Tea Grotto Blog: Category Tea’s Roots

Indian Tea Tour

Jeremy Wilkins — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:51:00 -0700

Darjeeling and Dooars

The purpose of this tour is for tea professionals to deepen their understanding of tea processing and tea tasting. You will have the opportunity to visit tea plantations and experience the whole process of tea making, from plucking to withering, and even firing and sorting your own picked tea. This tea tour will take place in the Darjeeling and Dooars regions, and will last 10 days.

For each step of the tea making process you will be given a class, which will allow you to appreciate the finer aspects involved in tea making. You will also be given the opportunity to fine-tune your tasting skills by differentiating teas that have had too harsh of a wither vs. teas that has been fired or oxidized too long.

In Dooars, you will see an in-depth look at CTC processing. There will also be a day to experience the charming city of Darjeeling where you can take the toy train, visit Tibetan monasteries, and shop at any of the quaint markets.

Jungpana and Ghatia Tea Plantations

jungpana

Nestled in the verdant slopes of the mighty Himalayas, the tiny, south facing tea estate of Jungpana has been enchanting tea lovers for over a century with its famous, muscatel flavor. Its unique flavor is due to its location and altitude; the tea bushes are of the China variety, and of course to the consistent standards of excellence maintained through out the entire manufacturing process. Jungpana rests in Darjeeling and its elevation ranges from 3000 ft to 5000 ft. It has consistently been fetching the highest prices at the auctions and are also retailed from such reputed and famous gourmet outlets like Harrods and Fortnum and Mason in London and Mariage and Fauchon in Paris. Its legend:

Jungpana: The Legend

Legend has it that many years ago a British hunter was roaming the Himalayas with his faithful Gurkha Jung Bahadur by his side where they were attacked by a leopard. In trying to save his master Jung Bahadur was severely mauled before his master dispensed with the beast. Jung Bahadur was weak and thirsty and asked his master for ‘pana’ or water. He was carried to a nearby stream and given water to drink but died in his master’s arms soon thereafter. Ever since that moment, the area has been known as Jungpana or where Jung Bahadur had his last drink of water. The tea estate, planted later, carries the name today.

Ghatia

Ghatia is a beautiful estate that lies on the border of the tiny mountain kingdom of Bhutan. A beautiful, bright, golden color and a rich, creamy body characterizes the teas it produces. Ghatia too, has established a consistent standard of excellence and regularly tops the Siliguri auction average. It has a devoted and loyal following in the domestic Indian market. Ghatia is at a height of 1000 ft. to 1200 ft. The garden has sections dating back to 110 years. The British planted it and the Kejriwals bought this estate from Dooars Tea Co., in 1975. Dooars Tea Co. was a sterling tea co. meaning it was registered in the UK. It was initially a leg cut estate meaning the estate produced leg cut teas while presently the teas produced are CTC.

Harsh Kerjiwal

Tea appreciation, as Harsh says, can only happen when you’re living, breathing, walking and sleeping tea at all times—an experience that you will embrace when you come to one of our plantation destinations for this personalized appreciation course. While a “classroom” session might have piqued your interest in this wonderful beverage, Harsh extends you an invitation to come and complete this journey by experiencing tea the way the planters do.

Harsh Kejriwal, owner and managing director of Rungamattee Tea, took over the reigns of the family tea company in 1970. Over the past 35 years, Harsh has spent countless hours mastering the science and art of manufacturing the world’s finest cup of tea.

Harsh has drawn extensively on his engineering background from the University of Michigan in creating robust quality control processes that ensure only the highest quality in every cup produced by Rungamattee.

With the aid of managers who adhere to the strict standards he has set, Harsh personally oversees the management of Jungpana, Ghillidary, Ghatia and Chandighat—the four estates that constitute the Rungamattee boutique. This personal attention is evident in these brands consistently commanding the highest prices in the open auction system.

Harsh’s passion for producing the best tea is driven by his desire to drink the best tea. Harsh is excited at the opportunity to share his passion of tea with you and welcomes you to come and learn what goes into creating the world’s finest cup of tea!

For itinerary, more information, and to sign up, please download this printable flyer.

The Making of Oolong Teas

Rebecca Sheeran — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:07:00 -0700

Now that I have traveled to two tea producing countries during first flush (spring picking) tea processing, I can really see the differences they talk about in all of my certification classes. Last year in India I saw big rolling tea fields with major factories for processing. This year in Taiwan I saw lots of spotted areas of little tea fields and families each processing their own picked tea. India produces some of the worlds best black tea while Taiwan some of the worlds leading Oolong teas.

Black teas are 100% oxidized and Oolongs are partially oxidized. The oxidation levels are one of the reasons you get such different tastes in the different types of teas. While each type takes many people and lots of time processing, Oolong teas really require time and attention. Processors alternate between a short firing and rolling process—sometimes 20 times—staying up until the wee hours in the morning. This was in the Nantou region where the processing and shape of the tea is very different from the Pinglin area.

During my trip to Taiwan, I met Jackson Huang, former tea association chairman. He took me to Nantou to see tea processing on Tung Ting Mountain. After parting ways I decided to try my luck in Pinglin, which is famous for Pouchong Oolongs, which have a lighter taste than other oolongs and are not rolled.

I had to take the underground MRT and then a bus from Taipei. This was a bit of a challenge because all of the buses had the Chinese characters for Pinglin. After showing the map to many other bus goers, I was on my way.

Pinglin was full of tea farms, very quiet and peaceful with sounds of the river and birds. I headed for the tea museum and had gongfu style tea in the tea house at the museum. It obviously had good feng shui. It felt peaceful as I drank my tea by the fountain and viewed many flowers and a huge statue of Kuan Yin. My intuition told me that almost very one in this town knew someone or had something to do with tea and that it wouldn’t be hard to find my way onto a plantation. I asked a young lady at the counter if her family had a tea garden. After about 20 minutes of trying to talk because one of us spoke only English and one spoke mainly Chinese, and we were just learning how to use a translating computer, a gentleman showed up whose family owned a tea farm. He happened to speak English and was happy to let me help process tea. He couldn’t understand why I would want to do this because to him it was boring. He kept asking me if I was sure and then agreed.

I was escorted from field to field as we discussed the intricacies of tea. I was shown hand plucking fields vs. machine cutting. I learned that unlike black teas you don’t pick oolong tea when it is raining because they are partly solar withered. In India where they produce mainly black tea, they have big withering troughs that blow air through them to dry the tea, so it’s okay if it’s picked during the rain. Withering is an important part of the processing: the tea has to be dried perfectly, neither too quickly nor too slowly. The taste is completely changed if, for example, the withering was too hard.

I was able to learn how to pick tea leaves. What I really learned was that it takes up to a year to really know how. I was corrected many times on where to pick and how to pull it off. It was also nice learning that the workers I was with enjoyed what they were doing. I asked them if they liked their job and they responded with smiles saying “we love picking tea, we can be with our friends and talk about our families all day.”

After seeing all the fields we went to his home where they did all the processing. Withering can take 10 to 12 hours, and depends on the weather conditions. During this time there were lots of talks and food. I had tea leaves that were exactly two leaves and a bud lightly breaded. It had a nice crunch and a slight bit of astringency at the end.

Withering doesn’t just consist of the leaves sitting in the sun for 10–12 hours. First, they are solar withered for about 2 hours then they are placed in round flat baskets for about two hours, then shaken, left for another 2 hours, shaken again, then left for 2- 3 hours and then put into a tumbling machine to ensure even drying for about 4 minutes, then back in the baskets for another 3 hours, re-tumbled for 10 minutes and given a final 3 hours to finish withering. Whew! It’s a process. And just think, we are only paying $5-15ish for 50 grams. I am continually impressed with all of the work that goes into our cups of tea.

After the tea is withered, it’s fired for about 6 minutes (280-320 degrees Celsius (?)). Then rolled (actually squishing the leaves to break open the cell walls, which helps the smell and taste) for 2-3minutes. Then the tea is tumbled again to loosen the tightness of the leaves. Next they are baked in a machine that just passed the leaves through heat for about 5 minutes at 100 degrees Celsius. Finally, the leaves are put in another baking machine where the leaves just sit and bake for 1-2 hours at about 75 degrees Celsius. This is quite a process. I was very happy to participate in the processing and again grew to love tea more. Seeing the work behind the drink I enjoy everyday deepened my appreciation for it.

New Friends and Thunder Tea

Rebecca Sheeran — Mon, 28 May 2007 11:30:00 -0700

While staying in my hotel I met a lovely woman who didn’t really speak English and I spoke even less Chinese. I was able to say xie xie meaning thank you and ni hao which is hello and of course cha for tea and that was the extent of my vocabulary. She spoke more English than that but not a whole lot. This lead to quiet an adventure between a woman with great hospitality and love for helping people and another woman with such a love for tea she’d follow you anywhere if there was a promise for experiencing something new about tea.

As we attempted to communicate in the hotel she understood I was in Taiwan to learn about tea. She said ‘me my family….miaoli (a city in Taiwan)....powder tea…my family miaoli …you come?” She said tea so I followed. I immediately thought well, I ‘ve never heard that they powder tea in Taiwan only in Japan, maybe they powder it for cooking or something and I can at least see the concept of powdering tea.

So off we went on a drive to miaoli. A nice but taxing drive with two people trying to talk and not really being able to.

After arriving in miaoli, meeting the family and seeing their house (just lots of warm smilies between human strangers communicating through their eyes) we arrived at what I understood to be her sisters daughters shop. It looked like a tea shop one would come to drink tea. She took me over to a table with a ceramic bowl that had indentations in the bottom and a stick. This was my first indication that I wasn’t really going to see powdered tea processing but I remained excited to see what was next.

She brought out tea leaves, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and peanuts. We put the tea leaves in the bowl and “powdered” them with the stick. After the leaves became broken up we put in the sesame seeds and ground them until they started to become more like a paste or dough. We did this with the rest of the ingredients and then she brought a powder mix (which I learned later through extensive translating efforts that the mixture was all kinds of nuts, rice, beans and herbs). After about 20 minutes we added hot water and drank. It was good.

I think because of my love for tea and the adventure and the whole process of making it I loved it. I’ve brought all the utensils and ingredients home to determine its worth. She said that on the weekends lots of local young people come and enjoy time together and making tea. Turns out it is called le cha or Thunder tea. It was a recipe from the Hakka people (the original Taiwanese people). They used this method more as a meal than anything.

My new found friend Ms. Lee and I beamed with smiles and talked with our eyes on the trip back to Taipei.

Tea Travelogue

Rebecca Sheeran — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 11:47:00 -0700

I’m in Taiwan and happen to be with one of the major tea importers and exporters of the country, Jackson Haung. Mr. Haung has been in the tea business for 45 years and was the former chairman of the Taiwan’s tea manufacture association. Taiwan is famous for producing some of the world best Oolong teas. It has over 13,000 local tea family farmers, now that the government doesn’t control production of its tea plantations. It produces 20,000 tons of Oolong tea each year, while importing 25,000 tons of black and green tea.

I learned something else fun from him yesterday during our conversations. Sencha and Matcha powders can be powdered in two different ways:

Using a traditional stone grinding technique or
by freezing the loose leaf tea to make it hard then using high pressured air to powder it.

Speaking of matcha, the U.S. is just now learning about how healthy Japanese Matcha powder is. When one consumes the ground leaf, they are getting the added benefit of protein and beta carotene that do not steep into the liquor when drinking loose leaf. Additionally, because you are drinking the leaf, you get more vitamin C and catechins (colorful compounds with antioxidant properties) than you would by drinking regular tea. I learned yesterday from speaking with Mr. Haung that powdered sencha delivers even more nutrients than matcha powder, as matcha is shade-grown and sencha is grown in sunlight. He drinks a cup of powdered sencha every day along with three cups of guava “tea” for insulin and 3 cups of Oolong.

Hot Water for Tea

Lhasha Tizer — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:59:00 -0800

Tea is naught but this:
First you heat the water,
Then you make the tea.
Then you drink it properly
That is all you need to know.

Rikyu

Having recently returned from Kyoto, Japan home of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, Chanoyu, the living presence of “hot water for tea” is alive within me. The wabi/sabi aesthetic of the many tea rooms we visited, especially those handcrafted gems of antiquity whose earthy simplicity and rusticness blend the art of both man and nature, captures the zen of tea.

Matcha the green tea powder derived from Japanese tea called Gyokuro is composed of shade grown leaves minus the stems and then steamed and ground. It is a smooth, grassy, umami flavor unique in both it’s texture and taste. Whipped either to a frothy foam in Usucha, thin tea or kneaded in to a thicker tea drink called Koicha it is always the right amount (about one-third of a cup) of hot, good quality water that makes the tea superior or inferior.

Being present to watch the tea being made and all the preparation involved in making a simple bowl of tea is what makes the experience so profound. In our book Tea Here Now Chapter 5 The Japanese Tea Ceremony we say:

”...Chanoyu teaches us to move slowly treating every utensil as a prized possession, and helps the body to absorb these movements through artful, focused repetition. When the whisk for whipping the tea into a frothy foam is set down on the mat, it is placed just so, as we move from our center with our hands, arms, and even each finger in a certain manner. We breathe keeping our head straight, allowing our shoulders to be relaxed, and not forgetting that the tea is being made for a special guest.”

Oolong Tea

Rebecca Sheeran — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 09:55:00 -0800

The term oolong means “Black dragon,” which some believe comes from the legend that a tea plantation owner was scared away from his drying leaves when he saw a black snake. Later, when he returned, the leaves had baked in the sun and the leaves where a darker color due to oxidization. Others say it is called “black dragon” because of oolong’s shape and color.

In the tea industry this tea can be called an oolong (pronounced “oo” “long”) or wulong (“wu” “long”). Both are perfectly correct due to the fact that in taiwan they pronouce it oolong and in China they pronouce it wulong. China and Taiwan are very well known for producing the worlds best oolongs.

Oolongs are teas that have been partially oxidized. Oxidation levels can vary greatly in oolongs, which creates many flavors. A lightly oxidated tea like a Jade oolong (8% to 10% oxidized) can remind someone of a green tea. However, oolongs are more complex than green teas. Jade oolongs can have floral, fruity, and lightly sweet notes. Other oolong teas that are more heavily oxidized can produce a much darker cup with roasted toasty notes. Many people consider oolong a beautiful category of tea between green and black that produces a wide range of complex and enjoyable flavors.

The processing of oolong teas is labor intensive and can vary greatly depending on the type of oolong tea that it will become. In general, the tea leaves are plucked, withered (allowed to dry), rolled and shaped, oxidized, fired, and then some are baked.

Taiwan’s Oolong Tea

Lhasha Tizer — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:30:00 -0800

Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa, translates as “beautiful island” which it most surely is. A sub tropical gem south of Japan and mainland China it has a climate which lends itself naturally to the cultivation of fine tea. The central mountains form the backbone of terrain where gracious hillsides are terraced with stands of camellia senensis and assamica. Lush, emerald greenfoliage adorns the mountain slopes and embraces the tea plants in their forested homes.

The world’s most treasured jade green oolongs grow high up on these slopes, prized for their unique, floral fragrance, lingering, smooth aftertaste and distinct appearance; tightly semi-rolled balls from whole, hand-picked leaves. The higher up on the mountain the more valuable the tea. Teas with names such as Ali Shan and Tung Ting, partially oxidized tea (15%-30%), are served by tea farmers to domestic and international tourists in a large living room style section of their home on tables made from the roots of giant Cypress trees. These amazing tables hold tea trays that water can be poured liberally over to purify, warm, and infuse small tea cups, a large gaiwan and tea leaves. The gaiwan is filled between a third to half full with the leaves and allowed to steep about one minute. Infusion after infusion is sipped and enjoyed in this manner allowing each person to smell, taste, and watch the tea transform. This process invites us to both enjoy and determine which tea suits you best and then to purchase. If you get the chance try some of these oolongs the next time you go to the Tea Grotto or ask the friendly folks there to order some if they are not in stock! These are some of my favorite teas in the world. I hand carried a gift if Ali Shan back from taiwan and had to learn to brew it right and now It is one of my favorite brews.

Lhasha Tizer
co-author Tea Here Now
http://www.teaherenow.com