2009 Anxi Monkey-Picked Tieguanyin ( Wild-Grown )

Wow…. those monkeys have been working overtime again. Thanks boys, for rushing this delicious tea to us; it is perfect for late-afternoon sipping on a warm fall day just before the cool of the evening settles in.  

Kidding aside, those of you who follow this blog know that I love the monkey-picked yarn, but a yarn it is. For more on that, please read my blog posting on November 25, 2008.

Nevertheless, it’s time for the 2009 Anxi Wild-Grown Monkey-Picked Tieguanyin oolong. We decided to up the wow-factor this year and search for a wild-grown version of this tea. Wild-picked teas are teas that are plucked from bushes that are allowed for the most part to grow ‘wild’ without much human intervention.

These tea bushes are not pruned or cultivated as most tea bushes in most tea gardens are, but are instead allowed to grow as nature intended plants grow: wild, rangy and with a shape and habit all their own. Often, a wild garden is the result of the plants being located in an isolated or hard to reach place, in which case the plants are able to grow quite tall. Plucking is relegated to once a year in the late spring.

As tea enthusiasts know, no two Tieguanyin teas will ever be the same from producer to producer. In fact, this is a true statement for all tea,  and fortunately so. Exact duplicity of flavor should be reserved for white bread and processed cheese, not premium, hand-made artisan tea. Too many variables, including human skills and judgement, make duplicity impossible. These are a few of the major variables that come into play for oolong tea:

• terroir ( location, climate and weather)
• tea bush variety or cultivar (or age and condition of the plants when the variety is all the same )
• the specificity of the pluck ( what leaf or configuration of leaf is plucked )
• the amount of withering the fresh leaf undergoes
• the degree of oxidation
• the integrity of the leaf manufacture and how many of the steps of processing utilize hand-skills, such as rolling
• roasting / no roasting
• aging/ new crop tea

We loved this Tieguanyin because it is soft in style yet vividly floral and mouth-filling. It is a semi-ball rolled modern-style oolong oxidized in the range of 25-40%, which is much less than the usual range of 35-65% oxidation for semi-ball rolled traditional teas. The leaves are loosely-rolled balls that are very uniform in size, and the tea has not been roasted.

 The color of the leaf is dark green tinged with highlights of gold. During  several repeated short steepings the color of the infusion will vary as the flavor is slowly drawn out.  Initially the liquor will be light and clear, and then it will darken with each infusion. After the leaves have given up all of its flavor it will return to a pale, clear brew. Both color and flavor rise and fall in appropriate anticipation and expectation.

Sun Moon Lake Tea from 100 Year Old Tea Trees

Sun Moon Lake Black Tea from 100 year old tea trees

 In the villages surrounding Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan, black tea was developed for export by the Japanese during their occupation of Taiwan in the years preceeding and during WWII. Many of the major tea producing countries had an imposed embargo on tea exports during the war years, so the enterprising Japanese hit upon a scheme to produce black tea for export to the West. I don’t know if this scheme worked or not, but today black tea production in Taiwan is very, very small.

In Yuchin township, several small villages continue to work with the Yuchin Branch Tea Research and Extension Station to determine the best ways to revive interest in this unique black tea. Quality tea ( rather than quantity ) is the focus, and accordingly, these teas are carefully plucked by hand. Sun Moon Lake black tea has very large, thin, and twisted leaves and a soft, delicate flavor with a suggestion of sweet osmanthus, cinnamon and peppermint.

Our tea, however, is even more special. It is made in February by our friend Lisa’s great-uncle, a gentleman and former tea man in the Sun Moon Lake region. It is made with leaf from 100-yr-old wild tea trees ( not the tea bushes cloned by the Japanese tea researchers for their export black tea ) and it is hand-processed only once a year. He doesn’t sell his tea on the open market but makes just a bit for friends and family. We are thrilled to be included in this select group of those who are privileged to drink this fine tea.

This tea is delicious and has a good amount of dynamic cha qi which stems from the organic cultivation, healthy growing conditions and careful cultivation of these deeply-rooted 100 year old tea trees.

The quantity of tea that we have to sell is very small, so if you are interested in experiencing this truly delicious tea, you must act quickly.

2009 first-pluck Spring teas arriving next week

Shipments of first-pluck new harvest teas are in the air to us right now. We will have some very tasty offerings, including 2009 Pre-Qing Ming Longjing ( 2 types ), Mengding Mountain Snowbuds, and a rich, delicious sweeeeet dian hong from Yunnan Province. Additionally, look for outrageously good (and contrastingly different) 1st flush Darjeelings from Goomtee and Jungpana, and a palate-tingling Japanese Shincha. 

We expect delivery of these teas by the end of next week. We will post what has arrived as soon as we get them unpacked and re-tasted. Tea enthusiasts, heads up !

Japanese Green Tea

 

Sometimes the simplest questions asked about tea are the hardest to answer well. I am sure that the Japanese tea master Sen Rikyu ( 1522-1591) would ageee with this dilemma of simplicity versus complication. 

A customer asked me the other day what the difference was between Chinese and Japanese green tea. I thought a minute before I spoke, because to me, the answer to this seemingly simple question could take an entire afternoon to answer properly. And to do justice to the astounding attributes and style differences between these unique and delicious green teas.

We live in a world of sound-bite answers, so I imagined that she did not want to hear all that I could say on the topic. But the innocence of the question gave me pause to wonder if there is a simple answer that does some measure of justice to this type of queston.

Where should the explanation begin ? 

• with the differences in the plant varieties hybridized for best leaf growth in Japan’s unique climate and environment ? 
• with mention of Japan’s use of mechanized leaf plucking ?
• or that some Japanese green teas are shade-grown for optimum chlorophyll production ?
• with the fact that the emphasis on most Japanese tea is on the integrity of the blend rather than on the region of origin of the leaf ?
• or that most Japanese green tea is manufactured to a stable, half-made state before being finish fired ?
• or that the taste of the tea in Japan is what really matters – that the appearance of the leaf does not count for much to most Japanese tea drinkers ?
• or that the Japanese embrace a measure of flavor astringency in their tea that makes one feel as if one is consuming the essence of the plant in each sip ?

I chose instead to tell her this: while a great many things differ in the cultivation and processing of Japanese and Chinese green tea, it is the Japanese custom to put fresh leaf through a steaming process as it enters the tea factory ( the tea travels along on a conveyor belt while the steam shoots up from bottom and along the sides as the tea passes by).  While the tea is steamed for only about 35 seconds or so for standard sencha, it is steamed for to 90 seconds for a fukamuchi sencha. 

This process is essential for traditional Japanese green teas, as the steaming breaks down the cell structure of the fresh leaf ( think about the absolute rendering of flavor that steam, combined with hot water, forces out of coffee grounds in a large espresso machine ) and contributes to the very green and very vibrant, often vegetal and sometimes kelpy flavors that Japanese teas are so famous for.

This seemed to make her happy and settle the question in her mind. I suggested some further reading to learn more about the differences and distinctions. She chose one one of each style tea to try, and I am sure that that would have made Sen Rikyu happy, too. He knew all to well that the spirit of the tea lives in the cup, and in the practice of brewing tea.

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 ?