Anji Baicha

Anji Baicha (安吉白茶) is a green tea from Zhejiang province that is made with a popular white tea cultivar. It was only recently (while researching my post about Emperor Huizong) that this type of tea first made a blip on my "tea radar."

The more I researched Anji Baicha the more my curiosity was piqued. I even read many websites that claimed it has much higher amounts of L-theanine than most other types of green tea. I have yet to find any evidence for this claim, though I think it may exist in Chinese.

I finally got my first chance to try Anji Baicha at this year's Northwest Tea Festival. My friends at Silk Road Teas gave me an ounce after I helped them out in the tea tasting booths.

Silk Road's specimen is made up of beautiful jade-green leaf and bud sets. They have a clean nutty aroma.

I brewed the tea in a medium gaiwan about 1/3 full of dry leaf. My water temperature was quite low at 155° F. I was surprised by how quickly the tea infused. Less than a minute of gentle "lid-kneading" produced a very fragrant cup of yellow tea soup.

The brothy, buttery flavor of this tea is soothing and well balanced by a refreshing grassy peak. I can (and do) drink many luscious infusions.

While I sip, I wonder what (if anything) this tea has in common with the Anji Baicha that Emperor Huizong had wrote about in his tea book some 900 years ago. My new mission is to learn more about Tang and Song dynasty tea preparation. Anybody have any resources or recipes?

Varietal or Cultivar?

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of attending Yoon Hee Kim's presentation "Tea 101: From Garden to Cup" at the Northwest Tea Festival. I was heartened to learn that all of the basic tea information I have been imparting to my clients is congruent with Yoon Hee's. But there was one minor difference... for the past five years I have always used the word "varietal" when describing the many specific types of tea plants grown to produce various teas. Tie Guanyin (鐵觀音), Shui Xian (水仙), Qing Xin (青心), Jin Xuan (金萱), and Fo Shou (佛手) are just a few examples of the numerous types that currently exist. In her presentation, Yoon Hee chose the words "hybrids" and "cultivars" to describe these subcategories of Camellia sinensis*. After doing some botanical research, I now feel like these words are more accurate, so I plan to switch from varietal to cultivar when talking about these distinct tea types.

* Camellia sinensis is the species name for the tea plant. This species appears to have two major varieties Camellia sinensis var. sinensis and Camellia sinensis var. assamica.

2006 Jinggu Da Bai Hao - 景谷大白毫

Back in 2006, I purchased two puer cakes labeled Jinggu Da Bai Hao (景谷大白毫). Jinggu is the name of an autonomous county in southern Yunnan. Da Bai (big white) is one name for a particular tea plant cultivar that produces plump, fuzzy white buds. These buds are most often used in Fujian province to make the much beloved Yinzhen (銀針) (silver needle) white tea, but they are also found in Yunnan and can be used to make some wonderful puer teas (普洱茶).

The cake I'm reviewing today has a green label printed on a thick, textured paper-wrapper.

The cake:

This puer cake is made entirely of beautiful grey, gold, silver and white tea buds.

It has (in my opinion) a hilarious nei piao (內票)(internal ticket). Here is the wording and punctuation exactly as printed for your amusement:

The product is manufactured form Dabai Tea(an ancient tea tree with over one hundred years history in jingguyang Pagoda , Simao , Yunnan), through a traditional method of Pu'er Tea. Being free form pollution, it is characterized by broad leaves,big buds, bloom and clear liquid. Moreover, owing to its effects in persisting cancer, reducing fat and blood pressure, losing weight and persisting aging, it is regarded as good medicine to prolong your life.

I used a small gaiwan with about 4 grams of dry leaf, and 180 degree water. The amber broth is woodsy, delicate and pleasant with a flavor that is both subtle and complex. Throughout 10 infusions it reminded me of sheng puer, Yinzhen white tea, and first flush Darjeeling. My tasting notes included: nutty, crisp, slightly fruity, vibrant, light smoke, muscatel grape, and pine forest.

Tea soup and infused leaves:

我的春2009 阿里山高山烏龍茶到了

Yesterday I recieved my shipment of Alishan High Mountain tea (阿里山高山烏龍茶) from my friend Charlies in Shizhuo, Taiwan (石桌台灣). Charlies told me that this tea was picked on May 2nd and finished on May 3rd, then he baked the tea for about 2 hours and packed it after cooling on May 5th. His tea bushes are "soft-stem oolong" (軟枝烏龍)*, and were planted by his father 24 years ago.

Three photos taken at Charlies' tea garden and beautiful homestay!

I wasted no time opening the box and brewing up a bowl of this new oolong tea. The sweet fresh aroma of high mountain oolong instantly transported me back to Charlies' pristine mountain home. The tea exceeded my expectations with its heady fruit-sugar aroma and notes of apple, tangerine rind and pine needle. It has a thick smooth body, lingering sweetness, and a touch of mellow comfortable roasting.

Here are a few photos from yesterday's 8 wonderful infusions:

This oolong tea is now for sale! I currently have about 9 Taiwanese jins** of this tea available. It is packed into half-jin bags. The cost is $9.50 per ounce or $80 per 300 gram bag. A half-ounce sample is available for free (one per customer) upon request, but people outside of Seattle will have to pay $3 for shipping. I am only selling this tea to customers in the USA (unless you ask me very nicely... then I might consider an international sale). Payments can be made via cash, paypal or check. The tea can be shipped (add $5), delivered or picked up depending on your individual needs. Please email me at blackdragontea@gmail.com if you're interested in buying some of this excellent high mountain tea. 謝謝您!

* According to Houde Asian Arts: Soft-stem oolong is the original oolong species introduced to Taiwan from Fujian, China in the mid 19th century. Today, only a few farmers still grow soft-stem oolong out of nostalgia or special orders from clients. Many tea farmers have moved to heartier cultivars such as qingxin (青心)，jinxuen (金萱)，or four seasons (四季).

**A Taiwanese jin is 600 grams or about 20 ounces.

Floating Leaves' Taiwan Wuyi

Floating Leaves Tea Shop here in Seattle is one of my favorite places to buy tea. I frequently visit this small tea shop with my daughter while my wife is at work. We enjoy drinking some great tea and practicing our Mandarin with the owner, my good friend Shiuwen from Taiwan. She has some great connections and imports many wonderful oolong teas every season!

Last week I was inspired by Shiuwen's latest blog post about tea leaf cultivars commonly used in Taiwan. Click here to check it out. In that post she mentioned a Wuyi (武夷) style tea being grown in Taiwan. I am not clear if it is a specific Wuyi cultivar but I was very intrigued and decided to buy a couple ounces to taste at home.

Ready for some tea:

The Wuyi Mountains of Fujian province China have many famous heirloom tea plant cultivars. Although my personal experience with this region's tea is quite limited, I have tasted some lovely teas made from the Rougui (肉桂) (cinnamon), Shui Xian (水仙) (water fairy or narcissus), and Da Hong Pao (大紅袍) (big red robe) tea bushes. These teas often have long twisted leaves and a rich brown tea soup due to more oxidation and bake. They are also suitable for careful aging.

This morning I enjoyed the Floating Leaves "Taiwan Wuyi" using my small gaiwan about 60% full of dry leaf. These twisted leaves are very long and elegant. Many leaves are 2 to 3 inches long. They have subtle aroma that remind me of sweet red wine and raisins. I used boiling water and steeped the leaf seven times.

The tea soup:

This tea was lighter in color than I expected, most cups had a soft yellow color that just hinted at brown. The bottom of the gaiwan lid presented the brightest aroma, a little grassy but clean and nutty too. Each cup had medium body and various degree of roast. The taste was always smooth and roasty. It is a very tasty oolong tea.

In the end:

Taiwan Oolong Factoids

1. Immigrants from Fujian province brought tea bushes and oolong making skills with them to Taiwan around two hundred years ago.

2. Taiwan oolongs are sometimes called "Formosa Oolongs" by some North American and European tea vendors. Formosa (meaning beautiful island) was the name used for Taiwan by Portuguese sailors in 1544.

3. Taiwan oolongs can take 24 to 48 hours to make from start to finish. Often times the tea master does not sleep until the batch is finished.

4. To be labeled High Mountain Tea (高山茶), a tea must be grown over 1000 meters in places like Alishan (阿里山), Lishan (Pear Mountain) (梨山), Yushan (Jade Mountain) (玉山), Chilaishan (奇萊山), etc… The Hui Gan (returning sweetness) (回甘) is one of the most valued characteristics of these teas.

5. Many different tea plant cultivars are used to make unique oolongs in Taiwan. While they are all the same plant, they do have slightly different leaf shapes and flavors. Also, some cultivars will grow better than others in certain areas. Some cultivars I am familiar with are: Qing Xin (Green Heart) (青心), Oolong (Black Dragon) (烏龍)*, Tie Guanyin (Iron Goddess descended from the Anxi bushes) (鐵觀音)*, Fo Shou (Buddha's hand) (佛手), Jin Xuan (golden lily) (金萱), and Si Ji Chun (Four Seasons Spring) (四季春).

*Don't be confused by the words: "Oolong" and "Tie Guanyin" because they are commonly used for tea names and tea style names as well as tea leaf varietal names!

6. Depending on the elevation, Taiwan's tropical climate will allow tea to grow in all four seasons. It is generally thought that Winter and Spring tea is the best, with Winter tea having more strength, fruit, and aftertaste and Spring tea having a more refreshing, flowery, light taste. (But of course that is not always the case.) Teas grown over 2000 meters such as most Lishan and Chilaishan teas can usually only be harvested twice a year in Winter and Spring.

7. On 12/6/05, Lee Shen-chi (the president of Ten Ren Tea) paid US $14,400 for one jin (600 grams) of oolong tea! The tea was crafted by Lin Mei-mei of Meishan Township (梅山鄉) in Chiayi County (嘉義縣) and it had just won the top rank in a national Taiwan tea competition!

Charlies giving me a "Tea Roasting" lesson:

(Mature) Fo Shou varietal tea leaves:


Shiuwen (from Seattle's fabulous Floating Leaves tea shop) and I in Pinglin:

Tea Basics - Oolong

The word oolong comes from the Chinese words: 烏 meaning black (or dark) and 龍 meaning dragon. It is typically produced in China and Taiwan. There are hundreds of exciting and delicious types of oolong teas to discover. I will use the most common market names and add the Chinese characters to improve understanding.

To make oolong tea, carefully selected leaves are gently withered and bruised to start the oxidization process, then at just the right moment, sometimes 12 to 16 hours later, they will be shaped and fired. Oolong tea is produced in small batches and the flavor profile depends on the length of oxidation and the degree of roasting. The tea makers will often stay up for 24 to 48 hours to see a batch of oolong tea through all of the production steps. Because of the many variables involved, no two oolongs will ever be exactly the same.

There are many varieties of tea produced on the island of Taiwan. Some are lightly oxidized, such as Wenshan Baozhong (文山包種), which has a natural floral note and an almost sparkling sweetness. High Mountain Tea (高山茶) from Taiwan is grown over 1000 meters high in places such as Lishan (棃山) and Alishan (阿里山). They have amazing complexity, brilliant liquor and a lingering sweet aftertaste due to the cool air and misty weather in the mountains. Another exceptional oolong from Taiwan is Formosa Bai Hao (白毫), a higher oxidized tea which usually has a warming "honey-peach" aroma. This style of tea is sometimes called Dong Fang Mei Ren (Eastern Beauty) (東方美人). Tung Ting (Frozen Summit) (凍頂) is a famous tea from central Taiwan's Nantou (南投) county. It traditionally has a medium roast and medium oxidation.

China is the birthplace of many wonderful oolongs such as Tie Guanyin (Iron Guanyin) (鐵觀音). Although Tie Guanyin is traditionally a darker oolong with a sublimely smooth and roasty aroma, the latest trends in Tie Guanyin production seems to be a much lighter tea with a sweeter, buttery flavor.

Shui Xian (Water Fairy)(水仙), Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe)(大紅袍) and Rougui (Cinnamon)(肉桂) are a few of the wonderful heirloom cultivars of oolong tea found in the Wuyi Mountains (武夷山) of China's Fujian Province (福建省). These teas are sometimes called Yancha (cliff tea) (岩茶) because of the Wuyi mountain's rocky terrain.

High Mountain Tea Pluckers in Shizhuo (石桌), Taiwan:

Basket withering:

Oxidation on rattan racks:

My friend 明忠 roasting some oolong in an electric basket: