A 1999 Wild Tree Loose Leaf Sheng Puer

Back in 2008, I purchased 600 grams of an amazing loose leaf sheng puer (生普洱) in Yingge (鶯歌), Taiwan. I drank it with an old man and his wife at their sleepy little puer and teapot shop (one of many) located near Yingge's old street. They appeared to be blown away by the idea of a young(ish) American who enjoyed drinking puer tea. I told them that I knew quite a few like-minded tea lovers but I'm not sure they believed me. They shared a few interesting factoids about this tea with me but unfortunately my limited Mandarin comprehension skills yielded only the following: it was made from wild trees in Xishuangbanna (西雙版納) in 1999.

The dry leaves are very long, twisted and mostly intact. They have a beautiful mix of gold, yellow, forest green and brown colors and a sweet spicy aroma. This aroma is softened by little hints of plum, pine and raisin. In order to keep the leaves safe during their long trip home to Seattle, the old man packed them gently into three large bags and then put them into boxes. I thanked him well for helping me to protect the fragile leaves.

the dry leaves

Today I filled a gaiwan half-way-full with dry leaf and used boiling hot water. After a five second rinse the leaves now look dark and have a prune and forest aroma. The liquor is fragrant like spiced wine and pours a beautiful amber color. The flavor is pretty sweet with playful little herb and grass peaks. At times it reminds me of a nice Yunnan golden bud black tea (only much lighter). My tasting notes for today's 7 infusion session included sandalwood, Darjeeling tea, and ripe stone fruits. I feel serenity and bliss while drinking this tasty puer tea.

the tea soup

How long does bulk tea last?

Customer - "How long does bulk tea last?"

I get asked this question (or some variation of it) at least once a day at work. It can sometimes be hard to provide a satisfying answer because there are so many variables involved.

During my last eight years selling loose leaf tea, I have developed a suitable response for answering this question. My response, like all tea knowledge, is constantly evolving as I collect data and experiences. Depending on the specific situation, my answer will usually sound something like this:

Brett - "It really depends on the tea. For most seasonal greens and lighter teas I would recommend drinking it up within six months, but blacks and other darker teas will usually taste fresh for as long as a year or two. Roasted oolongs and puer teas can last a very long time if properly stored and flavored tea and most herbals will usually last about two years. Bulk tea doesn't really go bad but it will get stale and loose its flavor... and all of this is subject to how well it has been stored..."

As you can see, this question often segues to other important discussions about tea intricacies. The trick is to meet the customer at their current tea knowledge level. Instead of overloading them with with tons of data, I prefer to tailor the conversation to the specific teas that they are most interested in.

I'd love to hear some of your own experiences regarding tea's shelf life. When do you throw away your old tea leaves and do you currently have any teas (besides puer and aged oolong) that are over three years old and that you're still drinking? If so, how do they taste now compared to when they were fresh?

My Spring 2010 Tea

One week ago I made 6.5 grams of finished tea from my two backyard tea plants. If you want to read about how it was made click here.

Here's a picture of it:

I thought I was making an oolong tea. Though it is semi-oxidized, I think it is more like a white peony tea. In fact, in many ways, I think I made almost the same tea I made last year... only this time I don't think I baked it long enough because it still had a limp feeling and smelled a bit musty by the time I brewed it. Interestingly, I baked this tea twice as long as I did last year. Maybe this year's tea had a higher water content to begin with? Or maybe (and perhaps more likely) it was the bowl I baked it in this year, which was thicker and deeper than last year's baking dish. It is a good thing I've been taking such good notes. Now maybe if I just start to pay attention to what I'm doing, I can learn from my past mistakes and start to make better tea in the future.

On Saturday morning (5/1/10), my friends David, Gwen, James, Andrew and Chris joined me at Teacup to taste my home grown tea. I chose Vortex to do the honor of brewing my creation. I used all the leaf and started with a 3 minute 190° steep. It was way too weak... but the tasters were complimentary of the brew saying it had potential and a pleasant "tingle" in the mouth.

The second steep was boiling water for 5 minutes. Much better... but still too light. David noted that this infusion had a nice flavor reminiscent of decent quality Assam Indian white tea. He also commented about my tea possessing a certain unique flavor that he has tasted in all of the Washington State teas he has previously sampled.

A photo of the second infusion:

The third steep (10 minutes with boiling water) and the fourth steep (15 minutes with boiling water) were well liked by all tasters. Chris likened the aroma to a brewery he once knew and Andrew spoke of its interesting herbaceous flavors (perhaps from the giant rosemary plant that grows right next to the main tea plant). The fifth infusion (also 15 minutes with boiling water) was pleasant but once again yielded a very weak flavor. After five infusions we called it quits.

In closing, I'd say that this spring's tea was pretty good and that I learned a little bit more about making tea. Hopefully, I'll get another chance to practice in the summer.

It was a very rewarding exprerience to make my own tea completely from scratch!

The beautiful spent leaves:

Teacup Tea Classes - May 2010

I am excited to host these two brand new tea classes this month at Teacup (2128 Queen Anne Ave. N. Seattle, WA, 98109).

May 13, 2010 - 7:00 to 8:00 pm
Introduction to Puer Tea - I'm finally teaching a puer tea class at Teacup! In this class we'll talk about different puer tea varieties and production methods. I will bring in several examples of young and aged tea to taste and we will use traditional Chinese teaware for a more authentic sampling experience.

May 20, 2010 - 7:00 to 8:00 pm
Tea Hardware Show-and-Tell - In this class we will explore many different kinds of teaware from around the world. I will bring in some of my own beautiful, and interesting teaware for show-and-tell and each guest should bring at least one tea related item as well. We will discuss what makes a good teapot, kettle, strainer, cozy or other "tea gadget," and share a sampling of fine teas brewed using our own special "tea hardware."

These evening classes cost $3 per guest and require a RSVP. It's sometimes OK to RSVP even on the same day. You may RSVP anytime by visiting or calling the Teacup (206-283-5931) or by emailing me at blackdragontea@gmail.com. I will let you know as new classes are scheduled, and please feel free to suggest a class idea on a subject you'd like to learn more about. I hope to see you soon at a class!

My Favorite Piece of Teaware

As part of a tea blog carnival with some other members of the Association of Tea Bloggers, I'm excited to present this post about my favorite piece of teaware!

I do have a fair amount of great stuff, so you might think it would be pretty hard to choose just one particular piece worthy of the title "My Favorite Piece of Teaware."

... but really it wasn't. I immediately thought of ...

This Thing!

I bought this pretty wooden strainer from Yoon Hee Kim at the 2009 Northwest Tea Festival. From the moment I first laid eyes on it I was smitten. I started using it right away to brew samples of tea for festival guests and was quite impressed by the rich and fragrant tea it helped me to produce.

I love this strainer for many reasons: its smooth, knotty texture; the tender way it catches the leaves that flow through it; and its earthy-woody smell when it gets wet. It has a strange way of possessing my hands, causing them to crave its touch. I also love how it has a little notch carved out of it so that it sits comfortably on the rim of most cups and decanters. On top of all that, it is beautiful, natural, portable, rustic and highly functional. What more could one ask for!

In the past six months, this strainer has helped me brew hundreds of great cups of tea for my friends and myself. It does impart a tiny bit of pleasant woody flavor to my the tea but I really don't mind. There is something special about the tea that passes through this strainer and I hope it lasts a very long time!

Spring 2010 Harvest Report

The South Seattle Tea Estate's first harvest of 2010 took place on April 26, 2010 at 8:00 AM. The weather was 55° F, overcast and a little bit windy. The actual harvest lasted about 15 minutes and yielded 93 individual leaf-and-bud sets weighing in at 19 grams.

The young, tender leaf-and-bud sets just before harvest.

The total 19 gram harvest.

First the leaves were withered indoors (at around 68° F) in the green stoneware bowl pictured above for 5.5 hours. Then a plate was put over the bowl, to act as a lid, as I shook the leaves very vigorously for 3 minutes. At this point the leaves were uncovered and allowed to oxidize in the bowl for about 16 hours. During this oxidation time, I occasionally mixed the leaves gently and sniffed their developing sweet aroma.

After 5.5 hours of withering and 6 hours of oxidation:

At 5:15 AM on April 27, 2010, I preheated my electric oven to 250° F and baked the bowl of leaves for 22 minutes (mixing once during the bake). After the bake, I transferred the leaves to a cool bowl, then, once the leaves had cooled down, I weighed them. The total yield of finished tea was 6.5 grams. Finally I put my newborn oolong tea into a little glass jar to wait until its debut later this week.

6.5 grams of finished tea:

I am looking for a few tea friends to join me at Teacup on Saturday May 1st at 9:30 AM for a free tasting of my home-grown tea. All are welcome. Please contact me if you'll be able to come.

The laid back person's guide to boiling water for tea.

Depending on who you ask, hot water is pretty important for proper tea brewing. Some people do use cold water but that tends to take much longer and so, like most people, I prefer to use the hot stuff when I brew my tea. Boiling water is very hot... but you don't have to worry about that... just follow these 5 easy steps and you'll be staring at a vessel of scalding hot water in no time!

Step 1 - Find some clean fresh water. Those of us who live in urban areas will often find it lurking in faucets or hoses, while rural water usually hides out in lakes, rivers and glaciers. Should you happen to live in a very dry place you may need to use a dowsing rod.

Exhibit A - Fresh water in its natural habitat.

Exhibit B - An average everyday elephant head faucet.

Step 2 - Pour the water into a heating vessel. A stove-top kettle or an electric kettle is preferred, but a metal cooking pan (MCP) will work in a pinch.

Exhibit C - One totally awesome tea kettle!

Exhibit D - Your typical MCP

Step 3 - If you're using a stove-top kettle or a MCP, put it on a burner and turn the heat to its highest setting. If you are using an electric kettle, follow the manufacturer's recommendations for turning it on (usually there is some sort of switch manipulation involved).

WARNING: Do not let your out-of-town guests accidentally put your electric kettle on a hot stove-top burner as this will result in melting plastic and toxic fumes which are generally considered bad for tea making.

Exhibit E - NOOOOO ! ! ! !

Step 4 - Wait. In my opinion, this is the easiest of the five steps. You can use this down time to catch up on some other tea making steps, use the bathroom, or just zone out. Feel free to watch the pot if you want to, because numerous experiments have proven that, contrary to some household myths, "pot watching" does not effect boiling.

Step 5 - Turn the heat off when the water starts boiling. Some kettles will whistle when this happens, but if yours does not, or if you are using a MCP, the vessel will also shake, rattle and produce lots of steam. The water inside it will look hot and bubbly. All of these are good signs that your water is now boiling! Electric kettles, on the other hand, will turn themselves off when they have reached boiling. That moment is often accompanied by a satisfying little "click" sound.

Exhibit F - Mission Accomplished!