Tea Adventures

2010-04-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

Come check out the new blog at teancetea.wordpress.com

Alas

2009-11-12T04:40:00.000-08:00

End of trip, a mere couple of weeks for the winter harvest. The report in general is that everyone had difficult weather, and the yield is low, and fuel and labor and everything else has gone up in price. The economy is slow in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, but judging from the hustle and bustle there is no want of activity. The U.S. dollar is weak and we lose to currency exchange weekly. Moreover, marketing is everything in the West, it's hard to tell the story about these handcrafted teas, the farms, the farmers, and the long history of an excellent tradition. I hope I have done an adequate job reporting a glimpse, and hope that everyone is inspired to experience this rich culture for themselves.

But if not, then more tea for me!

The Many Tea Cultures

2009-11-12T04:35:00.000-08:00

The Hakka people have lived in Taiwan for many hundreds of years, and their way of life permeates the island. For example, they brought the tradition of Lei Cha, a kind of tea beverage mixed with seseame and ground peanuts and other goods, almost like a chai. They also have a tradition of preserving oolongs in various citrus fruits from Pommelos to kumquats to tangerines. In the Hakka museum, they have old Pommelo oolongs from 1940s. I did manage to get one from the 1980s for experience. There are so many facets to tea and so many cultures, I hope to be able to cover more indigenous cultures and esoteric tea customs in the future!

Speedy Tea Pickers

2009-11-12T04:11:00.000-08:00

That would not be me. My theory is that I pick tea slowly because I don't understand a word of Minnan Hua, the local Taiwanese dialect. The harvesters yell and laugh and chat with one another and their fingers fly.

It was a relatively cool morning today, the tea pickers have been out since 7am, and they can harvest about 30-40 jin (about 20kgs) per morning before lunch. Consider it's about 10,000 leaves per jin or more, that is still, only about 2-3 baskets full. It takes awhile to be fast; the average age of these harvesters are about 60 years old. Mrs Su was a relatively young 45 year old; but unlike the other harvesters, she also produces the tea and finishes the roasting, a job usually reserved for the men. Along the way, she grows vegetables (she wanted some heirloom tomato seeds from me next year), raises 3 boys, organizes other farmers with the farm cooperative union, and takes care of the orphans in the village. Sometimes, a poor farmer would fall off a hillside or die from the last earthquake or typhoon and there would be new orphans for her to take care of.

I just had to fill her plate abit more, she's not busy enough. I told her the customers at Teance misses her tea roasted melon seeds and demands that she makes some for us soon!

But seriously, the life of a tea farmer is hard work, and without an entire village to support each other, and extended family of wonderful people like Mrs. Su, it's hard to fathom how we would ever have hand made teas anymore.

A Night at the Police Station

2009-11-12T04:06:00.001-08:00

Mr friend Mrs. Su had the rare luxury of having the night off from roasting tea, so I went with her to hang out with her friends. Where but at the local police station, with the one and only police captain and a few other friends who casually strolled in. We chatted, poured tea, and the police captain served some guava. Are there crimes in this village, I asked? He said no, sometimes there are domestic disputes, but no criminal bothers to come here, and everyone knows everyone else, and really, there is nothing to steal except tea anyway.
The big catch of the week was an elderly farmer who had a crop on her motorcycle and she ran a red light. The police captain had no choice but to give her a ticket, though she didn’t quite understand the concept of these lights. Where were you heading to, asked the police captain. To sell my vegetables, she said. How much? He asked her. 500NT, she replied, which was about $17. Her ticket being at 200NT, he offered to buy her vegetables out of pocket for 700NT so she could pay her ticket. Well, it’s not exactly extortion now is it?

The People Behind the Tea

2009-11-12T04:03:00.000-08:00

Meet Mrs. Su the elder, who has been harvesting tea for about 52 years, and still going strong. Her hearing and eyesight are excellent, for she needs to be able to scan a field of millions of leaves to scour for the perfect ones to pick. Folks, your Tung Ting series of teas have been harvested by her all these years.
Her son, Mr. Su, was one of the nine first place winners in the previous Tung Ting Competition. That meant that he was allowed to sell about 20 lbs of the award winner for roughly 21,000NT, or about $700 p/lb. Not bad, a good sum for a farmer. They depend on the income from their two harvest seasons each year to make enough to last through the entire year. Why didn’t you tell me you won the competition, I asked? He said well, I forgot, I usually win something.
Mrs. Su, his wife and my friend, was free tonight when I arrived at her farm house on top of the mountain. The three boys are doing homework and she had just finished harvesting and not yet ready to make her batch of winter Tung Ting yet. However, she did give up her last 15 lbs. of Royal Courtesan she kept for herself, as I explained to her my situation with the customer demands. Royal Courtesan is similar to Taiwan Beauty in that they are both summer crops that the leaf hoppers have come to chew on, but the leaves are Tung Ting varietal and larger, and made charcoal fire style and roasted. She named it Royal Courtesan because it’s like a more mature version of a Taiwan Beauty, with an even more intense perfume and profound finish. Who knows, it’s like a beauty contest, it’s all a matter of preference…….

Te

2009-11-11T05:21:00.000-08:00

Pao Te, said one of the roasters as he handed us a hand full of mao cha, primary finished oolong tea. 'Pao' meant to steep, 'te' meant tea. Pretty much all the tea people spoke Minnan Hua, the Fujian dialect from where tea originally was introduced to Taiwan. It was like a capsule of history. That's where the word 'tea' came from when it arrived into the West in the 1600s; the Dutch said it was 'te' that they brought over..... My cousin misheard and thought he said 'Pao Nu', which meant, in Mandarin, go find a girl. Everyone laughed and that was their entertainment for the day! But it's difficult. There are 9-13 indigenous tribes in Taiwan, not to mention the Hakka tribe and the subsequent Fujian tribes that arrived, then it was occupied by the Dutch, then it was the Japanese, and then the Kuo Min Tang took over in 1949.

At 1700 meters in a cold intensely foggy day, the freshly harvested leaves were wilted in a semi-outdoor rooftop at San Lin She . Even if there is no sun and the conditions were not right, still, one has to adapt. The tea processors do not sleep for days on end, and sometimes for a month. Each day, they process the leaves that come in from the harvesters until 4am, catch a nap, and start again at 7am or so and non-stop until the next day.

Drinking the High Mountain tea at the High Mountain with the mountain water, the fog, the chill, and the friendly tea people makes one pretty high. That's how you end up hearing go steep some tea to go find a girl!

Pictures are worth a thousand words

2009-11-11T02:06:00.000-08:00

The Taste of High Mountain

2009-11-11T01:52:00.000-08:00

Today it was at 1700 meters in a blinding fog on a narrow road with tea harvesters at 80 degree slants, tasting the San Lin She High Mountain Oolong with its mountain spring water. Need I say more? next year, I am going to lead an expedition and do a tour. Finally, after all these years, the chances of falling off the mountain may be offset by the sheer worthiness of experiencing these High Mountain Oolongs at their source.

The Truth about Taiwan Beauty

2009-11-11T01:46:00.000-08:00

I was in Miaoli today, the mid upper part of Taiwan, where Taiwan Beauty bushes are indigenous to. Clever merchants from Hsinchu would come and buy the crops from the poor farmers and then enter competitions and claim that Taiwan Beauty is form Hsinchu instead of Miaoli. In reality, none of it is grown in Hsinchu, so said Miss Lin, who, looking no more than 35, says she’s been making tea for over 30 years. All those award winners she tasted with us were made by her. The life of a tea master is not for humans, she said. During production season, she doesn’t get to sleep for days, and once she collapsed and fell asleep, and was so tired that she fought herself hard. What was more important, she said she asked herself, death by sleeplessness, or an award winning tea? Well, at the end we know which she chosed.

There is fewer and fewer quantity, she said, due to environmental issues. Because Taiwan Beauty has to be grown in relatively hot, humid areas to have the leaf hoppers come, alternating typhoons and dry spells have wrecked the stability of their lower elevations. Moreover, the buds are so tiny they are impossible to pick, even the most experienced 80 year old Obaasans have trouble harvesting more than half a lb a day. Once they are harvested, there is additional sorting, one bud at a time, to separate them into different batches. To win a competition, you need cooperation between the heavens, the earth, and mankind. It’s teamwork involving the universe. In any case, I am bringing back the Third Place Winner so we can all experience what that cooperation tastes like!

The Ugly Duckling of Tea

2009-11-11T01:39:00.001-08:00

Who would have thought that a tea called Taiwan Eastern Beauty would start out as a half dead looking bush, the ugliest and most sparse I have ever seen. Not only are they not grown on high elevations (300 meters) they grow on yellow sandy soil, and spaced out far from each other. They are grown on flat lands where it’s relatively hot . The leaves are dark green with yellowish buds. Worst, they are usually successfully invaded by the small leaf hoppers (a kind of cicada) and all chewed up so that some leaves are already getting oxidized and turning red. Then, in order for the hot sun not to dry out the soil, wild weeds and grass are left intentionally unattended to hold more moisture in the ground for the tea bushes. These were by far some of the ugliest tea bushes I have ever seen.
Long ago when the island was still under Japanese rule, one day the leaf buds were discovered to have been damaged by the leaf hoppers, and one of the local farmers named Pang, thought it unfair and wasteful and made it into tea anyway. He successfully sold it at a very high price in town, and the other farmers wouldn’ t believe his story. Thereafter, this tea was named ‘Pong Fong Cha,’ or ‘exaggeration tea by the locals, but sold as Formosa Oolong by the Japanese to everywhere else in the world. Its taste reached the Queen of England one year and it was subsequently renamed Taiwan Eastern Beauty, as beautiful, sweet, and slim as the women of Taiwan, she said. Today, only the summer buds that the leaf hoppers have sucked from are harvested. Presto! After a laborious process, a tea that not only has unbelievable perfume and sweetest taste, it also retains its steeping ability for a long time. In a beauty pageant this tea will win first place for sure. The ugly duckling turns into a swan.

The Secret of Small Red Robe

2009-11-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

No photos of the farms yet allowed. No photos of the processing as the producer is applying for a patent. I won't put a photo of the producer up either until that happens. Why all this mystery surrounding this tea?
The producer named it Small Red Robe as a homage to Big Red Robe, its big brother at Wuyi Mountain, China. Here in Taiwan, it's hard to say how many hundreds of years the Wuyi oolong type plants have been growing on the island. The leaves have always been plucked to be made into some generic oolong. Now, a new method was invented to elicit the best aspects of that varietal. I can get a good 20 infusions out of each batch of leaves, the taste is full of the energy of wood fire and dark caramel. The producer confided that he's already been aging these leaves for three or four years, but the leaves were born old. After his secret processing method, the Small Red Robe emerges with this unique flavor and character fully formed and tasting antiquated. Aging it just preserves and deepens what is already there. In any case, we get to be the only ones carrying this tea in the U.S. as rave reviews merited striking a deal for exclusivity with its producer. Yet another tea for us to rejoice over!
So much good tea, so little time.....

Made in Taiwan

2009-11-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

Folks on this island are pretty proud of this title. It seems that not too long ago, Made in Taiwan meant manufactured factory goods blanketing the world. Now, that distinction goes to Made in China.
Today, Made in Taiwan means a couple of things. One, that it is artisan made, as folkcraft is gaining more and more recognition and popularity. Two, that it contains some unique, local source material, such as a local grown bamboo, unique earthenware, some local fabric weave....Of these many unique island items, two in particular are most notable: Tea, and pottery.
In the pottery district of Yingge, the artisans are making pottery from two different traditions: the ancient Chinese glazes and designs are gaining new interpretations and revitalization, and what the Japanese call the Wabi Sabi tradition, which I understand to be 'the perfection of imperfection'. I love them both. The trouble is, they are still made to be extremely practical for making that perfect cup of tea, and they will be small and expensive. It's a far, far cry from teabags.

A Living Antique

2009-11-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

Hard to say what is the best way to age oolongs. I have tried some 5 year, 10 year, 30 year, and 40 year old oolong on this trip, re-fired once every 10 years. Taken out too often means not enough fermentation, and it has to be very tightly sealed, the farmer explained to me. Some other farmers would fire them once every two years, some multiple times per year. Tea is a living culture; innovations and unorthodox and experimental methods abound, and we may never live long enough to taste every single unique tea from every esoteric farmer. In any case, I guess I stand corrected; an oolong older than 20 years survived and did not pulverized. Less murky than Pu-Erh, slightly less earthy, nonetheless, only one word can describe its taste: CHEN, meaning antique. The feel of a living antique.

Mr. Lee has one that was around 30 years old that he gave me a small bag of, while his wife eyed him and smilingly said, that tea has been in the family since the time I married into it! That puts it around 30 years. Mr. Lee couldn't stop giving examples of medicinal uses. We are good friends, he said to me, and I would give you the rest of this 3 kgs that I have left, but I have 5 kids, and anytime they are sick, I need to feed them some. For example, one time his son had food poisoning and vomiting, after a couple cups of the aged Baochong, he was cured. Another farm hand had a horrible cold, and lost his voice. Mr. Lee stingily gave him his 5 year aged Baochong, and he was immediately cured. Well, said Mr. Lee, he only had a cold! the five year Baochong was good enough. So, asked I, could I pilfer a few lbs from you? Teance customers, beware. I am coming back with some very medicinal aged Baochong, stuff the farmers depend on for their children's lives!

Good News for Subscribers

2009-11-08T06:55:00.000-08:00

There is a Teance subscription which subscribers get a tea or two every month, and in general, these are rare or hard to find, and at the best quality possible. It's also always a surprise what teas are in the subscription each month; this time, not only have I obtained some aged Baochong from Mr. Lee for the subscribers, I also managed to find the original inventor of the Honey Oolong ! The Honey Oolong was discovered by accident one year when overbearing typhoons wrecked the plants and made it impossible to dry the leaves properly. An alternative, unimaginable method to continue to make it an oolong was discovered by Mr. Chen of Pinglin, Wenshan. The varietal is Tai Cha #12, the leaf hoppers are required as it was for Taiwan Beauty, but the leaves harvested are large and the secret: the leaves were oxidized in a vacuum without oxygen. The result? Unbelievable honey tones and the sweetest oolong ever tasted. The fragrance made me almost delirious. Of course, this tea is not available every year. One never knows when the conditions will come together again for another harvest. Talk about rare: one farmer, one handful of crop, all these conditions coming together in one year, and possibly, never again! The farmer Mr. Chen was quite sad and almost cried when he told me this, but I assured him that like life, we may die any time and it may also never come again, so in comparison, even just having one such crop of tea is enough. Everyone laughed, then, cried again.

Can it get better?

2009-11-08T06:20:00.001-08:00

Alot of why I go to Taiwan may be for the whimsical people and culture. For example, what about that stinky tofu that I can smell from 5 streets away, advertised along with the vegetarian street food? Or the fried Baochong tea leaves with the fried wild ginger flower, one of my absolute favorite must haves each trip. The wild ginger flower is more fragrant than gardenia and osmanthus flowers combined, if that can be possible. Then, once I make it up the mountain on Wenshan, I would spend time with Mr. Lee, our Baochong farmer with whatever activity he is doing. Today, he's tending his bees. Little racks of bright yellow honey combs in his little beehouses are his pride and joy. But, first, we have to go help the tea harvesters finish the day's work. There are not enough farm hands available anymore, so all the extended family members pitch in. We counted about 4 generations worth, from the 70 year to the 13 year old grandnephew. the problem with Mr. Lee's farm is that his teas are extremely sought after, but he's also extremely honest. He refuses to increase his prices despite the scarcity and hard work tending his mountains by himself. He simply finds other means of supporting his 5 kids through school, such as harvesting honey from his beloved bees. 'Look!' he said to me, tilting his bottle of honey almost vertical, 'good quality honey congeals so much it hardly flows!' Good tea comes from high mountains, so goes the saying, but great tea comes from great people.

A Lazy Day

2009-11-07T06:54:00.000-08:00

Spent the day hanging out with friends, drinking tea or eating dessert, and in between those, had a few meals of noodles or so.

At Lockcha, Mr Ip's Ladder Street teashop, Yuki and I were chatting about bathrooms in China and how we managed to survive them. We were animatedly talking about the worst bathrooms we have ever been to, holes in the ground, no holes in the ground...when a nice customer walks in and wanted to taste some Da Hong Pao. She was from Singapore and confided that her Cantonese wasn't that good, is it OK for Yuki to speak Mandarin? But hey, the Singapore customer spoke 5 or 6 languages, she could accomodate us! Not sure if she was horrified at the subjects we were discussing while drinking such fine teas. The definition of IRONY was that someone from the most immaculate place on earth, Singapore, walks into a conversation about bathrooms in China, where one almost need to not be human to endure.

BUT, the bathroom at the Admiralty building, Hong Kong, was pretty astoundingly beautiful, far from a hole on a muddy floor. See the doors all probably made with folded cherry bark . I think the quality of things in Hong Kong have both improved and also declined. The little cafe eateries are getting sloppier, even Mok Ngan Kee was a bit salty today, though, without further comment needed, they still serve the best, al dente, smooth, egg noodles ever, without a hint of soda and will never, ever stick together. Noodle heaven.

Of Trash and Men

2009-11-06T08:47:00.000-08:00

Back in HK, civilized, busy, modern.

Last year I thought the squeeky clean appearance alot of China has adopted might be here to stay, but not a chance. It was 2008, it was the Olympics, even the trees were hosed down. This year, back to pollution, and lots of littering. Trash was strewn everywhere. It seems that the Chinese nationals still prefer to litter randomly. The men, and even some women, continue to make loud throat clearing noises, and then spit at some imaginary target. As if littering and spitting were Olympic sports....

Hong Kong has gotten dirtier, said my friends, because of migration from up north. Doesn't matter. Here, the cabbies are polite, albeit slightly snobbish (are you from the mainland, they asked, because your Cantonese is soooo Canton?) . Here you have bilinguals and trilinguals, a metro that is immaculate, and the best noodles in the world, and chopsticks that aren't sticky and water that doesn't taste like rust...

The Consummate Connoisseur Tea

2009-11-06T08:36:00.001-08:00

There will never be enough Phoenix Oolongs to make a business, laments Mr . Lin and Mr. Ge, both farmers and tea masters. Mr. Lin spends time trying to help his family sell their teas, while Mr. Ge focuses on roasting and finishing and entering competitions. Last night and this morning, I spent the entire time with Mr. Lin and his brother, making their small, only batch of Pommelo Fragrance oolong from the winter harvest. His wife sorts the stems and imperfect leaves out. Last night’s blackout now over, the weather has also changed into an anomalous hot day. There was no harvesting up at the upper elevations but at 300-400 meters, the tea pickers were out. Still, one will never see a sea of harvesters such as at other tea farms. At Phoenix, not only are the trees few, the leaves fewer, the farmers were also scarce.
Mr. Lin confided that some large enterprises have come to talk to their village about exporting their Phoenix Oolongs. The problem is, they hardly have enough supply for the locals. The locals will pay 2000RMB for their tea, which, in their standard of living, is like, $2000 USD for a lb. Foreigners may consider paying 10% of that. The lower grade lower elevation versions can be had for much less, but then, Phoenix teas never do well mixed together. They each have their distinct fragrances, so the batches are all separate. That also means that alas, you can not sell 1000 kgs and have everything all blended together which is what they are accustomed to in the West.
Besides, 1000 kgs? Not a chance for that kind of quantity. Most foreigners turn on their heels at this point.

Phoenix Mountain Blues

2009-11-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

The making of Phoenix oolongs are relatively uncomplicated compared to other oolongs. The rolling is into straight twists, the firing towards maocha is by wood fire and only for an hour. The ‘killing green’ is for 15 minutes. All this heavenly aroma filling the room, and such a straightforward procedure. Additional firing is over charcoal heat for 20 hours or more.

Yet, the devil’s in the details. A lot of what goes on and makes great vs good Phoenix oolongs are in experience and not apparent to the observer. The tea master does not explain much, the subtleties are in the hand toss, in how heavily the leaves land onto the basket, the pressure the twisting machine made on the leaves, the temperature of the wood fire, the right amount of steam being trapped as the tumbling occurred.

Splurged and bought some top of the world Eight Immortals Phoenix for our subscribers. Basically, Master Ge wins awards each year, and his teas have become prohibitively expensive. How many of us will spend $2000 for a lb? yet that is what the locals in China pay for his teas, and he is very much sought after.

This year’s winter teas are very, very low yield. It was too cold on the top of Wudong Mountain, the highest peak on Phoenix, to have any leaves sprout. The body of the teas is also relatively light. No problem, the farmers have figured out a way to age and re-fire to preserve the fragrance of the spring teas. We will taste and make the comparison at our harvest party!

Sleepless in Guangdong

2009-11-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

Aside from obvious jetlag, there is also the unfortunate amount of noise all night round in Canton, a busy city, and then, once I am in the farms, people are making tea all night long.

Arrived at 1am into Phoenix Mountain into a black out, so all the farmers are making tea by flashlight and candlelight, without the benefit of electrically operated tumblers to wilt the leaves with. So the wilting and tumbling had to be done by hand, by fluffing and bruising the leaves against each other and introducing as much air into the layers of freshly harvested leaves as possible. This is how they used to do it, not long ago, without the benefit of an electric operated bamboo basket that tosse the leaves. The rooms smell heavenly of course, they are wilting a batch of Pommelo Fragrance Phoenix Oolong, I wish I can record the fragrance somehow and share it with everyone! The yield was really low this winter, very cold weather. At the higher elevations of 80o meters and higher, none of the old trees sprouted and so, no harvest. The Pommelo Fragrance being made were made from grafts at the lower, slightly warmer elevations.

It was crisp outside with a full moon hazily peering through the thick fog. We checked progress with a flashlight; the edges of the leaves must be bruised and dry enough to form a red border, the dryness pulling the additional moisture out from the stems through the surface of the leaves and out. I could barely keep my eyes open, so holding my hands steady for these photos were challenging, especially since it was just about pitch dark. No matter, the fresh, high fragrance properly brings to mind one of the namesakes: The Eight Immortals. The fragrance was definitely evocative of heavenly beings.

Gossip Around Town

2009-11-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

Spent a lot of time sitting in traffic in taxicabs when I am in Canton, so talking to the cab drivers have become a favorite source of gossip for me. Different years have yielded different topics, but the uniform complaint this year? Africans who, legally or illegally, reside in Canton, doing business or otherwise, ahem, occupied. Most Chinese mainlanders are fairly provincial and very xenophobic, not having been exposed to many foreigners in their country in general. It seemed like robbing cabdrivers was a favorite pastime with the Africans, with the most innocuous being underpaying the cab fare and then bolting. Sometimes they bolt up to the front seat and drag the driver out by force and jack the cab. How did they end up here illegally, I asked? They stick out like sore thumbs in a sea of uniform yellow skin and black straight hair folks. Well, explain the cabbies, immigration officials had difficulty telling the Africans apart from the photos on the passports so they end up passing around the passports for multiple use. They like making a living in Canton, it’s easy money. If they smuggled drugs, the most the government can do is deport them, while a Chinese citizen found carrying 50g of drugs or more are immediately executed by gunshot to the head. The next week, the deported African would be back using another passport.

I am merely reporting the hot story around town; but it seemed like, observing the behavior of many of the Africans I encountered in Europe and hearing similar stories, it’s time they may want to observe some civility norms in their adoptive countries? The cabbies have all decided to skip picking up all African passengers as a result.

Suddenly, a cabbie would exclaim, wait a minute, you are Cantonese, why do you speak Mandarin so well? I haven’t heard that one for a while, no one’s asked me why I speak English in the U.S. anymore. China is waking up to FOREIGNERS at all levels.

I have complaints of my own. The worst tasting water award has been wrestled away from Las Vegas to be awarded to Canton( Guangzhou) unless you like the taste of lukewarm rust. All the teashops use their own filters, but the regular cafes just toss you this beige looking water. Right now I am having a cup of very, very bad 37 RMB coffee at the airport, having had 2 days of very disappointing food. Canton was known for its cuisine. Alas, that is now far from the case. I suspect it’s due to all the FOREIGNERs now living in Canton, diluting the pool of grouchy old Cantonese men with birdcages who demand a good dim sum.

The Wrangling of Some Pu-Erh

2009-11-04T08:53:00.000-08:00

One of our staff pleaded for me to bring back some 20 year Pu-Erh, if any could be had. I scoffed. What, bring back a few grams? Anything over 5 years is prohibitively expensive, what staff of mine can actually afford some? Too much to ask from friends and private collectors as I have gotten a fair share of ‘gifts’. As it turned out, said staff was extremely lucky. I happened to complain to one of our farm friends that nothing older than 5 year olds are around anymore. He pulled out the private family collection as if I dared him, and I subsequently wrangled about ½ lb. from him. Out of a sense of equanimity, he will charge me of course. That was it. 8 oz. of a 20 year Pu-Erh, naturally aged in Canton, where it is hot, humid, alternating between stifling Southern stillness to fierce coastal winds, perfect for naturally aging Pu-Erh. He said the Pu-Erh used to be inexpensive, an understatement, since they used cases of these tea cakes to prop up furniture in the old days. After all, they took up space, and no one dreamed that one day, Pu-Erh would reach insane, astronomical prices and sought after around the world. For the old Cantonese, it was merely for the morning dimsum. My staff: extremely lucky.

A great find!

2009-11-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

Our friends at the Fuding tea farm have been on a roll to reclaim some lost tea traditions. Earlier in the spring, they introduced me to their Bailin Gong Fu black tea or Hong Cha, handmade, intact little gems of leaf spears fully oxidized without cutting or tearing. The taste was fabulous, but they had limited quantity because the Central Government snatched it up right away, so they agreed to let me have a small amount. We just got our first shipment in as a matter of fact.

But now, some of their friends from Wuyi has reclaimed Lapsang Souchong. That’s right, the correct spelling is Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong, 正山小種. We will leave Lapsang Souchong forever as the name of that pine smoked tea, we are interested in what this varietal can really be showcased as. The small leaf varietal to the large leaf, more prized varietal that the Cliff oolongs like Big Red Robe / Da Hong Pao comes from, it is made into many different teas. This year, they managed to make a long twisted, golden hued Hong Cha, tasting sweet and malty and rich, very similar to Bailin Gong Fu. It seems that although I prefer the Wuyi teas as Oolongs, they are so dark already the Black tea version was surprisingly pleasing. Lapsang Souchong, move over! Cut and torn Black teas, sorry, no astringency in these hand made black teas!

It is very encouraging that China has not completely succumbed to commercialism in all areas, and that the tea craftspeople are still doing good work.

A Day in the Life

2009-11-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

Scouring around for goods to purchase and tasting teas and mulling over Yixing teapots; not a bad way to spend the day. Let me preface though with the fact that travelling in China is always strenuous, no matter what. That’s because I am sort of a local but really am not. That’s because every time I am back, which is every 5-6 months, everything will have changed: the roads, the shops, the rules. China is reactionary; each time an unforeseen situation arises, it goes for an extreme over-ride and make-over.

Making purchases of teawares is difficult. Few can appreciate those thin, almost translucent, glowing little thimble size cups from Jingdezhen, home of the finest porcelains in the world. Or a Yixing teapot whose luster seems to emanate from within. Forget flower motifs that represent such things as humility and scholarship. Forget Tang Dynasty poetry carved on the teapots. Such cultural significances hardly factor with the outside world at large.

So I dodged into the tiniest antique shop where Mr. Yi sits, who’s completely devoid of snobbery even as he has some of the best collected pieces ever seen. He will let a lot of them go for reasonable prices, but he’ll caution you. This cup, he’d say, is only from the 1920s, not really that old. Or, that cup has charm but only of the rough, country variety, not really at all refined. I bought a set of 8 thimble size cups from him, all intact without chipping. We parsed over whether they are from 1911 or 1920s or 1949. Too precious to be from the 1940s, I said, with all that much war during that time, no one has the temperament to hand paint these delicate little flowers. He agreed. Also got a very unique tea scoop made of shell, with some skin attached. Sort of grotesque, quite beautiful in a macabre way.

But I managed to find some very nice cups and Yixing teapots that are lovely and accessible and charming so I feel at peace. Now, to fight the crowd on a street in Canton so I can get into a noodle shop…..

The Long March

2009-11-02T18:11:00.000-08:00

Thank god for modern transportation, now there are trains, planes, and automobiles, and I employed them all today. Landing into Taipei at 6am, taking another flight by 8am to Hong Kong, taking the airport double decker to HK island, wait at the long haul bus terminal at the pier. Watch the boatpeople come in and out, the last of a fringe population of old HK. Board the bus to Shenzhen. Take a cab to various business places I needed to go. Take yet another long haul bus to Canton, where I should have used my seat belt and now have whip lash and bruised knees from the mad driving. Then, a cab ride to the house in Canton, but alas, I didn’t heed my own advice: never, EVER, take a green cab in Canton. Though ubiquitous, the cabbies do not speak Cantonese(always a bad sign anywhere) and do not know the way in the slightest. After an exhausting ride around, I ended up boarding a different taxi. Hiked up, physically, seven flights. Home stay at my relative’s house at 11pm.

That was one, long, 24 hour day. Only to realize that once again, I had forgotten that China now blocks both Twitter and Blogspot.

Me and My thermos

2009-11-01T15:17:00.000-08:00

Onboard and onward !
Haven’t flown any other airline for some time to go to Asia, as the flight of choice has always been Cathay Pacific. A direct flight to HK, with Cantonese attendants, serving Cantonese food, with some of the highest service quality around, not to mention, about 60 channels of movies and other entertainment. Cathay also serves instant noodles any time you ask, great for those time zone adjusting hunger bouts.
The China Airlines(Taiwanese) attendants were equally as service oriented and attentive, it was just that the plane was extremely old. Haven’t flown one of those B747s since the 80s? Hardly any in-flight entertainment for all those 12 hours. The knobs and handles in the bathroom were all broken. The tray table barely folds out. Yet everything was clean and neat. This plane is just like Taiwan: Old, and getting older, with inadequate maintenance and falling behind, but the people’s values are still there. Still gives me confidence that I can make my way across and back, though for some moments, there were flashbacks of Air China(mainland China’s airline) flights I took in the early 90s. Though they were new double deck Airbuses, the service was really poor, and once, all three pilots left the cockpit. One took a nap, one went to get tea, another was eating peanuts and throwing the shells on the floor. Or the time my friend took Aeroflot, another Communist airline(Russian) and he said whatever was falling apart in the cabin was held together, literally, with scotch tape. One wonders what else was taped together that we don’t see. Taiwan is not like China. China goes for the glitzy yet the foundation of service and professionalism are still lacking. Taiwan retains its Confucian moral values and maintains its pride despite the decrepitude it faces.
Of course, I was once informed that around every 18 months or so, there is a China Air flight disaster, due pretty much to lack of ability to maintenance. We’ll see if I make it!
Ended up on an aisle seat at the emergency exit row, so though the seats are worn and hard, I managed to stretch a bit. At boarding, an older Asian man was sitting in my seat, and he asked if he could swap seats with me, as his wife sort of sat across the aisle and they couldn’t get a seat together. I looked at the two of them, and something intuitive rang a bell. This couple must be in their mid sixties. They should have been married for some time, so there is no way they're dying to sit together! Pretty lame for wanting my seat, I thought. I turned him down, at the expense of appearing cruel and heartless. Sure enough, it turned out that the wife had also taken an aisle seat that didn’t belong to her, and that the husband could have taken the middle seat next to her. Through the flight, the husband moved from seat to seat, and not once, to sit next to his wife in the middle seat. My hunch was right. They didn’t want to sit next to each other, they just wanted to serially sit in someone else’s seat if it proves to be better, some how. Then, there is a rather distraught man who keeps getting up, holding an extra pair of sneakers and a bag, going from seat to seat, and once, even using one of the flight attendant seats. If this was on Singapore Airlines, the behavior of these unruly passengers would have merited quite some alarm. Once I was reprimanded for standing up and stretching because I felt claustrophobic in a Singapore Airlines flight. The Taiwanese have seen lots of chaos, particularly in their own government, with such famous Parliamentary antics like shoe throwing, so these unruly passengers do not faze them. The point is? I am still endorsing Cathay Pacific, with just the right amount of casualness and orderliness, just like Hong Kong. Of course, United or other airlines can not even be mentioned. It’s like comparing Lipton’s to Phoenix Mountain Oolongs…..
At least there was no way the flight attendants would think I was weird; they offered to fill my thermos full of Tikuanyin with hot water. Me and my thermos of tea, a shining beacon of civilization...or at least good tea

A New Frontier

2009-10-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Tea as ingredient, and tea as a course, the complement to the meal. The meal plan: Kaiseki, Kyoto style, all vegetarian. Ingredients: matcha, sencha, lu shan clouds and mist green tea, charcoal roasted oolong, roasted ground osmanthus flowers.
First, the guests sit down to a palate cleanse of White Down (Bai Hao Yinzhen) white tea. The appetizer was grilled eggplants with a sprinkle of ground tea leaves. The tofu dish was accentuated by a fabulous medley of sauteed tea leaves and paired with a peppery Wild Chrysanthemum infusion. The onigiri rice featured three different versions. The plainest looking white rice piece was cooked with Charcoal Fire Roasted Oolong, another was rolled in tea leaves and kelp, and tied with a yuba (thin tofu skin). All served with Sencha. The tempura was battered with Sencha and butter, and paired with a Tikuanyin oolong; suddenly, how can one ever imagine tempura not served with Tikuanyin ever again! It was a match made in my mind and realized in perfection, though it seemed to be an odd couple. The floral high perfume of the Tikuanyin made the tempura sang when it threatened to reduce to simply battered vegetables.
Dessert? Matcha crepes with a fig compote and persimmon filling. Paired with Baochong oolong, my favorite pairing of the evening. very fragrant, very light, completely enlivened the fruits. Cut the sweetness just a bit.
The guests were ecstatic, glad to participate in my lab experiment. You see, few have imagined that different teas will change the palate as well as the taste experience of so many ingredients, creating a miraculous new level of nuances. Wine and beer, move aside!

The Art of Tea Exhibit

2009-10-15T21:23:00.001-07:00

at the Pacific Heritage Museum, SF, features some rare, very beautiful, soulfully collected pieces, from extinct Yixing pieces, contemporary potters' works, tea tools, all the way to...gaiwan, bird cages, and even photos of tea farms, from, you guessed it, me....
I was happy to lend the pieces and photos, they were proudly exhibited to add a little background view of the locales, for without these tea farms, tea arts wouldn't exist, right?
This is definitely one of the best curated tea arts exhibited, though slightly slanted to the Cantonese styles, with a little bit of wares from Japan, but the wedding tea sets, etc., are Southern Chinese. Of course, we Southern Chinese drink the most tea and therefore, should boast the better varieties of wares. In any case, many tea-related exhibits are more academic; this one is pure showcase. Check it out! There is even a Yixing teaware video.
At the Pacific Heritage Museum on Commercial St., San Francisco. Exhibit opens to the public tomorrow and runs until March.

French cooking with Asian tea

2009-10-02T20:57:00.000-07:00

My brother Fred has been cooking up a storm. First success, Creme Brulee made with Lu Shan Clouds and Mist green tea, who would have thought, what a stunner! The Lu Shan is unique in its burnt salty butter, and mixed with eggs and cream. Boil the cream, put in tea, sit for one hour with tea flavored cream. Then, beat egg yolks (one per serving) and add sugar (NO vanilla). Pour hot cream and bake with water in the pan. Custard turns out just perfect. Sprinkle sugar on top, blast with torch, and out it goes. The most unique Creme Brulee, world class as far as I can tell. I couldn't do it; cooking, like making tea or painting, requires the right intuitive touch. My brother's been cooking since he was a teenager. One day, he announced he would take up Thai food. Mom rolled her eyes. Next, it was Vietnamese. Most recently, the obsession has been French, and French with tea. Not bad, I'd say most of them were remarkable.

The Lichee Red Souffle today was not quite a success, the Grand Marnier over-powered just about everything. Fred isn't fazed. Making one with Roasted Twig Oolong tomorrow.....

A heavenly pairing

2009-09-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Tea and Food Pairing, what a concept, never been done before! At least, none that we know of.
Our class at Teance last Friday consisted of 3 entrees paired with 2 different teas each.
First, a vinaigrette lettuce salad with radish, paired with Bamboo Green and Jasmine Pearls. The Jasmine was exceedingly successful, eliminating the sour ending of the vinaigrette into the smooth sweet tea. The Bamboo Green picked up the spiciness of the radish, but was less effective with the lettuce.
Onward to the second entree: a saffron curried medley of vegetables, chickpeas and baked cauliflower. The Darjeeling First Flush was exquisite, highlighting the saffron into centerpiece. The only word out of the class was 'wow!'
The second tea, the Old Grove Shuixian, managed to eliminate the saffron, but brought the sweetness out of the vegetables to a new height. Darjeeling however, was definitely the hands down winner.
The third was my favorite: Manchego and Membrillo, cheese and quince! Delicious! Tracy Paulding of the Paulding and Co. kitchen catered all three entrees, and this last one was definitely the house favorite. I paired a Yellow Gold Oolong, which lifted the quince jam and brought out the fragrance of its floral quality. But the Yunnan Gold was a revelation, successfully eliciting the creamiest aspects of the cheese. It was a stunner.
The class has never experienced a tea paired dinner, where the right tea would at times supplement, at times complement, the ingredients and flavors of the dish. It was quite a revelation for everyone!

Civilization made possible

2009-08-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

The Cheng house was absolutely a work of stunning perfection, and even the Beehouse teapot matched in gunmetal black. Of course none of us would use it, between the two families travelling, we have enough gaiwans and cups to feed tea to the entire town of Ketchum. At 6000 feet, in a crisp August day, it was colder than Berkeley and much drier. The teas we brought along: 8 Year old Pu-Erh (in case we over eat, Mr. Cheng is an avid barbequer), Anxi Tikuanyin in travelling size packages (5 gms each pack, completely portion proof), some unknown Shui Xian (for unintended house guests who may not appreciate the finer stuff), and some Gong Fu Black tea for my peach cobblers! My friend Lila makes the jawdropping peach cobblers and we all sit, teacup in hand, waiting for the cobblers to come out of the oven. Who said anything about roughing it in Idaho?

tea in Idaho

2009-08-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

On a family trip to Idaho. Few of you would understand why......
Passed by lots of towns I thought were called Shanty towns but I learned were called Podunk towns. Stopped in this diner one morning for some cheery looking griddle cakes, and asked for hot water for my gaiwan and travel tea set. The wait staff nodded without much surprise or fanfare, so we had to put down a big tip....I mean, they have never had to bring anyone that much hotwater ever. We made the poor wait staff run around at least 5 times for refills. the tea? Some old Gong Fu Black tea that couldn't possibly diminish under any circumstances, even in a Podunk town.

A- Plus Rigor

2009-06-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

We conducted our tastings of Indian and Sri Lankan teas at a professional test kitchen, partly because our friends at In Pursuit of Tea are based out of New York and we decided that we must taste these teas at the same place at the same time. Water, temperature, and even our moods might affect our judgement.

Sebastian Beckwith, Zander Scott, Frank Kwei, and Tano Maida were the brave souls who participated in tasting over 50 samples from various estates.

In the harvest seasons I normally taste 50 to 200 samples of the same tea a day, to decide on over 60 teas for just the teashop alone, so this is not daunting a process. Tasting for defect? Or tasting for quality? The world of tea tasting is as intricate as any connoisseur products and demands the most rigor and attention.
This year's Namring Estate Darjeelings were quite nice, contrary to reports of drought and other factors that made me suspicious of quality. Our efforts have paid off!

Odyssey to be continued...

2009-05-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

That concludes our trip, many fun times and knowledge to be recorded. Certainly, tea culture is alive and well in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. I quite worry in fact, that if the U.S. continues to demand blends and low grade black teas, it wouldn't be a problem as the sheer amount of demand in China alone will ensure fierce competition for the best teas. It will be harder and harder for outsiders, once again, to gain any foothold. Sometimes, as a matter of fact, I get to buy such small quantities of certain top teas only because the growers feel a certain pride and cache in having an American clientele. I suspect that will be less of a novelty some day. Also, the handcrafted nature of these top teas demand a skill set bore by people of the past, before TV and computers were invented. Today, many young people consider working with their hands low earning producing and not as prestigious as being an engineer or a model, for example. Their value systems are now influenced by movies and media, and unfortunately, rarely do you see much glamour portrayed in the life of a tea or any agricultural lifestyle. A cross sampling survey of farmers and producers from different regions all say the same: hand crafted, premium teas, may become a thing of the past after this generation. So folks, enjoy and drink up!

I Love Hong Kong

2009-05-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

If only the weather was better, I probably would move back soon. Today, horizontal rains. No problem, should have pitter pattered around in slippers and shorts, the rain was so warm.
Headed over to the Lockcha at Admiralty and ran into the Sunday night concert, a trio of flute, pipa, and guqin. Elegant as always, full of the flavor of the literati and Cantonese friendliness. Familiar tunes played by world class classical musicians. Wing Chi Ip, owner and tea aficionado par excellence, is also a gentleman of yesteryear culture. The dim sum is always vegetarian, always delicious and simple, the teas never disappoint and always top quality. You can order one of his Pu-Ers (in advance ) for 10,000 HKD a pot. Or you can go with a Phoenix Oolong for 68 HKD a pot. If I lived in HK, I would be at Lockcha everyday. As a matter of fact, the whole reason we have Teance, folks, is because I couldn't go to a place like Lockcha everyday, living in the U.S. But soon I learned what the learning curve was, and quickly, such elegant pastimes as the sound of pipa playing like falling pearls gave way to passing out samples of chilled lichee red ice tea. I like our chilled tea, it's fantastic. But the sound of 'Ambush from Four Directions' played on the pipa, or poetry recitations, become the sound of rain drops draining into the Bay. Mr. Ip explained to us that really, the teahouse and all its elegant affairs are for ourselves to enjoy, because where else can we expect tea paradise except to create our own?

Home at Tung Ting

2009-05-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

By now, visiting with Mrs. Su at Tung Ting is like a family visit. I watch her kids grow up. The eldest wrote a tea poem for his middle school contest and won first place. The youngest one loves chocolate and is studying English. The rebellious middle refuses to say hi to me. Mrs Su was highly pleased with her piece in the Kyoto Journal, which, folks, by the way, if you still don't own a copy, please do not pass up on the most beautiful tea magazine ever made. Take a look, you might agree, as there are no scone recipes included !(www.teance.com to purchase)
But I digress. We are talking about a whole different eon level of teas from the scone complements here.
Mrs. Su took out her dowry tea, the 18 year aged oolong she brought over the day she was married, and Darius and Max could not contain their excitement. They were so deliriously happy at her generosity they broke out in rap:

Oolong tea is good for me,
I get to be like Bruce Lee....

Not exactly award winning poetry.
Mrs. Su is superwoman, her teas are regular award winners, and even in this economy, she is still selling out. She was upset at me for arriving at such a rushed late hour, as she didn't get a chance to wrap some 'zhong ' for me (rice and mushrooms and other fillings wrapped and steamed in bamboo leaves) nor harvest some fresh bamboo shoots for me that she knows I love. What to say? You can taste her caring and good will and generosity in her tea. Maybe it's not tangible, but when I drink her the Tung Ting or Charcoal Roasted oolongs that she made, and think of her spirit and kindness, the tea always tastes sweet and perfect.
We headed up for a brief tour of San Lin She afterwards, though some horrific boulders rolling down last week destroyed the road going up the hill. Good thing they sent us the High Mountain teas already, and good thing we still managed to avoid being flattened by the rolling rocks!

Ali's Shan

2009-05-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

Have not really been a huge fan of Alishan tea. Call me stubborn, but one look at the hazy smog and hundreds of tour buses that visit this area, as well as the loud speakers booming about how great the teas are, made me abit queasy. I might favour Taiwan oolongs in general, but never, ever, have I considered Alishan teas.
This year, I decided to re-visit it. To confess, Alishan has these great ume pickled plums that I love, and so, looking for some better Alishan oolongs was the excuse, but getting the plums was the plan. As luck would have it, without an agenda nor route plan ( I actually subconsciously wanted to just fail in my mission to prove my point), we got lost, and ended up turning into a hidden area of the mountain. Far tucked away amidst the 'Immortal Trees' and bamboo groves, as it turned out, was a smallish farm run by a woman tea master. She moonlights as a hoteler/vacation hostel hostess, so a nice house of sorts sits amidst her tea fields. Hers are the original Alishan teas, she explained. Highly skeptical, I sat down to taste the tea. She was quite assertive in denouncing the Taiwan tea scandal, where cheap Vietnamese and Thai made 'Taiwan High Mountain' teas were re-imported into Taiwan and mixed with teas such as hers and sold as local teas. The result are teas that lose aroma after the first, and lose taste after the second, steeping. Alishan teas, she says, came from original Taiwan Varietal number 12, and not the Jin Shuan or any of the later species. Most definitely, you can taste the difference! She challenged me to taste, smell, and also, break apart the steeped leaves to see how tough they were, as one of the distinguishing criteria.
Her tea had the distinctive Taiwan flavour alright, with a deep golden color, intense fragrance, and very little astringency. This Alishan oolong is definitely miles better than the kinds I have tasted, and I suspect that she might be right. Alishan mountain is famous in Taiwan for being a beautiful tourist area, and tourists from the world over know only Alishan tea. There was simply too much demand and tourists wouldn't know the difference anyway! With such unscrupulous and short sighted arrangement of increasing availability, Alishan has made its name questionable for tea fanatics like myself.
In any case, most of the area is still extremely polluted, full of tour buses spewing black smoke into the tea bushes planted just slightly above the roads. I brought some of the hidden mountain Alishan tea from the woman tea master, and folks, it would be good to taste it if only for experience. Her tea is good, but well, again, it's an embarrassment of riches! We simply have much better, and we are all awefully spoiled.
Got the plums, mission accomplished! Serve at Harvest Party III perhaps.

More absurdities

2009-05-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

Max and Darius rapped the whole way back, while my mad cousin wanted to give the boys a real tour of Taiwan: The beetlenut girls. Yes, the ones who wear virtually translucent clothing and sell the most disgusting fruit known to mankind, that tastes as nasty as it looks. You look like a vampire eating a fruit that permanently stains your teeth and mouth into bloody red. To make it an attractive purchase, the beetlenut girls come swaying out with barely anything on. That, folks, is another aspect of Taiwan. And I don't touch the stinky tofu either, though in a hot summer day, you can smell it from 7 blocks away.

Pear Mountain Fortunes

2009-05-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Li Shan means Pear Mountain, and in the past, the most sought after fruits, particularly pears, came from there. Today, such famous heights as Da Yu Ling, and Fu Shou Shan, has dwarfed the fruits and made tea the most profitable and sought after crop from this region. Li Shan oolongs generally refer to elevations of 1700-2000 meters, while Fu Shou Shan, an even smaller garden, lies at around 2300 meters or so. The mountains are impossibly dangerous, downright scary in its steepness. One look at the prospects of tumbling down the hill from harvesting makes one understand all the fuss.

At harvest season, not only are the farmers busy, the corporate buyers and large scale tea merchants would camp out at the mountain, going from farm to farm day to day, and purchasing entire day's productions if they like what they taste. We visited old Mr. Wu's traditional farm at 2300 meters, Mr. Chen's biodynamic farm, and Mr. Huang's larger scale farm that produces about 3000 jins of Li Shan tea a season.

Li Shan Oolongs are the most intensely fragrant, smooth buttery oolong there is, topping Taiwan oolongs growing everywhere else. Particularly, there is a pronounced taste of 'gan' that lingers for an entire day, with less and less astringency the higher the elevation, no matter how strong a cup of tea you make. Incredibly sweet with a taste of fruit that's been cooked at high heat, Li Shan tea no doubt is so highly sought after, many unscruplous merchants would try to dupe the unsuspecting consumer. It is highly unlikely to buy any Li shan tea less than $200 USD plb. at a retail level, and at that price, one is guaranteed that it came from the second flush or 'second spring', or lower elevations at 1700 meters. Da Yu Ling oolongs are well over $300 p/lb., and difficult to acquire even if one would pay for it, for all of the crops are usually spoken for. We managed to finagle some from Mr. Wu's traditional farm, and folks, we will soon announce when these teas will be tasted at the teashop.

Braving travel sickness, extreme weather, rolling boulders that threaten to bludgeon us flat, and myriad other adverse conditions, we travelled far to get our customers these lots. Don't miss out on this chance to commit the taste of these teas to memory!

Biodynamic Rhythm

2009-05-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

The Da Yu Ling farm belonging to Mr. Chen boasts of a biodynamic system which makes sure that everything is natural, no chemicals, and that nature's own rules are observed and taken advantage of. Apple trees grow in abundance amidst the tea bushes. Peanut meal is fed to both the tea bushes and the apple trees, explained Mr. Chen, as that seems to be what they like in this elevation. "You couldn't feed pork to certain religious followers, so you can't apply the same fertilizers to these particular plants at this particular environment! " The tea bushes love the pollen from the apple flowers, so symbiotically, Mr. Chen planted the apple trees uphill so the pollen can float down to the tea. And the apple trees love the 'energy' emitted from the tea plants. The tea sprouts get frost bitten unfortunately but most are shaded warmly by the apple trees. At this elevation, the snow is a welcome moisturizer but as soon as it turns into frost the little tea buds would die.

The apple trees though, bring on their additional problem. It is so cold at these heights that the traditional pests do not exist, per se. There is only the monkeys and the wild boars. There are hundreds of monkeys that live in that mountain, and they don't pick the tea, no matter what the moniker of 'Monkey Pickey Tikuanyin' says. They climb the trees or shake the branches and get the apples. But obnoxiously, they would sometimes take one bite and discard the apples if not sweet enough. One monkey can eat through one and a half trees. If any uneaten apples even fall on the ground, the fussy monkeys wouldn't pick them up nor eat them. In their wake, the boars come, unable to climb the trees, their best bet is to eat the apples on the ground.

What to do? Mr. Chen observed the behaviour of the monkeys. They love cleanliness, so he made a low fence, and smeared it with foul smelling motor oil at the perimeter of the farm far from the crops. The monkeys reach over the fence to climb, only to fall into the trap of having their little hands and furs smeared with sticky motor oil. Unable to withstand the uncleanliness, they don't come in to steal the apples again. Mr. Chen scores one, the monkeys, zero! If he could only keep out the prying friends as easily, he laments.

This is what is known as a biodynamic farm, completely natural, self sustaining, employing nature in a wholistic manner, using the wit of man to create a complementary eco system for the best of all worlds. No wonder Mr. Chen has such leisure time.

A Leisurely Perfection

2009-05-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Mr. Chen's father pioneered the growing of oolongs on Li Shan some 40 years ago. At such high elevations at 2700 meters, in such a remote, treacherous mountain region, no one on the island thought it possible. Mr. Chen the elder had studied agriculture in Japan, and brought back some of the environmental management skills he learned. Growing up in 5 generations of mountain living with indigenous peoples also gave him tremendous local knowledge and experience. All conditions are perfect, he said, except for the frost. If that doesn't kill the bushes each year, we will have phenonmenal tea. His farm faces East and sits on the West side of the Da Yu Ling mountain of Li Shan range. The early rising sun ensures early growth and the hot afternoon sun never hits the plants. The fog rolls in the evening until the next morning, nourishing the plants. The leaves never grow large as it is so cold, but they get thick and fleshy and sweet. The harvests are the latest in Taiwan; we were there one week too early for the Spring harvest, and the early Winter harvest happens in October.
Mr. Chen loves his life on the farm. He is alone there when there is no harvesting, merely managing the hills, making sure no pests, monkeys, wild boars, and prying friends come visit. Otherwise his life is simple enough. Before the harvest, he would sit after breakfast with his tea until lunch, in his immaculate outdoor courtyard. Then, he would take a nap after lunch, and a bath afterwards. Then it's dinner time, and after that is a stroll around his garden to make sure there were no intruders. The only possible theft is people stealing his tea plants because Da Yu Ling tea is so valuable. Otherwise his friends come visit to try to pry some private stash teas off his hands, even looking under his bed sometimes, he confides.
In the evening, he sits with his tea until the moon comes out with the stars, and he admires the stars until it's time to sleep. It makes me stupid, he grins, but I wouldn't live down the mountain for anything in the world!
Max, Darius, and I agree: it sure is nice to sit on top of the world, breathing in the pristine air, with a pot of tea, and nothing else to do.

Mad Max, Darling, and Cousin Money

2009-05-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

That's our gang. We were joined by our friend Max Track on the Taiwan part of the trip, freshly arrived from Vietnam. Max loves Taiwan tea and was absolutely thrilled. My cousin the mad driver was responsible for getting us to Li Shan in record time (1.5 days instead of 2?) and Darius and Max giggled the whole breakneck pace up the blind hairpin turns in the foggy mountain. Giggling must be good for stress. My cousin could not pronounce 'Darius' and called him Darling the whole way. Another reason to giggle madly, especially upon discovering that my cousin's last name means 'money'

We arrived into Da Yu Ling to check out the highest grown oolongs in Taiwan, perhaps not well known in the world but the most respected, most expensive, and all but bought up each year by large merchants and corporates to give as gifts. There is almost no Li Shan or Da Yu Ling oolongs left by now before the spring harvest. We headed up Mr. Chen's farm, the highest at 2700 meters, and most prestigious, to see what innovative techniques he claims. Mr. Chen's teas are almost completely not available commercially; it is after all, the biggest 'face' gift a corporation could give in Taiwan, gifting his teas. The recipients pretty much know the value and scarcity of these oolongs. Imagine if that someday people in the U.S. would give such valuable teas, as opposed to, say, the fanciest looking silken pyramid shaped box of herbs.

Extreme Teas

2009-05-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

My friend owns a tea company called in Pursuit of Tea. If that were the title to a contest though, I imagine I would win in the following categories: Extreme Heights, Extreme Conditions, Highest Quality, and Most Arduous. How far would I go to get some of these teas?
After a full day and half of mad driving around the island, we arrive into the Li Shan area of Taiwan. The previous direct mountain passage has been closed due to earthquakes and other natural disasters striking it down. So around the island we go, pretty much uninhabited except for the indigenous peoples. Taiwan is a very civilized place indeed, and really, no harm can come to us.It's the last leg of the trip, all we need to do is drive there! Blinding fog on hairpin turns in the highest and steepest mountains? A place known for falling boulders? Or that we witness boulders flying down in front of us? No problem. it gave us a chance to see some of the most spectacular cloud formations, magnificient misty mountains, and a chance to test our lungs in the elevation. This part of the island is famous for its natural and dramatic mountains and rocks, and the people who live there rarely leave the area. We are in pursuit of the most outstanding, rarest, highest elevation tea called Li Shan oolong. So limited in quantity, there are many knock-offs. Only the most discerning consumer can taste the difference, so many teas from other areas are sold as Li Shan. In the U.S., a 'Li Shan' tea was found to sell for a low price on the internet, and it alarmed me that I better get some from each of the farms in the area, and make sure our customers can tell the difference, and not be duped by dubious Li Shan tea claims. For Li Shan teas are the most expensive, but neither buying based purely by name nor price is the right way. One must be able to tell from the taste. So off we go, trekking to the extremely high mountain areas of Taiwan, all to bring back what is regarded as the best oolong in Taiwan. We ended up at 2500 meters, or about 8,000 feet elevation. Lightening flashed around us without thunder, the sky splitting up the bright night stars. We had reached above the fog line.

Formosa Beauty

2009-05-21T06:42:00.000-07:00

This year's Taiwan Beauty is limited in quantity again, made by our beloved Baochong farmer Mr. Lee. It's always a pleasure to visit with him, because he finds such simple joys in his farm life. He's making the Taiwan Beauty out of the Baochong varietal, so it's extra sweet, but has the characteristic 5 colors and brisk taste one loves about Taiwan Beauty. It has to be wilted for 24 hours, Mr. Lee says, so it's almost 90% dry. Then, the processing and roasting is very short. The oxidation level reaches over 80%. Because the leaves have been patronized by the leaf hoppers already, the surface of the leaves have plenty of room for the sweet juices to come up to the top. It's hard to get chemistry type information from farmers, but as one of them said, scientists enjoy air conditioning in labs writing about tea, while farmers toil toil hard to craft their teas according to nature, which demands creativitiy, spontaneity, flexibility and understanding accumulated from generations of experience, even if they will never be able to explain it properly. Fired in small quantities by hand on a wok, and producing only 30 jins this season, Mr. Lee deems this Taiwan Beauty to be a labor of love only. Goes well with my honey, he says, and led us over to see his bees. See how cute they are, he says, they bring the pollen back with their little legs and they look like rice balls! We were served some of the honey, and we couldn't tell, honestly, what we liked better, the Taiwan Beauty Oolong, or his honey.

The Fanatics of Taiwan

2009-05-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

You haven't met tea fanatics till you have met the ones from Taiwan. Today for example, a tea producer we met had scoured all of Taiwan to find old groves of Wuyi small varietal tea trees transplanted from China long ago, abandoned because not many farmers know what to do. With those leaves, he produces an oolong called 'Small Red Robe' as a tribute to the Big Red Robe of Wuyi. But what a tea. It blows away the Big Red Robes I have tasted in recent years. Perfectly smooth, having the character of aged teas, you can tell there were no errors in the processing. No astringent edge to be found anyway, the very, very long aroma of pickled plum in the cup, and such fantastic caramel taste in the palate. What to do? This is called the embarassment of riches. We have such rich teas, and alas, not enough appreciation. No matter. I will bring some back for tasting. Call me a tea fanatic in training.
The tea producer/fanatic made a point to make sure I will be storing his Small Red Robe properly. In a clay urn, with a hemp cloth, and far from a well lit window, and definitely, far, far away from the bathroom. I assured him that as young and simple as I look, I do know enough not to store ANY teas near the bathroom!

Immortal Mtn Elixir

2009-05-18T20:20:00.001-07:00

Sounds a bit corny, but it really does feel like you are drinking an immortal elixir when you drink Phoenix Oolongs.

For tea farmers, these are some of the most well to do, for you can sell a lb. of competition grade Phoenix Oolong for $2000 USD or more, enough to live for over a year for an average farmer. The tea is well worth it. This year was exceptional as there was a very cold winter, eliminating even the most die-hard bugs. The buds were sprouting by new year's, but very tenuously, and it took alot of effort to keep the trees warm. Then, the spring rain came sparsely, followed by sun when they need to harvest, and you have some of the most outstanding Phoenix teas ever. The soil was soaked from the winter, and if there was too much rain, the tea leaves will have more flavor. So the conditions were the best. All, except the fact that we have an economic tsunami, and our customers will most likely not be able to afford such fine teas this year. An irony of life.
The charcoal pits are carefully attended to reach 100 degrees C, a slow fire they call it, and the tea is roasted twice at 11 hours each time. This Phoenix Honey Oolong will be a competition batch, and it will sell for more than $3500 USD once it wins. The top cost went to again the Ginger Flower Fragrance, the lone tree that fetched well over $6000 USD a lb. Honey Fragrance (Mi Xiang) is the most successful and common species, so there is a range of prices (thank goodness or we couldn't afford it) and a little bit of bargaining can be done. With the Almond and Pommelo, we are lucky to have any! The aroma is heavenly, the liquer is brocade like with the honey and fruit notes. No astringency anywhere, the woodsy after taste shifts into an intoxicating coating in the throat. Folks, be sure to taste these Phoenix teas this year at the Harvest Party, for I am not sure I am willing to part with any for further tasting!

The Immortal Mountain

2009-05-18T19:14:00.000-07:00

That is how one feels at Phoenix Mountain, like an immortal, on a rainy, foggy, soggy day, squishy pathways up the mountain on the red clay soil, everywhere the scent of tree size gardenias, osmanthus flowers, giant bamboo groves and of course, extremely old tea groves full of white lichen. You feel that if you could but absorb some of this heavenly energy, you, too, can purge all the city living out of your lungs, and live to a thousand years alongside the tea. I think I would be perfectly happy having my ashes fed to the roots of the tea groves here. Wonder if my ashes are good enough fertilizer? Probably, have drank enough tea already by now. The trees here are typically 50 to 100 years old, and the best and oldest are well over 300 years. The young ones are about 10 years old and harvested for the first time. Most tea bushes in the world get harvested by the time they are 2-3 years, but not here. They have to be seasoned, sure, but the groves grow so very very slowly, and it takes so long for the roots to reach deep for nutrients. The roots are taller than the trees. Trees that grow on low lying areas never really grow well and usually don't survive, because the soil isn't rich enough. So high mountain it is; generally by 500 meters the fog rolls in, the soil is rich, and the trees thrive. Our Honey Fragrance Phoenix Oolongs are usually harvested at 800 -1000 meters, the Almond and Pommelo Fragrances are at the peak areas of 1300 meters or more. Wudong Mountain, the tea mountain of the Phoenix Mountain Range, is covered with new plantings at the bottom and full of the old trees at the top. The new trees are planted at the base for a couple of years, and if they survive, transplanted up the mountain for continuous growth, sort of like in a dojo, you can work your way up from white belt to black belt, that is if you survive the matches. Any poorer quality groves are grafted with better quality or more in style varietals. For example, this year, our favorites, the Almond and Pommelo, proved to be so wildly popular many younger trees were grafted with those two species.
I believe the energy of these mountains make the teas. I don't care what anyone says about teas grown at improper areas or mountains not meant for tea. There just isn't that heavenly energy. The soil, air, water, and the majestic quality of the mountain makes the tea plants grow to reflect that energy, and you can taste that in your cup of tea.

A Report from Phoenix Mountain

2009-05-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

This year's Phoenix Mountain teas are the best, hands down, beyond any in memory.

The Meaning Of Rain Flower

2009-05-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

Yu means Rain, and Hua means Flower. Yu Hua Cha means Rain Flower tea. The story goes that during Bodhidharma's time a Zen master called Yun Guang lectured in Nanjing and the heavens was so moved that it rained flowers from above. Everyone believed that the Zen master was enlightened.

Nanjing Yu Hua green tea is one of the top 5 most influential teas of China, but you may never have heard of it nor find its existence outside of Nanjing. The small hills in an area called Gao Chuen about an hour away from the city is designated to be a nature conservatory, a pristine area asigned to growing tea only. Relatively young compared to other teas, Yu Hua green tea is not so much varietal as shape and taste, for about 4-5 local varietals can be made into this tea. After a little incident called the Nanking Massacre over 50 years ago, a tea was given to the people of Nanjing as consolation, rather than, say, a country. To commemorate their bravery and uprightness, the tea had to be shaped to reflect a perfectly straight spine.

This tea defies the word impossible, as it is defined by a shape called pine needle, the most difficult of all to make for a green tea. There are only about 10 artisans remaining who can hand make this shape, and about three works for the farm I visited. The criteria for a perfect Yu Hua tea consists of the following, in a poem:

Straight spine blade-like taper ,

Thin and pointy like hair,

White fuzz and green balance each other,

Round bottom like one end of the pine needle

This straight, thin shape is extremely easy to break, unlike, say, spiral shapes like Bi Luo Chun.

Moreover, aside from the difficult hand processing, the harvesting is of course, also done by hand, to the tune of 70,000 buds per lb. Only 2-3 days of harvest before the rain are used for the handcrafted needles!

These teas are usually commissioned by the Central Government as state gifts and not usually available for purchase. Today, there are a couple of grades below the supreme grade, made by a combination of hand and machine processing, for less perfection but more commercially viable quantities. By that, we are still talking about mere handfulls per year.

What happens when there are no more harvesters? What happens when the 10 artisans grow old and pass and leave no disciples? We may be the last to enjoy such great handmade treasures! (Hurry to the Rare Tea Harvest Party at Teance)

Absurdities

2009-05-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

The tea served was unsatisfactory to say the least. It was ghastly underwhelming. Not only were we served, as customary nowadays, the Putuo green tea in a tall glass, it was also last year's tea, and burned to death, and not enough tea leaves were put into the cup. All of the abracadabra Darius performed failed to churn the tea into something drinkable. We understand. The best Putuo green teas were served to the government dignatories, and the Buddhist bigwigs. It reminds me of a story I translated one time of a famous scholar, who, not being recognized at the temple he visited, was presented with an underwhelming tea. Upon finding out his true identity, the monk presented with the best, and the scholar then wrote a poem for the monastery:
Tea, good tea, fragrant tea
Sit, please sit, take honored seat

The dichotomy was apparent. Putuo shan was not an impressive endeavor. We found a few quiet temples to do our bowing today, and departed with hope that someday, seeds are planted and will grow these monasteries back to where they were thousands of years ago, a place of dharma and spiritual practice. And good tea.
Back at Shanghai, we found a funny Chinglish translation. Intrigued by a menu containing Green Wipes Tea, we wanted to see what it was. It looked like a foaming green tea frappicino from Starbucks, and tasting it revealed it was some sort of sweet green milk drink. But the Chinese characters actually said matcha. It was supposed to be a Japanese matcha drink, but when the kanji for matcha was reintroduced to China instead of the character for ground or 'powdered', it became the contemporary word for 'wipe', so the Chinese translated back into English as 'wipe' tea. Of course that made alot of sense didn't it? Anyway, it was hilarious once we figured it out.

The Dharma Path

2009-05-13T05:42:00.001-07:00

You never know what the lesson in life is going to be. We expected to meet with no Dharma at all on this trip, and then look what we found!
About 10 years ago, I met an older monk on this island at a monastery I could not remember. He gave me a copy of Master Hsuan Hua's book, which was supremely surprising to go all the way across the world, only to meet someone to give me a copy of my own master's book. So this year I decided to bring another copy of Master Hua's lectures, to give back to that monk should I find him again. As to how I would do that, I have no idea. Most of the real practitioners do not come out to deal with the public, and they have workers or 'professional monks' who are dressed up as monks to do crowd control, handle entrance fees, etc. You can tell the real ones from the workers by simply the way they walk, or stand, or even, look. The non-real monks have a rather unsavory energy. I guess dressing up in sacred robes but really a spitting, cigarette smoking, meat eating regular person added another dimension of sleaze.
In any case, Darius and I started with Puji, one of the oldest biggest and most renowned temples. There were visitors waving incense around. Some were audacious enough to try to throw coins into the incense urns; it makes them lucky, Darius announced, with a straight face. The fatter the bundle of incense burned, perhaps the more likely their wishes will come true!
Making our way to the large copper Guanyin statute, we encountered monuments ranging from moving to plain commercialized.
I remembered the temple I met the old monk was near the ocean, so we continued on. To my chagrin, not only was it extremely difficult to find a real monk, it was hard to get the occasional one to talk to me, much less remotely resemble the monk I was looking for. None of the monks would even look sidelong at me, rather not wanting to be bothered.
I sat down at the Purple Bamboo Monastery, a relatively quiet, very old temple that I find some respite. The young monks were busy cleaning from pillar to post. It was near closing time. I thought to myself, the monk that is supposed to receive Master Hua's book will surely come to me instead. I don't need to seek.
We headed out to the last monastery by the ocean, a tiny one with 50 Guanyin statutues donated by Japan. I went up to one monk and asked if he had been at the monastery long. He said no, and didn't say another word. Then, another monk busy sweeping the temple behind me suddenly asked, 'Where is he from ?' pointing to Darius. I said, the U.S., and we practice at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. 'I have heard of it, it's Master Hsuan Hua's temple!' He proceeded to talk for half an hour without drawing a breath, quoting Master Hua (he's read his books), talking about the importance of recitation on the way to Zen practice, the Avamtamsaka Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra.... What do you make of the behavior of the tourists, I asked? He replied, 'Like anything, you need to plant a seed, then it grows enough roots to become a tree. The tourists do not have affinity to hear the Dharma yet, and so the fact that they come to visit and burn incense, that they can hear the Buddha's name, is a seed. Someday they will grow to be practitioners. For those with affinity, like yourselves, we are very happy to speak Dharma to! "
I presented him Master Hua's book. This was most definitely the one and only monk who was willing to talk to us, a miniature Dharma lecture in fact. He was definitely the one I was supposed to hand the book to. Can you read traditional Chinese, I asked him? Mainland Chinese Buddhist texts are in simplified characters. 'I can manage!' he replied, as if such minor difficulty was not at all a deterent.
My lesson of the day was to stop being a cynic, start to quiet my mind and tap into the possibilities, and have faith that it will all work out, such as it did.

Buddha tea at Putuo

2009-05-13T05:10:00.000-07:00

Going to Putuo shan usually involves a degree of difficulty. This is only my second trip, but 10 years ago, it was even more harrowing and nerve wrecking. Suffice to say, after racing our necks off to make the ferry, then paying much more than we had planned and feeling put off by the entrance fee to the island, we arrive at the place of Dharma for the Bodhisattva Guanyin, compassionately hearing the suffering sounds of the world. My suffering sounds involved being ripped off (rare occurence for me), the poor attitudes of the service people on the island (not very Buddhist at all), and the theme park nature of the whole setup.
I had prepared Darius for the fact that our sacred Guanyin island has turned into a theme park. We are prepared to be disgusted. The hoards of people with bundles of incense muttering prayers for wealth and maybe a new Porsche were abundant.
After we arrived, I decided to visit the tea gardens first, always a good thing to do. It was off the beaten path, the small amount of Putuo Shan varietal tea is grown for monastery use and for some of the local restaurants. I gather there could not be more than 50 kgs produced per season! No wonder, the tea we had at lunch comprised of exactly 5 sprigs of leaves in a huge teapot. We couldn't get any taste but hotwater.
The leaves were harvested unevenly at the gardens, as they are not processed by professionals, though the buds were bright and leaves, tender. Growing tea in the backyard of a monastery is a common tradition in China since the monks can drink nothing but tea anyway, and monastery income can be supplemented by selling extra tea.
The fields refreshed us, and we proceeded to check out the monuments.

A real aficionado

2009-05-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

We met Mr. Tang, who had an unobvious teaware shop full of hidden treasures. Darius and I went in to look. Mr. Tang, at some point in the conversation, became aware that I appreciated his teawares and understood their quality and function. He invited me to sit down and have tea. I will brew some 50 year Pu-Er, he said. I thought to myself, let me not puncture his balloon quite yet, and sat down along with Darius. Mr. Tang brought out some of that Pu-Er, pitch dark and almost looking like black curded cheese. It was cooked, I said, though it tasted far better and almost seemed as though it was what cooked Pu-Er tried to emulate. Ghastly insulted, Mr. Tang said, 'no way, this was naturally aged, but our climate is not quite humid enough, it has the 'chen'(antique) but not the 'jiu'(old)' That was one cryptic comment in the next series of many. I wasn't sure exactly who I was dealing with, and little did I know.
Next, he brought out his 17 year aged Tieguanyin, that he has kept. 'I don't sell any of these teas, he says, I only keep them to drink with friends. Even though I don't know you yet, you come from the other side of the ocean, and of the 1.7 billion people in China, you happen to walk in and recognize my shop, so that is enough affinity to drink the best together'
The best hardly describes this aged oolong. It was so smooth, so soothing, that instantly, my stomach felt as though it had been put to sleep. My throat was filled with a coat of honey like sweetness. Darius' eyes were popping out of his head. Can I buy some, asked he?
The tea aficionado shook his head. "You couldn't pay me enough to buy, but I can certainly give you some. After all, it's tea, tea should be shared!"
Then he let me in on a secret. His entire house is constructed to be an encyclopedic collection of tea. He has 2nd generation Dahongpao (Big Red Robe), he has Liu Bao tea. I haven't had Liu Bao since I was probably 5, and had almost forgotten that tea existed. He has hundreds of specimens. ' Should you ever get into a price negotiation problem, he said, or if you need to authenticate a tea, bring it here, I will pull out the real sample, and we do a comparison. You can then go back and negotiate your price. Nothing," he said," gives me more satisfaction than that sort of tea competition like they used to do in the Sung dynasty!"
Mr. Tang was quite enjoying our company, and he became more outspoken: " The Pu-Er nowadays are short cuts and not worth collecting. Raw Pu-Er is supposed to be undrinkable. Unscrupulous makers heat dry and 'sha ching'(kill the green) to make it taste good, but it is guaranteed not to age well" Another cryptic comment from the man, but I am in complete agreement with him. Tea snobs do not hold back on our opinions.
We enjoyed our time together so much we barely made it out to the art exhibit in time. He showed me his collection of Taiwan Beauty. With a glum face, he lamented that of Taiwan teas, because mainlanders have yet to be able to travel there, he only has about 8-10 different kinds, and only two Taiwan Beauty specimens.
I will bring you some made from Baochong leaves, said I, by an award winning master. His face lit up like fireworks, and an uncontainable grin smeared broadly across. "Yes, send me some, I have never heard of it! " I told him this was the first year, so he will be one of the first collectors.
"Next time you come", he said, "we can drink tea from 9am to 11pm and not repeat one tea! "

Darius staggered out of the shop with his bag filled with 17 year old Tieguanyin. So, that was a true tea aficionado!

A Buddhist theme park

2009-05-12T05:05:00.000-07:00

When you want to completely destroy something, you must destroy its spirit, not its existence. You can kill a person but not their spirit....but if you make that person ridiculous, make them look foolish in the eyes of others, and you will destroy its spirit. I believe the same applies to ideas and concepts. Make something sacred a theme park, and you may never be able to take it seriously again. But, oh my gosh, what merchandising opportunities!
China has discovered Buddhism as a money generating theme park. All these worshippers from all around the just give money willingly and freely and in great quantities to these temples and monasteries. Visitors of all walks, local or afar, come to shake their incenses and make donations to pray for wealth and health. Without actually having to lift a finger or confer anything tangible, the temple can collect quite a bit of cash.
The Jade Buddha temple is hardly a place of spiritual practice. The jade buddha statute itself is famous for bing built of one piece of complete and huge piece of white jade. The statute is around 7 feet tall and the face shone with life like compassion. But the audacity to put gift shops everywhere, including right next to the other statutes of worship, was beyond insulting. There was Darius, trying to bow dutifully to every bodhisattva, and he was crowded out by the knick knacks. There was everything from paper cutouts to malas to paint brushes to laughing Buddha figurines; something for everyone.
Congratulations, no other people would purposefully make their own religion look so ridiculous. That can only mean one thing. Buddhism's survival depends on selling enough souvenirs.

Red+Green and Black+White

2009-05-12T04:45:00.000-07:00

Chong Bin Zheng, owner of Red+Green, our colleague and teaware designer, certainly had the most stunning work in a Shanghai Museum exhibit of artists on Modern Ink and Brush Painting. His installation was half abstract ink painting and half copper surface paint and corrosion. It was in a complete other league from the other pieces exhibited, and I am not saying that because Chong Bin is our friend. My dad is also an artist, and many long years of going to museums and learning from my dad makes me an art critic in training. We were absolutely delighted to be invited to be part of the grand opening, but seeing Chong Bin's work in a museum made us so proud. Have to remember to double the prices on those Red+Green teapots at the teashop now!

Touch the Real

2009-05-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

Each purple sand zisha teapot is crafted by hand. First, the clay is excavated. Over the hundreds of years of extracting from the original ore, two entire hills have sunken into pits. The government placed a monument over the site and is restricting how much clay can be extracted per year. Don't worry, said Mr. Zhou our artisan teapot master. There is more, we won't run out quite yet, the prices will keep going up though because of scarcity. Besides, the government has done a good thing, they will not allow the use of coal at the kilns and roof tiles can no longer use Yixing clay. Using Yixing clay to make roof tiles or even flower pots, even if only from the rough outer crusty layers, is still, sort of like using jade to build the beams of your house. The fine inner layers are separated into different clays. The most common are the brocade browns and the zhusha, or red clay, and some are combinations that render interesting, non-standard colors.
A simple, typical Yixing teapot, which, by the way, is the instrument of choice to extract the best taste notes out of your oolongs, costs a consumer around $30 or $40 USD, a more artistic one could range $70 to $100 on the average. A collector's pot may cost from $1000 USD to $20,000 for a grandmaster's work. Consider the fact that it takes someone like Mr. Zhou(who has worked with Yixing teapots all his life) 3 or more hours to make a simple one and all day for a designed piece, not to mention the precious specialty zisha clay, and the 16 hours of firing at the kiln, defect rate, and breakage rates of transporting these delicate pots. A tea aficionado typically collects and keeps their pots for an entire lifetime, assigning specific teas to specific pots, admiring not only their aesthetic from the original maker, but the beauty that accumulates over age. They call this 'raising the pot' like raising a child. What may one typical US consumer spend $30 to $70 on? A pair of shoes for one season? A manicure? a hairdryer? a purchase at the pharmacy of knick-knacks? There is not much emphasis on hand crafted items nowadays, and mass produced, often disposable and often generic merchandise are what we spend our money on.
Don't get me started on all the tea we carry and how much work it takes to grow and produce them, not to mention, your hardworking teabuyer going to the ends of the earth to find them!

Purple Sand Life

2009-05-11T07:25:00.000-07:00

The town of Ding Shan, Yixing, holds the original ore of zisha, the purple sand clay, the only place on earth where this clay is found. It seems that everyone in that area makes pottery, expertly. It seems that no one wonders if making one pot a day or one pot a month was a strange matter. Teapots that are considered mass produced are generally made in 4-5's a day and with the aid of a mold. Never mind that from pounding the clay to shaping the bamboo leaves on the handle, each and every single one of those teapots are made by hand from scratch. If you took a mold and inserted your teapot chamber inside to help you shape the pot easier, that was considered 'mass produced'.
Of course, our artisan pottery master Mr. Zhou, fashions his own tools. From the wooden mallet that is just the right weight to pound the clay with, to the ox horn splices used to smooth out the surface, to the hairpin used to puncture the spout, Mr. Zhou carves his own seals and proudly explains that tools made by other people were, simply, not good enough. I am perfectly happy that someone else made my computer of course, not that I would ever be able to make one. But at that point, I made the enlightening realization that as a modern city dwelling person, I know absolutely nothing about making anything by hand, that most things I own have been manufactured by machine. There has been no human touch in their creation, and so, I am surrounded by soulless possessions.

Mr. Zhou and his wife are both Yixing pottery artisans, who work long 12-14 hour days. It takes the two of them working as a team to make 2-3 moderately complex pots a day, and for the collector's items, one pot may take Mr. Zhou a month, if he doesn't do anything else. The clay is variably yellow or brocade or red (zhusha), and is rapidly decreasing in availability. The Chinese government has stepped in and placed strict controls on how much of this precious clay can be extracted per year. Not only is the raw material scarce, the skillful artisans are few, and it takes far too much effort and time to make those teapots. Then, firing the pots take great long hours in a hot kiln. The kiln fires between 1190 to 1170 C. I wasn't sure though if today, the weather was hotter outside or inside the kiln. Making these teapots is beyond skill; it is also sheer hard work.
But the result? The result are teapots that are alive. They commune with your tea and are your best liasions. They elicit the best qualities of your leaf and deliver you the most sublime experience. They also grow up alongside with you, acquiring the glow and luster that can only come with age and thousands and thousands of pots of tea made.
Mr. Zhou explains that teapots are personal. They are made with tender care by hand, and stamped proudly with their chops. As aficionados, we must understand that tea is alive, and so is the teapot, and together, they bring us, the drinkers, to life.

Hanging in Hangzhou

2009-05-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

The local beer, we discovered, was far worse than imaginable. One brand was called Floberg, another claimed in big letters to be' formaldehyde free'. Makes you think, was THAT what made Carlsberg taste good? Or is this sort of vague idea like 'organic tea', equally insipid tasting but ' X free'?
Steve, a marketing guru, is here to check out the tea scene with us but definitely to take surveyance of the marketing of brands in China. I hope he's not too daunted, though with knock-offs everywhere and the poorest graphics and zaniest slogans one is not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Fortunately all those elegant teahouses do not disappoint. Sitting over the West Lake, with the pristine lotus leaves papered over the black brocade like water, mosquitoes and bats competing for airspace (or at least my neck), sipping on fresh and unassuming green teas, we have a great time nonetheless. Teahouses are one a meter. They are huge, three to four floor affairs, with elegant balconeys that hang over the lake, where the swaying willow trees provide a curtain. The tea snacks all differ but our favorite was still the Dragonwell 'bao', a steamed bun filled with creamy dragonwell tea custard. Generally, tea service was around $12 USD a person, which includes some small snacks of seeds or fruits or an occasional pickled vegetable.

In this little town of Hangzhou originally known for scholars, art, Westlake, and Dragonwell tea, there are 2 Ferrari shops, a Bentley, Rolls, AND a Maserati shop. People are everywhere, strolling happily and alive and enjoying life. Life is good in Hangzhou.

Dragonwell cedes its throne

2009-05-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

We did another touristy sort of day and ended up at the Hangzhou Tea Museum. Great design and the gardens are actually the epicenter of the original Dragonwell tea site. Of course we are well past the first flush season and there may be another flush, but in the meantime, with our esteemed colleague Steve, Chong Bin, Darius and I, enjoyed the fresh greens as much as possible. Sweltering 95 degree days gives way to breezy nights, and the air hangs thickly during the day. One must cool off with fresh green teas; Chinese herbal doctors believe that greens cool your system from heat and stress. Makes good sense in most of China for sure, where the summer humidity and numbing heat can render you completely lethargic.

We met one of the tea masters that Chong Bin is good friends with, for the Hangzhou/Shanghai area is truly Chong Bin's territory. I often do not go this far up north, so it was a great learning experience as well. Dragonwell is all good and holds its top position in terms of prestige and tithe, but the tea master introduced his Anji White Tea to us. Not of the White Tea varietal and definitely processed in green tea manner by being hand pan fired, nonetheless, the Anji White tea has the quality of what a purity of white would taste like. Remarkably sweet with not a trace of astringency, every bud was perfectly beautiful. I have a handful to taste for our Harvest Party II, because folks, not only has this tea surpassed, in my opinion, the quality of Dragonwell, it also has far surpassed its price. This is the most expensive tea ever!

No Loch Ness Here

2009-05-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

Hangzhou Westlake, home of the Tiger Run Spring, elegant pavilions, a brocade like lake, and of course, Dragonwell tea. It's nice to know that though we may never have Dragonwell at the quality of 20 years ago, due to possibly, unrestricted vehicles (and their exhaust) in the city floating up the mountain. It's also the only tourist trap for tea. No matter, when in Rome, gotta introduce the Coliseum to the tourists. In this case, it was with our esteemed colleague Steve that we are being a tour guide for. Darius has also never been to Hangzhou, but he was an old hand now with rough remote farms, and he thought this might be the most leisurely trip with me ever. With that came a price. The Tiger Run Spring is an underground trickle now. The Koi fishes have not surfaced, at least not the 3 feet long ones. The lake itself was gorgeous, with swaying willows and an occasional egret. Darius was ambivalent about the bats who zip and flutter around us all night as we sat by the lake, drinking newly harvested Dragonwell. Still, the tea was mighty sweet immersed in the local water, because folks, it's always better to drink the tea with the water it was grown in. The tea was just more in its element. Hangzhou is the ho me of the scholarly and elegant, and no matter how many tour buses descend, it seems to calmly fold itself over the masses and persuade them to relax under its cool breeze. One can not really understand Dragonwell tea unless one understands the calm, subtle literacy of the people who have appreciated it for hundreds of years.

Keemun the first

2009-05-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

The tea that changed the world history of tea and made it relevant to the rest of the civilized western hemisphere is of course, Keemun. Few are the handcrafted gongfu style teas anymore, much less made from the spring hao ya (leaf buds) and harvested pre-rain. The result is a marriage of fresh aroma, a grassy tone finished with that deep amber like caramel body. A stunning hongcha, black tea as the Europeans called it, but I am sure it was because they have never seen just how golden the buds are from the hao ya. They should have called it 'golden hair'. Chong Bin Zheng, renowned artist and designer, and owner of Red and Green, recommended Mr. Weng to us, the third generation tea master from Keemun, Anhui, making hand lots of 20kgs of such fine Hao Ya a year. For our harvest party this year, we get to try this exceptional award winning and assigned government gift. We will also get to taste the smooth richly dense Keemun aged 12 years. We need to reaffirm the superiority of hand made black teas to the world now over populated with mass produced teas from other countries. Hopefully, there will be enough audience so the this tradition survives, because right now, only the die hard connoisseurs and Chinese government gets to enjoy it.....

Space Age City

2009-05-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Moon over Shanghai, a view from on top of the Hyatt on the Bund-
About as posh as you can possibly imagine, the skyscrapers almost demand little hovercrafts to encircle it. With a city that looks like this, it's a shame we earth bound humans can't simply just levitate to match. Shanghai, the fashionable, where over the top seems nonetheless pitch perfectly designed, and charming, to boot. It is almost an exhilarating city, if I even understood a word of Shanghainese. And if only the traffic wasn't so stunningly congested, and the tempers so easy to flare. The food of course, is to die for. Paper thin onion pancakes perfectly crispy with a hint of salt and pepper. The bar and restaurant on top of the Hyatt overlooking the water and Pudong simply features the coolest lighting effects, if only I could see the menu, I would have ordered more drinks!

Brand X

2009-05-07T07:17:00.001-07:00

The Chinese have yet to figure out branding. Everywhere, all manners of stores and cafes and snack shops have cropped up. The latest was a ubiquitous chain of fast food shops to compete against KFC: with the same color scheme and similar font, the chain was nonetheless called 'Kungfu' and features an icon of Bruce Lee. Not sure that Colonel Sanders and Bruce would ever go toe to toe in a match, but the fight will probably have to go to Bruce. The Nike swoosh has somehow been replaced with what I thought resembled a 'Longevity eyebrow', a brand probably selling sports shoes (that gives you the kungfu skills of a Taoist master with longevity eyebrows?!) . Herewith is a picture with those brands, see for yourself!

Darius and I had a leisurely day, just meeting with various teaware manufacturers, and the boss from Fujian to discuss our flowering tea, Free Leaf, and jasmine pearls situation. We have to confess, those teas actually pay the bills, folks, so we can have a wonderful teashop hawking High Mountain Oolongs.

We had fun with one of the kids of the stores who was probably the cutest kid to ever condescend to a picture with Darius. Tomorrow: a city bigger, louder, more chaotic: Shanghai!

Day 2 A Smooth Chaos

2009-05-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

Canton was the home of my ancestors. It is strangely comforting to be here amidst the crowds and extreme chaos. It was a business meeting day, the boss from one of the Fujian farms was in town to meet with me to plan for the very, very important subject of Jasmine Pearls, or as it was called, White Dragon Pearls. I am no expert in the processing of Jasmine Pearls, and fail to understand why the price needs to go up this year. How many hands does one person have, the boss asked? That's how many pearls a person can roll by hand at a time. There are about 25,000 pearls in a lb. of tea. That amount of labor does not include the piling of jasmine flowers and the shifting out of the jasmine flowers and then the re-application another day....

Of course these hand made things will naturally go up in price as the standard of living increases in China and inflation sets in like anything else. I explained the dire situation with the U.S. economy. The conversation drifted to a different subject. The locals wanted to know, exactly what is the difference between Catholicism, Christianity, and the other big religions, and why is there war between them?

Day 1 Business in Shenzhen

2009-05-06T08:09:00.001-07:00

Good to be in Asia, though as usual, strange and disorienting.

The fashion in the city of Shenzhen is leaning this year towards short shorts and very very uncomfortable stilettos for all occasions, including waiting for the bus, grocery shopping, or other, otherwise day time activities. Hard for me to understand, but then, I live in Berkeley, where, not too long ago, people wore birkenstocks to restaurants.
No tea all day. No tea in Shenzhen, though there was plenty waiting to be shipped in our warehouse. Darius was starting to show signs of wear and tear as the hours tick by and he asks each hour when do we get to sit down and have tea. It's a miracle how a little bit of Tikuanyin can make your day.

Banking in Shenzhen

2009-05-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

At the mercy of 20th century B.C. banking. That is, the pace, alas, has not caught up to the beautiful highways, skyscrapers, cellphones that work in the most immaculate metro subways. Spent a few precious hours today waiting patiently at a bank in Shenzhen. The last time I did any banking in China instead of Hong Kong was over 10 years ago, when I lost my temper when, after waiting in line for over an hour, my teller decided to eavesdrop on the conversation at the next teller and forgot she was serving me. I had to be calmed and led over to a seat. Apparently, losing your temper and being in tears at banks and government offices was common, no one thought it was a scene.

Today, I filled out the same form 4 times by hand, because....who knows why, you don't argue with banks or government officials in China. The counterfeit detector presumably works well. Though China has made light year strides in the past decade, the banking system and the pace and ruefulness of the bankers make you glad that Hong Kong is still in the world.

Fresh Green Teas soon!

2009-04-26T23:04:00.000-07:00

Reports from China favorable thus far, rain, then sun, then rain. Fog rolls in, rain wets the leaves, punctuated by sun so the tea pickers can work. Fog rolls in again to cool the sun so the tender leaves don't get scorched. Looking forward to a fantastic Yellow Gold Oolong (Huang Jin Gui) so far, as well as a dewey Mao Jian. Will be getting small lots of the first flush greens next week or so.
The best time to taste tea at its peak freshness is now! We don't need to put expiration dates, there simply won't be any greens or white teas left to sell anymore by winter. Remembered cracking open a can of Brand famous X one time at Starbucks, and it was definitely a 5 year old green tea, stale and bready. Didn't bother to taste it. Came with a free scoop. We never give away free scoops at Teance, because you shouldn't need an incentive to taste the fresh green teas! The day we offer a free scoop, you know Winnie is no longer the tea buyer....

Antique Oolong Tasting

2009-03-24T00:02:00.001-07:00

Overbooked, and most kept a poker face. I explained that the 1982 Tikuanyin was made prior to machines invented that roll the tea. That it was re-roasted once a year or so. I had a 1984. A 1989 from Taiwan, and a 1994.
Sharing my private collection with my class, magnanimously, selflessly, all for education. The class was appreciative in theory, but who knows what the experience was they took with them. But in the end, food memory wins, and non one will be able to drink immitation dark oolong as is they were aged again. My customers are rapidly becoming more knowledeable than chefs and tastemakers.

The Journey of the Kyoto Journal

2009-02-27T22:34:00.000-08:00

It took over 6 months to put together, and the final product exceeded everyone's greatest expectations. The yardstick though wasn't high; most tea magazines around contain content like scone recipes and how to figure out the doilies. In fact, some jaded customers asked righteously whether this TEA issue would be fluffier than a fluffy scone. I re-assured them that it would not be the case, because I had a hand in it. More formidably, Mr. Gaetano Maida, ED of the IBFF (International Buddhist Film Festival, a .org) was the editor in chief of this edition. Even more prize worthy, Tano's wife, Ayelet, managed to lay out some of the most beautiful pages ever set eyes on a magazine. This wasn't a magazine, it was more beautiful than a book. It was not, as Tano would sometimes call things, a BSO (Book Shaped Object) . It was at least an ASO, Art Shaped Object.

Enough trumpeting of the horns. Some of the articles were alittle over the top and stern, because when you get academics involved, any subject becomes heavy. But tea is a living history. It is vibrant and rich and drinkable, especially while you are reading the magazine. At any rate, the illustrations I finagled from Dad were worthy of the price of admission.
If I hadn't put such hard work into it, I would have hoarded a hundred copies and distributed one to all my friends. All of the content were strictly reviewed, not one piece was fluff. One sees the breadth and depth of tea and its myriad effects on our collective human history. It is a deeply moving piece of work!
I think $12 per copy is too cheap. Such wealth of information on tea in English has never been published. This magazine deserved to be $120. But please, don't take my word for it!

Harvest

2008-11-16T05:30:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile back in the U.S....

An experiment to introduce the teas at their peak freshness by conducting a tasting with the public received a fair response. By the second oolong, most felt that they were drunk on tea. We tasted the Tikuanyin Maocha, farm fresh, unroasted, and greener than any they have had. Tasting the tea at this level is almost equivalent to tasting it at the farm, with the key exception of mosquitos and travel. The Yellow Gold was exceptional this year, deemed the best crop in a decade, as was the Monkey Picked.

The Phoenix Single Grove from the new farm, winner of the WTU gold medal, was also tasted so the public can vote on whether we should buy from this farm or our original one next Spring. It was inderterminate, but I informed everyone that it wouldn' t have mattered, I will decide anyway. If we allowed the public to decide, we might have had to serve pineapple lavender oolong!

I am encouraged that folks in the U.S. are beginning to appreciate teas at this level and perhaps, never go back to drinking the blended, scented, nonsense.

The World of Tea According to Wing Chi

2008-11-11T07:31:00.000-08:00

Pictured on the left is Mr. Wing Chi Ip, our good friend in the tea world, owner of Lockcha Teahouse, whose tireless efforts to accentuate the cultural heritage and importance of tea in all its elegance is a role model for all of us. Of course, our dinner conversation centered around Wing Chi's concerns that the supply of tea, good tea, will soon remain in the hands of the local Chinese who are rapidly in ascend in terms of lifestyle and disposable income, and having always had the love and appreciation for tea that foreigners may not.

Pictured on the right is Mr. Sebastian Beckwith, who has just arrived back from Laos with a wonderful piece of compressed Pu-Erh. Sadly, the demand across the border in China had dropped completely for the raw materials to make Pu-Erh, which the Laotians grow but really have no market for except selling across the border. When the Pu-Erh market crashed, the crops had to sit in waste. So there was a very limited quantity of Laotian made tea, and Sebastian probably bought a good portion of it and carried it back in his backpack.
The political news in Laos is not good. Neither is the political news in Hong Kong, where the government is pronounced MIA and ineffective.
Everywhere there is turmoil. We just elected a new president in the U.S., but the 1.6 billion Chinese in mainland does not get to vote, and neither really does the 7 or so million Chinese in Hong Kong. That is roughly 40% of the world's population?
The three of us, Wing Chi, Sebastian, and I, are basically tea merchants. We are not politicians and will not be changing much of the world. But there is a saying in Chinese (always, as usual) that says: small streams of water can run for a long time. That refers to the fact that although minute, insignificant, and won't make a dent, our efforts, if we persist, will endure and make gradual changes. Tea is very connecting. For that alone, being able to share tea with other fellow human beings, is a small contribution worth the miles and miles of treading that the three of us have done to remote places far and near, all to bring our friends the best of who grows the tea, to those who enjoy it. Connecting about 10,000 miles and 5,000 years together.
That sounded great didn't it? I don't know about the other two, but I had actually started Teance so I can get the best teas at farm prices. Little did I know, we had a much greater mission, accomplished by one cup of tea at a time.

LIfe, Death, and Tea

2008-11-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

Enroute to Shenzhen from Shantou, I boarded a bus that took 4.5 hours. Soon, there will be a highspeed rail that will travel 8 times that distance in just 2 hours. Progress. Not that I don't enjoy seeing the country alongside the highway. The bus driver had his trusty Yixing teapot next to him and somehow, managed to drive, make himself tea, and sing along to his CD at the same time. Tea fanatics in China have no boundaries in terms of class, education, or employment. People in the U.S. thought tea mugs were fussy.
Back in Hong Kong, the most efficient city in the world, on my way for some tea at Lockcha on Ladder Street, I passed by some old shops I have fogotten about. They were funeral shops, places you buy incense, images of various deities, but most of all, paper goods made to resemble items the deceased may have been partial to in life that they may want or need in the afterlife. What would those items be? Well, it's the modern era, so instead of farm animals, you have paper dogs and cats, and paper stereos, microwave ovens, paper Gucci handbags and Rolex watches, paper refrigerators. But the best one I found was a paper steamer of dim sum: ha gau, siu mai, cha siu bao......the most commonly found dim sum parlour goods for a deceased Cantonese! The pious family members will burn the paper offerings of these favorite items at the funeral or at the grave site. I bet there is a paper Yixing tea set in there somewhere, if only for the Shantou bus driver at his death some day.

Back at Lockcha on Ladder Street to visit with Yuki, the shop manager for Mr. Ip. She was entertaining some tourists from France, who couldn't get good tea in their home country. What about Mariage Freres, I asked, very politely. 'Well', the snooty upturn in the nose with their reply, ' they don't really have Chinese tea. It's all perfumed stuff." Commenting to that irony seemed superfluous.

Me and the New China

2008-11-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

Is it the same as the old China?

Everywhere, the grounds are fertile, the red soil is rich, the vegetation is verdant, and people are busy tilling the fields. On my bus route from Shantou to Shenzhen, along the new spiffy highway are fields and fields of anything from rice to hay. Many beautiful water buffalos and other oxen tread alongside the farmers, looking unharried. The atmosphere seemed cleansed, as if the light rain from yesterday had washed the last residue of pollution that has defined the Chinese skies now for as long as I can remember. I have never remembered China being so clean, so pure, and so rich in resources of the land.

I managed to enjoy some outrageously sweet dried persimmons at the side of the road coming down from the mountain, where what seemed like miles of tables were drying the persimmons into flat cakes.

But wait, what about the dirty piles of plastic bags and trash piling up everywhere, the rough men piling together to gamble whenever possible, the loud spitting and hacking and shouting? There is that. I was on a bus the other day, and a nice looking, dressed up woman was getting up to get her luggage. Her friend or boyfriend shouted for her to hurry, then, seeing that she was still slow, rather than help her with her bags, he shoved hard and pushed past her to get off the bus, if only to wait for her outside. Women were never treated well, and pushing them around was just below the surface behavior of most men. So I try to push the men around whenever possible. Once, I elbowed and shoved one off that tried to cut me in a queue. We weren’t rushing to get the last sack of rice, we were just queuing up to take a trolley to a mountain top tour. His cutting me off was not quite justified, so off he goes, I bounced him off about 20 feet. Subconsciously, I too remember the cultural misalignment against women in this country, and my anger is also just below the surface.

There are lots of issues. But seeing China renewed, the energy uprising but steady, improvements everywhere, and still tied to the earth in such a natural, committed way was very moving.. China is rich in its land. They have all the resources they will ever need. If only they could figure out how to treat each other better, from men to women, from city to countryside, from north to south, from Han people to ethnic minorities, then there is no lack and it will be a powerful nation once again.

'Why are you a woman doing this tea business?’they often ask me, from farmer to merchant to tea producer to driver. ‘Have you never seen one?’ I asked. ‘No, never. Our women don’t do business like you, traveling around everywhere to remote places for tea.’
I am an anomaly everywhere I go. No woman they know is in the tea business. I was a fearsome, mystifying curiosity to them, and most of them haven’t even seen me shoving anyone around yet. But they have seen me bargain with them on the prices, and for that, I think I have a measure of respect from most of the men not to cut me off, cheat me, or ask me any further questions.

New Old Trees

2008-11-08T04:46:00.000-08:00

I had been fretting whether the Phoenix Single Grove trees will survive into another 20 years as environmental concerns have killed some of the oldest, six hundred year old trees just in the last 20 years. Phoenix Mountain is limited in further available space, and it takes a long long time to grow Single Grove trees. Typically, an oolong bush is available in 5 years or less for harvesting, but a good Single Grove tree will take 15 years. The yield is low and one can only harvest once a year. Which brings me to my announcement: no winter harvest of the Almond Fragrance or Pommelo Flower or the Honey Fragrance. Whatever we have is it, folks.

But we found a distant village on the other side of the mountain range, tugged away, so rural and primitive, the dogs look like they came out of paintings. The pigs were shiny and fat, and the founding village tree is 500 years old. The soil is spongy and moist, perfect red soil for supreme crops of tea.

What did the villagers decide on 35 years ago that was so significant? They implanted the Phoenix specimens from the other side of the mountain, and started cultivating and growing, preserving the only species that is easy and viable: the Honey Fragrance sub-varietal. At least we will have that! Our farmer, Mr. Liu, confides that he can harvest almost 6000 lbs. per year because the conditions here are so rich the yield is much higher, and still, the trees are yet bonsai height. He proudly produced his WTU win this year for a Gold Medal finish with his Phoenix in the Oolong category. The signature on the bottom? From Mr. Wing Chi Ip of course!

Tasted the Honey Phoenix. The technique is not quite there, but the leaf quality was exceptional and unique. The taste of 'gan' is even more pronounced and lingering. Terroir makes a difference. Had the Phoenix trees made its home here 1000 years ago, would we even be arguing this point?

Anyway, you customers and friends can decide, I will have some samples for us to determine for next year's harvest!

Burning the Night Away

2008-11-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

Shao Ye means literally, burning the night away, and generally, that refers to the meal eaten after midnight and before 3am, usually outside on the street, on make shift tables, with appallingly dirty dishes and chopsticks, with no menus. You can order whatever is available on display, catches of the day, field or wild vegetables, sometimes snails or eels, but always pork intestines are available. For Shantou, home of the tea fanatic, the only item ordered more than once in one sitting, is the local fried tofu. I make it a point to taste all the local beer and tofu everywhere I go, and so, for Shao Ye tonight, it was fried tofu (ordered twice so it can be freshly fried), HOB beer (local Fujian), and lots of wild vegetables, and jook(congee). The tofu here is one of the absolute best ever in the world. The tofu in the U.S.? What is that stuff? They don’t know how to make tofu in the U.S., I am sorry to say, and the soy milk is even more pathetic. I say this with absolute certainty, and no one who’s lived in Asia will disagree with me. Good thing they don’t even try to make tea in the U.S.
Shantou is at the foothill of Phoenix Mountain, not a beautiful city by any means, run down, under developed, and very old. Along with Chao Zhou, the tea culture reaches some of the oldest and most ubiquitous. How’s the economy, I asked. Terrible, they said. How’s business, I asked one of the 20 or so relatives of my tea master friend, each owning one teashop in town. Great, they said, business is the same, no change. I asked, incredulously, the economy is terrible but your business has not suffered?
Not at all, he answered, seemingly surprised. Hesitantly, he said, why should it? It’s tea, after all. Everyone still has to drink tea, right?
I shook my head. My tea business, certainly, has seen fluctuations tracking every movement in the stock market. Tea is a necessity of life for the Chinese, but still a novelty for Americans. Someday in the U.S., both the tofu and soymilk will be good, and no one can live without tea.

Tomorrow: winter Phoenix tea tasting.

The barbarians of the South

2008-11-07T11:30:00.000-08:00

Each time I hear Cantonese spoken, I feel connected and instantly like I am home. It is sad to me then that in the last 10 or so years, more and more Mandarins have arrived into Canton to make a living, taking over the city with cheap labour. Remember, never hire a green cab in Canton. They are operated by ‘lao shone’, or anyone up north who are not Cantonese. But green cabs are 9 out of 10. If you were lucky to get into a red or yellow cab, the driver will be native, is guaranteed not to cheat you, and knows every street and traffic pattern. The green cabbies rarely know the way, even pretending not to know the most famous shopping street in the City. When I am there speaking Cantonese, I, too, adopt the xenophobia of the locals.
Today I was lucky to get into a red cab both times. If you spoke Cantonese, they will instantly treat you like a niece, telling you what to do, when, and how much things cost. Quickly, our conversations descended into complaint mode. Everything from the immutable, permanent nature of corruption and unethical behaviors of the Northern Mandarin Communists, to how they always screw the Cantonese. The number one contributors of income tax, but having the third lowest wages, and the least government spending in the country, Canton or Guangzhou, manages well on its own. Being the top city of the deep south of China, its wily citizens have always been called the ‘barbarians of the south’. Never mind that Cantonese cuisine is considered the foremost in sophistication in the country, never mind that the Cantonese are worldly, sea faring, cultured, and has a nuanced language with 9 tones, 5 more than Mandarin, and the most expressive vocabulary, especially when describing food. Not ever being militant, the Cantonese never could stand up to the North, and so, are given second class treatment to this day. Today, it is also the only profitable city of the top three in the country, over Shanghai and Beijing. It also has, I am proud to say, the highest ethics meter, the only city with inspection for all its food items, and so far, never been in the news for tainted or contaminated food products.
So I don’t mind that I am not Mandarin. Us Cantonese also has the dim sum culture, a meal that can last 4 hours in the morning, and of course, a complete palate range of tea from the freshest greens to the oldest Pu-Erhs. The first to have an entire sub-city dedicated to the commerce of tea, many enterprising farmers and producers are able to set up exchange places or shops there to showcase their tea grown in remote regions few can ever get to. Everyone from Hong Kongnese to the local Cantonese drink tea in unascertainable amounts, so where else would you set up such a tea city, but in Canton?
For that fact alone, I am glad to be Cantonese.

Tea and the City

2008-11-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong looked especially beautiful at dawn. It is not an early riser type city, unless you count street food vendors still serving at 3am as early, but they started at around 9pm the night before.

I certainly rarely see Hong Kong at 6am from this vantage point, as I have arrived, landing precisely at that hour, for about the last 20 years now. Sipping my aged Tikuanyin, seeing Hong Kong in its most charming, at a balmy 80 degrees, I found that I had missed this place of my childhood probably more than any place on earth. It's still, after all, an entirely Cantonese speaking city, the only one of its kind on the planet. They speak Mandarin even in Canton itself now, and it feels ill at ease. Cantonese is fun, colorful, and expressive, but it's an insider's language, a way for the smug Hong Kongnese to exclude mainlanders for years, and the slang is hilarious only to the locals. Now the good Hong Kong people are trying to sound just as cool struggling with their Mandarin.

This year was unusual. I had gone to vote on Nov 4 at 7 am in the US and boarded a plane by 11am. The captain announced the election results enroute. People in HK were almost as elated as I was, and I found out, the world over.

But this strange schedule caused me to experience jetlag in Asia for the first time. Compounded to the shock to my body was forgetting my thermos of tea and having to suffer through airplane black tea, though it's Cathay Pacific and it's already better than most. I had some antique Tikuanyin in my thermos, which would have given me 20 steepings, a slow peaceful way to relax on the plane. Instead, eating 5 instant ramen noodles consecutively did not substitute for what I needed, and the MSG made my head hurt. I was torturing myself in celebration, just in case there was such as a thing as a zero sum game in Obama's victory. One must be careful, everything still feels tenuous. You know one shouldn't celebrate too early when Karl Rove predicted Obama's win.

Hong Kong's economy was hurting, China was hurting, and everyone blamed the US. But the news was so congratulatory you'd think they had their own election. Obama's coverage was extremely favorable, even more so than in the US. They of course, accentuated his childhood in Indonesia as his connection to Asia, and that Hawaii is not really the US, is it?

I owe Hong Kong my love for tea. What did I drink as a child? Pitched black Pu-Erhs, back when it was plentiful and cheap, the tea of choice for the Cantonese. Every dim sum parlour served it, and people gave each other gifts of Pu-Erh or other teas at every visit, every Chinese New Year, every Moon Festival, and served at every possible other times. We couldn't afford what were collector's item Pu-Erhs then, but what was available to us were still so much better than 90% of what is sold today. If you have as long a memory as I do with Pu-Erh, you'd probably agree.

These are some good Yixing jars for the avid Pu-Erh collectors we will make available to our customers in the future, so we can rectify the situation by encouraging everyone to store away good Pu-Erh to age for us to enjoy and share 20 years later. The keyword is 'share'. Hopefully, there will never be a speculative Pu-Erh market again that drove dirt cheap (and tasted like dirt) tea to hundreds a lb. Pu-Erh ages like people. Start with good raw material, and if the aging process was CAREFULLY attended to, it will age to a smooth exceptional tea. Start with rough, coarse poorly harvested, sometimes even moldy leaves, then no matter how you store it, you'll still get a throat gripping, bitterly acrid tea in 20 years.

I think people age the same way.

Slow Food Nation SF

2008-09-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

Slow Food Nation SF, Sept 1: wine, cocktails, fish, cheese, beer, honey, preserves, pizza/bread, ice cream, and of course, tea. We helped man the tea tables, giant tea drip caddies made into tables. We had 15 minutes to spiel, serve some tea to 8 people at a time, and then, next group! Tracy says it was like speed dating. In any case, we had to pick and choose what was relevant to say about our tea in that short compressed time.
Not sure what the response was. Do the foodies understand that tea is the quintessential SLOW beverage?

The Elegance of Tea

2008-07-12T00:34:00.000-07:00

I invited my students to come to the Korean tea ceremony class if nothing, just to check out those beautiful costumes. Yoon Hee Kim, certified Korean tea master, great at articulating the ceremony as well as presenting it at an amply gracious and elegant manner. Usually if you are Chinese, to be called a tea master you better have a white beard. In this case, there were the raw silk dresses. We were over sold as more people came than we could seat, and you can never turn anyone down who shows up anyway. The teas were good, more of earthier Sencha type than the China style, and beautiful celadon glaze teawares were showcased flanked by 'flower blossom' tea strainers. It was another good class day for the community.

I dream of Kyoto II

2008-06-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

The sweets we miss for not living in Kyoto. That's all I have to say.

Homeward Bound

2008-05-24T03:29:00.000-07:00

We actually had a few free hours today apart from the tight schedule that was planned. As I promised myself I would only work 6.5 days a week, we took 3 hours out today to see the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Where did these treasures come from? By and large, the main collection came when the KMT Nationalist Government fled China in 1949. I am glad the collection is in their possession, no matter what my personal or other's view is regarding the legitimacy of ownership. Our family antiques and artwork, for example, were completely destroyed by the Red Guards/Rogues in the Cultural Revolution, and quite possibly, that might have been the fate of 6000 years worth of artwork and cultural artifacts if left in China. The National Palace Museum is wonderful, educational, clear, beautifully displayed, and all signage clear. As I have been to very few Asian museums and none worth noting, this was a very moving moment. There was a section on mounting paintings, something we were apprenticed to do as kids, and for a museum to give such notice to it was unusual. Then again, if not mounted on the scrolls properly, then you have to call on people like my dad some 1000 years later to restore these paintings after they have cracked and aged beyond recognition. The jade exhibit was especially out of this world. I don't have a photo of the piece of fatty pork that the jade artisan managed to carve to resemble, but this one here of bok choy was quite dazzling. The artisan took advantage of the natural white and green color variations to carve the white stalks of the bok choy complete with the green leaf tops. Each stalk appeared to be translucent and layered upon each other. Phenonmenal.From microscopic ivory carvings of houses to a 30 feet long painting of Lu Shan by master Zhang Da Chien, this was a museum worth every 150 Taiwan dollars ($5 US dollars)! It shows though, that the preservation and patronage of the arts permeate throughout, and the culture of art, pottery, ceramics, etc. are all very much alive and preserved in everyday life. One does not get that sense in China, unfortunately.

We head back to Hong Kong today and then fly back tomorrow. I hope you have all enjoyed the trip with us, and forgive me for the excessive coverage of my own views. I was never meant to be a journalist, that's why I have a teashop.In any case, at least the tea will be great, and I look forward to sharing with you all.

High Mountain Blue Hills

2008-05-23T05:52:00.000-07:00

At 1700 meters, the High Mountain tea leaves have a bluish appearance. My friend Mrs. So's husband, Mr. So, had set up the plantation high up at Long Feng Xia (Dragon Phoenix Peak) at San Lin She some years ago. He had since given up management to other tea masters he had trained and went and opened a tea shop in China, during those gold rush days in the late 90s. He's now back and I suspect the crafty mainland Chinese took him for everything he had.

Anyway, our High Mountain oolongs have already been harvested and now being processed. I debated this year if I should get the 2000 meter batch from yesterday's farm or continue with my 1700 meter farm with Mr. So. I thought about how hard Mrs. So has worked, raising three kids on her own, harvesting and making tea by herself, and taking care of the elderly uncle (the master of Tung Ting who founded the village and died at 96 years old), her elderly mother and husband's mother.....she literally doesn't stop working from morning to night. Along the way, she had time to win a tea competition or two.
Friendship won the day. The High Mountain Oolong this year, folks, will be from Mr. So. You can all taste the fresh leaves from the 2000 meter farm and that's it.

I think the High Mountain Oolongs deserve to be so expensive based on danger alone. It was so dangerous getting up to the top of the mountain on those blind foggy curves, that Darius giggled all the way and tried to come up with a new name out of sheer nerousness: "Perilous Taiwan Oolong", "Extremely Scary Cliffs Oolong", " Very Steep and Slippery Slopes Oolong", etc. The leaves have a sweet intoxicating quality that is beyond compare. When you drink High Mountain Oolong, you are drinking the bamboo, the mountain springs, the piercingly cold rain water, the relentless fog , and the beautiful people who made these teas.

Formosa

2008-05-22T05:23:00.000-07:00

A summer thunderstorm rushed in and every 10 minutes would drop buckets of water on us. Either before or after, mosquitoes swarm around me, piercing through clothing and at times, not sure if I should keep my eyes open because they might bite my eyeballs by accident. My clothes are soaked. My sandals are squishy and muddy. Can't tell if I am stepping on mud or other brown mushy stuff. No harvesters are out picking tea. My cousin the mad driver zoomed his way up and down Tung Ting Mountain with us but nature won. I gave up, went indoors and drank some Charcoal Roasted Tung Ting with Mrs. So, my friend who lives on top of Tung Ting mountain. Her husband is the grandson of the founder of the village of Tung Ting. Her 80 year old mother is out picking tea at Li Shan, and no one could stop her, let alone weather. There is really no one else to pick tea anymore, and she doesn't want all those great tea buds go to waste. We can not get up to Li Shan this year. It will take me 3 days to get around the island. I am alittle exhausted at this moment, the mosquitoes have probably, like vampires, sucked all the red blood cells out of me. Mrs. So and I spent a few hours trying to figure out what bug actually eats the Royal Courtesan. We finally figured out, with the help of professionals at the research institute, that we are both correct. They are technically leaf hoppers who appear whitish and both hops and flies with their wings, and are a kind of tiny cicada. I have to call them leaf hoppers from now on though. In any case, much gratitude to these bugs, because they give us the Royal Courtesan Oolong, none as unique and with such intoxicating fragrance in the palate. Mrs. So also won second place in the tea making competition this year, in the women's division. Well, there were only 30-50 women, she said, it wasn't a big deal, most women don't process tea and she is one of the few.
Anyway, I managed to get the crew over to see the 300 year old indigenous tea bush, not the one they are cultivating but one of the original ones on the island that gave hope, 150 years ago, that tea could be successfully grown here. The village was founded when 12 of those Wuyi varietals were brought from Fujian to propagate on Tung Ting, and thus, the beginning of one of the treasures of the tea world- Formosa Island, the Beautiful Taiwan tea.

Tea is Hard Work

2008-05-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

Mr. Liu the former tea judge spends his time cultivating new cultivars of Tung Ting. His latest is a variant of the soft stem Tung Ting, sweeter and has the Hui Gan. Gan was a taste word we introduced some time ago, the taste of slight bitter astringency flowing smoothly into a sweet after taste. Hui Gan is another effect, that of the returning taste, the aftermath of the sweet. It’s as though the taste has trailed off and possibly forever, only to return, and stay, nourishing your palate and throat with a revitalizing almost minty sweetness. The sweet note of Gan will linger if you give it a chance.
He tasted his prized aged Soft Stem Oolong with us. The fieryness has all but gone, a smooth caramel darkness with deep complexity and very different 10 infusions really impresses me the dedication that Mr. Liu has for his craft. He has found a way to roast his tea 80 hours non- continuously, and every 6 months for the last 4 years and counting. The secrets I won’t divulge, but every passionate professional will invent new methods to improve and express the hidden capacities of each varietal.

We wheezed our way up to San Lin She, where the highest point is 2000 meters tall, one of the highest in Taiwan, to see the harvesting and processing. The hills are so steep I felt alittle afraid for the first time. Agriculture doesn't usually look like you need to be a monkey to get up to! So the name 'High Mountain Oolong' is completely justified in everyway, including the price. It's hard work, trying not to fall off the 80 degree hill picking tea. Tasting the unfinished fresh leaves inspired me so much that I foolhardily bought, at very high prices, a jin of fresh barely dried leaves for our harvest party next week. This, folks, would be the only chance one might ever have, unless you are at these mountains at the exact right place and right time, to taste these leaves at such freshness. And unprocessed too, with the original fruity fragrance of the leaves completely intact. I will try not to drink it all before I get back.

Will Taiwan tea survive?

2008-05-21T05:13:00.000-07:00

Mr. Lee has no idea what to do with so many awards. They will get recycled unless I am willing to take some off his hands. I thought since we have been carrying his Baochong Oolong for so many years, I should be able to legitimately display one of his awards.

Poor Mr. Lee. The costs of everything from electricity and fertilizer and machinery have gone up double this year. Labour though, has gone up 3 times, but quality is only half. The only tea pickers are now 70-80 years old, and if they didn't like the lunch you serve, they may not come help you harvest next time. Mr. Lee has far too much tea to harvest, working by himself as all the kids are in college, all the brothers have left the family farm, and there is no next generation of tea farmers. Period. He hired some migrant Indonesians this year, and trained them to pick. They must be paid by the hour, not by the weight of the tea picked, because they are so slow they would never make any money at all. I watched them. I am faster.

This, folks, is yet another far cry from the idea of the need for Fair Trade. Mr. Lee is actually being gouged by the labourers, not the other way around. I don't want to report how much he has to pay for labour. It will make all of us cry. He makes almost no money on his tea at all, despite the first, second places in competitions that he wins. So disheartened, he wants to just give away all his awards.

The Baochong this year was sweet, with a feel of 'Mian'. What is mian, yet another Chinese tea term? I explained to my crew that mian is the feel of cotton, not cotton mouth, but that soft, cushiony feel in your mouth as the tea coats your palate gently, as if you were walking on clouds. The Baochong this year had the feel of mian.

Everyone was astounded over how great the tea tastes brewed with the mountain spring water. Of course, why else would I be there every year? Aside from learning a new skill set, such as wielding a wild boar hunting machete.
Baochong is called Ching Cha, or Blue Tea, as it is more lightly oxidized than most. The bushes are razed after 15 years or so and new ones replanted. Opposite of the desire for old trees, the leaves here need to be young, soft, and able to receive as much nutrient as possible from the roots, considerably more shallow than the tree size teas.

It was the season for Taiwan Beauty (or Oriental Beauty, or Bai Hao Oolong, or my favorite, Peng Fong Cha " B.S. " Tea). The tiny buds are hand picked after the green pin size leaf hoppers have extracted the tea juices, thereby oxidizing the leaves while still on the bush. After complete oxidation, you get a red oolong tea, with its own special taste and quality. Very expensive, as the buds are small and hard to pick. The farmers don't see the point of it and that's why they call it B.S. tea!

We will try to support the great culture of Taiwan tea for as long as we can. So many of these handcraft arts are disappearing,giving way to commercialize bottled teas. What will happen to his 4 mountains of teas, after he retires and none of the kids want to continue? Turn it into a mountain resort, Mr. Lee said, for tourists.

Mukashi Mukashi

2008-05-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

Tea ceremony from 1480. Need we say more? Sitting on SeiZa for an hour wasn't bad, since we were wearing jeans there wasn't much expected of us. Sirn Bisgaard, Sensei of tea ceremony, graced us with a rare and very formal ceremony, using the best antiques and tea wares that the utmost refinement required.
I don’t know much about tea ceremony. From what was explained and what I can gather, it is part entertainment, part training for spirituality and service to others. When you practice Chanoyu, Sirn says, you first abide by the multitudes of rules, sometimes involving how many inches to place your bowl within your space on the tatami, and the number of times you fold your cloth, angle and level of your elbow when you scoop the water. If there wasn’t a practical reason behind something, then there is a symbolic or historic. For example, the tea scoop was called Mu Ni. Mu means no, or none, and ni means two. Mu Ni means Not Two. In ancient India, it is often through the use of negation that one validates. The scoop was made of bamboo with a split in the center. That would have split the handle into two, but the two ends are joined. As a result, it is seemingly two, but is actually one. That is the nature of duality.
Of course, I find that Chanoyu is yet a form of the rules one must abide by to train one’s mind and understanding. There is symbolism everywhere. The trick is to apply any of these principles into real life practice, and how.
Sirn bade us welcome by performing for us in private, a very ancient, very formal tea ceremony from 1480. That choice in itself is an honour that was intentionally bestowed. With Asian art forms, symbolic gestures are everywhere, and one has to learn to read it and receive it properly. My dad, an artist and calligrapher of over 50 years, often said, leave space, leave room for the viewer of the painting to imagine. Leave more empty space than fill it with things. The empty space in a painting is what gives it value, not the things painted. It’s the hint, the suggestion that leads one to imagine, that the viewer then has the freedom to thrive in. If the host, or the painter, or the musician, gives it all away or, in often in the case of pop culture, everything is so in your face, and then there is no room for the recipient to thrive or reject.
So it is the consideration of others that Asia cultures are based, while the Western culture is based on the self, self expression, etc. Anyway, since Chanoyu is full of philosophy, I thought I would pontificate a little bit. For example, at the Teance teashop, I have learned to put prices on items or write out what teas are good for what ailments. I probably should put some road signs at the entrance too so people know where the teabar is. It is a far cry from the original intention, which was a non-commercialized shop for people to explore and discover on their own. However, sometimes being Asian became misunderstood as mysterious and aloof, where actually the intention was service, giving space, and allowing the beauty and magic of discovery to be a gift.

I Dream of Kyoto

2008-05-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

Being in Kyoto is akin to being in a parallel universe, a suspension of real-worldness. Not only are the ancient houses intact and their austere beauty showcased by meticulously tended foliage, the best of the modern world- space aged toilets that will do everything but cook you a

meal, for example- makes you painfully aware of what other cities can hope to achieve, but do not. Kyoto is the best of all worlds, except that it can still be suffocatingly hot in the summer. Thus have I heard, but so far, a cool breeze moves us along and we enjoy such knock out meals every day that if I am not careful, I could be moving to Kyoto next month.
Good meals like a Zen Vegetarian lunch at TenRyuJi. At first glance it looks simple enough. But the creamy softness of the famous Kyoto tofu with sesame dashi, the slightly frothy tofu in the soup, not to

mention the varying degrees of citrus and savory pickled vegetables and konnyaku made this a deceptively flavourful meal. Sort of like Zen Buddhism I guess, simple and everyday on the outside, profound and rich on the inside. Sure, I can practice mindful Buddhist thinking if I had a meal like this everyday!
Kyoto has more temples and monasteries than any place, each capturing a unique history, and are all well over 400 years old. We came upon a rock garden, and there was an explanation of what it was: the larger the stone cast into the water, the larger the ripple. It's like trying to explain a koan, or a joke to someone who didn't understand the language. Anyway, the rock gardens are always moving even if we don't quite understand their profound meanings.

Onward. To many things to recount!

Umami

2008-05-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

Today's topic for discussion was, what is 'umami'? There are certain tastes and concepts that are unique to certain cultures, and this is one of them. Umami in dashi (soup base) means having a flavourful taste as if there is lots of MSG. Great, I said, don't need that. Umami in tea means that in between bitter and sour, trailing into sweet, with a memory of saltiness that is reminiscent of the sea. Everything tastes like the sea, though, in Japan. A rich, meaty flavour almost. The best Gyokuro and Senchas have that umami.

But what is the English word for it, if any?

Today we had the great taste-off. Here at the blue corner, we have Taniguchi san, hailing from 4 generations of tea farmers and producers at Uji. At the red corner, we have Sirn, Urasenke tea master, who can whip up Matcha like no one else can. Tano and I were the referrees and judges...... Taniguchi san brought his Yakichi Sencha, the good stuff, folks. If one does not understand umami, you taste this sencha and you'll understand. Absolutely delicious, ooi shi desu.
We served Taniguchi san some White Peony, Tikuanyin (Tetsu Kannon, he said), and Pu-Erh. He has never tasted White tea, nor an Oolong this fresh, nor Pu-Erh this old! Mr., Taniguchi is a tea lover first and a Japanese tea purveyor second. Real tea lovers will trip over any opportunity to taste other people's teas, to enjoy or parse over quality and elevate our palates. Tea people the world over all share this genuine passion it seems. With any luck, tea lovers in America will grow, because it's lonely for me to be sharing tea with only 5 people all the time.

The Amanda Connection

2008-05-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

Some years ago, our friend Amanda, who is an expert in Japanese textiles and tea lover, introduced us to Taniguchi san of Uji. Buy tea from him, she said, I think he's got the best. That began our journey of Uji Senchas and Gyokuros. Mr. Shimooka, Mr. Taniguchi's friend who produces the Gyokuro, is certainly considered the best tea producer in Japan. He won the Emperor's Cup last year for his tea. In the past 50 years, there has only been 5 awards for tea, and he is one such recipient. That was extremely prestigious, it's sort of like beating out all the Oscar contenders from music to costumes to acting to directing to win just one prize, for the Emperor's Cup usually goes to a sports event and not agriculture. Mr. Shimooka was justifiably proud.
We tasted the Ara cha, which is like Mao cha in Chinese, as it is nearly finished but fresh as you can't believe. Gyokuro is literally 'the dew of jade' and when you infuse it at the proper temperature, which is about 45 degrees C, it is rich, viscuous, slightly savory, and finishes sweet as morning dew. It is a sentiment producing tea. It moved me to tears. Seeing the big smile of gracious Mr. Shimooka though makes the price you pay quite worthwhile. Besides, he has a photo with Mr. Koizumi the former prime minister as well as a house completely taken over with plaques, awards, medals, gold cups......
How do they serve tea in America, asked Mr. Taniguchi? Not with beautiful handcrafted bowls like this one (see photo), I said. Americans use TETSUBINs! Everyone in the room gasped. Tetsubins are hotwater kettles?! They said, incredulously. I told them Americans misunderstood the use of those cast iron pots intended to be put over charcoal fire pits to heat the hot water. The tea masters shook their heads, and took out proper clay pots to serve us. For the Shin Cha, the water temperature was brought to about 60 degrees C. I asked Shimooka san whether it's appropriate to pour boiling water to sencha. Sure, he said, graciously, you can pour boiling water to quickly suss out the good and bad senchas, the bad ones will turn bitterly sour instantly. However, for the proper enjoyment of what the sencha (called sincha this time of the year) was intended, to get the right balance of astringency and rich flavour, the proper temperature should be between 60 to 70 degrees C. You heard it here from someone considered the best tea producer in Japan!
His tea was sublime.
At departure, Mr. Shimooka asked us very politely to please make sure that people in America enjoyed his tea, not only as a beverage ( and, please, he said, don't make gyokuro lattes with them), but within the context of the great Japanese culture as well. Hint: DO NOT make his tea in tetsubins!
I assured him that we will not butcher his divine tea, but as for the rest, we can't do too much about. After all, who will the customers believe: us, Amanda the Japanese expert, tea masters from Japan, OR, your neighborhood matcha latte tea room, or restaurant that serves vanilla chai rooibos matcha? I conveniently forgot to tell Shimooka san that last bit. Besides, it's a good way to know that if you see the tetsubin being used, you can also guess the quality of the tea that the establishment will be serving! Congratulations, I have officially graduated from Tea Fanatic to Tea Extremist.

Bright green tea

2008-05-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

Any visit to Koyama En is a pleasure, as Mr. Koyama is always gracious and generous.

After all, their matcha is probably one, if not the, best in Japan. Milled with the best of traditional stone mills and modern technology, coupled with Mr. Koyama's brother who is considered the best tongue and nose in Japan, Koyama En matcha has won more recognition than anyone else. We are happy to be carrying their matcha. More importantly though, their matcha and hoji cha ice cream is to die for! I wait a whole year to come back to taste it again.
Matcha is made from shade grown Japan green teas, the finest and most tender leaves are hand picked and then run through a highly mechanized and meticulous processing plant where the leaves are separated from the spines and stems (hojicha, kukicha) and then milled into a fine bright green powder. The resulting tea is then whisked and served as everyday beverage or more commonly, during the Japanese tea ceremony.
What is very important though is the wagashi, or the confections, that go with the tea ceremony. I suspect half the time people sit through the ceremony in order to be served a sweet. Sometimes the matcha is drinkable, sometimes it's just bitter and intense. No matter, as Koyama En's matcha is so superior that I don't wander off to try to drink it without anyone looking.

A living history

2008-05-15T18:33:00.001-07:00

Arriving into Osaka at night, we drive in by MK Taxi, where the driver still has a cap and gloves on. We rented phones at the airport because no cell phones anywhere would work in Japan, but at 300 yen a day, it was palatable.
We arrive into Sirn Bisgaard’s old Kyoto house. Again, the taxi driver couldn’t find it, but anyway, some wonderful Hatsu Enishi matcha (it’s that time of the year again for the first flush matcha!) that was Sirn’s namesake for his tea scoop. Bisgaard Sensei is a teamaster in the Urasenke tradition, and he is originally from Denmark.
Old houses like his are rapidly disappearing.

Then, Sirn takes out his magic wand, the Grander Penenergizer .
"Water has memory", he says, ' as it travels various vessels, such as pipes, leaves mark on the water so it gets distorted and out of shape, the wand has water in it that has perfect condition, and it will restore the memory to the original water. ' Just like magic. A few stirs with that wand and the water completely changes, sweet, smooth, with no trailing metallic taste. Absolutely astounding!

The gathering

2008-05-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

Like minded individuals gathered today at Lockcha, the elegant teahouse owned and operated by tea master Wing Chi Ip. We share a love of tea, excellent tea, and some other ideals. As they say in Chinese, 'Using Tea to Make Friends'.

Ken Green, Gaetano Maida, Sebastian Beckwith, other new friends, all gathered to share tea and each other's company at Mr. Ip's elegant teahouse in the park. Darius and I were there for the sweet mochi soup. The soup is jasmine tea. The mochi is sesame, caramel, and a dash of chocolate powder hand rolled and cooked in the soup. We've got our priorities....

We love Hong Kong. It runs, it's efficient, and it can move the millions of people a day effortlessly. Walking down the street anywhere, I could stop at a store and drink some medicinal tea, the kind that purges heat and toxins and pollutants and at least restores your speaking voice from yelling at the top of your lungs in Cantonese.

Hong Kong the fast paced harbour

2008-05-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

I am OK, people at Chengdu are not. I have barely left that place a week, and had thought, what a great city, clean, lots of character, and vibrant, with lots of traffic and cars, you know, the usual China city. But the people there were very friendly and proud of their city. I wonder if any of the people I met made it.
Is it a sign of something? I don't now. I was at Lan Kwei Fang tonight drinking more Carlsberg beer with friends that have congregated in HK for one reason or another.
In any case, Hong Kong is still like comfort food for me. People are civilized, trains run on time without a hitch, everything is supremely well organized, and they count money real fast at the bank.
All of the good things I love about Hong Kong are still there, including the macaroni soup for breakfast. I count on Hong Kong to always be there for me in case I need to move back. You see, it's the freest place in the world for a Chinese person, free from discrimination, political oppression, and you can be who you want to be, even if that ranges merely from visiting the Jockey Club to MahJong to being a fashion victim. There is always freshly baked Dan Tat (egg tart) for the odd soul like me who can't fit in anywhere. That's why Hong Kong is home.

Phoenix Mtn Journey

2008-05-11T07:30:00.001-07:00

We arrived into Shantou amidst Olympic fever again, the torch coming through. The roads were closed and traffic mingled with a parade of patriotic flag wavers. I have never seen so many China flags waved so wholeheartedly. I mean, I have seen China flags waved in my childhood, as well as lots of slogans shouted. It was, sort of different.

Chao Zhou, Phoenix Mountain, is the original land of ‘gong fu’ tea, where people drink tea all day all night and every single day. The old tea trees are hundreds of years old on the average, all of the Qiao Mu tree types that are rare and unlike the cultivated bush types we have seen so far. Every tree has its own distinct fragrance. There are about 13 well known ones.
We tasted this year’s Almond Phoenix Oolong, as well as three grades of Honey Phoenix, and then, we were blown away completely when Mr. Lin recommended this year’s best: Pommelo Flower Phoenix. Sure, our customers will instantly recognize that obvious fragrance of Pommelo Flowers, no?
Distinct, a full mouth fragrance permeating every taste bud, and the indescribable lingering finish that is both sweet and smooth as brocade. Citrus flower fragrances usually float along gently and wafts softly for a long distance. That describes the fragrance of the Pommelo Flower Phoenix as it slides slowly down my throat. Very soothing, and, confides Mr. Lin, great for bronchial illnesses! Of course this tea only costs about 100 times more than a bottle of Robitussin. Thank goodness it’s about a million times better tasting though.
Most Americans would never taste the range of flavors that Phoenix teas have to offer, so what we should do this year is sample a cross section of at least 8 different kinds. The high grades never leave the local area, where business men and government officials recognize the quality of these teas and would gladly pay over 2000 to 4000 rmbs for about a lb. of tea. That’s about $300 to $600 a lb. The ones that make it out are grown at the base of the mountain and not actually considered ‘Phoenix Mountain’, but only ‘Shui Xian’, Water Immortal Oolongs. Certain large organizations purportedly provide Phoenix Mountain Oolongs. Mr. Lin proudly told me that he can give me a whole 10 kgs. of the Pommelo Flower Oolong this year! You see, if, say Starbucks served Phoenix Oolongs, that quantity would have lasted exactly 1 hour. But then again, which major American organization would pay that much for real Phoenix Oolongs?
Mr. Lin won first place last year in the competition with his Honey Phoenix. Sadly, he didn’t bother to enter this year because his harvest was picked 2 days too late, therefore the leaves were just a little too large and uneven for the competition.
We will take this reject batch, I told him, gladly.

bodhisattva of tea

2008-05-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

How is the trip going? Great. Spending time with tea master Mr. Yan at his farm late at night, we tasted through various grades of Tikuanyin, Yellow Gold, and Ben Shan Oolong. Nuances were compared and discussed. Darius, I am proud to say, impressed the heck out of the farmers by not only knowing how to steep their tea well, he was adept at using chopsticks to pick up slippery noodles at dinner with ease. He even tried his hand at sorting tea, which the women laughed at. The one to beat was an adorable eight year old girl from next door; as her hands were a blur. I mention this on purpose. Is this child labour? Should this child be learning how to produce tea at such a young age? First of all, it’s family business, all hands are needed at peak production time. Secondly, according to Mr. Yan, 8 to 9 years old is when they are first trained from everything from tea picking to tea sorting. It takes that long to be good. By the time they are 18, they can apprentice with the tea master and learn to taste and judge tea. I thought to myself, since Olympic fever is in full swing, how many 4 to 5 year olds have begun their grueling practice at gymnastics, or how many 11 year olds are already competing at swim meets, training full time. How is this different? The art and craft of making tea must begin at a young age. Americans who worry that our tea are from a sweatshop exploiting child labour probably should rest in peace. Or like organic, fair trade, and many other issues, look at the situation with a full set of information before judging it from 10,000 miles away.
Anxi is where it's from. Tie= Iron, Guanyin=Bodhisattva of Compassion, the Oolong tea as beautiful as Guanyin and heavy as iron in one’s hand. The leaves are fleshier and darker green than other oolongs, with a slick, plump surface. The edges are sharp and jagged, with an elegant spine. If we had a rainy day, the leaves can not be plucked; but the leaves will get too mature by the time it stops raining. If they are too wet and the surface doesn’t dry fast enough, once the oolongs are curled and shaped, the moisture isn’t properly pumped out and the tea gets moldy. A hot day means the surface gets too dry and the moisture fails to travel out of the veins of the leaves, ensuring disaster. A rainy day followed by an unbearably hot day, or vice versa, produces the worst tea possible.
I asked Mr. Yan, following this explanation, how unfair is this for the farmers? For no one can control the weather, especially global warming, so their livelihood is after all, hanging on a nail and completely at the mercy of weather. Yes, said Mr. Yan the tea master. We always have been at the mercy of nature.
A particular melodious Tikuanyin note is after all, why we are here, deep in the Anxi mountains. This morning, the farm hands brought in last night’s processed leaves. Mr. Yan judges and grades them, view their successful accomplishment as a Mao Cha (primary finished tea), determines pricing according to grade, and negotiates with each farmer. This is also in the context of the entire season’s tea and what that quality range was. After all, the weather, more than the tea master or farmer, will determine the ultimate quality from leaf size to ability to respond to human crafting. You can not make diamonds out of cement? But Tikuanyin is the diamond of oolongs, and if we ended up with a particular good batch, we then parsed over the particular differences between firing by charcoal vs. wood fire vs. electric oven baking. Drinking good Tikuanyin enlarges the throat when it travels down, where good oolongs will merely go down straight, and the bad and ugly? It constricts the throat as if someone is choking you with both hands.
The Anxi Tea Market is the largest of its kind in the country with 3 separate and major structures. It is also the only spot meet where the farmers can haul last night’s processing to the market by the next morning and wholesale buyers can come make their purchase. On a normal busy day, 5000 people congregate there buying and selling tea. I call it the NYSE of tea. Tea is big business, it is also pervasive. Whole cities are devoted to the tea
industry sometimes. Anxi, Fuding, and cities like this have an inseparable identity with their tea.
Suzanne, Yoon Hee, and Darius might be learning just a little first hand information here at the farm at Anxi. At least, they see how meticulous, hardworking, and dedicated these tea crafters are. The teas grow here on 70 degree mountainous terrains like no other agricultural product, and require the optimal conditions of fog cover, bright mid day sun, gentle breeze, sprinkles of rain fall, and a cool, mild comfortable temperature. If it’s good enough for the tea, it’s good enough for us! On a side note, I am sitting here writing with a mosquito incense burning, bug spray handy for re-spray every hour, and tiger balm for the enormous welts that have cropped up any exposed surface. I have the topography of Anxi Mountain on my arms and legs. No wonder, because when the mosquitoes attacked Darius, they dropped dead instantly.

life and death at anxi

2008-05-11T07:10:00.000-07:00

The drive up the mountain to see late night tea production was beyond nerve wrecking. First of all, a blinding fog rolled in, so visibility was about 2 feet. Then, it is a very steep mountain with hairpin turns. The road is narrow, and unpaved with huge rocks and mud holes. I was convinced that a couple more rattles of that little minivan would shake us off the cliffs. Of course there are no guardrails. The wheels would dangle off one edge as the van made turns to avoid fallen rocks. It was a good thing I left an envelope with instructions in the case of my demise in one of these trips. I take comfort in the fact that I can’t possibly be replaceable and therefore, not going anywhere anytime soon. So there is nothing inside that envelope, folks.
At least the night air smelled delicious.
Once we made it, the night time production was in full swing and the rest of our crew almost went straight to bed as the nap up the scary mountain took too much energy out of them. I observed the rolling and shaping and baking parts of the oolong production, and went to bed prepared for a 5 am rise.
The teas are grown at 1300 meters here, and as far as the eye can see, covering the entire mountain range deep in Anxi. The grades are 50 to 70 degrees steep, and that is basically vertial cliff. The terraces are tall and treacherous. It was ludricrous for any big corporates to grow tea here, because for sure you will need highly skilled, nimble as well as sure footed tea pickers who can scale these cliffs like monkeys. No, Monkey Picked Tikuanyin isn’t picked by actual monkeys, thank god, after meeting those snarling monkeys at Emei Shan.
Part professional craft and mostly art, the production of oolongs and tikuanyins have existed for close to 200 years. The best conditions, said teamaster Wang, was tea bushes grown on the top of these mountains, where a gentle breeze can comb through the leaves from all four directions. No pesticides needed, it is far too chilly and foggy.
The oolongs grown here are Ben Shan, Yellow Gold, Hairy Crab, Mei Zhan, and of course, the incomparably fabulous Tikuanyin.
We followed the morning teapickers out to harvest the shiny, almost oily slick beautiful leaves. Teamaster Wang tells me only in such high elevation and optimal conditions can you find such shiny leaves. Can not pick the leaves right after a rain; the leaves are too heavy and the force needed to pick them crushes and starts oxidation too soon. The surface also takes too long to sundry and if they get too dry and the inner moisture gets trapped. Yikes!
The leaves are brought in to sun dry for about 15 minutes before indoor wilting. Then you see them being fluffed and turned for the sun dry. The tumbling and cold storage oxidation occurs within the next hour for the next 5-7 hours, and night production begins. Won’t go about all the procedure here but be assured that this is extremely hard work and requires uncanny knowledge of every minute adjustment of dry, re-moist, roll, fire, shape, bake, and how much steam needs to be let out when. Absolutely meticulous and requires tremendous experience.
We were treated to their King's grade Tikuanyin before we left, and the fragrance of osmanthus permeated the room. It was by far the best Tikuanyin we ever had!
It's difficult to get on this blog, edit, or put photos in within China. Being in these farms mean no internet access. i will try to post the rest in the next couple of days. No folks, i haven't stepped off a cliff, that's not why there hasn't been posts! i was busy fending off the mosquitoes.

W-H-I-T-E T-E-A

2008-05-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

Mr. Zhou, the fifth generation boss of one of the most successful tea enterprises in China that we buy our white teas from, standing in front of his 5000 hectares of organic and traditional farm. But just what is White Tea? There is the technical and correct definition, or the subjective and loosely inclusive definition. Can you say that tea grown in Taiwan can be called Darjeeling ? Or Westlake Dragonwell from anywhere but Hangzhou, truly can be considered Dragonwell? We all sort of agree that no, you can not. You can have dragonwell style green tea grown elsewhere. You can have 'High Mountain Oolong' grown in Vietnam, but you can't say it's Taiwan High Mountain Oolong, because it isn't. So if we can accept those as fact, then we have to also accept that White Tea comes from the White Varietal Tea Plant, grown in Fuding, Fujian, China, and that the rest? Simply not. 'White Tea' from Sri Lanka is white tea style processed tea, not true White Tea. Why is this in dispute when it's so obvious? Because it matters for taste, health, and for the people of Fuding of which it is a matter of pride.

In the city of Fuding, roughly 70% of the town are involved in tea, in one form or another, for their livelihood. That' s basically all working age people. They have been growing white tea there at the foothills and base mountain areas of Mt. Taimu for over 150 years, led by the She indigenous people. I like the dedicated City of Fuding and its folks to its tea, the Large White. We know it as Silver Needle or White Peony Longevity Brows. The farms are pristine, and the townsfolk all pull for each other. Mr. Zhou donated over 400,000 rmb back to the government last year to help repair their town after devastation from a typhoon. Their own farm house collapsed but never mind, they will rebuild that next year.

But this is a little town. There is alot of very enterprising people who were able to turn their little boutique farm into businesses, and the Central Government supports them. But can they counter claims from powerful Tea Boards from other countries claiming theirs is also white tea? I won't name names. Little Fuding is throwing an egg against stone.

They were proud to announce that the latest study shows that White Tea does more to lower cholesterol than even Pu-Erh!

They are one of the cleanest, most professional, yet still artisanal, tea companies I know. And they produce Free Leaf for us.

I am falling asleep at this point after another intense day of official company banquets and the incessant polite rounds of beer toasts, so will pick this up later.

the State of China

2008-05-05T02:31:00.000-07:00

Today is all travelling and business, none of which is of public interest. It's all about my woes of our falling US currency, rising fuel costs for shipping, rising prices in China because of increases of everything, including wages, and the declining US economy and the lack of willingness for people in the US to pay for good tea in the first place.

My friend Yoon Hee Kim arrived from Korea to meet up with us in Fujian to check out the white tea farms, and the head boss was there to pick us up in his new Mercedes. White tea must be big business!

Otherwise it's all Olympic fever all time everywhere. Never before has China had a chance to share the world stage participating in such a popular event, and I sincerely hope, whatever politics one may favour, that it goes well. After all, positivity and friendship usually does more than hatred and condemnation. One is usually more likely to change out of positive support rather than ostracization. But in any case, change is constant and ever present in China. People's lives are improving, though in the countryside, the average farmer still makes only about 12K rmb a year. The average tea farmer though makes 5 times that.

But not all changes are welcomed by me. Here is one small, minute example. At the hotel we stayed at in Chengdu, we were greeted with 2 nice gaiwans, and.....some teabags. So, what is more ironic, the teabags, or the gaiwans, or their simultaneous existence?

Of Monkeys and Men

2008-05-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

We start with the 'before' and will end with the 'after' picture of Darius. At 7am, he looked not too bad, as we embarked on our hike. It's a hike and not a climb, for Emei Shan, though tall, is huge and a very gradual incline. We hiked through beautiful waterfalls and pavilions (drinking fresh tea in an elegant pavilion in the middle of a dense forest of moss and trees is even better than drinking it at Teance!). A commercial break here. If you haven't done so, please run at top speed to the shop, sample the new Bamboo Green on us. You will never drink tea this good this fresh, and you will not regret it. Long live Bamboo Green tea!

We reached the monkey ecological park. They used to roam wild, these macaques, but now many of them stay within this one section of the mountain. It used to be that they terrorized hikers everywhere, surprising them. Now they have 'trainers'. They are very safe, they said, and no, 90% of the time they won't attack you or anything. But the real story is different. Arriving into the monkey area, indeed, they are roaming everywhere. Just as many women trainers with sticks stand around, ready to beat them back. One old, angry looking male charged at us, and another one jumped on Darius. In our confusion and fear I did not get a picture of Darius' eyes getting gouged...just joking. He fended the monkey off all by himself, whereas mine was large and nasty with pointy fangs and I needed help from the trainers. I am sorry to say, I wasn't sure if I felt their fear or my own. One of the trainers though, was a lithe older woman with a perfect form, as she reached for her slingshot to sharpshoot at a young macaque from a distance trying to leap onto a tourist. Oh, they are very dangerous, she said. Monkeys are far too smart for tourist humans.

Onward. We would hike for another 5 more hours or so. Darius was starting to look particularly beat, and he tried to convince me that all he really wanted to do, was go back down the mountain, get on the bus, and take a nap. Strangely though, a small dog who resembled a miniature German Shepherd appeared around a temple area. A Chinese Shepherd, I said, proportionate to our race. He herded us along, waiting and running ahead or behind so neither Darius or I could resist going forward. Up enormous inclines. Down steep rocky steps. The dog would stay with us throughout. We named him 3D: Darius' Dharma Dog. Here is the 'after' photo of Darius, wheezing and ready to call mom. See 3D in the background waiting for him. This is not strenous, I assured him. None of it was vertical and involved lifting yourself up with a rusty chain.

Anyway, we are now back at Chengdu and enjoyed a particularly spicy hotpot, where the soup is so red with chili pepper, filled with bunches of peppercorns, and the oil is so thick no steam can penetrate out of the soup. I assured Darius this is all character building stuff. Long live Emei Shan!