It’s Hairy Crab Season

It’s the end of October and the fall oolong harvest for tea such as Hairy Crab  ( Mao Xie ) is underway in Fujian Province, China. Hairy Crab is a semiball-rolled, modern-style, greenish oolong made in the villages around Anxi in southern Fujian. It is plucked from its namesake tea bush cultivar, and  is similar  to several in flavor and aroma other oolongs made in this region from their specific tea bush cultivars –Ben Shan, Huang Jin Gui, Tieguanyin and Tou Tian Xiang.

But ask a shopper at a city wet market such as in Shanghai or Hong Kong about the seasonal Hairy Crab and they are likely to point to baskets of fresh crabs that have  begun arriving at the market.  The season  for this  seafood delicacy – Eriocher sinensis or mitten crab, known as ‘ Duaza ha’ in the local Shanghai dialect – has just begun, and availability continues until early February. Fall is when the crabs are fattest and the meat is sweetest. Unlike the Hairy crab oolong which is produced in one specific region of small villages, most of these namesake crabs are the product of freshwater aquaculture ( as are many frogs, turtles and eels in China ) in several locations along the Yangtze river in eastern China. Cooking preparations vary, but many believe that simply steaming the crabs and dipping the meat in ginger, vinegar and soy sauce is the best way to enjoy the sweet white flesh. Hairy Crabs are expensive – as much as $26.00 per crab, depending on where they were raised, so tasting the goodness of the crab meat is of paramount importance.

I can only make and educated guess as to why the tea and the crabs share a common name. Pictorially – and in a highly- imaginative kind of way, these army- grey-green, wrinkly little crabs with their oddly constructed bodies, pointy angles and jutting out arms and legs – do bear conceptional similarity to the irregular shape and color of the Hairy Crab tea leaves.

Hairy Crab oolong

As expected, the fall season is filling the markets with a new infusion of both tea and crabs. Our Hairy Crab oolong is from the 2011 spring season, and is fantastically  aromatic and rich in the cup. The fall version of this tea is more full-bodied and less sweet tasting, perhaps a more well-balanced counterpoint to the taste of the cooked crab. Coincidentally, both of these Chinese specialties carry the word ‘sinensis’ ( meaning from China or of China ) in their taxonomic name.

Humidity Rising is Good for Pu-erh

By the middle of July summer the humidity descends over our region of New England. While I am not a fan of this weather, I do welcome it as the time to move our stash of sheng Pu-erh beeng cha and tuo-cha to it’s ‘summer place’ where it can drink in the warm, moisture-laden air.  I cannot re-create the conditions that tea shops in Hong Kong and other places in south China have during the summer months ( seasonal drenching rain, oppressive humidity ), but I make sure to take  advantage of our New England-style humidity as much as I can.

This is what I do. I place our Pu-erh ( full tongs and single cakes wrapped in the original paper wrappers (or wrapped in pieces of brown paper bags if the original wrapper is damaged or missing) in low, open boxes and tuck them underneath a long table on our 3-season, screened porch.  No porch? Small amounts of Pu-erh could be placed in a box and kept near an open window ( out of the sun ) for the same effect.

In this protected place, the tea can spend 4-5 weeks swaddled in warmth and humidity without getting wet. The tea is never in the sun, and rain cannot reach them. I rotate the cakes weekly so that each cake or tuo has a chance to be on top of the stacks.  I put single units of Pu-erh in one box, and tongs in a second box. I must say that the fragrant aroma of Pu-erh wafting about the porch on a warm summer’s evening is an added delight.

This exposure to humidity gives the bacteria in the tea a beneficial ‘breath of life’ and keeps the leaf from drying out and turning brittle. During the rest of the year I keep our Pu-erh in the basement, where it is even in temperature, cooler than warmer, slightly moist ( old house, dirt floor! ) and dark.

Our latest thoughts about 2011 Japanese Tea

               lush leaf growth in a               Japanese tea garden

Among our customers some concern has been raised about our Japanese tea and where it comes from.

First of all, 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. These teas are still drinking very, very well. And this is the reason why.

In Japan, most tea companies create their signature green teas by blending together various batches of fresh leaf that will contribute certain taste and aroma characteristics to the mix. These characteristics give each tea the signature style and flavor profile that the tea must have, and which their customers expect.

In the tea factory, some of that fresh leaf is processed into new tea to sell right away. But much of  it is semi-processed into aracha ( crude tea ), a stable or ‘half-made’ tea that is put into storage for use later.

appearance of a typical batch of aracha

Once aracha is made, it is vacuum-packed, and placed in high-tech refrigerators under very cold storage conditions in the tea factory until it is needed. Small tea companies who do not own tea gardens will purchase various batches of aracha at wholesale tea markets, or from private tea growers, and they will create their signature teas by blending together various aracha.

batches of aracha for sale at a wholesale tea market in Japan

Once in deep, cold storage, aracha can keep for very long periods of time, years, actually. So, during the course of the year when the tea factory needs a batch of a certain type of tea, the aracha needed for a particular tea is removed from storage, and carefully ‘refined’. It is during refining that aracha becomes tea, and acquires its characteristic flavor, aroma, color, needle shape and glossy surface. After refining, the tea is, well, Japanese tea as we know it.

It is because of this unique method of tea manufacture in Japan ( for example, Chinese green teas are not made this way ) that our 2010 green tea from Japan is still holding so well and drinking beautifully. (To read about Japanese tea manufacture, please refer to our book, The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide, Ten Speed Press, 2007, pages 172-175).

In spring 2011, leaf plucking and the manufacture of both new teas and aracha began in early May, depending on the tea growing region and the location of the tea gardens.

But,  discrepancies are starting to appear in reports and the media about the safety of Japanese tea from the 2011  harvest. Initial, early reports indicated that most tea production regions of Japan were far from the path of possible radiation contamination, and posed no cause for concern.

But as the 2011 teas come to market and are tested, reports are beginning to show varying traces of contamination in many of the new teas, and in some cases, these levels appear to be  substantially above allowable limits.

Accordingly, we at Tea Trekker will refrain from placing orders for 2011 Japanese teas until more certainty is known. Our inventory of 2010 tea is plentiful and teas are still getting the ‘thumbs-up’ from our Japanese tea customers.  Click here to see our listing of 2010 Japanese green teas: http://www.teatrekker.com/shop/green/japan/

We make this decision with a heavy heart as we are staunch supporters of Japanese tea growers and producers, and look forward to returning again to Japan to learn more about tea and tea culture from our colleagues in this fascinating and beguiling country. This turn of events is a devastating situation for tea farmers, tea factories and all lovers of Japanese tea, and we do not make our decision lightly.

Donate to Mercy Corps

Help us support those affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami. Tea Trekker has teamed with MERCY CORPS, our long-standing charitable fund, to collect donations for the relief effort underway in Japan. Mercy Corps is always among the first groups with ‘feet-on-the-ground’ after a disaster, and specializes in sustainable agricultural assistance worldwide. Please click here to read more about Mercy Corp or to donate to their relief efforts.

http://www.mercycorps.org/fundraising/teatrekker

The Politics of Bottled Green Tea

I recently discovered this hand-out titled The Politics of Bottled Green Tea . It was written by Korene Schmitz from the Sociology Department at St Cloud State University. I was thrilled to find this piece, and would like to make Tea Trekker readers and tea enthusiasts aware of what this author has to say.

Much has been discussed in the food world about the pros and cons of bottled, RDT ( ready-to-drink ) tea. Generally, most who understand the composition of foods, and more importantly, those who understand what tea is and isn’t, know that there is very little ‘tea’  in a bottle of RTD tea.  Beyond providing some simple liquid hydration, consumers who think that they are drinking a beverage that will give them the same benefits that they would obtain from drinking a cup of plain, natural tea are mistaken.

Consider this quote from Schmitz’s piece: ” Often bottled teas have more additives and sweeteners than actual tea as an ingredient.”  The potential benefits from the presence of tea ( albeit a small presence ) in these drinks is called into question when sweeteners and additives are added.  The significance of this is echoed in the following sentence:  ‘ these added ingredients have potential adverse side effects on a consumer’s health. ‘

Please read this document which is posted below. It raises important issues not just about tea but those surrounding larger consumer issues such as:

• the necessity for self-education regarding food awareness
• learning about positive choices we can make in our diets to maintain health
• recognizing misleading or deceptive advertising practices
• understanding what food labeling and ingredient listings really mean and how to read between the lines

We are pleased to note that our book, The Story of Tea, is listed as one of the information sources that the author used to research her piece. While we do not directly address the topic of RDT in our book, we do have a comprehensive Chapter on the Healthful Benefits of Tea that explains in detail why drinking tea is beneficial to human health.

click here to view a PDF of this handout: The Politics of Bottled GreenTea

Also, I am adding below a segment of an article on the same topic that was posted by Kristie Leong, MD, March 2008 on HealthMad.com. She addresses the same topic thusly:

 

 

‘ Can you just grab a bottle of cold, bottled green tea and drink away to get health benefits? Unfortunately, it may not be that easy. Bottled green teas were found to be woefully deficient in catechins when compared to tea brewed at home. The average glass of green tea brewed at home has about 30 milligrams of catechins. When bottled green teas were tested for catechin including such well known brands as Lipton and Snapple, scientists found them to be extremely low and in some cases zero.

Why would bottled green tea have less healthy catechins than brewed tea? When brewed green tea is bottled, it tends to become cloudy in appearance giving an unappealing appearance to the tea. For this reason, bottled green teas need to be reformulated to give them more buying appeal. During the reformulation process, many of the catechins are removed along with some of the health benefits.

The other problem with bottled green tea is the high sugar content. Most bottled green teas you find on the store shelves of your local supermarket are laden with sugar and are not for the calorie conscious. Many store bought, bottled teas are as calorie rich as your average sweetened soft drink. Certainly not a recipe for health.

The bottom line? If you’re drinking green tea for health benefits, you’re best brewing your own at home where you can get the full health benefits. Plus, you can control the amount of sugar you add to your tea which helps to decrease the calorie load.’

So….. when you want to drink tea……drink plain, natural tea,  not bottled, sugared tea beverages.