Tea Grotto Blog

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.

New Happenings at the Tea Grotto

Jeremy Wilkins — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:59:00 -0700

We are pleased to present new events at The Tea Grotto.

Live music every Saturday in April from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Sunday Afternoon at the Tea Grotto (see below)

Gallery Stroll every third Friday (music, tea tasting, and a new artist) We also have all new food! Sandwiches, soup, burritos, tea pairings and desserts.

The Tea Grotto and SoulSalt, Inc present: Sunday Afternoon at the Tea Grotto 2:00 – 3:00 pm First Sunday of each month

April 6th Health benefits of tea by Rebecca Sheeran and Living by your core values by Lyn Christian, SoulSalt, Inc.

May 4th Colors of tea by Rebecca Sheeran and a Color presentation by Kristan Frei

June 1st Chai by Rebecca Sheeran and Adding spice to your life by (Shelley Jarrard)

July 6th Tea as a lifestyle by Rebecca Sheeran and Spiritual aptitude by Deb Sylvester

Living By Your Core Values by Lyn Christian, SoulSalt, Inc.

So what exactly is a core value system? Great question. To find the right answer, we have to actually ask ourselves a different question: What are my highest priorities, the themes and aspects of character that draw me out, attract my admiration and resonate with my soul? While there are enduring and globally inherent elements that could seem to standardize the definition of ‘core value system’ for the human race, the truth is, each person has a unique way of expressing and articulating not only what their own values are but also what the concept of a core value system means to them.

Soothe Stress with Black Tea

Jeremy Wilkins — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:47:00 -0700

According to researchers at the University College London, those who drink black tea are able to de-stress more quickly than those drinking a placebo. The stress hormone cortisol (associated with all manner of ails), spikes during a fight-or-flight response, and it’s abatement in the body is much faster for someone who’s recently had a cup of black tea.

Additionally, people who drank black tea regularly (four times daily for six weeks) were found to have lower baseline levels of cortisol.

So—as if you needed any more reason to steep up your favorite black tea—go ahead and add serious stress reduction to your long list of tea health boons.

Sorry for the Downtime

Jeremy Wilkins — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:33:14 -0800

Hello everyone, just wanted to let you know that we experienced a couple days of downtime because we’d forgotten to check the automatic renewal of our hosting services. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for visiting us!

Sultry Summertime Tea

Lhasha Tizer — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:11:00 -0700

In Tucson, Arizona summer begins earlier than in most places. We actually have 2 summers here. The first is hot and dry with temperatures well into the 100’s and the second is the Monsoon season, a time of moisture, rain, magnificent cloud formations, and thunder and lightening. It is this life giving water that once again revitalizes the high, Sonoran desert; succulents and cactus swell in size producing buds and flowers, desert plants thrive and the animals, bird life, and insects are abundant. This is the source of that wonderful Prickly Pear that so delights the ice teas blends that we enjoy.

The summer is not my favorite time of year because it means negotiating with high heat and sometimes humidity that creates some physical discomfort. But over the years I have learned to adapt and even appreciate this creation of nature. Summer here is like winter in other places, you stay indoors in the daytime and come out in the morning and evening. The city quiets down with so many people leaving on vacation, the “snow birds” are long gone, and the University is at a very minimal enrollment. The streets are empty and traffic congestion eases, this is grand.

So I make the best of those early mornings that are filled with dragonflies and hummingbirds hovering over my back yard garden as I slowly sip and savor the light green, bud abundant, elegant, Lung Ching green tea (pronounced lone jin) from China. Green and white teas are energetically cooling to the body according to Traditional Chinese medicine. So even if you drink them warm they still have this cooling effect. Anyway I am very partial to hot, brewed tea unless it is late afternoon and I need a cold pick-me -up. So I sit outside and watch the sights, I close my eyes and listen to the lyrical song of singing birds, and smell the amazing scent of the Chaparral bush emanating its distinct, pungent aroma aroused by the rain.

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.

Nature and Tea Drinking

Lhasha Tizer — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 10:11:00 -0700

It is that time of year when the natural world beckons, calling us to be present and appreciate it splendor and bounty. Easily we move ourselves out of doors as the weather warms and the springtime bursts forth in its amazing display of foliage and life force. As we step outside we are reminded what a “miracle of vegetation” tea really is and that the Ancients experienced tea drinking directly within the mountainous regions of old China, Korea and Japan. Here hermit aesthetics and sages, founders of both Taoism and Zen developed the true ‘way of tea”.

The practice of drinking tea in gardens was contrived and developed to preserve this pristine environment and experience. Nature inducted the monks and lay practitioners in to heightened states of awareness and meditative bliss. Tea taken in these surroundings awakened an inherent sensitivity. When the senses are engaged in tea drinking the whole person is enlivened and one is more likely to experience “ …the taste that tea and meditation are one”.

I have once again returned to my element sipping wonderfully refreshing, fragrant teas in my back yard garden in the early morning. I am entertained by mockingbirds, sparrows, finches, and hummingbirds both serenading and performing flying dances that confound my eyes. Enlivened by night-blooms of various exotic cactus plants, datura blossoms, aromatic herbs, and perennial flowers from calendula to roses I sit entranced savoring the tea. Without much effort nature invites us to open up and enjoy the gentle warmth of the air, the aliveness of the season, and the relaxation contained in enjoying this moment with a cup of well-brewed tea.

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.”