Blooming teas have been around forever, nothing really original about it.
Warren Peltier
,@tea-author
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The tocha of Japan was likely directly inspired by the doucha 斗茶 custom of Song China — except the rules and game were completely different in Japan. In Song China, the aim was to produce the whitest froth, the longest lasting froth, and finally and most skillfully, conjure pictures in froth (much similar to latte art). Unfortunately, the latter skill died out and has been difficult to reproduce.
In today’s China, doucha now means to compare and rank various samples of a specific tea either professionally between tea producers or tea companies, or informally between tea friends.
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You might try something like the Teavana Contour Tumbler (see under Most Popular tab). The exact same cup is available at other retailers. That one works pretty well. Don’t worry about the plastic parts – they don’t impart any odor to the tea.
As I said above, they’re not the ideal solution for every tea type, but they work; and they’re convenient.
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I think the perfect container still has yet to be developed. What is available on the market now hasn’t really solved 2 problems: leaf size/particle variability, stewed leaves.
Just about every day, I use a stainless steel insulated tea travel cup. Leaves are placed at the bottom, the filter (with large holes) does not filter out fine tea leaves (such as from black tea). The fact that leaves stay in the cup all day means that the infusion can get very bitter; excluding certain tea types: green tea, new white tea. In my experience, oolong and black teas worked the best. Puer or other types of dark teas would also work, but contain too many tea fines fit for an enjoyable infusion.
There are many imperfect containers for tea, but the perfect container perhaps has yet to be designed.
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I’ve actually had deep-fried tea leaves in Fuzhou. They were in a dish with fried shrimp. Meant mainly as a decorative element, the texture was very interesting, not your wilted, limp damp leaves from a teapot, but whole, flat, and most importantly, crispy, tea leaves. The tea variety was some cheap green tea; and they had a slight grassy flavor.
However, if I’m eating tea leaves in a dish, I prefer that they are either from an organic or wild source, just to preclude the possibility of pesticides on tea leaves.
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Making tea really depends on tea type, tea quality, and the present situation. If at home, for convenience, I choose a medium-grade work tea (any type – jasmine, oolong, green, white, black), steeping it in a travel cup with a filter (or glass mug with filter) – which I use as steeping vessel. This type of cup is wide enough to instantly dump out used leaves, and easily washed with a bottle brush. For added quickness and convenience, I steep twice or thrice my tea, decanting infusions into insulated cups; imbibing as needed.
When I have little time, attending seminars and university lectures, I carry a travel cup with filter – first steeping the tea with hot water, then adding cool water to keep the leaves from stewing. This type of cup works best with black, oolong, puer teas.
When I desire a taste of very fine tea I have two options: a) brew the tea myself at home using gongfu tea ware (gaiwan or small porcelain teapot for: black, white, green, jasmine tea; zisha teapot for yancha) or b) bringing a few packets of fine tea to the teahouse for enjoyment and sharing with friends when I want to chat. These two options however, require the time to devote to tea preparation and enjoyment.
I don’t know what would qualify as an unusual habit. I live in China.
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As @bram said above – compare side-by-side: same-type steeping vessel, same-type equipment, water temperature, water source, same-type tasting cup, same amount of tea. Use boiling water (no mater what type of tea), steep for 5 minutes.
But first examine dry leaf, side-by-side, comparing differences, completeness, etc.
Steep the tea. Immediately pour out all liquor into bowls. Examine infusion color. Sniff lid of brewing vessel, as well as brewed leaves. Sip tea to evaluate its weaknesses as compared to each other. The purpose of a traditional tea tasting is to brink out the weaknesses in tea – to compare teas on their relative weaknesses. This type of test works best, when you are comparing the same type of tea made with same processing method. For this type of comparison, you might want to make a chart, giving marks for dry-leaf appearance, infusion color, taste, aroma, aftertaste, etc.
If the teas are dissimilar (different tea type – like different varieties of black tea) – the same can also be done, to compare distinctiveness between teas. For this type of comparison, you might want to make a chart noting individual characteristics for each type of tea, especially the identifying characteristics.
The only problem though, is that those are not the normal conditions under which you would enjoy tea – they’re artificially imposed – to bring out deficiencies. Tea drinkers could also try brewing tea under normal conditions, comparing side-by-side, while trying to brew the most enjoyable cup of tea possible – then comparing which one was most enjoyable – based on fragrance, taste, aftertaste, etc. Usually when we have friendly tea tastings, that’s how our tea friends like to do it – each brings a few samples of their best tea (of same type) – which we compare against each other’s. But these types of tastings are often very biased when we speak of the tea’s provenance, which company made it, the price we paid (or percieved value), and all the other hype. Of course, the stingier one is with their tea, tho more others will desire it.
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If I can recall correctly, even orange pekoe tea bags do reveal that reddish-copper color when you open them up.
As far as oolong goes, oolong is at once a tea type (as in black, green, yellow, white, red) and a tea variety (just as dahongpao and tieguanyin are).
青茶 Qing Cha, should perhaps best be called teal tea, since “qing” can mean indigo-blue, dark-green, teal, or even black. Lightly roasted oolong teas are visibly green, but even for heavily roasted oolong teas, before roasting, they are green, the leaves getting darker depending on number of roastings.
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Black tea is called read tea in China because of the copper color of the brewed leaves. For some black teas this is more noticeable than others – because of production techniques. But generally, this is the defining characteristic of “red tea”. If I’m not mistaken, the English called it black tea because of the black color of the leaves.
Generally, you will see the copper characteristic noticeable on gongfu (congou) teas – especially those that are made from tender buds, rather than whole, large leaves.
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@xavier It’s one of those fully-cooked puerhs, not the raw (sheng) kind, so your friend could drink it anytime. Aging it is not going to make any difference.
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@xavier Ok, no problem. I’ll probably end up writing another newspaper article about it in English sometime in the next few months. When it’s printed in the newspaper (and online), I’ll let you know.
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@xavier I have nothing, but work with the Fuzhou Agricultural Department, so I’m keenly aware of the tea history in Fuzhou. Forgot to mention, this tea port was called Fan Chuan Pu 泛船浦.
There is a newspaper article about it here in Chinese:
http://digi.dnkb.com.cn/dnkb/html/2011-12/15/content_194426.htmThere are historical photos of the port, but not on the web.
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*Interesting idea. I couldn’t read the feasibility study, because the link doesn’t work from China. But let me give you my thoughts:
I would really sit down and try to define the business concept better (normally not part of a feasibility study – but crucial if you’re going to compete in the market (would you rather carve out a market niche and own it, or would you settle for the competition defining you?)
Then, as your professor said, focus on the fringe rather that taking your product into mainstream grocery stores. Keep in mind a business is a long-term focus, you need to take little steps before you take the big ones.
I would try to stay out of the $5-$7 per pound price range. That might be fine if you had a very large scale, and secure suppliers that could guarantee inventory. $5-$7 price per unit product might be fine though (but not per pound) – is that even realistic? I’m in Fujian, China, I buy tea direct from the factory at that price – that’s the lowest priced drinkable-quality tea.
The point of being in business is to generate profits. You need to give yourself a way to generate sufficient profits so that you can grow and expand in the future. If margins are pretty thin, then you might want to re-think the concept or find some other line of business.
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*Back in the 1800s, Fuzhou (then Foochow) was the largest tea trading port in the world. Several countries had their consulates established here (American, British, Russian, etc.) in an area of Foochow known as Kuliang (or Kuling)鼓岭, which was high in the mountains and provided and escape from unbearable summer heat and humidity.
Foochow, since at least the Tang Dynasty was also a tea production area, known for green tea (see Lu Yu’s Classic of Tea).Later on in history, besides loose-leaf green tea, green bricks, Foochow also produced scented tea, using Jasmine flowers, which were introduced during the Song Dynasty (if memory serves correct).
Historical records are silent on production of oolong tea in Foochow (though today some tea friends do produce it in Gushan).
As a major tea trading port, tea from the tea producing regions of northern China had their tea shipped to Fuzhou. The tea would be floated downriver on wooden crates via bamboo rafts to the sea,then,onward to Fuzhou. The crates were sealed with wax to keep the tea getting wet. At the end of the voyage, the raftsmen would junk their raft (no longer needed), collecting special tea tickets with a currency value on them as payment, then walk back to the tea factory – often taking a month or more just to get back.
1839-1842 saw the opium wars where Britain tried to offset tea purchases with sales of opium – fiercely resisted in campaigns by government official and Fuzhou local Lin Ze Xu.
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*Yeah, baking, it can be done. Usually Yancha and black tea are baked here – often in the little shops. That’s necessary because there’s high humidity in summer and lots of rain here.
To bake tea, you need a heat source directly under your tea. The temperature should be extremely low – about the same as body temperature. Then slowly baked over a period of hours, allowed to cool, then re-baked, while turning over the pile.
I baked some of my TGY in my toaster oven – but not long enough I think. I was in a hurry.Better to bake large amounts (KGs) rather than just a few grams.
There is a downside to baking though – once the tea is baked – it takes on a darker, stronger, roasted flavor and aroma. Then the floral aroma and taste of the original tea becomes lost. The degree of that all depends on how heavily the tea is roasted.
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*Yeah, organic. If it’s organic tea in China – I’ve been told that it comes from a newly built farm – where no pesticides have ever been sprayed in the past. What that means though – is that an entire mountainside had to be razed and bulldozed to build terraces for tea bushes. Not very environmentally friendly.
A step below organic in China is “pollution-free” – meaning tea farmed on old farms where pesticides were previously used – but no longer on new crops.
Right now, the concept of organic tea is really starting to take off in China – because consumers here are demanding it. There are so many food scares here – they want tea to be one less worry.
BUT…people will do whatever they can to make a buck. So they’ll print whatever they think will help sell their product on their packaging – including an organic label.Sure, there are government departments and organizations that regulate all that – but they don’t strictly police it. Things are pretty lax here.
So when you see a label with organic on it, take it with a grain of salt – it means “A future aspiration we hope to attain”.
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@Xavier you’ll never know unless you try. I have to admit I’ve never dared to try blending teas – afraid of some unpleasant consequence. But you’ll never know unless you take the plunge.
I did try an artisan tea that was made from Zhenghe black tea and Zhenghe white tea – contrasting the colors of the two leaf types. That tea was actually pretty tasty. Don’t know if it’s on the market though.
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Jackie: there are light, medium, and heavy roast oolongs (however, light roast doesn’t age well – must be consumed within 6 months – or the flavor will go off [return to green], thus necessary to further roast the tea).
The blends I’m talking about are never labeled as a blend; instead called “Wuyi Rock Tea” – a generic name (though also a geographical mark); and you’re right – they can command a higher price.
Take for example, Jin Jun Mei 金俊眉, only a small amount can be produced a year in tongmuguan each spring – because the buds are hand-picked. But on the market you see a lot of different teas – from different growing areas, different tea cultivars, sold as Jin Jun Mei – all commanding a very high price (even though the wholesale tea price is actually quite cheap).
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*Oolong tea blending is done here in Fujian – Tieguanyin, for example, is blended – taken from various farms.
Wuyi Rock Tea is also often blended in a few ways:
Zheng yan cha added to non-Zheng yan cha to add a little kick.
Fragrant Dong Pian (winter season Rock tea) – added in to add extra fragrance for some specific rock tea lacking fragrance.
Reduce MRLs (pesticide residues) but blending in low (or no) pesticide residue containing tea leaves.
Wuyi rock teas (of various varieties) blended together to create a unique flavor profile; and to make up for weaknesses in single-variety teas.
Normally, we don’t like to drink blended Wuyi Rock tea – because most of the charm of this tea is to distinguish between varieties; exploring the over 200 varieties of wuyi rock tea – especially the famous varieties.
But in actual fact, a lot of wuyi rock tea varieties taste very similar – so they lend themselves to blending.
But sometimes the blend tastes so muddied, it doesn’t really taste like anything special – not like an excellent quality pure, single variety – from 1 origin source/farm.
Why blend? Mainly it’s to meet high market demand for tea while satisfying buyer requirements.
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*The most expensive (I think) I’ve had was Jin Zhen Mei 金针梅 (not to be confused with Jin Jun Mei) in Wuyi mountain. I visited the man who produces it – it’s a black tea made from the buds of various types of Wuyi Rock tea. The price works out to over 1,000 USD per pound. But I didn’t have to buy it, they gave me lots of it.
There are many tea events I attend in China where tea is virtually given away – to guests – resulting in an endless supply of tea. Which means, I never really have to buy tea. However, if I were to buy tea, I would trade up for a slightly better quality product – something that would wow people when they drank it.
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*That’s the LePod that brews tea gongfu-style with the press of a button. You can check out their website. Met the CEO a few weeks ago. Lepod
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