tea claims that the tea is produced from rough tea (mao cha 毛茶 in Mandarin) of 24 different regions in Yunnan province that was harvested from 2011 - 2014. This harvested rough tea also includes tea from both Spring and Autumn harvests. When you look at the dry leaves of the Impressions cake, you can see leaves and buds of various sizes and colors. This is different from the leaves and buds of single origin cakes, which will usually have a slightly more uniform appearance. Why blend so many different harvests of tea? When I first learned about this tea, I wondered why the vendor would choose to mix so many different harvests of tea material into one batch. A few answers presented themselves after reading more about the tea, and having a chance to drink it. One main reason is that sourcing single origin tea can become very difficult and expensive. This is especially true for regions that are famous for their tea. At the same time, a village or region is limited in the amount of tea that its tea plants can produce. Therefore by blending different harvests and regions together, the vendor can offer a cheaper yet more consistent product for their consumers. Another reason for blending tea is due to the different flavor profiles of tea from different regions. The tea of some regions may have a lovely fragrance, yet lack substantial body. Conversely, tea from other regions may have a strong body but lack fragrance and refinement. For these reasons a skilled tea producer can identify the strengths and weaknesses of different teas, and create blends that utilize and balance the various flavors and aromas of tea from different regions. Tasting Notes Despite being aged for only 3 years, the Impressions cake had a very balanced profile that lasted over many brews. The color of the tea was a rich golden yellow. While being bold and uplifting, the tea was never too bitter or astringent. It had enjoyable grassy, vegetal, and nutty flavors. Throughout the steepings it also had a slight floral fragrance. This tea was not the most complex pu'er that I've had, but it had a clean consistent character that I thought were right for the price. Final Thoughts - Good Tea Doesn't Have to be Expensive
After drinking this tea I reflected on something I've come to believe after trying different teas from different vendors - good tea doesn't have to be expensive. Finding good teas that are cheap does require some trial and error, however. In my case this was true because it took me some time to find vendors that I believed were conveying trustworthy information about their products. This took time for me because every tea from every vendor is marketed to some extent. These claims are even more difficult to evaluate because of how subjective the experience of tasting something is. While buying pu'er there are a couple general kinds of marketing tactics I've noticed on different ends of the price spectrum: 1) The "too good to be true" situation - If you find a $10 cake of tea supposedly from a famous tea region like Lao Ban Zhang for sale on Tao Bao (a Chinese platform similar to eBay), there's a big chance that the tea is a fake. 2) The "premium pricing" situation - I've seen vendors list pu'er teas for anywhere from $150 - $385 for a 100 - 200 gram cake of tea. There can be market situations that warrant hefty prices for pu'er teas such as these, due to Pu'ers rise in fame as an artisan product. However the dangers of premium pricing are that it is not very cost effective for the average person to evaluate teas like these. There is also the chance that one could pay the premium price for the brand or image of a tea, rather than for objective qualities that make it noticeably different in taste or aroma from, say, a $25 - $50 cake of tea. For the reasons outlined above I have tried to identify tea vendors I perceive as trustworthy, and also tried to find good low - medium price range teas from these vendors that are complex and clean but do not break the bank. In the case of the 2014 Impressions, I bought the 357 gram cake a few years ago for $25 (although due to age its price has appreciated to $32). This means that one pot of tea (which can be re-steeped roughly 6 - 8) times costs only 35¢ . In my mind this is an example of an enjoyable & consistent tea that is affordable for an average consumer! Background Today I brewed some pu'er tea that I have been aging in my home for around a year. The tea is called Qi Sheng Gu. According to the vendor, Qi Sheng Gu is a fictional name for the town where this tea was produced. The only information given about this town is that it is located somewhere on the border of the Lincang and Simao prefectures of the Yunnan Province in China. This name was supposedly created to shelter the town from excessive numbers of people coming to buy tea. If you choose to believe this vendor, a fictional name may benefit such a town. This could be true because some other areas that produce good pu'er have sees drastic rises in prices, higher numbers of counterfeit teas, and a higher pressure to increase output to unsustainable levels due to excessive demand. This Tea's Journey Upon production in 2007, this tea was aged as rough tea (毛茶 or mao cha in Mandarin) until 2013. In 2013, the vendor of this tea then commissioned the mao cha to be pressed into cakes for resale. After trying a sample of this tea in 2016, I decided to purchase this tea to age and enjoy. Finally this tea found itself in my pot after about a year of aging in sunny Wells, Maine. I do not have a fancy setup for aging tea, but simply store it in a cardboard box in our living room. The bamboo leaves and cardboard box that surround this tea help protect the tea from excessive light, moisture, or dryness. Tasting Notes While brewing this tea I used approximately 5 grams of tea leaves in a 140 ml clay teapot. The clay teapot is not glazed, and has been used only for sheng pu'er tea. Because it is not glazed, the oils of the tea will build up in the teapot over time, hypothetically contributing to tea brewed in the future. Another reason that I use a clay teapot is that it helps retain heat from the boiling water. I've noticed that this boost in heat retention seems to add something to the flavor and texture of the brewed tea. The flavor of this tea had a very slight smokey quality in the initial steepings. However, after opening up the flavor of this tea changed to be a complex blend of woody aged flavors that also included slightly sweet plum notes. Even though the tea has enjoyable and complex flavors and aromas, I found the most enjoyable part of this tea to be the sensations that it gave me throughout the session. These sensations included a very smooth and clean texture that left a lingering feeling in the mouth, as well as down through the throat. The tea also left me feeling relaxed, yet energized. I think it can be difficult to describe the sensations and experiences of drinking a complex tea like this, so if I had to pick one word to describe this tea it would be - comfortable. These two photos show the clear golden/orange color of the brewed tea. Final Thoughts One thing I felt inspired to mention in this post after drinking this tea is the meditative mind while drinking tea. Earlier in the post you may have noticed the beautiful calligraphy on the wrapper of this tea. It is actually a poem that I think reflects on some aspects of the meditative component that can be experienced while drinking tea. In Mandarin this poem is written: 恒 温 静 泌 动 轻 柔 运 心 无 别 向 一 气 呵 成 Right now I have a rudimentary knowledge of the Chinese language, but my rough translation of this poem into English is: Constant temperature brings a tranquil secret, that stirs soft and gentle motions. The heart (or mind) is not focused outwards, Everything is finished in one breath. I enjoy this poem because some of my best experiences drinking tea have been when I am calm, relaxed, focused on brewing the tea, and not dwelling on things outside of what I am doing at the time. Prior to drinking tea, I did not have a routine in life where I tried to cultivate this kind of mind while engaged in a simple task. Looking back, there was a kind of turmoil in life that was balanced out by the practice of brewing tea. Right now that is all I have to say about the topics of this post, so I will conclude with a wish. If you find that the place and time are right, I hope you will have a chance to enjoy a good cup of tea! |
About MeI have many interests, but I often find myself thinking about tea. I enjoy tea as a beverage to drink, and also enjoy the peace and joy that can be found through its preparation. This blog will share my thoughts about tea, as well as new things that I learn along the way. ArchivesCategories |