The Greening of Traditionally Oxidized Oolongs

There has been a continuing trend of oolongs going greener (less oxidization, less roasting) over the past decade or two.  Jason Chen’s latest book about his experiences with Phoenix and Tieguanyin oolongs finishes off with a similar assessment.  He writes that at one point, Anxi Tieguanyin was so popular that tourists and wholesalers clamored up to the tea mountains, clogging the narrow roads and driving up prices with their bidding wars.  The popularity of Taiwan’s lower-oxidized teas caused some tea buyers to request a similar product be made with Anxi’s famous Tieguanyin.  Thus, Anxi Tieguanyin – according to Jason - dropped down to an oxidation level of 15% or less to meet the demand for a light-tasting and fragrant product.

Less work and less roasting goes into the contemporary versions of the tea, which also allows farmers to produce more of it.  One may also reasonably surmise that the level of oolong production and roasting skills have declined over time.  I find it ironic that of all of China’s teas to go green in order to mimic Taiwan’s high mountain oolongs, it was Anxi Tieguanyin, a tea known for the high oxidation and roast that is needed to achieve its full body.  There are surely several other oolong varietals that would suffice in making a high-fragrance, light-tasting oolong, but few have the allure of an Anxi product with the famous Tieguanyin name.

Phoenix Dancong is another tea that is traditionally highly-oxidized and roasted, but has also changed in the last decade or two.  Nowadays, you can find an increasing number of variations of this tea (osmanthus, almond, apricot…) and even some that taste like a green oolong.  The very characteristics that make the tea a “Phoenix oolong” can be said to be missing in some contemporary interpretations of the tea.  Still, contemporary Phoenix oolong remains more similar to its traditional form than Anxi Tieguanyin.

What does that mean for a tea when its characteristic scents and tastes have changed?  For Tieguanyin, we have what’s called the 觀音韻 (guan yin yun), the characteristic notes that are unique to the tea; 岩韻 (yan yun) similarly applies to cliff teas.  If we compare a tea that is produced on Alishan but has no high-mountain qi, for example, with one that is produced on the lower Meishan (a production mountain for Alishan) but has the full bouquet of an Alishan-type tea, which one is truly the “real” Alishan?  Do we define by taste or origin?  What essential components qualifies a Dong Ding tea to be a Dong Ding tea?  The producers/retailers/market will continue to call a green Anxi oolong a Tieguanyin while traditionalists, like my Tieguanyin teacher, lament the fact that contemporary versions of the tea are nothing like what is supposed to be a Tieguanyin tea. 

If a tea tastes good, then it’s good to you, even if it’s not really what it claims to be.  I received a sample of an aged cliff tea from a tea friend that knows I like tasty, old leaves.  The sample came labeled “Big Red Robe” but it didn’t taste like it, more like a Shui Xian.  I tried it a few days ago and it had clear and strong cliff tea yun; quite a nice tea.  I asked about the origin of the tea and she said it’s a Wuyi tea with no specific, identifiable varietal; the label was a misnomer.  Because of this, the tea sells for quite a bit less than it could if it was actually a Da Hong Pao or Shui Jin Gui.  Consumers, we believe, pay more for the fame of the tea type than the taste (but naturally, they pay more for a tasty, well-known tea than a less tasty one).

If you enjoy drinking a brew, then have another cup.  I have seen too many people prevent themselves from enjoying another cup of tea because it didn’t taste/look/smell like an oolong/Darjeeling/aged pu’er/Longjing should…even though it tasted good.  I have also seen too many people try to enjoy a bad tea because it was famous/rare/expensive.  Two years ago, I encountered a gentleman that was trying to sell his private collection of pu’er.  He had a factory-floor, nugget-style pu’er that he claimed was from the 60s and worth thousands a pound; he was willing to part with it for 1/2 of its supposed “market value.”  It honestly smelled and tasted like urine; I was trying to figure out how he kept his face straight while drinking it.  Last year, I saw dogs and birds running around tea that was undergoing solar withering and I wondered if animals were running around and doing business on the floor of the factory that this old nugget pu’er was produced in.  It’s more likely that the tea had been poorly fermented and poorly stored, though the pungent aroma was quite unique.  Poo-er?  Truly.

Drink good tea and enrich your life.

The Value of Bronze

I use many different types of storage for my oolongs.  Stainless steel, tin, pewter and aluminum are some of the metal storage containers that I have.  Copper and bronze containers, though, I don’t use.

My problem with copper (and bronze, which contains copper) is that it may tarnish or oxidize.  That green-colored deposit that you may have seen is the by-product of this oxidation, and I have seen it mostly on older copper and bronze vessels.  There is an associated rust-like/tart smell that develops as well.  Tea stored in a bronze container can pick up the smell from the metal.  Steel and quality pewter, on the other hand, don’t impart odors to the tea.

I’ve been told that bronze in particular makes a high-roast oolong taste more balanced and soft.  I had a friend store a roasted Tieguanyin in a bronze tea caddy for about a month, while I stored the same exact tea in a glazed clay jar and a thin-walled tin caddy for about a month as well.  A few tea friends and I tasted all 3 teas and found them to be vastly different.  The clay pulled away the biggest amount of fire from the tea, making it taste soft and delicate.  The tin trapped too much air with the tea and made it taste stale.

The bronze, though, surprised me by pulling out some of the fire from the roast while leaving the tea full-bodied.  It made the tea taste energetic and highlighted the fruit note of the Tieguanyin.  A very nice surprise, but the bronze had the predicted side-effect of imparting a tart smell and taste to the tea.  The bronze tea caddy had already oxidized to the point that there was some green and white oxidation both inside and outside of the caddy, so there was a strong odor in it already.  Perhaps a newer bronze container would benefit the tea without causing the side effects.

Although the farmers still shake their heads at me every time I tell them about my experiments, I continue to be fascinated by the effects that different materials have on tea that’s being stored – even for a short period of time.  As in the simple experiment with Tieguanyin above, all 3 teas tasted different enough after 1 month of storage that a taster thought – reasonably so – that they were 3 completely different teas.  I used a clay jar to store a roasted oolong that I had previously thought to be too strong for my tastes and after 6+ months of storage, it was actually enjoyable, definitely a candidate for a good-value daily drinker.  Experimenting with storage, re-roasting and just patiently waiting for natural changes has led me to re-evaluate the suitability of several teas that I’ve tried.  I can’t say that these experiments have caused me to bring a tea from my bad column onto the good one, but I’ve definitely gained some surprisingly pleasant tasting experiences.

Drink good tea and enrich your life.

A Dark Pu’er Brew is Nice…Mind the Dirt

Chilly and wet winters mean that my friends and I drink a lot more pu’er.  There is something comforting about a cup of dense and malty tea that helps to dispel winter’s gloom.  When I’m in the mood for a dark and thick pu’er, I’m not particularly picky.  I want a clean-tasting, cooked cake that I can brew dark.  At least 6 grams of tea in a small pot for 2+ minutes; it pours out thickly and tastes deep & substantial.  The brew is satisfying on a cool day, like a tea “comfort food,” the brewed version of a hearty slab of meatloa.

I like cooked pu’er a lot.  It’s widely-available, even good ones are affordable, and I don’t have to wait decades before I can enjoy a cup.  I recently found one that is a clean and straightforward cooked tuo that’s less than $3/oz.  There are many even cheaper ones (all over Taobao, for example) but I don’t have any and haven’t tried many that are available at a retail location over here that’s cheaper, tastes as clean as and brews as well in a pot (for 3+ minutes) as this one. 

To be able to sell a tea over here for less than $3/oz after considering the many various mark-ups along the way (US retailer markup, transportation charges, distributor markup, producer profits, etc) means that it probably cost the producer less than $.30/oz to produce this tea [I don’t think there is rule of thumb to calculate the difference between the production cost and retail price, I just happen to know the wholesale price and retailer/distributor mark-ups].  That’s pretty cheap for tea production, considering some Muzha Tieguanyin costs upwards of $4/oz to produce.  And I bet there’s a lot of tea that costs even less than $.30/oz to make. 

Which makes me wonder sometimes, what’s in that tea?  Yes, there are supposedly several levels of industry and government regulation of tea; the blue “S” stamped on the wrapper is supposed to mean that the tea is safe to consume.  I’ve so far never become ill from consuming tea, so I actually wonder more about the composition and production methods.  What kinds of fertilizers, pesticides, etc are used and in what amounts?  How much of that is passed off into the tea?  How are the leaves processed, sorted and cleaned, and what “hygiene” practices are used when the leaves are placed in heaps to ferment for long periods of time?  Who packages the tea and do they use gloves when they do it (I highly doubt it, I’ve never seen any one use gloves when they’re oxidizing, roasting or packaging oolongs that cost 10x+ more)?

A pu’er retailer told me several times that back in the day, pu’er production was pretty dirty.  Many Tea farms also raised pigs and chickens close by (many still do), so the same farmer might be feeding the animals one minute, scooping up their poop in the next, and then sweeping up tea a little later on.  Who can say if back in those days some of the tea farmers used the same hose to clean the pig pens that they would then use to begin the fermentation process of the pu’er?  I know, I’ll drive myself crazy thinking about these things and wondering about things that will detract from the experience. 

What all this does make me wonder about, though, are the foul tasting/smelling pu’er teas that I seriously wouldn’t be surprised to learn contained something nasty.  Oh well, we all run into poo-er from time to time and we’re still OK.

For the moment, the blue “S” will do, regardless of how much confidence I place in it.  Just wondering….

Drink good tea and enrich your life.

A Friend’s Teahouse in Eugene, Oregon

J-Tea International is in the same city as the University of Oregon, about 5+ hours south of Seattle and halfway down the state of Oregon on a drive down to California.  It’s not a particularly scenic drive, but the drive is worth it to see an old friend.  It’s a long overdue trip and I plan my visit to occur just a few months after all of the renovations to his teahouse have been completed.  It’s pretty nice.

Josh is an interesting guy and he also knows a lot about tea.  He has lived in Asia longer than I have and probably reads, speaks and writes in Mandarin Chinese better than I do (he did live there for over 6 years and got his MBA at Cheng Kung U).  We get along well because we both love oolong, especially Taiwanese ones. 

His remodeled teahouse incorporates a lot of built-green concepts, including the usage of natural lighting (windows all along the front; nine skylights), recycled and/or low-impact building materials, etc.  And yes, he drives a hybrid as well (although I’m sure he tries to get around by foot when he can). 

J-tea stocks a variety of Taiwanese oolongs, as well as various black teas and mainland teas.  He also has a lot of unique teaware and antique pottery (I like his antique porcelain jars).  We drank several of his teas and he tried a few of mine.  I like some of his Dong Ding, I like it when Dong Ding is robust and full-bodied. 

What is of most interest to me, though, are his two aged Dong Ding oolongs, one from 1982 and one from 1986.  Curiously, the older one is considerably cheaper than the 1986 tea, but once you try both of them, you’ll know why.  The 1986 aged Dong Ding is a balanced and moderate tea.  It has some tartness from the age in the first infusion that gives way to a smooth, sweet and balanced brew.  The 3rd-5th infusions yield a delicate brew with a slight hui gan; it is quite a nice tea, even more so with sub-boiling water in a good Dong Ding pot. 

There is aged tea, good aged tea, and great aged tea (yes, there is stuff beyond great, much of which is difficult to find and can be pricey).  This tea is very good and will become better in the years to come.  I asked Josh to tell me more about the tea after I had the chance to try it with my own teaware and he said that it received the 銀牌獎 (gold medal) from the 2007凍頂老茶展售會鹿谷鄉凍頂茶葉生產合作社 (long name, it’s a 2007 aged Dong Ding competition).  It’s true that many of the tea competitions are kind of hokey and the winners jack up their prices, but the quality of the tea is judged by people who really know tea (whether or not we agree with the criteria they use for judging is a different story).  This tea is $25/ounce, which I think is reasonable for a tea that is tough to find outside of Taiwan and sold by a reputable retailer that will ship just about anywhere.  I’ll write more about value-priced aged oolongs that contribute to the experience of trying and collecting aged teas in the future, but this is a nice treat and very good experience to have with a high-quality aged Dong Ding.

Josh also sells tea plants…you’ll have to ask him what kind he grows.  Good guy, nice tea place, good tea – just my kind of place. 

[correction:  he has Sochi cultivar plants, but they are not necessarily for sale…sorry!]

Drink good tea and enrich your life.

Age is just ONE factor – Aged Teas IV

Like anything that may derive some value from its age, a tea’s age can only tell you a part of its story.  It may not even be the most vital part of the story.  There is value in aged teas because it’s uncommon and has inherent quantity limitations.  Daniel’s special Congou tea that is intact and nearly 100 years old probably doesn’t, by his own admission, taste exceptional, but it’s very rare and valuable.

Tea has a shelf-life and period for optimum taste, depending on what one is looking for.  This is not unlike wine or cheese or cured/aged meat, all of which reach an optimum maturation point for which it may be best enjoyed.  All genuinely old teas are interesting to me because they are unique.  We can manipulate the taste/smell/feel of a tea through various techniques, but we cannot make a 20 year old tea overnight.  With that said, old teas may be interesting, but few of them that I’ve come across are worth their price simply because they don’t taste good and they probably never will. 

I was looking up at the upper side-wall at Floating Leaves Tea yesterday as Shiuwen and I were chatting.  That is where some of the odds & ends tea from various seasons are stored.  I jokingly said to her that she should do less business each season so that she would have more aged tea to sell in 20 years.  It’s not easy to anticipate the changing tastes of consumers or the volatility of demand, which is why nearly every retailer will have some leftover teas (later becoming the coveted “aged tea” that so many look for).  Twenty years later, some of these aged teas will be phenomenal and some won’t.  Shiuwen’s Nangang Baozhong will be exceptional, as will some of the Dong Ding. 

I wondered why more people haven’t thought about storing and aging oolongs, like they do pu’er?  Perhaps it has to do with the limited (but growing) appeal of aged oolongs, or the fact that a good aged pu’er currently fetches 4-5 figure prices whereas most aged oolongs are still in the 3-4 figure range.  It may also be that pu’er generally tastes and feels so much better after aging, whereas many oolongs taste exceptional when they’re fresh.  Regardless, my focus now is to collect good jars of all sorts and then to fill them with tea.  I was recently inspired by Josh Chamberlain of J-Tea in Eugene who is holding a tea-sealing ceremony (a get together of tea lovers to put their tea into various types of pots/jars, seal and date them, and enjoy tea and snacks as they do it) soon.  He also has a great aged Dong Ding that will be even better in the years to come (and it’s only $25 an oz!) that I’ll talk about in an upcoming post. 

In other news, I close on my home purchase next week (and my wedding is the week after, figured I’d do it all at once!).  I talked to my architect-friend yesterday about designing some kind of tea space either as an addition to the house or as a separate unit in the yard and wow, it’s going to be a lot more expensive than I thought.  In the meantime, my REI tea tent will have to suffice, although it might snow soon :)

Drink good tea and enrich your life.   

Processing Shan Lin Xi

Several of Taiwan’s oolongs are world-famous.  Dong Ding, Bao Zhong, Oriental Beauty and high mountain oolongs are just a few of the well-known ones.  Each type of tea has variations in how it’s processed and produced. 

Shan Lin Xi is a type of high mountain tea produced in central Taiwan’s Nantou county.  You can see it from Dong Ding mountain and one can get there in less than an hour by car.  It is more accessible than Da Yu Ling and possibly more scenic than Li Shan.  What makes Shan Lin Xi a little different is that modern-day production of it relies more heavily on humidity and temperature control…via air conditioning.  I’m not familiar enough with the entirety of the process to describe it here, but I’ve seen giant warehouses being used in the withering and oxidation process.  Air conditioner-assisted tea production also occurs with some other teas, such as some Bao Zhong and Ali Shan oolongs, but it’s more widespread with Shan Lin Xi production than I know it to be with any other type of tea.  I have never, for example, heard of A/C being used for Dong Ding or Muzha Tieguanyin.

I visited a Shan Lin Xi farmer/producer in that region during the off-season last year and she told me that there is a difference in taste between low-tech and high-tech production of the tea.  She believes the A/C-assisted variant produces a more consistent, quality product.  She did admit, though, that a side-effect of using A/C may be a flavor note that is unique to Shan Lin Xi tea that has undergone this type of processing.  People have gotten used to that unique note, though, so they have come to expect it and identify it with this tea.  That made me think of Diet Coke, doesn’t taste the same as “Real” Coke, but a lot of people like that unique taste anyway.

This season’s high mountain tea has been surprisingly good.  After 2 winter seasons of lackluster ones, it was pleasant to try several good high mountain oolongs from several stores.  Nice.

Drink good tea and enrich your life.