Pu-erh 'stupa'

This foot high, 2-piece Pu-erh ’stupa’ is the largest size that we have been able to procure from China. But believe me, this 1-kilo tea structure is a tiny tot compared to the 5-foot tall, multi-level stupas we have encountered in Yunnan. The term ’stupa’ here refers to the shape of the tea which resembles the shape of Buddhist Stupas – there is no religions connotation inferred by this that I know of.  In fact, tea shops in Yunnan proudly display their monumental tea stupas for their customers admiration. Used in this manner they symbolize bounty and prosperity. I do not know the history of why these Pu-erhs came to be made and shaped like this, nor when manufacture of these started. Clearly it is tea compression taken to an extreme, perhaps only for the challenge of doing it. If anyone knows the history, please share !

This ’stupa’  is made from clean and good condition raw materials from Bulang. The surface is tight and smooth and the compression has been well executed – the shape is crisp and the ridges of the melon are very nicely formed. The  aroma is  mild, clean and earthy; it has ’good environment’ smell.

Overall, it is an excellent example of these compressed, showpieces. This one is sheng Pu-erh from the 207 harvest.  No, I have not tasted it, and I assume that anyone who purchases this will not tuck into it either.  For most it will be bought as a showpiece, a beautiful something that shows off the craft of compressing and shaping large units of tea. It would be stunning placed on top of a tea cabinet or set off to the side on a generously-sized tea table. No matter where it is, it will create Pu-erh envy in all who see it.

Every tea lover needs a wonderous ‘tea object’ that reminds him or her that the culture of tea goes beyond what one sips in a cup. For me, these  Pu-erh stupas are a daily reminder of the craft and ingenuity that exists in changing raw materials into tea or something related that celebrates tea.

We have less than a dozen of these stupas and have already sold several.  I suggest immediate action for anyone who is serious about owning one.  http://tiny.cc/MdrzE

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.

Nepal Hand-Rolled Tips

We are in the process of  unpacking all of them, and it is a lot of work to make sure all is well with the tea and to get all of the peripheral information recorded. For example, we must literally unpack all of the tea to make sure it is all there. Then, we must taste it all to insure that each tea is indeed the tea that we ordered. Then tea information must be written and added to our website and blog in a timely fashion. The jars we sell the tea from must be labeled and the individual labels that we use for customer purchases must be made, too. The tea must be inventoried in the appropriate place in our warehouse and last but n0t least, of course, the tea must be put into jars so that customers may purchase it.

Despite all of this work, we love the excitement of having new tea arrive. We always spend a few minutes as we unpack each one  to admire it’s unique texture, color and shape before we taste it.

Several of these new teas are of particular note. First up are two hand-rolled black teas that we ordered directly from the producers in Nepal as soon as we tasted their samples. These teas are from the Everest Tea Estate and the Shangri-La tea factory. Both are gorgeous and worthy of a place in the finest tea collections.

We chose these hand-rolled teas first, because they are delicious, and secondly, because they are spectacular examples of the tea makers craft. Nepal is one of the last places on earth that is still makes hand-rolled black teas, and we would like to support that effort and see it continue. Click here for more details: http://tiny.cc/aZd6P

2009 Competition Grade Tai Ping Hou Kui

Tai Ping Hou Kui has never looked so lovely or tasted so fresh. In fact, this tea is so fresh you will swear that the leaf is still attached to the bush. If you look carefully at this picture you can see the little cross-hair marks embedded in the leaf from the weave of the paper that is used to line the top of the tea-firing baskets during manufacture. This paper absorbs moisture so that the leaf does not have to spend as much time over the charcoal fire as it otherwise would.

Tai Ping has some of the largest leaves of any green tea and this batch is certainly the most magnificent that we have ever had. This particular batch of competition-grade Tai Ping is a splendid example of the results that specific leaf plucking yields . The vivid green color and vegetal in flavor reveal that the tea was plucked in the early spring.  Click here for more details: http://tiny.cc/kLvfB

Bai Hao Oriental Beauty

Bai Hao Oriental Beauty is Taiwan’s most beloved tea. Oddly, Bai Hao is not as well known in the USA as the semi-ball rolled teas such as Tung Ting and the High Mountain gao shan oolongs. Or even Baozhong. This is a pity because Bai Hao is very labor intensive to produce and can only be made for a short period of time in June. Taiwanese tea lovers favor this tea for its mellow and seductive apricot and melon flavors and its light, elegant style. The leaf for quality Bai Hao is an odd-looking mix of dark, medium and light colored leaves.

But that is as it should be and the best Bai Hao is not a blend. Bai Hao is given a long outdoor and indoor wither, which contributes to the customary appearance of this tea. Japanese tea drinkers adore Bai Hao and when they visit the island searching for tea to bring home, they willingly pay very high prices for the best tea. Accordingly, we made sure that our Bai Hao tea maker saved some of his great tea for our customers, too. Click here for details:  http://tiny.cc/7CQnv

 

 Our beautiful new dusty-sage green tea-shirts are here and ready for wearing. Declare your love for the leaf and wear one with pride! Our shirts are a nice weight of 50/50 cotton/polyster blend to prevent shrinking ( we all know that we do not gain weight, but that our clothing shrinks).  A contingent of tea professionals recently all wore our tea-shirts on an educational tea trip to Taiwan – we loved that !

These thirts are printed for us by a non-profit company, Valley Tees. This unique business is run by The Association For Community Living, a Springfield, MA based program for people with developmental disabilities. Over the decades the ACL has made great strides in providing individuals with developmental disabilities the opportunity to reach their fullest potential, lead a productive, happy life and be valued members of their communities.

We love the quality of our tea-shirts and believe that you will as well. The front of the tea-shirt has a small image of tea trekker on the front, upper left ( where a pocket would be if the shirt had a pocket) and the phrase: ” I’m a tea trekker.”  

Visit our website for more images and to place an order: http://www.teatrekker.com/t-shirt.htm

Many tea enthusiasts have discovered the delightful taste of China’s most famous oolong tea – Tieguanyin. This semi-ball rolled style tea is made in 27 tea villages located in the vicinity of Anxi in southern Fujian Province, and is manufactured in both modern and traditional oxidation styles. Some of it is roasted, perfect for aging, and some is not, perfect for drinking now. This region has steep mountains and deeply-cut valleys and terraced tea gardens as far as the eye can see. It is serious oolong tea country.

But how many of you know that this tea is named for a Chinese god – Kuan Yin – and a god with a very interesting past, to boot ?

Last year I was fortunate to be able to sit in on a class on Buddhist Thought at Smith College led by the Buddhist scholar, Peter Gregory. The topic at hand for the semister was thus: why was the male Indian Buddhist bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara transformed ( ‘domesticated’ ) by Chinese Buddhists into the female deity Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy ?

In an attempt to come to an understanding of ‘how’ and ‘why’ this gender re-imagining occured, we studied Buddhist canonical sources and imagery to discover how these texts and depictions interacted with Chinese ‘beliefs’ and popular notions of gender, family, filial piety, and cosmic resonance. 

For within the  rich mass of thought and governance that has shaped China’s culture, social order and philosophical and religious views must lie the reason behind why this deity entered China as a young man, then changed into a gender-less guardian of the human race, then a devote Chinese princess ( Miaoshan ) and lastly, a compassionate Mother. 

Additionally, adding to the mystery and ’strangeness’ of the concept of a male deity transforming into a female deity in China is the long history of gender issues in Confuscian China and the dominance of males in traditional Buddhist heirarchy, dogma and practice.

But, this is not Hollywood. As is often the case with issues of religion, there is no one concrete answer to this question. Many thoughts come together on this topic. Some scholars make a believable case for the idea that devout Chinese women needed a powerful god ( not just a lesser god or local, village gods ) that they could appeal to for assistance and compassion in times of need, and that this played a significant role in the transformation.

Having a female god on the ’bodhisattva level’ added validity and solace to women in Chinese society at that time, and created an inclusive community that allowed women from all communities to feel connected.  While the cult of Kuan Yin continues today with both male and female followers, it is middle-aged women who most visably worship Kuan Yin and make the annual pilgrimages t0 pay respect and offer incense.

So, for those of you looking for a toothsome topic ( and a great exercise to get the little grey cells moving ) to delve into over the fall and winter months, I highly recommend a trip to your local library for some literature on this topic. In class we read three books: Kuan-Yin: the Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara  by Chun-Fang Yu;  Personal Salvation and Filial Piety by Wilt L. Idema, and The Legend of Miaoshan by Glen Dudbridge, plus many papers and articles exerpted from scholarly journals.

Kuan Yin then showed the emperor that the leaves of these tea bushes bore a marked impression. He plucked one from the bush, after which the leaf bore the impressions of both of their thumbs. These two tiny marks have always distinguished the leaves of true Tieguanyin bush varietals. Emperor Kangxi proclaimed Tieguanyin famous for all eternity in China, and from that time the Tieguanyin tea industry has thrived. The Qing emperor Qianlong ( r. 1736-1795 ) selected Tieguanyin to be one of his Tribute teas. *

* from The Story of Tea, Ten Speed Press, 2007

the dreaded mesh tea balls

This sounds like an old-peace, love and flowers mantra from the protest-laden 1970’s. No, it’s not a political statement but it is a direct attack of sorts against the old-fashioned, one-cup metal and mesh tea balls that dangle from a chain.

When we began our business 35 years ago, tea-balls were about the only thing that one could purchase to corral one’s tea leaves. Either that or it was necessary to use the British house-hold method of steeping tea by using two teapots: one pot to steep the tea ( and retain the tea leaves ) and the second one to decant the steeped tea into as soon as the tea was properly steeped.

Back then, tea-balls made sense with the way that tea was graded and cut: most tea was English-style black tea, very finely cut; noting much was available then in long-leaf black tea or full, intact green teas. These teas steeped quickly and the flavor was ‘good enough.’  The comparatively slim selection of tea available in tea shops at the time had a similar appearance and all of it fit reasonably well into a teaball. I can even remember when we received our first shipment of ’tea-balls’ that were shaped like little houses…and hearts….ye gad. 

So today, in my book, tea balls are ‘dinosaurs’ of the past. They make no sense for steeping the gorgeous, whole-leaf teas that tea enthusiasts can purchase today.  To be honest, the idea of someone purchasing some of our premium, hand-made artisan tea and then squishing it into bits to stuff it into a teaball distresses me. Not only is a shame to crumble-up whole-leaf tea that has made it all the way from tea factory to one’s kitchen intact, but teaballs simply cannot hold enough black, green, white, yellow or oolong tea to do the flavor of the tea any justice. They are just wrong, wrong, wrong on all counts.

So, with all of this in mind, we took the hard-line and banned tea balls in our store two years ago, much to the dismay of those who inquire.

But, in their place we have something better that even the most diehard tea-ball-users comes to love. They are single-cup tea infusers made from stainless steel or gold mesh. There are many choices in these infusers, such as different diameters, with or without lid, etc, but most of the time the best one for a customer is the one that will fit in his or her favorite tea cup or mug.

These infusers have spacious capacities so they happily steep the largest and longest tea leaves without having to damage the tea. And the tea leaves are able to hydrate to their full extent, so the flavor is infinately better than with a tea ball. The infusers are easy to clean, do not clog or have little chains to break, and, they cannot be accidently dropped down the garbage disposal, like the fate of so many tea-balls! And, they are ecological and re-useable, unlike the single-cup paper ‘tea sacs’ which are commonly used in cafes for take-out-cups of tea.  

stainless-steel infuser

gold-mesh tea infuser

Our gorgeous selections of Before the Rains teas have just arrived, and we are thrilled to be able to offer them to all of our tea enthusiast customers. These lovely green teas are from eastern China and western China and all of them epitomize the ‘ideal’ of fresh and sweet.

Choose from:

Du Yun Mao Jian - Fuzzy Tips

Although we have encountered this lovely tea in China, this is the first time that we have had Dun Yun Mao Jian for sale. It’s one bud-one leaf plucking standard is reminiscent of the appearance of Pan Long Yin Hao ( Dragon Whiskers ). It has an earthy, woodsy flavor that makes me think of Xin Yang Mao Jian: both of these teas possess a straightforward, minerally-backbone that is very pleasing, and a telltale clue to their western China origin. Dun Yun Mao Jian is from Guizhou Province, a place of fascination and wonder that is populated by several of China’s colorful ethnic minority groups known for elaborate silver jewelry, embroidery and textile arts.

Fo Cha - Buddhist Tea

Fo  Cha- Buddhist Tea

Fo Cha is the local name for the tea from Jiu Hua mountain, a magical place of dense woods, waterfalls, bamboo forests. And green tea that has a refreshing sweetness from the special environment of the tea gardens. Jiu Hua mountain holds special memories for us: on our first tea buying trip to China we visited the Zhan Tian Buddhist Temple ( we had a vegetarian meal there and tea with the head monk). Later, we had a midnight tour of the bustling Jiuhua Mao Feng Factory ( yes, they work round the clock during prime harvest season ).  The leaves are long and needle-shaped and covered with tiny white hairs, and very fresh tasting.

Gu Zhu Zi Sun - Purple Bamboo

 
Gu Zhu Zi Sun – Purple Bamboo

This tea is cultivated on Mount Guzhu on the western side of Lake Tai in Zhejiang Province. Purple bamboo has an interesting appearance – the bud is tight and the single leaf is long and full and slightly opened. Some leaves have a light yellow cast, a mark of early spring plucking ( end of March ). Purple Bamboo tea was one of sage Lu Yu’s most cherished teas. He brought this tea to the attention of the Tang Emperor Dai Zhong ( 762-79 ) who order the creation of the first imperial tea garden at that site to insure  continual supply of Purple Bamboo tea to his court.  Purple Bamboo has a classic eastern China ‘taste’: sweet, clean and refreshing.

Jing Shan Silver Tips

This tea has great historic significance in China. Jing Shan was the place where the great temple of Jing Shan ( once believed to have comprised close to three thousand buildings ) welcomed Buddhist monks and scholars during the Tang dynasty ( 618-907 ). This temple was one of the most famous temples in China, and its tea gardens were abundant and especially prized for its fragrance and sweetness. It is from this place that priests returning to Japan brought back word of the delicious nature of Jing Shan tea. Over time, the temple and the tea gardens fell into ruins, but today, thanks to the efforts of the Tea Research Institute of Hangzhou nearly fifty years ago, the gardens are thriving once again. Our Jing Shan is a Hao Ya style curled leaf with abundant white tip.

For more information and to purchase tea, please visit our webwsite:

http://www.teatrekker.com/main.htm

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.

Mengding Mountain Rock Essence

Mengding Mountain Rock Essence is a fine, thin, plucked bud that is manufactured as a green tea, not a yellow tea like its cousin Mengding Mountain Snowbuds. This is still an early spring tea, made from buds that are brimming with the vigor of tea bushes beginning their growth cycle. Rock Essence tea is made from the buds of tea bushes that grow at a higher altitude than Snowbuds, in a terroir that is more spare. The soil is thinner, the area more rocky and overall this location is colder and more remote. Hence the name is an appropriate one for a tea that reflects the solid nature of its stony, sparse surroundings.

This tea is exceptional among Chinese green teas and is not always available. It has a concentrated and beguiling piquant ‘rock’ flavor that also suggests windswept pines and the frosty chill of early spring mornings. Rock Essence is not a soft and sweet tea – it has a steely spine like a great Reisling wine. You can taste the effects of high altitude and thin air in this tea just as one can taste it in a Himalaya-grown tea, such as a 1st Flush Darjeeling tea. Rock essence needs several infusions to show off its deep-rooted flavor profile.

This mountain on the Tibetan Plateau in NW Sichuan Province is likely the birthplace of cultivated tea. Mengding Mountain is northwest of Mt Emei, one of the four sacred mountains in Chinese Buddhism. We fell head over heels for this tea the first time we drank it in 2004 at the monastery on Mengding Mountain.

Zhu Hai Jin Ming

Zhu Hai Jin Ming

Zhu Hai Jin Ming is a stunning black tea from Zhu Hai village, located in Yixing county, Jiangsu Province. Jiangsu’s most famous tea is the lovely Bi Lo Chun green tea; other than that, Yixing County is best known to tea enthusiasts in the west as the place where the famous Yixing purple clay teapots are made.

This tea caught our attention recently and we swooned over the samples we were sent. It has the tippy style and polished appearance of Panyang or Bai Lin Congou, two terrific black teas from Fujian Province that are very popular with our tea customers.

But, in addition to the soft oxidation-style that is so characteristic of elegant Chinese black teas, Zhu Hai Jin Ming has a distinctive, concentrated flavor that is elusively reminiscent of the gorgeous floral flavor of a Fenghuang Dan Cong Zhi Lan Xiang oolong tea. While Zhu Hai is indeed a true black tea, its beguiling flavor makes it seductively different than all other Chinese black teas.

Japanese Fukamushi Shincha 'First Sprout'

Japanese Fukamushi Shincha ‘First Sprout’

This Shincha was picked around May 2nd and is sometimes called Eighty-Eighth (88th) Night Shincha. This refers to Shincha tea that was picked on the 88th day after the first day of spring in the traditional Japanese calendar. This marks a special time in the Japanese agricultural calendar ( known as “Hachijuhachiya” in Japanese ) as it is the time that all the plants and vegetation begin to sprout.

The leaves of First Sprout are very shiny, thin and delicate. The leaf is picked and then processed very quickly, in order to highlight the incredible freshness of the early spring flavor. This fresh taste can be delicate, and is sweeter than the rest of the year’s Japanese green tea. The pungently delightful aroma is a celebration of the smell that you breathe when you visit a tea garden and factory in the rural Japanese landscape in the spring.

Picked in small quantity and kept meticulously, First Sprout Shincha is available for only a short time, and is highly sought-after. It is best drunk during the season – now, when it is young and full of the moment. It is not a tea for keeping, or saving for special occasions ‘later’

Last but certainly not least, our yellow teas have just arrived from China. Yellow teas are very few in number these days but they remain very important in the Chinese repertoire of classic teas. Yellow tea is most easily described as a variation of green tea, but this suggests that the methodology for making it came after the perfection of green tea making skills. I have a hunch that yellow teas were made before green teas were classified as such, but this is just based on my own thoughts and musings about tea-making history in China.

Anyway, those of you who have never tried a yellow tea ( and those who will admit that you have never even heard of one before now ) are in for a treat. Pre-Qing Ming yellow teas are not readily available in the USA and certainly not when they are this fresh.

Yellow tea differs from green tea by the addition of an extra step in the processing. During leaf manufacture ( which begins with de-enzyming and shaping ) the fresh leaves are steamed very slightly and then allowed to rest. But, as nothing is ever really as easy as it may seem in the complicated world of Chinese tea manufacture, the steaming step is where the genius of the tea maker comes into play.

For example, details such as: how long to steam the tea leaves, how many times to steam or for how many days, how much rest to give the tea in between each steaming, how to wrap or cover the steamed leaves while they rest, will all affect the final flavor of the tea. The tea master decides the answers to these questions and it is only after he sees the fresh leaf and judges its quality and essence that he can determine how he will execute the ‘yellowing step’.

Because of this yellowing step, yellow teas are very smooth and fine flavored. Yellow teas are always made from an early spring plucking of budsets ( buds and one or two leaves ) the crème de la crème of spring teas. They were once made only as Tribute Teas, reserved for the Emperor’s exclusive enjoyment.

2009 Pre-Qing Ming Mengding Mountain Snow Buds

This mountain on the Tibetan Plateau in NW Sichuan Province is likely the birthplace of cultivated tea. Mengding Mountain is northwest of Mt Emei, one of the four sacred mountains in Chinese Buddhism. Mengding Mountain Snow Buds are a springtime phenomenon: they are big, fat, first-of-the-season juicy buds that are brimming with the vigor of tea bushes that are beginning their growth cycle. Tea pluckers gather these buds in small silk bags, rather than the more common ( and large ) tea plucking baskets. Two people picking in this manner for one full day will gather only one kilo of fresh buds.

This is a very elegant tea with a slightly toasty taste: it needs several steepings to really show off its deep-rooted flavor profile. The overall taste sensation from this tea is sweet, crisp and clean. There is a cool and bracing quality to Mengding Mountain Snow Buds that affirms its high altitude terroir.  

2009 Pre-Qing Ming Huo Shan Yellow Sprouting

 2009 Pre-Qing Ming Huo Shan Yellow Sprouting

Another incredible yellow tea from Huo Shan county in Anhui Province. This tea is comprised of a bud with one tiny leaf. The leaf is covered with a fuzzy down, a trait of this tea bush cultivar and the nature of the leaf. Huo Shan Yellow Sprouting brews a lovely pale golden green color in the cup, and the flavor is slightly warm, nutty and reminiscent of artichokes or chestnuts. These tea gardens, located on Jin Shan Tou, are not positioned at a high elevation – just around 2,500 feet. But the location is rocky, and gives the tea a yen character. The richness of the soil is evident in the buttery flavor.