Northwest Tea Festival 2017 and Colombian Black Tea Cupping

On September 30th and October 1st I attended the Northwest Tea Festival at Seattle Center. Both days, I presented a session in the tea tasting booths called Oolongs with Brett. As the name suggests my sessions featured me serving and discussing oolong tea (along with a bit of ukulele strumming). It felt great to get behind a bamboo serving tray once again!

After my tasting sessions I spent my time sampling tea and connecting with friends on the expo floor. I picked up some fantastic Alishan from Floating Leaves and miscellaneous other goodies from some of my favorite stores (like Phoenix Tea, Smacha, and Young Mountain). My tea cupboard is now ready for Autumn!

At one point my old boss Brian Keating wanted to introduce me to a Colombian tea producer called Bitaco. I had never tried Colombian tea so I was excited to give it a shot. After chatting with Brian and the Bitaco representatives, I had faith that Bitaco cares about the people in their community and the lush mountain environment at which their tea is grown. Also, their tea looked and smelled super fresh and the price was great.

I picked up these 3 Colombian black teas:

Tippy 2

Wiry 2

Black Wiry 1

During the past week I enjoyed mugs of each tea, but today I decided to cup all three side by side to see how they really compared. I used 3 grams of leaf in three identical 6 ounce glass mugs. Each tea was steeped 3 minutes with boiling water.  

Wiry 2 (top left) 

Tippy 2 (top right)

 Wiry 1 (bottom middle)

The teas cupped up nicely. Here are my tasting notes:
✵Wiry 2 had the lightest body, but not by much. It was brisk, sweet and clean tasting. Compared to the others it was mellow, but the delicate notes of fruit, honey, and wood made it the most complex. It's a black tea that drinks more like a dark oolong.

✵Wiry 1 was the most peppery. It reminded me of a mid-grade Yunnan hongcha. It is a great cup of tea but it slightly lacked complexity when sipped alongside the other two.

✵Tippy 2 was very nice. It had the most body and mouthfeel. It was malty with a sweet stone-fruit aftertaste. If you like high quality Assam tea this would be one to try.

Dianhong Cupping

I recently cupped two Dianhong (滇紅) black teas that are currently available at Cinnabar's and my tea shop, Phoenix Tea. One is called Golden Dianhong and the other Dianhong Needles. Both of them were produced at the Fengqing (鳳慶) Tea factory, a nearly 75 year old operation, in Lincang (臨滄) region of Yunnan, China. These leaves were grown at an altitude of 6000 feet and are of the "big leaf" (da ye) (大葉) variety.

I have had many great solo sessions with these two teas in the past but I had never tried them together. My hope is to learn more about how they differ.

Needles = Top Left

Golden = Bottom Right

I steeped 2 grams of each tea in two identical ceramic tea cupping sets for 5 minutes. After decanting the tea soup it was very hard to tell them apart. They both had a lovely red color and sweet, alluring aroma. In this photo the Golden Dianhong is on the top and the Dianhong Needles is on the bottom.

I took my time sipping back and forth and came up with a few subtle differences. Golden is a little stronger, sweeter, and maltier while Needles is brisker. Needles has a tiny bit more smokiness and a complex "wild side" with note of pinewood, dried fruit, and nuts. Golden has a creamier, thicker mouth-feel. Both are very smooth, satisfying black teas with loads of wonderful dark chocolate flavors.

This cupping left me with a comfortable, happy tea-buzz and a major chocolate craving.

Organic Summer 2010 Shibi Hong Cha

I teased a review of this organic Taiwanese hongcha (紅茶) at the end of my May 11th post. I would have posted this review sooner but I only had a small sample and I used too large of a teapot. The resulting tea was way too weak to fairly review and so I had to wait until my friend Nicole of Green Leaf Tea Company got her new shipment from Taiwan. Now that that has happened I'm ready to sip and share!

The dry leaf is slightly twisted and dark with little flecks of gold and fat twigs. The aroma is nutty and sweet with a slight note of potato chips.

This time, determined not to be "under-leafed," I brewed it in a small gaiwan about 60% full of dry leaves. This method yielded 6 tasty infusions.

Here's the third:

But even when brewed in this heavier manner, the tea was still pretty light when compared to most hongcha I have sampled. Despite its lighter body the tea did not lack for complexity. It sometimes yielded a pleasant, creamy caramel-like flavor, and sometimes it had a wonderful brisk, Ceylon-like, raisin flavor.

This tea is very smooth and yummy but it did occasionally display some distant savory, broth and marine notes. The only other time I can remember detecting this particular flavor was in the stunning Summer 2009 organic A'a black tea from Hawaii's Big Island Tea Company. Interestingly, I just read Alex Z's Chicken Soup Aroma in Black Tea post from earlier today and I think that was maybe what I was tasting. Possibly it's perceived differently to me because I've been vegan for almost 12 years?

For me this tea was at its best when it had cooled to room temperature. For some reason the cooler liquor tasted thicker and really appealed to me with its clean, fruity, and refreshing taste.

I'd recommend this Summer 2010 Shibi hongcha to anybody looking for a smooth, light and spirited black tea and/or to anybody who (like myself) wishes to support small-scale organic tea production in Taiwan.

Click here if you'd like to see the vendor's own review of this tea.

Formosa Bonita

I recently had the great honor of tasting a rare and organic Taiwanese hong cha (紅茶) (red tea, aka black tea) made from the Jin Xuen (金萱) cultivar, and imported by the amazing Josephine Pan.

Josephine said the tea was produced in the Summer of 2010 in Nantou county. The locals call it simply "Mr. Chen's Organic Red Tea," but Josephine, at least for now, calls it Formosa Bonita.

Que Bonita!

I brewed this tea in a small gaiwan ~1/3 full of dry leaf. I used boiling water and started with a one minute infusion. Gradually increasing to 7 minutes for my 5th and final infusion.

It smells as good as it looks.

I really love this tea. It is bold and aromatic with a round, smooth mouth-feel. My tasting notes include caramel, malt, Assam black tea, toasted almonds, and chicory. The aroma under the gaiwan lid is sweeter and fruitier with a hint of cherry cider.

Josephine told me that the farmer is sold-out of this batch and that she only has a little bit left... so I bought myself a kilogram. I'd happily sell some (at $8 US per ounce) if anybody else wants to try it. Just email me at blackdragontea@gmail.com

Cool Monkey

This is the organic Golden Monkey that I purchased from The Meaning of Tea a couple months ago. Like most black teas I brew it with boiling water, about one teaspoon of dry leaf per cup, and steep it for about 3 minutes. It always turns out delicious.

But what if I were to brew it cooler?

Excuse me? Why bother?
Just keep using boiling water.
It is a black tea after all.

Who are you?

I'm one of the voices in your head.
You can call me the "voice of reason."

Uh... alright... but I just have this strange feeling that it might be really good.

You're going to waste good tea.

Yeah, but how will I know for sure if I don't at least try?

OK. Suit yourself... but when you end up with a cup of
"warm swamp tea" don't say I didn't warn you.

Alright then. I'm going to do it!
Let's start with about 155° F for 7 minutes.

Looks good. Smells good.

(sips tea) Whoa... this turned out really sweet.
The peach and honey elements have been turned up to eleven.

(sips tea) You're right. I do like this.
It's mellow, clean and fragrant.

OK. Let's go cooler!
Second infusion will be 135° F for 10 minutes.

It's ready. (sips tea) Yum.
This is even sweeter.
How is that even possible!?

It's pretty good but this level of sweetness should be balanced by something.
I miss the astringent notes in the traditional brewing.

I hear you.
Plus the aftertaste seems to be compromised.

Lets go even cooler.
This time I'll do 120° F for thirty minutes.

Are you insane?

(thirty minutes later)

It's ready! The color is much lighter.

Well this is our third infusion after all.

(sips tea) It's smooth as silk... and has tons of ripe stone-fruit and honey notes.
It almost tastes like a cold brew of silvertip oolong.

I'm surprised that I like it... but I'd still much prefer boiling the water for this tea.
Also, I prefer to drink a hotter cup of tea.

But you've got to admit this was an interesting experiment.
I think it proves my theory that:
"When it comes to tea there are no right or wrong ways to do things."

I'm not sure if I agree with that.

Sun Moon Lake Black Tea

While visiting a friend's tea shop in Taipei last month, I treated myself to a 150 gram bag of fine black tea produced near Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) in Nantou county (which I believe is where most of Taiwan's black tea is currently being produced). I was told that this particular tea was made from the descendants of well maintained tea trees imported from Assam, India around 1925.

Its long twisted leaves have a sweet malty aroma like honey and dried plums.

I used about 8 grams of dry leaf in the 150 ml brewing cup pictured below and I steeped it 5 times with boiling water (2 min, 2 min, 3 min, 5 min, 10 min). This yielded a pretty orange-red color with great clarity.

The mouth feel was smooth and thick and constantly reminded me of dark raw honey. It even had the same wonderful peppery finish that raw honey and extra virgin olive oil should have.

When it was piping hot it tasted more like a strong Assam tea but as it cooled it developed some sweeter, earthier characteristics that reminded me of Yunnan tea... and at room-temperature it delivered a bright, brisk flavor like some Ceylon teas.

Most of the spent leaves looked liked that one on the left... but I found 3 that looked like the monster on the right.

My tasting notes for this tea included: Yum, Ahh and Mmmm.

Indonesian Teh

My tea friend Nicole* recently returned from several weeks in Indonesia and she brought me a little bit of Indonesian tea as a gift! It came packed in this sweet little box with a bird on it.

This is what Nicole told me about this style of tea: "This is Indonesian tea (teh). I've been brewing it like a black tea but the Indonesians usually add lots of sugar (teh manis). It can be hot or iced, but traditionally it's hot and really sweet."

The box lists three ingredients: Teh Bubuk, Aroma, and Vanili. The tea itself looks brown and powdery with lots of "husky bits." It has a potent vanilla scent.

The Teh:

I believe that all tea is good (yes, even Lipton) if you drink it with the right people and/or the right attitude... so in hopes of making this tea taste better, I decided to take an imaginary journey to Indonesia (a place I've never been) while brewing and sipping this tea.

In my mind I am sitting in a breezy outdoor cafe surrounded by many new sounds and smells. I am waiting for a cheap, delicious lunch of fresh fruit and nasi goreng. I have become very thirsty and hungry from an unforgettable morning spent exploring old temples and lush jungles. After lunch, I am both excited and nervous about visiting an orphanage for orangutans. While I wait for my food a server brings me a steaming hot cup of sweet local tea. I savor its heady aroma and make small talk with a friendly old fisherman. He tells me proudly that Indonesian tea is the best in the world... and even though I have a few ounces of a (much preferred) high mountain oolong in my backpack, I agree with him, because right now this is the only cup of tea that matters.

The Brew:

While I was never expecting to be blown away by this tea, I did enjoy it. I used about 1 teaspoon of dry leaf to about 8 ounces of boiling hot water. I steeped it for about 5 minutes before stirring in a heaping teaspoon of raw sugar. The resulting brew was pleasant, though the vanilla aroma was a bit cloying. I'm sure it would go well with spicy food. I won't be drinking this often but I'm happy to make some space on my tea shelf for this cute little piece of Indonesia.

*Nicole is the same groovy globe trekker who introduced me to Ba Bao Cha and Tibetan butter tea. Xiexie Nicole!

Tea Basics - Black Tea

Fully oxidized black tea is very popular in North America but rarely drunk in China. Hearty Assam tea (from India) and brisker Ceylon tea (from Sri Lanka) have been imported by the British and Dutch for a few hundred years. These are often blended to produce the cherished English or Irish Breakfast teas. One of my favorite black teas is Darjeeling (from northern India). It is often called the champagne of teas because of its bright and complex bouquet. Another favorite is Keemun (祁門) from China. It has a certain sherry-like sweetness, naturally spicy and unique. Look for the Keemun grade Hao Ya A to signify a particularly good batch. Other marvelous black teas include Yunnan, a rich and peppery brew from China, and Nilgiri, a sweeter brisker tea from southern India's Blue Mountains. One other Chinese tea of interest is the mystifying Lapsang Souchong (正山小種). This tea is cured over smoldering pine needles for an intensely smoky brew.

I think it is important to note that the Chinese call black tea hongcha (紅茶) which means red tea and sometimes the Chinese will call puer tea heicha (黑茶) which means black tea.

Golden Dianhong (滇紅) Black Tea from China: