Yixing Ming Cha

Recently my family and I visited my wife's aunt Mel. Mel is a wonderful person, an incredible chef, and a connoisseur of spices and coffee.

One afternoon, Mel showed me a pretty tin of Chinese tea that a friend had given to her. She had no idea what kind of tea it was or how best to prepare it. She had tried several times to enjoy it but unfortunately she was never able to brew it well.

I recognized the four Chinese characters displayed on both sides of the tin. They said Yixing Ming Cha (宜興茗茶) which I translated as "young and tender tea leaves from Yixing." A close inspection of the dry leaf indicated to me that this is a green tea with lots of fuzzy silvery buds. It looked like it was already a year or two old but the combination of a foil bag packed inside of a tin seemed to have benefited the leaves as they still had a nice aroma. I told Mel what I knew about Yixing, and their famous clay teapots, but I admitted that I didn't know too much about teas from this area.

The dry leaf.

I made a noble effort to brew the tea using Mel's six cup stoneware teapot and tap water boiled in a sauce pan (we couldn't find her tea kettle). Mel, my wife, and I all tried a mug and agreed that it was flat, boring, and grassy. When I suggested that this tea might taste much better if it was brewed in a gaiwan using spring water Mel gave me the tea.

Today I'm giving this Yixing Ming Cha my full attention. I used fresh spring water at 170° F, one rounded teaspoon of dry leaf, and a small gaiwan. My first infusion was ~1 minute.

Turns out this is a good tea although it is getting stale. It was probably picked in the early spring of 2012. The liquor is light with medium body. It is not at all nutty or roasty but it's a little bit sweet with a clean aftertaste. During four satisfying infusions I got some subtle notes of honeydew melon and a brightness in my throat that reminded me of decent white tea.

This session inspires me to keep a look out for Yixing tea in the future. Have you had any experiences with, or do you have any more information to share about, teas from this fascinating part of China? Also, what is the difference, if there is one, between Yixing (宜興) and Yang Xian (陽羡)?

My Favorite Tea - ATB Blog Carnival

During an average week selling tea, I will be asked: "What is your favorite tea?" at least twice. Usually, I will answer that my favorite tea bounces around depending on my mood. Because I drink a huge variety of tea, this is pretty much the truth. But these teas are rarely consistent from season to season so it is impossible for me to pick a true "favorite." The best I can do is explain this to my clients and tell them more about whatever tea I'm currently the most excited about.

That being said, there is one tea that holds a special place in my heart, and it may surprise you to know that it is not an oolong or a puer tea. It is a humble and elegant Chinese green tea called Yang Xian Mao Feng (陽羡毛峰), and although I love any good tea, I am ready to announce Y.X.M.F.’s status as my "favorite tea."

The dry leaf:

Yang Xian (陽羡) is an ancient name for the Yixing (宜興) region of Jiangsu Provence (江蘇省) but this particular tea was grown in neighboring Zhejiang Provence (浙江省). Mao Feng (毛峰) translates to "hair tip" and generally refers to teas with a long twisted leaf shape.

My local friend and mentor Mr. Chen oversees the production and marketing of this organic green tea. I have been enamored of his teas for over ten years now.

A beautiful cup of green tea:

This is my favorite tea because of its healthy and pure taste. I never get tired of Y.X.M.F.’s crisp, nutty, and not-too-sweet flavor. I love it when it's farm fresh, and I love it when it's two years old. I love it when it's brewed strong and when it's brewed weak. I'd even drink it in a box with a fox. It's the tea I reach for when I want a cozy, comfortable and consistent pot of tea. It is my tea "soul food," and I drink it very often.

The spent leaves:

Do you have a favorite tea? I ask because I'm one of the electors for the up and coming "Tea Blogger's Choice Awards." I'm excited to make my nominations but I welcome my readers to comment this post with any suggestions for teas and vendors they think I should vote for.

This post is my contribution to today's Tea Blog Carnival as presented by the Association of Tea Bloggers. Our theme for this carnival is "What is your favorite tea?" You can find links to all of the other participating posts below:

Walker Tea Review
Notes on Tea
Joy's Teaspoon
The Devotea
Sip Tip
Tea Happiness
Tea for Me Please
The Cup that Cheers
Scandalous Tea
Gongfu Girl

Matcha Morning

It's a beautiful cool misty morning here in Burien, Washington. I've got the door open at Phoenix Tea and I can smell the sea. My tea of choice today is a high-quality matcha (抹茶) green tea called "御薄茶万代昔" from 上林春松本店 in Japan.

Big 謝謝 to my friend Jason for hooking me up with this delicious treasure.

2012 Pre-Qingming Da Fo Longjing

Last week I traded some tea with my generous friend Israel (of Tea Sleuth blog). One of the treasures I scored was this fresh Dragon Well green tea from Life in Teacup. This will be the first tea I've ever sampled from this company although I've been a devoted fan of proprietress Gingko's blog for several years.

The full name of this tea is 2012 Pre-Qingming Da Fo Longjing (明前頭採大佛龍井) and all of its vital statistics can be found here.

Each leaf and bud set has a similar size, shape and color (a mix of jade green, pea green and yellow). They are very beautiful and have a wonderful nutty, sweet, grassy aroma.

I selected a 100 ml gaiwan with about 3 grams of dry leaf for today's review. These parameters yielded three superb infusions with 165° F water. The first and second steeps were about 1 minute and the third was about 2 minutes.

The tea soup is a sunny yellow color with many tiny flecks of oil glistening on the surface. A preliminary sniff triggers salivation via its rich, toasty aroma. This tea is everything I look for in good Dragon Well green tea. It has a thick, brothy mouth-feel and a sweetness like fresh picked snow peas. 很好喝!

Genmaicha with Matcha

Today was cold and rainy here in Seattle. I made a pot of genmaicha with matcha for my afternoon tea. An unusual choice for me but it really hit the spot.

"美味しい"

Adagio Roots - Pi Lo Chun

Here in Seattle, I often see a bumper sticker that simply states "No Farms, No Food." It's so true and you can easily replace "Food" with "Tea."

Many people need to reestablish connections with the producers of their food and drink and this is one reason why the Association of Tea Bloggers is presenting a blog carnival to highlight Adagio's Roots campaign. The goal of this campaign is to celebrate the tea farmers that produce Adagio's tea.

Ten years ago, when I started selling loose leaf tea, not many companies were doing this. Old school tea sellers were woefully secretive and proprietary about their tea sources. Thankfully, the tea world is now better connected and better educated. Modern tea lovers demand a tea industry that is open, honest and friendly about where their teas are coming from. I believe that tea sellers should freely provide as much information about any tea they are selling as the customer wishes to know.

One tea that I now know the source of is Adagio's Pi Lo Chun (aka Bì Luó Chūn) (aka 碧螺春) (aka green snail spring).

This tea was produced by Huang Jian Lin in Jiangsu, China. I've even seen a photo of the man wearing camouflage pants and swinging a wicked looking stick.

(Photo courtesy of Adagio Tea Co.)

The man makes a fine tea. The dry leaf is very beautiful and has a sweet, nutty aroma. The flavor is brothy and satisfying. I'd say this bi luo chun is a little bit bolder than many of the other pricier bi lou chun teas I have tasted in the past. Huang's is also a bit more floral in my opinion.

Kudos to Adagio (and all the other worthy tea vendors out there) for introducing us to the makers of their teas and kudos to all the consumers, like myself, who care about this sort of thing!

You can find links to all the other ATB members who are participating in this blog carnival here:

Gongfu Girl

LeafJoy

Notes on Tea

The Tea Enthusiasts's Scrapbook

Tea For Today

Tea Pages

That Pour Girl

Walker Tea Review

Teaspoons and Petals

DoMatcha's Organic Ceremonial

Last week my good friend and former coworker Tiffany P. asked me if I'd like to review DoMatcha's Organic Ceremonial tea on my blog. I've had a couple of great experiences with DoMatcha's products in the past at World Tea Expo so I happily agreed. Just two days later a can of tea and a new bamboo whisk (aka chasen) appeared at my door!

You may already know this (but it bears repeating) in order to taste good, matcha must be prepared well. It really takes skill, and that means a lot of practice. I'm by no means a skilled matcha whipper. I've only had a couple of short tutorials and seen a few videos. I don't drink matcha very often but I am lucky to already possess a very nice Japanese matcha bowl and chasen.

This morning I set up a serene matcha tasting under my cherry tree. As I opened the can I was delighted to find a small red booklet explaining matcha preparation waiting under the lid. Very classy.

The tea smells fresh and has a lively green color. I'll try my best to whisk it well!

I used two scoops from my bamboo matcha scoop (aka chashaku) and a few ounces of 190° spring water. I whisked as smooth and quick as possible in a zig-zag pattern for about 20 to 25 seconds until it looked like this:

Wide shot:


Close up:

The tea has a heady, sweet aroma and felt rich and substantial in my mouth. The texture was not at all chalky. My tasting notes included green banana (in a good way), and sugar snap pea. My daughter, who has never tried matcha before, took one small sip and stated that "Drinking matcha tea makes me feel like a sweet apple." (It should be noted that she is three years old and happened to be eating an apple at the time.)

I don't claim to have a well developed palate for matcha tea but I'd rank this one as very good.

88 Treasures Tea (八十八寶茶)

A week ago, while browsing the tea aisle at 99 Ranch Market in Kent, a little red box of tea caught my eye. It was called 八十八寶茶 or 88 Treasures Tea, and I could see that it was from a tea company based out of Xining (西寧), China. It didn't cost too much so I decided to give it a try. In the least, it would make a good blog post.

You may already know that ba bao cha (eight treasure tea) is very popular in Xining. Eight is considered a lucky number to the Chinese and so the blend will always contains eight ingredients.

I looked closer at the package in my hand... and, sure enough, this blend appears to actually contain 88 ingredients!

I knew it would take me a hundred years to translate the packaging on my own, so I asked a Chinese friend who sometimes visits me at Teacup. He took the box home and then emailed me his translation a couple days later.

Here's what it says: "New Organic 88 treasure tea is the perfect, healthy gift for dad! Our unique blend of herbs and teas contains eleven times the power and longevity of simple eight treasures! Our tea is good for the prostate and vitality. Give dad the gift of life and great taste!"

The box even has a little picture of a young man giving a cup of tea to an older man printed above the product name. At this point it dawned on me that the 88 also appeals to the Chinese love of puns, because 88 and dad can both be pronounced "Ba Ba" in Mandarin. (That's why Chinese father's day is August 8th.)

So what's in the blend you ask? Here's the list that I was given:
Chrysanthemum, Astragalus, Wolf Berry, Jujube, Ginseng root, Tuckahoe, Tangerine Peel, Danshen, Snake Gourd Seed, Star Anise, Common Squill Bulb, Horsetail, Longstamen, Common Smoketree, Fritillary, Wax Gourd Peel, Sweet Osmanthus Flower, Dogbane Leaf, Rock Sugar, Ginko, Pricklyash Peel, Elm bark, Chamomile, Rosehips, Towel Gourd Stem, Raspberry leaf, Korean Monkshood, Loquat Leaf, Papaya leaf, Peppermint, Shanlu Tea, Spearmint, Drug Sweetflag Rhizome, Raisin, Oak Bark, Strawberry Leaf, Bat Guano, Vanilla, Passionflower, Kelp, Red Clover, Wild Cherry Bark, Rhubarb, Peony, Sand Root, Licorice Root, Damiana, Goldthread, Ma Huang, Hyssop, Candied Hawthorn, Stinging Nettle, Dong Quai, Lemon Peel, Puer Tea, Wintergreen, Tuberous Sword Fern, Lavender, Lemongrass, Bombax Flower, Ginger Root, Nux Vomica, Elder Flowers, African Plum, Salvia, Japanese Climbing Fern Spore, Nine Winter Monkey Tea, Echinacea, Marshmallow, Fermented Yarrow Flower, Clove, Lycopene, Water Vapor, Gut Flora, Selenium, Nut Husk, Saw Palmetto, Balloon Flower Root, Gypsum, Zinc, Snow Lotus, Urea, Dandelion, Valerian, Linear Stonecrop, Mustard Seed, Wooly Datchmanspipe, and Green Tea!

Here's what it all looks like:

I steeped it for five minutes in a small ceramic teapot (Chip to be precise) using boiling hot water...

...and here's the result:

So what does it taste like you ask? It's very sweet, with an odd metallic note and a surprisingly mild finish. The most noteworthy flavors were mud and syrup. I did pick up a little bit of gingery-heat in my throat about an hour after drinking.

As for the health benefits of imbibing so many exotic herbs... I really can't make any firm declarations. I feel a little bit light-headed and sweaty and my pee has never looked darker.

I probably won't drink 88 Treasures Tea again.

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?

Kama'aina Green and Oolong Teas

I was eating my lunch at Teacup last week when I got an unexpected phone call from the Mauna Kea Tea Company on the big island of Hawaii. The proprietress, Kimberly, and I had a nice discussion about her and her partner Takahiro's tea farm. I could tell that they had truly found their calling producing organic tea in Hawaii, so after our conversation, I went right to their website and ordered one 25-gram bag of both Kama'aina Oolong Tea and Kama'aina Green Tea.

A week later the teas arrived, and I am excited to now share my opinion of them in the following two reviews. Keep in mind that I had no idea what these teas would be like before I first opened the bags and inspected them. Only at that point was I able to attempt an educated guess on how best to brew them for my first time.

I started with the green tea on September 1, 2010. According to Kimberly this tea is "a mix of varieties picked on June 30th, July 5th, and July 6th." The dry leaf was quite lovely and had a pleasing toasty aroma. Because it kind of looked and smelled to me closer to a Chinese style green tea, I decided to use one teaspoon of dry leaf in a 5 ounce gaiwan, 170° spring water and a two minute steep.

Kama'aina Green

The resulting tea soup was a striking fluorescent yellow color. It smelled sweet and nutty and I was in love from my first sip. To me this green tea is very complex and satisfying. It was unique and familiar at the same time. It had moments that reminded me of my beloved Yang Xian Mao Feng (陽羡毛峰) green tea, but it also hinted at gyokuro in the aftertaste. My tasting notes were all over the place and included: buttery, macadamia nut, black peppercorn, sauteed Swiss chard, and raw summer snap peas. I would reorder this tea in a heartbeat.

Green's Tea Soup


Green's Leaves

I drank the Kama'aina oolong throughout the day on September 2, 2010. Its dry leaves looked similar to the green, but it also had flecks of yellow, gold and brown. This tea was harvested on May 20th and May 21st.

At first I decided to brew it like I normally would a hearty Chinese oolong. I used two teaspoons in a 5 ounce gaiwan and boiling water. I gave the leaves a five second rinse and proceeded to smell them. Unexpectedly, they had a grassy, earthy aroma that reminded me somewhat of Japanese bancha green tea.

Kama'aina Oolong

My first infusion was about 60 seconds with boiling water. It presented an amber-yellow color with a heady grass and wildflower aroma. My first exploratory sip yielded a harsh and disappointing liquor. I had clearly over-steeped it so I backed off quite a bit on the steeping time, but the obvious potential in these beautiful Polynesian leaves was proving highly elusive.

Oolong's Tea Soup

The mouth-feel was bold and thick but the taste was "blah." The aroma on the underside of the gaiwan lid, on the other hand, was intoxicating. It was so fruity and delicious. My wife was reminded of candied pineapples and I of passionfruit. The question became... "How do I get this aroma into the cup?"

So after 3 infusions I removed half of the leaves from the gaiwan and cooled my water down to about 180°. This method became my saving grace and the softer, sweeter soup that it now poured was milky, floral and smooth. I do like this tea but I think I need to brew it like the green tea.

Oolong's Leaves

Sugimoto's Spring 2010 Temomi Shincha

I recently treated myself to a selection of Sugimoto Tea Company's 2010 Shincha (新茶) for my own personal enjoyment. Today I am savoring the rarest of my new treasures, a tea called Temomi Shincha. According to my Seattle tea friend Kyohei Sugimoto, this tea was entirely handmade by his mother on April 23, 2010.

Look at these beauties.

I followed Kyohei's brewing instructions as seen on his blog (linked here) and steeped the tea five times. The broth had a pale yellow color with a thick sheen of tea oil sparkling on the surface. The aroma was sweet and pungent, reminding me slightly of newly mowed lawn and light spring rain.

I have never had a tea like Temomi Shincha before. It was extremely buttery, but also vibrant and grassy. It was a little bit like drinking warm unsalted vegetable broth and the tea left me feeling comfortable and nourished.

After the session I nibbled some of the spent leaves. They were the most tender tea leaves I have ever eaten!

Shanlu Green Tea

I recently treated myself to a rare Chinese tea called Shanlu Green Tea (山露綠茶). This beautiful, handmade tea is picked once a year in the hills surrounding Qi Shui village (汽水村) in China's Fujian province. It is know for having a distinctive sparkling sweetness and a hint of citrus aroma which is believed to come from the many lemon trees grown in the region.

The leaves look nice. They are mostly young leaf and bud sets with a humble pale green color and pleasant nutty smell. It's hard to believe that this totally normal looking Chinese green tea packs such a flavor punch!

a leaf and bud set

I used a heaping teaspoon per cup, 170° F water and a two minute steeping time. The resulting liquor had a vibrant green-yellow color and many more bubbles than any other green tea I've ever tried.

As advertised, the flavor was very sweet and bright with many unique citrus notes. In my tasting notes I had written: lemon rind, sparkly and sugary. I would not say that I love this green tea but it certainly was interesting.

Also, believe it or not, the Chinese say that Shanlu green tea has a higher than normal caffeine content then most other teas. I'm not sure why this is, but I definitely felt it. After tasting three infusions I was pretty buzzed. This might be a good tea to drink if you're into extreme sports.

Ba Bao Cha Revisited

Last year, I chronicled my first experience with Ba Bao Cha (八寶茶) (eight treasure tea). It is a blend of green tea, rock sugar, and eight different fruits and/or flowers and is a relatively popular beverage in certain parts of China. According to Google Analytics, my Ba Bao Cha post has brought more random searchers to this tea blog than any other post.

After reading my original review, my good friend and tea industry contemporary, Tiffany Picard, sent me 19 single-serving packets of different Ba Bao Cha blends. Because I am very seldom in the mood to drink flavored or sweetened tea, I decided that I would brew one packet every year around Christmas time.

This morning I decided it was time to try one, so I fired up the kettle and grabbed a gaiwan. Last year I used a larger teapot and omitted the sugar during brewing... but this time I emptied the entire contents of one small packet into the gaiwan (which is the traditional way to do it).

This was what was in the one packet that I chose to brew.

Steeping in the gaiwan.

I steeped the blend for 3 minutes with boiling water and then strained it into a decanter. I sipped it cautiously and noted its heady, perfume-like flavor. It is very sweet and fruity. My 22-month-old daughter, who is used to sampling a tiny bit of my tea, asked for a taste, so after it was cool enough I gave her a little sip. "Funny Tea!" she exclaimed. That cracked me up and we ended up talking about "the funny tea" for the rest of the day.

It tastes as "pretty" as it looks.

Keep in mind that Ba Bao Cha is not really "tea," it is a sweetened herbal beverage containing a little bit of tea. There are some people who believe the herbs it contains are particularly healthy or curative. While I can't speak to that, I do believe that it is much healthier to have a cup of all natural Ba Bao Cha than it is to drink soda or Kool-aid.

I steeped the Bao Bao Cha one more time and it was not nearly as good as the first brew. After a few more sips I started playing with the herbs to see just what I was drinking.

I found...

...a few chrysanthemum flowers,

some dried strawberry,

one rose bud,

three or four goji berries,

a plum, I think,


these weird little things,

a pinch of sad looking green tea,

one lonely nut of unknown name,

and an empty, mysterious pod, of unknown name.

I look forward to my third cup of Ba Bao Cha sometime in December 2010... but until then I think I'll go make myself a nice pot of Alishan!

The laid-back person's guide to brewing a good pot of green tea

Step 1 - Select a teapot. If you only have one teapot this should be easy. If you have several (like me) this step can sometimes be a bit tricky.

...eenie meeni miny moe...

Step 2 - Boil some good water.

(somebody must really like apples)

Step 3 - Put a basket style infuser of some sort into your teapot.

Step 4 - Put some dry tea into the infuser. Use about one teaspoon per cup. Don't over think.

Step 5 - Pour 160° to 180° F water over the tea leaves.

You can pour in some cool water or add an ice cube or two,
if you're worried about the temperature being too hot.


You can even use a thermometer if you have one,
but try not to worry too much if you don't.
Remaining "Laid-back" is always the most important thing.

Step 6 - Steep green tea for about 2 minutes.

I'm using my oven timer.
If you don't have a timer you can just guess.

Step 7 - Take the basket of tea out of the teapot.

This step is probably the most important because
green tea will get bitter if it's steeped too long.

Step 8 - Choose a tea cup. (Advanced tip: Try doing this step at the same time as step 6!)

Again, DON'T OVER THINK.
Any cup you pick will be just fine.

Step 9 - Pour the tea into your teacup.

I chose this cute little Peter rabbit cup!
(I'm not sure why it wont display "right-side-up"
because it's fine in iphoto.
There must be some weird html thing going on.)
Oh well, I'm much too "Laid-back" to worry about that right now.

Step 10 - Sip your tea.

Step 11 - Let out a happy, contented sigh.

Step 12 - (optional) Put a tea-cozy over your teapot.

This one looks pretty cool.

Uh. Festive... but No.

Oh Yeah, Chip you're looking sharp in that little coat!

Look out for more posts in my "Laid-back person's guide" to come in 2010.

Happy Solstice!