2011 Shincha – UPDATE !

UPDATE to Original Post

JUNE 11th….Conflicting reports about possible radiation levels  ( or not )  in the 2011 Shincha crop from Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan continue to appear in American and Japanese news reports.  Each new report contradicts the last (all reporting is in credible media) so the truth is clouded. An American food-professional colleague living in Tokyo ( who makes her living writing about Japanese food and teaching cooking classes ) has strongly suggested ( read i-n-s-i-s-t-e-d)  based on information that she has that we halt the sale of this tea until more can be determined about the safety of tea from this area.

So we are. Apologies to all for this action, but without 100% faith in the soundness of what we are selling, we feel this is the right thing to do. Other than the 2011  Shincha ( which is now pulled from sale ), all of our Japanese green tea  is from the 2010 (pre-earthquake and tsunami ) harvest. It is still delicious and drinking quite nicely. We will not receive any additional 2011 Japanese green tea until more clarity is shed on this issue of contamination in Japanese agricultural products. Indeed, this is a heartbreaking situation for Japanese farmers of all manner of agricultural goods.

May 27th

Each spring the first plucking of new, seasonal Japanese tea – Shincha  – begins between the end of April or the beginning of May. The timing of this plucking for ‘first pluck’ tea is calculated according to the traditional Japanese calendar, which places the time on the 88th Night following the first day of spring. This period is also known as Hachijuhachiya, meaning the time that plants begin to sprout.

Only a very small amount of Shincha is plucked each spring as there are only a few days that tea leaves are this tiny and new. Tea workers race to beat the clock and harvest the tea leaves before they grow too large to be called Shincha. ( After the Shincha harvest, various pluckings of Sencha begins, and so on throughout the season).

Shincha is exquisite in flavor and aroma because it is made with the first tea leaves to sprout on the tea bushes after winter hibernation. During the winter rest, the tea bushes absorb and store nutrients gathered from the soil during this time. Thus, the first leaves to ‘sprout’ on the tea bushes in the spring contain a large amount of these nutrients and antioxidants, the energies of the season, and, best of all, fresh, bracing flavor.

Our Shincha Kunpu is truly a special tea. The leaves are shiny, thin and delicate, and the taste can best be described as exceedingly lively, herbaceous , earthy and sweet. It displays all the vitality of the new season in its taste, which is an invigorating expression of seasonality. The heady aroma of Shincha recalls the fresh, green aromas that greets one in the tea gardens and tea factories in Japan in the spring.

This highly sought-after tea is best drunk now, when it is young and full of the moment. It is not a tea for keeping, or saving for special occasions ‘later’.

To order our 2011 Shincha, please click here: http://www.teatrekker.com/shop/shincha-kunpu/

My ‘New’ Green Tea Book

A lovely woman who produces a food radio program telephoned me recently to set up an interview about my ‘new’ book on cooking with green tea. She caught me off guard because I don’t have a new book on cooking with green tea. Then I realized she was referring to a book that I wrote in 2006 titled: Green Tea: 50 Hot Drinks, Cool Quenchers and Sweet and Savory Treats ( Harvard Common Press, 2006).

We got it straightened out, had a laugh, and fortunately she still wanted to have the interview.

After this, I started to think about my book and the idea of cooking with tea. Back in 2006, cooking with tea or using tea as in ingredient in cooking and baking was an unfamiliar concept here in the US, and it did not resonate with most. Its not that it wasn’t a good idea – it was and still is a great idea – but only a few short years ago the conversation about tea was vastly different than it is today.

Back then, tea drinking had not yet reached the widespread popularity that it has now, and education about premium tea from traditional places of origin was still in its infancy. Spreading the word about the different classes of tea (green, white, yellow, oolong, black and Pu-erh) was challenging for those of us in the tea business as black tea was the most commonly drunk tea at that time, and the only tea that many people were familiar with.

Fortunately, my book sold well and is still in print -yea!- but I have come to realize that the subject of cooking with tea ( and my book ) was ahead of its time. For Green Tea I developed original recipes in these categories: hot and iced green teas, smoothies, green tea cocktails, savory dishes and sweet endings, and often when I would describe to someone back then what my book was about they would look at me as if I had holes in my head.

In fact, even in Taiwan, where I gave a presentation at an annual tea meeting to a room full of tea growers on the idea of cooking with tea, and where there are dishes that utilize oolong tea in the preparation, many there looked at me as if I had holes in my head, too.

But today, just five years later, the idea of cooking with tea, or using tea as a culinary ingredient, has caught on. Not like wildfire, but with enough traction to be included in various tea conversations and for others to pursue the topic.

Cynthia Gold, the Tea Sommelier at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel, has co-authored a book with Lise Stern titled: Culinary Tea: More Than 150 Recipes Steeped in Tradition from Around the World ( Running Press, 2010). This delightful book explores the concept in depth, and provides much guidance for those looking to experiment with all classes of tea in their cooking.

Some restaurants, too, feature tea as an ingredient in various savory dishes and cocktails. Green tea in particular is showing up pretty regularly in sweets and desserts. But I fear such desserts will suffer from over-exposure and incompetent hands, and become culinary outcasts in the same vein as tiramisu, molten chocolate cake, and anything kiwi.

I am reprinting (with permission of my publisher) one of my favorite cocktail recipes from Green Tea: 50 Hot Drinks, Cool Quenchers and Sweet and Savory Treats.

Tropical Sky
( serves 2 )

• 12 ice cubes
• 3 ounces chilled green tea
• 1 cup chilled pomegranate juice
• 3 ounces gin
• 1 tablespoon amaretto
• Maraschino cherries, lemon wedges and orange wedges for garnish

1. Put 4 ice cubes, the green tea, pomegranate juice, gin, and amaretto into a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for 1 minute.

2. Divide the remaining 8 ice cubes between 2 old-fashioned glasses. Make a skewer for each glass by threading 1 cherry, 1 lemon wedge, and 1 orange wedge onto a decorative cocktail pick. Strain the cocktail into the glasses and drape a fruit skewer across the top of each glass. Serve immediately.

Master Classes in Tea…A New Series

Our Late Winter/Early Spring 2011 series of Tea Trekker Master Classes in Tea were a success and we can’t wait to do it again. Thank you to all our eager class attendees for helping us to hone our presentations. Everyone had a good time, ourselves included.

We are announcing two new series, one for summer and one for fall. Our series of six evenings is an exploration of the Six Classes of Tea, and they are adapted from the tea classes and presentations that we have conducted at seminars and conferences around the country.

Classes can be taken individually or in any combination.

Master Class Schedule – Summer 

• July 7       –   overview of all Six Classes of Tea
• July 14     –   green tea
• July 21     –   white, yellow & scented tea
• July 28     –   oolong tea
• August 4    –   black tea
• August 11  –   Pu-erh tea

Master Class Schedule – Fall

• September 8       –  overview of all Six Classes of Tea
• September 15     –  green tea
• October 6           –   white, yellow & scented tea
• October 13         –   oolong tea
• October 20         –   black tea
• November 10      –   Pu-erh tea

 

Our Master Classes: What You Will Learn

As a group we will taste 4 to 6 distinctive teas in each class and discuss the proper tea steeping methodologies for the tea. Steeping methods will vary with the type of tea being discussed, and in some classes attendees will learn to use a gawian or steep tea in an abbreviated gong-fu style. We will discuss the important aspects of each class of tea necessary to develop a clear understanding of that style of tea.

Using the green tea class as an example, we begin each class with:

• a photographic PowerPoint presentation from our tea sourcing trips which provides background information about green tea in China, Japan and Korea
• a close-up look at the most important green tea producing countries, their tea gardens, green tea processing techniques, and other variables that make green tea unique

During the course of each class ( still using green tea as an example) you will learn:

• the history of green tea, the culture of green tea and traditional tea steeping methods for green tea
• what differentiates green tea from the other classes of tea
• why premium green tea and standard, commercial-grade green tea are so different
• how to visually assess the appearance of green tea leaf
• to distinguish the subtle ( and not so subtle ) differences in flavor and aroma among unique green teas
• how to steep green tea for the sweetest flavor
• what teawares are best for steeping green tea

TeaTrekker Master Classes are held in our store at 65 King Street, Northampton, MA from 7:00 – 8:30 PM. Attendance is limited to 10 people per class - advance registration is required. Each class is $25.00 per person and must be paid for when the reservation is made. Attendees must be at least 18 years of age; and no children, please. For those who sign up for all six classes, a 10% discount will be given off the total cost of the classes. Additionally, attendees will receive a coupon for a 10% discount on a future purchase of tea or teawares.

Call us – 413-584-5116- or come into the store to sign up for these classes. ( Sorry, signing up online is not an available option).

Click here to sign up for our newsletter to receive information about new tea arrivals and other tea news: http://www.teatrekker.com/newsletter_join.htm

Our Japanese Tea After the Earthquake & Tsunami

We are now placing orders for our 2011 Japanese green teas. Our confidence in doing so is based on information that we have been receiving that the tea fields in Shuizoka and Kagoshima ( both of which lie substantially south of Tokyo and Fukashima ) are free from contamination.

The Shizuoka government has been monitoring the radiation level of the atmosphere, tap water and fallout on an hourly basis from the beginning of the events that occurred in Japan in March. Since then, there have not been any abnormal measurements. For reverence, please visit (http://www.pref.shizuoka.jp).

United States FDA and Canadian customs have restricted fresh products from some prefectures in Japan. Shizuoka is not included in these restrictions since unusual levels of radiation have not been detected in the air or water in the prefecture. Kagoshima is even further south and has also not detected any abnormal measurments.

Many fresh food producers in Japan have requested a certificate to prove the safety of their products. Consequently, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan has developed and will issue a “Certificate of Environmental Radioactivity Level” for such products. We are pleased to say that our new 2011 Japanese teas will bear this certificate.

Japanese and United States Governments have numerous safeguards and inspections in place to assure the safety of products from Japan. If you are concerned about the safety of certain Japanese food products, please visit the USFDA website to read some FAQs on Food Safety at http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm247403.htm.

FYI….until the 2011 new Japanese tea begins arriving from mid-May to early June, the Japanese tea that we are selling now is from the 2010 harvest. Which means that it was grown, harvested, and manufactured pre-earthquake and pre-tsunami.

Also, we have set up a Tea Trekker donation link to Mercy Corps ( www.mercycorps.com ) on our our website for those who would like to donate to the relief efforts that this worthy relief organization has underway in Japan.

Please visit our website to read more about our Japanese tea or to donate to Mercy Corps.

http://www.teatrekker.com/tea_info/japan_teainfo.htm

Our 2011 White Teas have Arrived !

The last of our 2011 spring plucked Chinese white teas have arrived. Now we have a trinity of three authentic white tea beauties from Fujian Province, the original place of origin in China, and one unusual but very welcome specialty from Yunnan Province.

Fujian Province

• Bai Mudan  – leaf with extra buds
• Fuding Wild Curly Leaf – leaf
• Yin Zhen - buds

Yunnan Province

• Sun Dried Tea Tree Buds – large and small buds plucked from old tea trees. These are so cool – very fragrant and refreshing, too, drunk hot or iced.