Charcoal-Fired Tea

A charcoal-firing room in WuyiShan, Fujian, China. Photograph by Mary Lou Heiss

The most traditional method of finish-firing used for highly oxidized ( 60-80% ) styles of Chinese oolong tea is charcoal firing. For this method, a small quantity of leaf is gently spread out in the top of a bamboo firing basket, and paced over a carefully controlled low-heat charcoal ember fire.

Finish-firing is an essential step in oolong tea manufacture, whether the tea is dried in a rotary drum oven or a bake oven or is traditionally charcoal-fired. Final firing is important because:

1. it allows the teamaker to bring the tea to the final state of dryness by driving off excess moisture in the leaf, and thereby leaving only the desired percentage of residual moisture in the finished tea.
2. it ’finishes’ the leaf or ‘seals’ the leaf, so to speak. It is the last step in oolong manufacture and a critical one as it will determine how stable the tea will be in the marketplace as well as how successfully it will keep and age.

Additionally, charcoal firing lightly imbues the leaves with a delicate and lovely ‘suggestion’ of wood, which influences, not overwhelms, the distinctive flavor and aroma of the tea in the cup.

In tea factories that we have visited we have seen small, somewhat narrow firing baskets that range from just over 2 feet tall to large, wide versions that stand about 4 feet high. These well-designed baskets are simple,  lovely works of art. They are usually handmade in local workshops from bamboo that is cut in the forests in the tea producing regions. Every tea factory utilizes tea firing baskets that differ slightly from those used in other factories, but the overall idea is the same.

Tea firing baskets may be one or two piece constructions, and either way they comprised of two distinct parts -a low, round top tray which holds the leaf and ( a several-inch high lip keeps the leaf from spilling out ) and a circular bamboo base that holds the tray securely and keeps the tea safely elevated above the heat. The bamboo base is hollow and open and designed to straddle the heat source, allowing the heat to rise up to the tray of tea resting on top.

The goal of finish firing is just that – the last slow and gentle final drying of the leaf. Depending on the style of oolong tea being made ( semiball-rolled Tieguanyin or other se zhong oolongs such as Mao Xie (Hairy Crab) or Tou Tian Xiang (Imperial Gold) from China and Tung Ting and gao shan oolongs from Taiwan; strip-style Wu Yi yan cha oolongs such as Da Hong Pao, Shui Hsien, Rou Gui, etc,; Fenghuang Dan Congs from the Phoenix Mts ) the tea may be put over the heat and then removed for resting off and on for a period of several hours before it is satisfactorily fired.

Charcoal firing adds a seductive bit of wood flavor to the tea – not a distinct smokiness of pine-smoked Zhen Shan Xiao Zhong but an elusive and barely discernable woodyness to the flavor. Some green teas are basket fired as well, but the short amount of time that these teas are exposed to the heat adds less influence to the finished tea.

For me, charcoal-fired oolongs embody the hand-crafted, traditional nature of stupendous oolong teas.  Charcoal-firing is as much a stamp of terroir as is the tea bush varietals that the leaves are plucked from, various other unique steps of tea manufacture that have been developed in certain locales, and the geographic location of these tea bushes or tea trees.

In some villages in China, charcoal-firing has been outlawed in the larger tea factories due to envirnomental concerns. But there are still individual tea farmers firing tea by the old-time charcoal method. So if you are intrigued by the idea of these tasty oolongs, check our charcoal-fired Tieguanyin.

2008 Olympic Games Commemorative Puerh Cakes

Those of you who love dian hong ( fine, long, sturdy brownish Yunnan teas that are heavily tinged with gold bud ) know that it is made from the leaf of the indigenous strain of Camellia sinensis trees known as dayeh or arbor trees. And that it is in fact the same leaf that is gathered from the forests of the Ten Famous Tea Mountains to create the mixture of leaf used to make sheng puerh beeng cha ( for which the leaves are simply processed into maocha before being pressed into cakes. )

You also know that for nearly all of 2007 these teas seemed to disappear from the market almost overnight. As did lower grades of black Yunnan tea.

We were beside ourselves over this as we generally stock three to four delicious examples of dian hong. Our customers love these distinctive and flavorsome teas - we have cultivated interest in the unique characteristics of fine Yunnan tea for a long time and have quite a loyal customer following for them. And, selfish-ly speaking, we love them too.

Our colleagues in China told us many things – puerh becoming popular all over China now -all the leaf going to make puerh; making many puerh cakes for sale to USA and Europe markets; no leaf left for dian hong but tea farmers happy now; blah, blah, blah.

Well, I am sure that some of all of this was true, but rather mysteriously the dian hongs are back this year. What does that signify – no more production of puerh cakes ? That is unlikely. Again, we heard: market fall out of puerh sales- not the interest everyone thought; too many cakes, not enough buyers; blah, blah, blah.

Well, today I discovered what was probably the biggest reason for the disappearance and reappearance of the dian hong. The creation of 50,000 limited edition 2008 Olympic Games Commemorative Puerh Cakes by the Longshen Tea Factory and commissioned by the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee.

Of course, of course, of course…..I should have figured that out last year !  Chinese tea merchants, tea companies and other businesses are known for commissioning commemorative edition puerh beeng cha for significant anniversaries, important dates, events and big celebrations.

And the biggest celebration for China in a very long time is, of course, the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Such a Chinese gesture – we should have seen this one coming !

Do I think that this is the only reason that the dian hong disappeared ? Perhaps not, because I think that there is a bit of truth in all of the other reasons. But for all of the leaf to disappear so quickly and completely in 2007, there had to be a very big underlying reason.

So, now the question is…..how good will these cakes be ? Are they indeed made with wonderful mao cha or with lesser quality leaf. It is doubtful that they will be of exceptional or even good quality ( and also are they sheng or the inferior shou ?

One of my sources in China has told me about a set of ten 2008 Olympic cakes – 5 sheng and 5 shou . My guess is that a lot of other ‘unofficial’ Olympic cakes have also been made as well by tea companies enthusiastically joining in on the spirit of the occasion. But these cakes are being sold as souvenirs, so the quality is most likely not suitable for tea connoisseurs.

As proud as the tea producer may be of these cakes, they must know that the majority of these cakes will be purchased by visitors and as such the cakes will not be stored, aged and drunk at a later date ( if they are drunk at all. )

Oh my, the possibilities are beginning to swirl in my mind. And yet, I still have a nagging question: where did all the best dian hong really go ?