On a recent visit to Taiwan, we were lucky to be escorted up to a Da Yu Ling tea farm, high in the Lishan mountain range. After seeing the tea farm, we understand why Da Yu Ling tea is so precious--there is so very little produced. Take a short trip with us to Da Yu Ling....
Recently in artisanal tea Category
This got me thinking that it is important to take a small vacation each day, and having a daily tea ritual fits nicely into this logic. While I don't see tea friends in person everyday, I do think of them when I have my tea, as I have bought or received tea ware from some of them.
My wood bark display dish was a gift from Shiu Yuen Li, a Singaporean teacher of tea culture who lives in Taiwan; my tea tray comes from my friend, Shiuwen Tai of Floating Leaves, my gaiwan and serving pitcher from Roy Fong of Imperial Tea Court, aroma cups from friends at Pure Puer who brought them back to me from Taiwan (the same which I now sell); and tasting cups from Peter Luong of Red Blossom. The small ceramic figure of Lu Yu that graces my tea bench was a Christmas gift from my dear friend Norwood Pratt. So when I have my daily tea, I feel the presence of all these special tea friends as well.
I offer up a cup of tea and the scent of an aroma cup in thanks for all the gifts of life so generously given to me. And perhaps even more than tea, gratitude offers the release from care that we seek from a vacation.
If you don't have time to take an extended rest this summer, take your daily tea vacation....
Naturally grown tea in central Taiwan
Organic certification is said to be reasonably inexpensive, so the excuse that certification is too expensive is invalid in Taiwan. One farmer even said if anything, it costs too little to certify teas as organic, and people get away with looser standards for certification than is optimal.
"Naturally grown" teas comprise teas that are not only grown without pesticides, but those grown without fertilizers, and left to grow with and among whatever other plants that might crop up in the tea garden. I saw this happening in Mao Kong, Dong Ding, Da Yu Ling, Fu Shou Shan, and lower areas of Lishan--areas where one finds Ti Kuan Yin, Dong Ding, high mountain, and black teas from Taiwan.
This is an interesting and heartening trend that deserves attention. When teas are left to grow "naturally", crop yields decline, but the quality of the teas, and more importantly, the quality of the soil, increases. This also makes healthier tea for the consumer. Without chemical pesticides or fertilizers, you get the full benefits of the leaf, and the soil from which it is grown is allowed to regenerate.
There is growing concern in Taiwan that many high mountain teas are harming the environment because the large quantity of chemical herbicides and pesticides used on many of these teas runs down the mountain and into the public drinking water supply. Some Taiwanese people even boycott such teas (primarily the high mountain teas) in opposition to the environmental hazards posed by the production of these teas.
As consumers, we can make a difference by asking questions of our tea shop and tea house owners as to the production methods used on the teas they sell. Many merchants carry teas that have been processed chemically, and while no one intends to throw stones-- particularly at those who are providing quality teas-- it is time for all of us to consider the impact of our buying habits and choices, and to make our best effort to support sustainable growing and processing methods.
The "one planet" mindset helps us to consider how our choices effect people across the world who pay the consequences of consumer choices elsewhere and who gain or lose their land and their health because of our choices.
Video on naturally grown teas coming very soon!
Fu Shou Shan Farm
The tea harvest came about two weeks early in Taiwan this year, which meant that in Dong Ding and other parts of Taiwan, the harvest we viewed was the summer harvest, which constitutes anything that comes after the first plucking of leaves in spring. In Fu Shou Shan and Da Yu Ling, which are at higher altitudes and therefore the last places to be harvested in this season, the spring harvest was just about to arrive....
What is so special about Fu Shou Shan? While it is right near Lishan, Fu Shou Shan tea is grown naturally, which means the tea has few (if any) chemicals, and no pesticides. We can see this through the lovely weeds, grasses, flowers and other plants that grow around the tea bushes in Fu Shou Shan, as compared to tea bushes in Lishan where the grass and other plants are literally scorched away by pesticides and herbicides. We saw these chemicals being transported by pully up and down the Lishan range.
You can taste this for yourself when you sample teas from different farms. Teas grown without chemicals tend to be less bold in flavor but possessing rounder more balanced tones and incredible mouth feel. Chemicals show up in the back and back sides of the mouth and linger long past the floral notes, leaving one wondering about the real health benefits of tea.
The rub? Fu Shou Shan tea is difficult to obtain. A small number of wholesalers have these teas, which are in very high demand in China and not very available elsewhere.
Fu Shou Shan farm continues on for miles and is part of a protected mountain area in Taiwan. The land is captivating, with a softness that is in contrast to the rugged mountain landscape in much of the surrounding range.
After planting my feet on this farm, I knew why I always preferred the taste of Fu Shou Shan tea to that of Lishan or even the coveted Da Yu Ling....the land of Fu Shou Shan is spectacularly beautiful. Look for vidoes coming soon!
What is so special about Fu Shou Shan? While it is right near Lishan, Fu Shou Shan tea is grown naturally, which means the tea has few (if any) chemicals, and no pesticides. We can see this through the lovely weeds, grasses, flowers and other plants that grow around the tea bushes in Fu Shou Shan, as compared to tea bushes in Lishan where the grass and other plants are literally scorched away by pesticides and herbicides. We saw these chemicals being transported by pully up and down the Lishan range.
You can taste this for yourself when you sample teas from different farms. Teas grown without chemicals tend to be less bold in flavor but possessing rounder more balanced tones and incredible mouth feel. Chemicals show up in the back and back sides of the mouth and linger long past the floral notes, leaving one wondering about the real health benefits of tea.
The rub? Fu Shou Shan tea is difficult to obtain. A small number of wholesalers have these teas, which are in very high demand in China and not very available elsewhere.
Fu Shou Shan farm continues on for miles and is part of a protected mountain area in Taiwan. The land is captivating, with a softness that is in contrast to the rugged mountain landscape in much of the surrounding range.
After planting my feet on this farm, I knew why I always preferred the taste of Fu Shou Shan tea to that of Lishan or even the coveted Da Yu Ling....the land of Fu Shou Shan is spectacularly beautiful. Look for vidoes coming soon!
By learning the nuances of one tea, you pick up the secrets of others. This is the art of the tea connoisseur.
For example, J-Tea's Mi Xiang oolong, smells a little bitter after the rinse, and when brewed for 60 seconds, the tea exhibits a harsh edge and an almost dry mouth feel. When brewed for 20 seconds, however, it's a really fine, smooth tea with complexity, character, and even a wry sweetness. Where did the bitterness go? It seems to have been swallowed by the black hole created by the absent 40 seconds.
The same goes for the Bamboo Fragrance Puerh from The Phoenix Collection and a number of other teas that I now recognize as a category when I smell them....the sharp, bitter smell, mingled with other notes like sweetness and smokiness signal a tea that requires a short brewing time. Brew it for only 10-20 seconds and you might not taste any bitterness at all.
This works for Phoenix oolongs, green puerhs, and other teas like J-Tea's Mi Xiang. So in getting to know the Mi Xiang by spending real time with it, I learned something about a certain quality in tea and what it's telling me about its brewing requirements.
From there, brewing variables increase: you can experiment with different tea ware or water, leaf quantity, and higher or lower water temperature. Each tea will sing more sweetly or wail a little louder with each slight change.
What are you learning from tea? Let me hear about your tea adventures....
This morning I did a sampling of 2006 Rice Pollen Green Puerh from Pure Puer Tea. Using very hot water for the first couple of infusions for a minute or more produced a very bitter, almost undrinkable tea. But the lovely, smokey aroma wafting off the lid of the gaiwan suggested that I had erred, and there was something good to be found in this tea.
According to Roy Fong in his book, The Great Teas of China, "Younger, less fermented puerh can easily become bitter, so try about 2 tsp in medium-hot water with a 1-3 minute steep time." I've noticed that Roy likes his tea "thick" (heavily infused), so even the 1-3 minute steep time might still be too long for some teas for another palate.
So I started completely over with a new serving of leaves, and this time brewed only one teaspoon in 185-190ºF water for only 5-10 seconds (similar to brewing specs at Pure Puer Tea). Nice!
I had a very similar experience with David Hoffman's Bamboo Fragrance Puerh, which when steeped for 90 seconds was undrinkable. Taking it down several notches made the magic happen. Brewed in 195ºF water for about 15 seconds created a really fine and unique brew, offering a kind of smokey, exotic taste that made me feel as if I were sitting by an open fire with the tribe that had picked and processed the tea.
So, the next time you find an "undrinkable" tea, try steeping it very differently. Hotter or cooler water, more or less leaf, different tea ware, or a change in steeping duration (or a combination of some of these variables) can make all the difference.
Then again, some teas ARE undrinkable. In such a case, toss it in the garden, and find a new tea.
According to Roy Fong in his book, The Great Teas of China, "Younger, less fermented puerh can easily become bitter, so try about 2 tsp in medium-hot water with a 1-3 minute steep time." I've noticed that Roy likes his tea "thick" (heavily infused), so even the 1-3 minute steep time might still be too long for some teas for another palate.
So I started completely over with a new serving of leaves, and this time brewed only one teaspoon in 185-190ºF water for only 5-10 seconds (similar to brewing specs at Pure Puer Tea). Nice!
I had a very similar experience with David Hoffman's Bamboo Fragrance Puerh, which when steeped for 90 seconds was undrinkable. Taking it down several notches made the magic happen. Brewed in 195ºF water for about 15 seconds created a really fine and unique brew, offering a kind of smokey, exotic taste that made me feel as if I were sitting by an open fire with the tribe that had picked and processed the tea.
So, the next time you find an "undrinkable" tea, try steeping it very differently. Hotter or cooler water, more or less leaf, different tea ware, or a change in steeping duration (or a combination of some of these variables) can make all the difference.
Then again, some teas ARE undrinkable. In such a case, toss it in the garden, and find a new tea.
In Roy Fong's new book, The Great Teas of China, Roy shares his 30+ years of knowledge and experience with tea, and distills it into a slim volume that is direct, concise, and elegantly written. You would be hard pressed to find a better book with which to begin your tea adventures, and it will serve for years to come as a reference guide.
In broad, clean strokes, Roy shares information about each of the ten teas he features, including its history, lore, processing techniques, and region of origin (including a map). He also provides color-correct and proportional images of the teas before steeping and as a liquor in the cup, so readers have a good reference for selecting and brewing each tea.
All the elements of this book come together to teach tea. Roy takes this opportunity to reach out to anyone who cares to learn a lot about tea. With this book, you have a tea master's training in your hands, and someone to whom you can turn with questions.
Each time you scan this book, you will learn something new or be reminded of a different facet of the relationship between tea, its origins, and the tea drinker. You will feel as though you were being tutored by Roy directly, and hearing his tea stories first hand, as if walking through China together as he teaches you the most important things he has learned about each tea, and how he learned it.
Very simply, Roy is a great tea man. If you want to be trained by a master, this is your book.
In broad, clean strokes, Roy shares information about each of the ten teas he features, including its history, lore, processing techniques, and region of origin (including a map). He also provides color-correct and proportional images of the teas before steeping and as a liquor in the cup, so readers have a good reference for selecting and brewing each tea.
All the elements of this book come together to teach tea. Roy takes this opportunity to reach out to anyone who cares to learn a lot about tea. With this book, you have a tea master's training in your hands, and someone to whom you can turn with questions.
Each time you scan this book, you will learn something new or be reminded of a different facet of the relationship between tea, its origins, and the tea drinker. You will feel as though you were being tutored by Roy directly, and hearing his tea stories first hand, as if walking through China together as he teaches you the most important things he has learned about each tea, and how he learned it.
Very simply, Roy is a great tea man. If you want to be trained by a master, this is your book.
Roy Fong sipping tea
Click here to listen:
It seems that many tea connoisseurs ultimately favor puerh teas. Why is this? Puerhs don't usually have the strong and intoxicating floral fragrances of Taiwanese oolongs, nor do they have the very light, crisp notes we find in some greens and whites.
Some people want to explore the world of connoisseur tea, but are not
comfortable with the idea of brewing teas that do not come in tea
bags. Let's demystify the options here and save the planet, friends
(for more, see my entry on "Tea's Carbon Footprint"). First, the only thing you really need in order to brew loose leaf tea is a device to strain the tea or rather separate the infused tea liquid from its leaves. There are several methods to choose from:
1. Porcelain cup with filter: For many people new to loose leaf tea, this is the most comfortable and familiar method of brewing tea. You simply put tea leaves in the filter, place the fitted filter in the cup, then pour in hot water. Steep for the allotted time, then remove filter (with leaves), and your tea cup will be filled with a lovely tea infusion. You can put the filter, with the used tealeaves, aside, and steep it again when you are ready. If your cup does not come with a filter, you can use a small strainer, found in almost any cooking store or even the supermarket. Easy peezey.
2. Tea pot (with
its proprietary strainer or with a filter): The next most familiar
method is the trusty tea pot. You will find many choices, but
optimally, you would use a glass, porcelain or ceramic teapot to brew
white and green teas and porcelain, ceramic or yixing for oolongs,
blacks and puerhs. Many tea pots have a built-in filter or some type of
internal system at the interior base of the spout that will prevent tea
leaves from escaping the tea pot. If you have a tea pot that has no
such filtering device, simply use a filter or strainer over your cup or
serving vessel. You can find some very nice strainers made of bamboo
and other non-metal materials (which is preferred).
3. Gaiwan:
Ahhhh, the gaiwan.... For those who are new to tea, the gaiwan can be
either
enchanting or perplexing. Once you learn how to use a gaiwan, you
might never want to use a filtered tea cup or tea pot again. The
gaiwan comes from China, and comprises a saucer, a cup, and a lid. In
fact, it means "covered bowl" in Chinese. Regardless, the lid of the
gaiwan is used to cover the tea as it steeps, smell the tea, and also
prevent the leaves from escaping the cup when the infusion is sipped or
poured into a serving vessel. To use a gaiwan is simple: put tea in
the gaiwan. Rinse the tea for 1 second with hot water, and pour off.
Pour hot water on the leaves and cover with the gaiwan lid. You can
also use the lid as a kind of paddle to nudge the tea leaves awake
while the tea is brewing. Then either pour the infusion into a serving vessel or drink the leaves directly from the cup of the gaiwan, using the lid to hold back the leaves. I brought a gaiwan with me on a family trip, and my father blanched and asked "WHAT is THAT??. Alas, the gaiwan is not for everyone.
4. Japanese tea bowl & whisk (for
matcha): Tea has been prepared from ground green tea for more than a
thousand years. In China, it was whisked in a bowl. In Japan, it
became the primary object of contemplation and practice in the famed
Japanese tea ceremony, but you can lose the kimono if you wish, and
simply whisk up some tea to elevate your mood. The bright green froth
of a matcha brings great solace and energy to those who love this kind
of tea. To use this method: put a few small scoops (2-3 teasppons) of
matcha powder in a ceramic tea bowl. Pour hot water into the powder
and whisk briskly (while you say "whisk briskly" briskly three times
:>D ) with a bamboo whisk. Stay tuned for more information on
different kinds of matcha and different Japanese tea ceremonies (hint;
there is a sencha ceremony as well). In all, tea brewing can be taken very seriously and require a number of traditional tools, but it can also be extremely simple and require nothing more than a cup and a filter. This is the beauty of tea.
Taiwanese teas, particularly oolongs, have a reputation for their fragrance, softness, and unique characteristics. We came upon a couple of rare Taiwanese oolongs that come from ancient, wild-growing tea trees that were undiscovered until just recently. Bon Teavant's first "Tasting Room" product is a comparative tasting of two such teas that come from the same trees but were processed differently--one as a "white" tea and one as an oolong. Below you will find a brief (1-minute) interview with David Campbell, owner of Tillerman Tea in Napa, who provided BT with these teas. The full 8-minute interview comes bundled with the teas when you buy them from the Bon Teavant Tasting Room. You will find it no where else.
Click here to listen to the 1- minute interview with David Campbell of Tillerman Tea on these rare Taiwanese wild teas:
"Wu-Wo" tea ceremony is an outdoor tea ceremony, based on the Taiwanese gong-fu style tea brewing method, but embracing all different cultural styles of brewing tea. As many as 1000 people brew tea outdoors for themselves and each other--simultaneously and in silence. If you are interested in viewing or participating in such an event, you will have a rare and outstanding opportunity to do so this weekend.
The12th International Wu-Wo Tea Convention--a bi-annual event usually held in Asia-- is coming to the United States for the first time, next weekend. Hosted by the American Tea Culture Association, the three-day event, from October 16-18, will feature two public outdoor tea ceremonies, each expected to draw upwards of 150 people from around the world, who will be bringing their favorite teas and teaware, and in traditional dress, brew tea for each other outdoors. Tea brewers will be coming from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, and other areas for this rare, bi-annual convention.
Teas and tea brewing styles will be as different and diverse as the participants. If you miss this convention, you will likely have to wait another ten years for it to return to the United States."The Wu-Wo tea ceremony encourages participants to forget about knowledge, wealth, and appearance and to establish group equality without prejudice," said Betsy Meyer of the American Tea Culture Association.
Listen to this podcast interview with Betsy Meyer on the fun and fascinating wu-wo tea ceremony:
Click here to listen: The wu wo tea ceremony is simple easy to learn. You simply bring a mat to sit on, a teapot pre-filled with the tea of your choice, a tea serving vessel, four cups, a thermos of hot water, and a tray. There is time to mingle before and after brewing tea, so you can admire each others' tea ware and enjoy meeting tea lovers from around the world.
The ceremony originated in Taiwan, where Grand Master Tsai Rong Tsang decided that he would like a more convenient way for modern people to do an outdoor tea ceremony. He discovered that by using a thermos of hot water and placing tea leaves in the pot beforehand, you can easily take your tea set out on a hike or out to a park. From that outdoor service, he asked 'Well, why not do it in a group?' and that's how the Wu-Wo tea ceremony and convention was born.
For larger gatherings, tea brewers choose lots to determine their seating, and then brew and serve tea to the three people on their left, while reserving one cup for themselves. Sitting in a circle, the three people to your right will be serving you their tea while you serve your tea to the three people to your left. As such, each person is both host and guest, tea server and tea sipper. At least three steepings are brewed before everyone packs up and goes about their day (or hike). The whole ceremony takes only about 30 minutes.
Many events at the convention require payment, but the Sunday Wu-Wo tea ceremony is open to the public and free of charge. You must register to be a tea brewer at the event, so follow the links in this entry. The Sunday morning (Oct. 18 @ 9 a.m.) event will be held at the Foster City Parks and Recreation Center (650 Shell Drive, Foster City, CA), about 30 minutes south of San Francisco. Anyone interested in participating must register in advance, and will need a little practice. There will be a practice period on Friday morning, at 10 a.m. at the same location. Listen to the podcast above for information on what to bring with you, and go to www.atcasf.org to pre-register for the ceremony.
Coordinates:
Friday 10/16: 10 a.m. practice session: Pioneer Memorial Park, Mountain View. Contact Betsy Meyer at rabbitz@aol.com to sign up for training and to receive an equipment list.
Saturday 10/17: 9 a.m. Wuwo Ceremony in Memorial Park, Cupertino
Sunday 10/18: 9 a.m. Wuwo Ceremony at Foster City Parks & Rec Center 650 Shell St., Foster City. This event is free and open to the public.
Please go to the American Tea Culture website for complete information on tea ceremony presentations, dinners, and other events taking place during the convention.
IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY THE NORTHWEST TEA FESTIVAL at the Seattle Center on October 3-4, this isa good time to book a flight. (I found a flight from SF - Seattle for $119 RT on Priceline). In the spirit of preparation, I caught up with one of the festival organizers, Ken Rudee from The Northwest Tea Festival in Seattle to find out more about the events, vendors, and educational opportunities at the event. Here is a short interview with information about the upcoming tea festival:
Click to hear interview with festival organizer, Ken Rudee:
The Northwest Tea Festival was conceived in a 2007 meeting of some local tea purveyors and led by author and tea expert, James Norwood Pratt. They were talking about different ways to celebrate tea and support the tea industry in the area.
"We're planning to have more booths, better educational seminars--most of which are free-- and a lot of other things going on," said Rudee. The NW Tea Festival will kick off with an opening tea dinner by the James Beard Award-winning restaurant Wild Ginger. On Saturday and Sunday, you will find lots of fascinating tea events and speakers-- several tasting tables will be set up for you to try different teas served by tea professionals, tea movies, tea book authors doing book signings, and at least one special cooking-with-tea demonstration,.
If your wallet is too heavy, you will find ample ways to lighten your load. You will find plenty of unique teas, tea items, and tea books to buy.
Click here to listen:
Download | Duration: 00:02:17
Tea book author and consultant, Jane Pettigrew, was kind enough to offer her views on new trends in tea at the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas in June 2009. Please click arrow above to hear a short podcast of our interview.
Chinese gaiwan (l) and Japanese tea bowl (r) ©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
Originating in Chinese tea culture, "gaiwan" means "covered bowl", and is a three-piece set comprising a saucer, vessel, and lid. It is perhaps the most ubiquitous teaware in the world, considering the great number of Chinese people who prepare and sip tea with it. Gaiwans are cool, masculine even in contrast to my grandmother's Limoges teaware. This is "real men's" teaware. No flowers, frills, or obviously feminine lines. I could see Clint drinking from a gaiwan, raising his squinty-eyed, chiseled face in stoic silence through the hot steam and hissing a line as quiet and rich as the steam itself.
Chinese gaiwans as well as Japanese tea bowls and Moroccan tea glasses could be put in the hands of any man without necessitating the extending of a pinky, and with few exceptions, are monochrome, neutrally glazed, or covered in dragons. What guy could feel like a sissy with these in his hands?
The vast majority of Asian tea masters are men, and in fact, the tea industry itself is known as a "gentleman's" business. Women might drink much of the tea in the western world, but men are usually the ones buying and selling it in the wholesale market. Winnie Yu, co-owner and chief tea buyer for Teance in Berkeley, CA, said "There are few women in the tea trade, it's predominantly a male business, and although I get on just fine with them, that's because the farmers generally regard me as a niece [who] has less to prove. So it's worked for me OK. Otherwise yes, I do get snickers from time to time."
Most people think of a delicate Asian female serving tea when they think of the classical Japanese tea ceremony, but in truth, the most prominant Japanese tea masters are men. One of the biggest surprises at a Japanese tea ceremony class at the Urasenke Foundation in San Francisco was the male-dominant ratio of students in the evening classes--and none of them were Asian. More and more American men are inspired and engaged by Asian tea culture, which is mutating and fusing in the landscape of the "new world".
All of this is great news for American tea culture. The influence of Asia is bringing the tradition of gender-neutral or male-leaning tea culture and teaware to our shores, and this makes for a great balance. Go to any non-British tearoom, where doilies and flowery teaware cannot be found, and you will find highly educated, well-healed, masculine men imbibing in the best of teas. Check it out. Throw off all notions of tea parties, and join in the old tea traditions finding new inroads in America.
Also speaking at the tea salon will be Pamela Weiss, founder of An Appropriate Response, and a leadership coach who helps people manage their lives to their fullest potential. The fourth tea salon in a series of six entitled "Coping with The New Economy", this tea salon will engage its intimate audience to interact with the guests, while sipping fine premium teas at the newest Samovar Location in "Zen Valley."
This promises to be a tea event that helps to ease your mind and energize your focus. Please join us and learn how to accomplish more in your life in a more relaxed, direct, and meaningful way. Here are the particulars:
When: Tuesday, June 23, 7-8:30 p.m.
Samovar Tea Lounge
297 Page Street @ Laguna
San Francisco, CA
Tickets are $12/each (bought on location only) and include a pot of premium tea worth the cost of admission.
"TEA HAS AT LEAST THREE times the variety and complexity of coffee," said Eliot Jordan, Director of Tea for Peet's Coffee and Tea. When asked about the benefits of being a tea man in the center of a coffee kingdom, Eliot Jordan, in his kind and intelligent manner, cited the great platform he has been given to influence how Americans receive and perceive tea. With 192 stores in the U.S., Peet's is one of the largest tea retailers in the country, and its tea program is highly regarded, thanks to the skill, knowledge and sensitivity of it's quietly diligent tea buyer, Eliot Jordan.
"To put Peet's name on a tea, it has to be worth every penny," said Jordan, who began working at Peet's in 1984, and was mentored by Jim Reynolds for 14 years before being offered autonomous leadership for Peet's tea program. I'm also not a tea elitist," he said. Rather, his goal is to buy the best tasting teas at the most affordable prices to delight the palates of a broad range of consumers. "The biggest market for quality Chinese teas is China, not the U.S.," said Jordan who shies away from "tribute teas" and tea competition winners. "It is fantastic tea, but even if I could buy it (for Peet's), I couldn't sell it here because of the price. Tea is just not valued in the same way in this (U.S.) market."
Jordan does buy single-estate, hand-processed teas for Peet's Rare Tea collection, including the Ancient Trees Organic Pu-erh, Golden Dragon Oolong, and Silver Cloud white tea. This is greatly to his credit, considering the care and effort that must be made to procure finer quality teas at prices that match the bottom line for such a large retailer.
Jordan focuses mostly on first- and second flush teas from India and China, buying Chinese greens in April, oolongs in May, and North Indian and Chinese black teas in June. He is responsible for buying about 200 teas and spices (in a ratio of 4:1 respectively) which are (often but not always) blended to create the 44 tea products made available to Peet's customers.
He has, of course, different criteria for judging different teas. "I approach all teas with a British style cupping (method) of boiling water and five-minute steep, with the intention of drawing out all the good and bad that the tea sample will offer. Then for certain styles of tea from China and Japan, I will re-evaluate the tea in the context of how it's brewed by Asian experts, in particular for greens, oolongs, and pu-erhs, so that I fully understand how the tea can taste at its best."
Jordan cited the current trend towards the Chinese way of evaluating teas. In China, he said, they value the appearance of teas more than they do in India, and, in fact, sometimes might pay too much attention to how a tea looks rather than on its taste. "When I evaluate a Chinese tea, I take appearance more into account than when I judge an Indian tea. If an Indian tea tastes extraordinary but looks so-so, I might buy it, but with Chinese tea, if it looks bad, I'll avoid it. Americans expect rare teas to look good." "if it is in a tea bag, the appearance of the leaf is not relevant," said Jordan. He looks carefully at the leaves in any case to be sure the leaves are evenly graded.
"There is cultural freight or inheritance with every tea," said Jordan. "In China, you have generations of tea farmers experimenting with varietals, and many teas have at least 700 years of history. India has a much shorter history of tea cultivation, Jordan said, "but what the Indians have that the Chinese industry doesn't is a system where all teas are tracked from the field to the factory to the exporter to the buyer. Each lot is tasted and tracked complete with sale price, at least for teas sold at auction. There is a long history of tea cupping and record-keeping that goes back to the British. China, with its much bigger diversity of tea and less Westernized approach to production just has a different and more diverse tradition."
A good tea is only good in its application," Jordan added with enthusiasm. "Green, white, or lighter oolong teas are meant to be smooth and light, so excessive heat is out of balance to the flavor and aroma. It's better to drink it at a little cooler temperature,. This allows the subtle flavors to come up," he said. "In contrast, black and pu-erh teas are best brewed and sipped hot to get the best out of them."
As we sip our tea together, I realize that this year marks the 25th anniversary for Jordan's career with Peet's, much of it spent as the Director of Tea. With a light in his eyes, he exclaims, "There is so much more to know about tea. It is never ending."
©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
Here is a line up for the Samovar Tea Salon Series entitled" "Coping with The New Economy, a six-part tea salon series which brings the San Francisco Bay Area community together in a forum with some of the brightest lights in entrepreneurship, technology, spirituality, self help and envrionmentalism.
Samovar Tea Salon Series invites a small audience to an intimate, open-dialogue forum meant to inspire and energize the community to respond mindfully and optimistically to a rapidly changing social and economic era. Tea Salons will be held bi-weekly on Tuesday evenings from 7-8:30 p.m. at Samovar's new "Zen Valley" location (297 Page @ Laguna).
Tickets can be purchased on location only.
Tuesday, June 16: "The Meaning of Money in the New Economy" Guests: John Marshall-Stella (Author) & special guest moderator James Norwood Pratt (tea expert & author of The New Tea Lover's Treasury)
Tuesday, June 23: "Human Potential in The New Economy" with Guests Marc Lesser (author of Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less) and Pam Weiss, Executive Coach
Tuesday, July 7: "Spiritual Potential in the New Economy" with guests Robert Thomas (President of the SF Zen Center and Sydney Mintz (Rabbi at Congregation of Emanu-El, plus special guest moderator James Norwood Pratt (tea expert & author)
Tuesday, July 21: "Green Living & Working in the New Economy" with guest Emily Kirsch, Bay Area Organizer for the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Brewing tea is an art and can determine the actual quality of the tea experience. If you buy expensive teas, as I do, you will want to refine your skills to be sure you are getting the most out of your tea. This morning I treated myself to a wonderful tea from Red Blossom Tea Co--their 2009 Fu Shou Shan-- fresh from the Lishan mountain range in Taiwan. As I prepared to brew the tea, I took some time to think about the tea and what it might take to brew it to the finest liquor possible.
First, the water has to be good -- at least filtered, if not spring water. Second, the water has to be heated to the right temperature for the tea--not too hot to injure the complexity of the leaf's offerings, but hot enough to excite the leaves properly. I decided to heat my tea water to near boiling (around 200°F) but not quite boiling (212°F). Third, I had to gauge how long to steep the tea in relation to how much tea was being steeped. I used about one tablespoon of tea, which when steeped, would expand generously to perhaps six times the volume.
For a Formosa (Taiwanese) oolong, which is rolled, I wanted the first steeping to only partially unroll the tea leaves. This process of the tea leaf unfurling is referred to as "the agony of the leaf". In this case, it didn't take too long, around 25-30 seconds for it to open to the degree I wanted (about 2/3). I also checked the aroma off the lid of the gaiwan to see if it still had a water smell (under-steeped) or a round, complex bouquet (correct-o). I hit it just right. The second steeping opened the leaf fully, and this took only about 15 seconds with the same water temperature (around 200°F). Again, spot on. The third steeping allows the full expression of the open leaf to avail itself to the water. Ahhhhh, perfection. "It's liquor like the sweetest dew of heaven...." (Lu Yu).
Try playing with the above variables yourself--with any tea--and see how many wonderful (and not so fabulous) tastes you come up with. See what you can do to refine your brewing technique, and along with it, your palate.
Last night's event at Samovar Tea Lounge with Will Rosenzweig, the original founder of The Republic of Tea (and co-author of the book by the same name) was fabulous, and we were very lucky to have such a great educator, entrepreneur and tea man coming to our tea salon forum, put on by Samovar and The Way to Tea/Bon Teavant.
Here is a line up of the next few tea salons:
June 16: "The Meaning of Money in the New Economy", with John Marshall, and moderated by James Norwood Pratt
June 23: "Human Potential in the New Economy" , with Marc Lesser and Pam Weiss
July 7: "Spiritual Potential in the New Economy", with Robert Thomas, Sydney Mintz, James Norwood Pratt moderating
July 21: Green Living & Working in the New Economy", with Emily Kirsch, Ella Baker Center
Also, Teance in Berkeley is opening its doors Friday evenings for Spring Harvest parties, offering tastings of their newest delicious arrivals.
This Friday, June 5: Rare Teas
Friday, June 12: Taiwan Oolongs
Tickets are $25 and include tastings of several teas as well as the guidance and instruction from owner Winnie Yu and her fabulous staff.
Will Rosenzweig, Founder of Republic of Tea, speaks at Samovar Tea Salon 6/2
It doesn't matter whether you like tea or not. If you are thinking about building a business yourself, here is an opportunity to hear an entrepreneurial genius talk about what it takes to build a successful business--while sipping premium tea.
Will Rosenzweig, social entrepreneur and original founder of The Republic of Tea, will be my guest at the second tea salon event in the series "Coping with the New Economy" at Samovar Tea Lounge. The event will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, June 2 from 7-8:30 p.m.
There are three Samovar Tea Lounges, so be sure to come to the right one in "Zen Valley" at 297 Page Street in San Francisco. Tickets will be on sale the day of the event and can be purchased on location only. This will be an intimate gathering, with only 30 seats available, so come early to be sure you will get to hear Mr. Rosenzweig speak. Here is a link to the coordinates of the event, as well as a little ditty by Bon Teavant on Will Rosenzweig and Tea Mind. If you are lucky, you might also spot a tea luminary with the initials JNP at the event....
Hope to see you there.
To answer the questions of friends and colleagues who visit this site: No, I am not paid by tea merchants to plug their products. I am simply an appreciator of fine teas as well as a media person. When you combine these two passions, the result is what you find on Bon Teavant: news, interviews, photographs, and musings on the connoisseur tea world and the delightful tea people who engage in its landscape.
The tea community is vast, ever-fascinating and always evolving, especially in the United States, where tea culture is just taking hold and being created. When I find a tea merchant who has incredible teas, I want to share the news. When I meet a tea expert who has information on some arcane aspect of artisan tea, I interview that person so I can share what I am learning with a growing audience of tea aficionados.
I hope you will return the favor by commenting or sharing your favorite teas and tea venues with the Bon Teavant audience.
Until the next posting -- happy sipping, happy spring.
Images ©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
I feel happy enough to dance around a maypole today after imbibing in freshly harvested, hand-crafted Formosa oolongs from Red Blossom Tea in San Francisco. Co-owner Alice Luong and I spent a good portion of the afternoon tasting their 2009 spring Lishan, Alishan, and Fu Shou Shan teas which are newly arrived at their elegant store in San Francisco's Chinatown. I don't like to plug one venue or another, but must admit that Red Blossom is one of my favorites.
San Francisco has a fabulous selection of tea shops, tea lounges, and tea rooms to choose from, and many of the tearoom owners take great pride in the teas they select during their semi-annual trips to Asia. This is what makes tea so much fun and so engaging: sharing it with those who know more than you, and who make you smile as they share their knowledge about tea. Alice certainly fits this bill.
What makes these Formosa oolongs so special is that they are high elevation teas, hand picked and harvested in the traditional method. This is a delicate art that is passed down through generations and we don't know how long it will last, as automation devices for tea processing take hold across Asia and the rest of the tea-producing regions of the world. What an honor to taste these teas, in which we can appreciate the great craftsmanship and farming that are imbued in them.
We first tried the Alishan, a hand-picked and harvested tea that is "gently oxidized over a 10-hour period, then expertly roasted and rolled to accentuate the natural floral aromatics of the tea leaves," according to Red Blossom's product description. This tea really was delicious. Alice then moved to the Lishan, which was bright, crisp, light and aromatic. It was a favorite of a fellow tea sipper next to me, who bought a half pound and promised he would soon return for more.
If I had to vote for just one of the teas we tasted, I would cast my ballot for our final tea, the Fu Shou Shan, grown on the second highest peak of the Lishan mountain range at an elevation of 2600 meters. For me, this tea was the show stopper....a rich, bold Taiwanese oolong with a long long finish. We agreed that this would be a great tea after a meal, and something to serve to special guests who appreciate truly fine teas. The Lishan is round and crisp and is great to drink in the morning or when you need a vibrancy makeover perhaps mid-afternoon.
Truth be told, any of these teas are a luxury at any time of day, and one is lucky to procure some at Red Blossom's very reasonable prices. Spring is here, and Formosa oolongs are some of the first teas to arrive, along with Dragonwells for green tea lovers.
Let me hear from you. Let me know where you are finding great spring harvest teas!
Here is a line up for the Samovar Tea Salon Series entitled" "Coping with The New Economy, a six-part tea salon series which brings the San Francisco Bay Area community together in a forum with some of the brightest lights in entrepreneurship, technology, spirituality, self help and envrionmentalism.
Samovar Tea Salon Series invites a small audience to an intimate, open-dialogue forum meant to inspire and energize the community to respond mindfully and optimistically to a rapidly changing social and economic era. Tea Salons will be held bi-weekly on Tuesday evenings from 7-8:30 p.m. at Samovar's new "Zen Valley" location (297 Page @ Laguna).
Tickets can be purchased on location only.
Tuesday, June 16: "The Meaning of Money in the New Economy" Guests: John Marshall-Stella (Author) & special guest moderator James Norwood Pratt (tea expert & author of The New Tea Lover's Treasury)
Tuesday, June 23: "Human Potential in The New Economy" with Guests Marc Lesser (author of Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less) and Pam Weiss, Executive Coach
Tuesday, July 7: "Spiritual Potential in the New Economy" with guests Robert Thomas (President of the SF Zen Center and Sydney Mintz (Rabbi at Congregation of Emanu-El, plus special guest moderator James Norwood Pratt (tea expert & author)
Tuesday, July 21: "Green Living & Working in the New Economy" with guest Emily Kirsch, Bay Area Organizer for the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
The first Samovar Tea Salon on "The Role of Technology in the New Economy" will be held Tuesday, May 19 from 7-8:30 p.m. at the new Samovar Tea Lounge (297 Page Street @ Laguna, San Francisco, CA). Tickets are $12 or two for $20.
This is the first of a six-part Tea Salon Series entitled "Coping with The New Economy," and runs through July 2009. The series brings together some of the finest Bay Area minds in finance, spirituality, technology, entrepreneurialism, self help and the environment in an interview/forum format, moderated by Samovar owner Jesse Jacobs and events associate Jennifer Sauer (of Bon Teavant and author of The Way to Tea: Your Adventure Guide to San Francisco Tea Culture.
Images ©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
Featured guests for the first event, "The Role of Technology in the New Economy" include Brian X. Chen, (Wired.com) and Mark Friedler, a serial technology entrepreneur. Tickets are limited to 30 people per event, and Samovar will be serving fine premium teas at the start of each event (worth the cost of admission!). Tickets are available for purchase at Samovar's Zen Valley location in advance or at the door on the evening of each event. Come early to ensure a seat or buy a series of tickets in advance.
Discount tickets are available: two people for $20 (single event), or three tickets (three individual events-one person) for $30. All events will be held from 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. at the Zen Valley Samovar Tea Lounge at 297 Page Street (@ Laguna St.) in San Francisco, CA.
Please come to be a part of these forums on some of the most important topics of our time and enjoy sipping premium teas at Samovar Tea Lounge.
Click on the arrow above to hear our interview with Nigel Melican on tea's carbon footprint.
Nigel Melican (R) and Bill Waddington of TeaSource at World Tea Expo 2009
During one such program, I caught up with Nigel Melican, Managing Director of Teacraft Ltd, who is a scientist as well as a tea man. He has more than 20 year's experience improving the technology of tea manufacture in over 35 different tea countries and is a consultant to trade experts. Melican has recently undertaken extensive research on tea's carbon footprint, and in his final analysis, he has found that tea has the potential to be an environmental saint rather than sinner when we measure its carbon footprint by a number of criteria (listen to the podcast above for details). But several variables in the domain of the tea drinker herself have a great impact on the environment.
In his research, Melican discovered that the choices of consumers can determine the carbon footprint of the tea they drink. For example, teabag tea has ten times the carbon footprint of loose tea (all other variables being equal). The kind of fuel a tea drinker uses to heat water for tea also has an impact. Recycling or re-using your tea (as well as its packaging) also improves its carbon footprint. Used tealeaves can be put to good use to fertilize your houseplants or garden, to clean your home or for skincare. (Listen to Ito En's Rona Tison in my earlier interview with her on the uses of green tea). Re-use tea to cook, to clean, and to reduce odors in your home. Composting tea rather than tossing it in the trash will also benefit the earth. If you don't have a garden, offer your used tealeaves to friends and neighbors who do (they will thank you for it).
All in all, tea does pretty well against other beverages in terms of its carbon footprint, coming in at only 5% of the carbon footprint of bottled beer.
Mr. Melican would like to see mandatory carbon footprint labeling on all food products, a law which is being considered in England and which consumers in the U.S. and around the world can request of their representatives.
Be looking to Bon Teavant for more podcasts and in-depth interviews from the leaders of the tea industry, including Jane Pettigrew on rare teas and Yoon Hee Kim, Korean tea master on her art.
Here are some salient features of Ms. Domblaser's talk:
- "Beauty Drinks" made with tea and medicinal herbs are now a hot item, found not in tea shops or grocery stores but in the cosmetics section of upscale department stores. It is thought that tea drinks benefiting immunity and stress reduction might be found in other unfamiliar places in the near future as well.
- Consumers are focused on recycling and re-usable packaging and products, and tea companies are responding. She mentioned other (non-tea) products to emulate, such as a lip balm that comes in a cardboard container, which is imbedded with flower seeds. Once you are ready to "dispose" of the carton, you simply wet it to soften it, then plant it in your garden. Soon you will have lovely flowers to match your healthy, soft lips.
And speaking of recycling, shortly after this talk, I attended a fabulous presentation by Nigel Melican, Managing Director of Teacraft, Limited, who has done quite extensive research on the carbon footprint of tea. In a nutshell, the way tea is grown, processed, packaged, shipped, prepared and disposed of determines the carbon footprint, which can actually favor the environment. Each of these variables plays a role, and the role of the consumer is no small matter, from tea selection to preparation to disposal. You will hear much more about this in future posts.
Shortly after this talk (which was one of many being presented simultaneously in different conference rooms), the Expo floor was opened and heralded by a rare opportunity to see a presentation by Master Sen So'Oku (Sen Masayoshi, Zuiensai, 15th generation heir to the sushakoji-Senke School of Tea. Sen So'Oku was joined in the presentation by his son who is the next heir to the lineage.
The modesty and soulful simplicity of the tea master was evident in his answers to audience questions. When asked for words of wisdom to new students of Japanese tea ceremony, Sen So'Oku said: "The most important thing is to try to give your guest a delicious bowl of tea. There are many schools of tea but in the end, entertaining your guests and giving them a good bowl of tea is most important. Think about what makes your guests happy. At the end [of the ceremony] ask the guest if they enjoyed the tea. If they say yes, it was a success."
Later in the afternoon, the Expo stage was enlivened with an oolong rolling demonstration. The energy and strength of tea master Fang was impressive, as the audience cheered and looked on with admiration and curiosity as he twirled cotton draped teas into tight balls and kneaded them with all his might.
And no one could miss the entertaining tea lore giant James Norwood Pratt, who occupied a good portion of the ITI booth which included a grand scale image of Sir Pratt himself.
The day ended with the announcement of the winners of the tea competition, which was entered primarily by large commercial tea manufacturers like Rishi, Peli Teas, Ito En, and Tea Gschwendner. You can see all the results on the World Tea Expo site.
More news and in depth interviews coming soon!
All images ©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
WATER TEMPERATURE ALSO INFLUENCES the final cup, and tea masters are vigilant about heating their water optimally to match the tea they are brewing. However, they determine the "readiness" of the water in different ways--visually, auditorially, and electronically.
Some look for visual signs of the water temperature to determine when the water is heated properly for the particular tea they intend to brew. You may have heard that some tea masters look for "fish eyes" in the water. This is when medium bubbles form just before the water moves towards a roiling boil, and when the water is ready for oolongs. The way the steam leaves the spout of the kettle--in wisps or in gusts--also signals the water's readiness to some tea masters.
Lu Yu said:
When at the edges it chatters like a bubbling spring and looks like pearls innumerable strung together, it has reached the second stage. When it leaps like breakers majestic and resounds like a swelling wave, it is at its peak. Any more and the water will be boiled out and should not be used.1
David Lee Hoffman listens to the water. During our tea time together, as the water began to get closer to boiling, he stopped the conversation and said "Listen!" as he waited in anticipation for exactly the right crackling or rumbling noise to emit from the iron kettle over the fire. A skilled sound man, Hoffman has a keenly trained ear which he puts to good use as a tea master. He said he also pays attention to the way the steam rises from the spout at different temperatures.
Many tea masters simply use automated kettles that brew water to a pre-selected temperature, and still others in the slow food movement who like to be numerically exacting without the aid of electronic technology, will use a simple kitchen thermometer meant for liquids. (Note: these thermometers have a range that does not exceed about 220°F and will melt if accidentally use in the oven).
I rely on a combination of visual and auditory methods to brew water to the right temperature. I watch for the intensity and velocity of the steam coming from the spout of the kettle, and if I am busy doing something else while the kettle is heating, I listen for a certain sound I have come to recognize when the water is close to boiling (kind of like popcorn popping). If the whistle blows before I reach the kettle, I've failed. I just recently had to buy a new tea kettle, and notice that it makes different sounds than the old one, so I am having to learn the language of this new tea kettle.
You will also want to become familiar with the relationship between tea type and water temperature. Here are some basic guidelines, which are meant to be experimental baselines. Green and white teas tend to require cooler water temperatures, usually between 160-185°F; oolongs do well in higher temperatures, approximately 185-205°F; and black teas can usually be steeped in water 205°F to boiling (212°F). Playful experimentation might also lead you to discover some of the secrets of tea, such as steeping an oolong in cooler-than-optimal water will bring out sweeter notes in the tea.
This is just a brief overview of water for tea. Each aspect regarding water for tea is a subject in itself that some tea experts delve into with great vigor and in depth. Collecting and heating water is the first step to brewing good tea. But however you brew tea, be sure to drink, dream, share, and be merry.
1 The Classic of Tea, translated by Francis Ross Carpenter (Ecco Press, 1974)
©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
Before tea there is water. While you invest time and money to procure great tea, you might also want to consider your investment in "gathering" and brewing water for tea.
Any cup of tea will be at its best when you use the finest water available, heated to the optimal temperature for the particular tea. While I don't profess to be a tea master, I've made it my life's work for the past three years or so to research tea for my book and blog by interviewing great tea masters. They all have different preferences and standards when it comes to water, and I'll share some of what I have learned from them.
One of the most engaging tea experiences I have had was my recent visit with the legendary tea master David Lee Hoffman. During this second tea encounter at Hoffman's home, he gave me the choice of having tea in his open-air teahouse or at a fire pit just behind the teahouse. Despite my appreciation for his gorgous teahouse which he built himself, I chose the latter. At the fire pit, we would be building a fire together as part of our tea gathering. I thought this would be fun, and I liked the idea of building a fire together for tea.
Brewing water this way seems to change the character of the water and certainly that of the tea experience. Hoffman told me that he regularly collects water for tea from an undisclosed local stream. He also occasionally makes a trip up to the Sierra Mountains and when he does, he collects water from high mountain streams that derive from glacial runoff. What's good about this water, he says, is that it has aerated from cascading and also picks up dissolved minerals along its journey. When possible, he brings a bit of this water back for making tea at home.
This is an amazing standard and reminds me that how we live is sometimes much more important than what we do. David Lee Hoffman's appreciation for quality tea water reminds me of Lu Yu, the eighth century Tang Dynasty tea sage who instructed his readers in The Classic of Tea about how and where to collect water for tea:
On the question of water to use, I would suggest that tea made from mountain streams is
best, river water is all right, but well-water is quite inferior.
Other tea masters rave about the water used for brewing tea in the rural mountain villages of China where they go to find teas. They believe that where good tea grows, good water is often close at hand. As well, the experience of drinking a tea in its natural habitat with local stream water meant for that tea is an inimitable lifetime experience to be treasured.
Rites and rituals for heating water for tea can of course be found in Japanese tea ceremony. If you were to be a fly on the wall watching a Japanese tea master prepare for a tea gathering, you would see him or her carefully positioning hot colas in the hearth. The vision of the gleaming scarlet coals is meant to heighten the aesthetic experience of having tea. Whether it influences the water or not is hard to say, but seeing the bright coals glowing under the large cast iron teapot makes the guest feel warm and cared for, as if they were existentially "home". There are even ceremonies to mark the seasons by changing the hearth itself. The act of brewing water for tea is that important.
If you don't have the time or will to go to the mountains to collect water for tea and you don't happen to have a tea brewing hearth or fire pit nearby, you will probably, like most of us, be using tap water heated in a tea kettle on a gas or electric range. You can still attain an easily-met higher standard by simply filtering the water. You can find a variety of filters, some that are quite sophisticated and are installed in your water system, and some that are more basic, like a Brita® filter over a plastic jug. You can also do what I've seen done for Japanese tea ceremony, which is to put a special piece of whole-stalk bamboo charcoal into your tea kettle, which absorbs undesirable chemicals and odors while your water heats up. (These can be found in Asian tea shops and in places like San Francisco's Japantown). However you do it, it's worth the effort of filtering local tap water. Your tea will taste better this way.
As an extra note, the distillation process is said to rid water of the minerals that bind with the tea to bring out its best flavor and character, so you will not want to use distilled water for brewing tea.
DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR USED GREEN TEA leaves before listening Ito En's Rona Tison, who shares her own and her Japanese mother's secret benefits of green tea. As well, this is a great opportunity to respond to Ito En's haiku contest call for entries on the subject of "Change, Hope & Progress."
Illustration ©2009 Jennifer Sauer
I JUST FINISHED READING the book The Republic of Tea: Letters to a Young Zentrepreneur, by the company's original founders, Will Rosenzweig and Mel & Patricia Ziegler. In a series of whimsical faxes exchanged during the early 1990s between Mel (as mentor) and Will (as mentee), Mel describes not only how to build a company from the ground up, but how to craft a life: "sip by sip, not gulp by gulp." As the book progresses, Mel invites both his colleague, Will, and his readers to consider the benefits of Tea Mind-- the state of mind one enters at around cup number five, according to Tang Dynasty poet, Lu Tong who wrote, "At the fifth cup, I am purified," in his poem, Tea Drinking.
"I want what I have," Mel petitions the reader, through his advice to Will. This statement is at the nucleus of Tea Mind, and the raison d'etre of creating a tea business, particularly in a severe economic downturn. Wanting what you have provides relief, particularly when you need a distraction from thinking about what you may recently have lost or might lose in the unknown future. Tea is a wonderful tonic for any depression, be it economic or physiological. Tea Mind comes naturally from drinking tea and taking time out of one's day to be quiet, observant and resident in his or her own stillness. It comes of itself, as easily as the steam. Tea Mind is enduring and even more important now than it was during that puny recession of the early 1990's when The Republic of Tea book was written (and the company founded).
Tea Mind is wanting what you have rather than angling to get what you want. This small shift in words nudges the reader towards a huge yet simple segue in thinking and values. You find that wanting what you have is much more gratifying and takes much less energy than wanting things to be different. "I want, I want, I want," says the incumbent monkey mind. Yet when you sit down and sip a rare, hand-crafted oolong made from the ancient trees of China, you suddenly look around, and although life and its present challenges are still the same, you somehow settle into yourself, and the need for things to change somehow evaporates like streaks of steam rising then disappearing from your cup. Suddenly, you are still and empty, and simply enjoying the gorgeousness of the steam itself, its aroma mingling with the comfort of your favorite books sitting on the shelf, and the lovely color of your living room walls.
Life has changed, and you didn't do a thing, but drink some tea and start thinking differently. "Wow," says Tea Mind. "Steam, color, smell." Tea Mind is that simple: "I want what I have."
~Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither~
Samovar Tea Lounge-Zen (left & right) and Yerba Buena (center) locations. ©2007 & 2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
NOTE: SEE PART 1 OF JESSE JACOBS' INTERVIEW BELOW
OUR COMMUNITIES LOOK TO US for sanctuary, community, compassion, and the opportunity for sharing ideas, dreams, and sorrows during these trying times. Tea culture is the perfect vehicle for meeting the deeper needs of our friends, family, colleagues, and customers.
Jesse Jacobs, owner of Samovar Tea Lounge, is exactly this kind of community leader. As a testament to his success in this role, he just gathered the investment capital to open his third tea room. I wondered, "How is this guy so incredibly successful in such a frightening and dismal economy?" I had to find out for myself, so I interviewed Jesse. What I found is that Jesse has a very strong grasp of what tea can provide our community beyond water and leaves. His special understanding of what tea can do for people draws crowds magnetically to his charming and serene tearooms. His depth and integrity are worth noting, and in fact, are the driving force behind his great success.
Tea culture is the antidote to solitary striving. It is a vehicle to community and sanctuary, to the kindness and compassion that help us survive and moreover, to thrive, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. In this era, tea people can serve their communities and really shine.
Below is Part 1 and above is Part 2 of my interview with Jesse Jacobs, a leader in San Francisco's thriving tea culture and a great gift to our community.
David Hoffman Making Tea ©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
I HAD THE HONOR and pleasure of visiting famed tea master David Lee Hoffman and his wife, Bee, for tea not long ago. An unsuspecting visitor might be tipped off by directions to David's home and private tea house that (s)he is in for a magical adventure:
"Come up the driveway, past the boat on the lake at right and chicken coop on left. Pass the bell tower, bear to your right, walking up the brick path that leads to the tea house, and enter through the large steel doors on left. Pass through the stone tunnel below the tea house, up the brick steps, past the worm palace and moat on the left....."
I have suddenly become Dorothy searching for the (tea) wizard in a Chinese/Nepalese version of Oz. I would not be entirely surprised to see the Tin Man or the Scarecrow waving to me at any turn of the brick path. Whimsical stone sculptures stand erect by half-built "castles" and towers. The brick path brings the visitor over bridges and streams and past ponds and chicken coops. I wonder when the Lollypop Kids will appear to greet me. "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto," I think to myself bemusedly.
Finally making it to the open air deck of the Chinese-style tea house which faces a panoramic cathedral of old-growth redwood trees, I hear the music of male voices discussing the completion of a Japanese tile roof. "Helloooo???" I chime. "I'm just coming down from the roof," I hear in response, as David magically flies down from above to welcome me to his kingdom. Neither hidden behind a curtain nor donning a cape, David appears before me. He is as lovely, rustic, and authentic a character as his magnificent Chinese tea house with its gnarled-wood antique Chinese chairs and festive Nepalese prayer flags. We shake hands, and I return the quiet grin spreading beneath Hoffman's kind and curious gaze.
David's private tea house, to which guests are welcome by invitation only, is the ultimate place to savor the delights of tea and take in the lavish gifts of the magical redwood forest (not to mention David's inspiring company). But a late autumn chill drives us into David's home, as the tea house, for now, is unheated and open to the elements. I have brought with me a photographic print as a gift for David and Bee, yet something in me wonders if I should have brought tea. It seemed imprudent at best, and cheeky at worst, to bring tea to someone whose legendary status in the U.S. tea world is dwarfed only by his reputation among Asian tea groupies, who follow him around China to find out which teas he will buy each season.
We enter David's warm and cozy home, which, like the tea house, faces out to the great Northern California redwoods. "Did you bring your favorite tea," he asks? Hawks circle the air. I shake my head. "Not this time," I say, feeling a bit sheepish. I look around the wood-and-glass home to see the lovely gifts of nature David and Bee have collected, as well as some Asian art and writings. One piece of writing tacked to a beam in the house especially moves me:
"These three ways
lead to the heavens:
asserting the truth,
not yielding to anger,
and giving......."
----Dhammapada, verse 224
David is indeed generous, bringing out three different pu-erh teas to taste, one in a bamboo casing, one a cake, and one a loose tea. He steeps the teas in ceramic gaiwans, lining them up, each behind a tasting cup, so we can taste the brews, one after the other. He pours the rinse water into a three-legged earthen frog, which he loves because of its stability, and it's mirroring of the Chinese belief in the strength of three-pillared bases.
"Which tea do you think is the oldest?" he asks me later. "How do you judge the age of a tea," I ask? He says there are many factors, each of which can be faked. Hmmmmm....All of the teas are smooth, and each has a very different and distinctive aroma and flavor. One is brisk, vegetal, and almost astringent, one is mossy and changes on the tongue, and one is very earthy, the "dirt" taste many associate with pu-erhs.
One tea has a particular depth and, as I decide not to risk flaunting my ignorance, I wait for him to tell me that it is this complex tea which is the oldest. "Probably around 1992," he says. "This tea is much darker than the other two," he offers, pointing to a different tea, "so some might guess this to be the oldest tea. But the darkness of the tea doesn't mean its older. It's this other tea here which is the oldest", and he points to the tea in the middle, the mossy one with the personality that keeps growing and shifting with such subtlety.
The afternoon moves forward, the tall trees tossing themselves into a rose sunset. It is time to go, to let David relax after a long day of working on the roof, which has been in the making for years and years, David says. We promise to meet again. "Next time, I will bring tea," I add.
"Can you find your way out," David asks? I assure him I can, although within moments of departing, I find myself in a maze of tunnels, trees, streams, and collected things that have not yet found permanent homes. I click my heels three times.......
THIS YEAR, Winnie Yu and friends will be celebrating Chinese New Year at Teance. Besides being a wonderful way to enjoy a cultural offering in Berkeley, it's a great way to learn more about tea and Chinese culture in general. See their website for the calendar of events on January 31. 
©2008 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
TEABALLS GET A BAD RAP in the Chinese artisan tea drinking scene. They supposedly cost about a nickel apiece in China and are considered to be made from lower grade teas. In the United States and Europe, they sell for about two dollars each.
They grace the cover of The Way to Tea not because of their reputation for great taste, but because they represent new trends in American tea culture and, as you can see, they are quite beautiful, both before and during steeping.
What impresses me most about the teaball is the great aesthetic care that goes into making one. They are always hand crafted (sewn by hand) by Chinese tea people. A handcrafted beverage is a rarity in the United States, where sugary soft drinks are best sellers.
Handcrafted tea is an art that is almost lost, and any reminder of its importance--particularly one this beautiful-- is precious.
I like to think of the teaball as a symbol of beauty and of invention. Whether or not you appreciate it's taste, you can appreciate it aesthetically. It seems that the people who are the first to discredit teaballs are the same ones who sell them (at an inflated rate). Why sell them if you don't believe in them?
They are fun, beautiful, and, if not outrageously delicious like a high mountain oolong, they might at least elevate your mood from their sheer beauty and the care that was used in creating them. Tea provides all kinds of "highs", not the least of which is aesthetic.
©2007 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
Imperial Tea Court is one of San Francisco's longest running tea enterprises, and is owned by Roy Fong.
Roy is one of the most knowledgeable tea masters I know, and I was lucky to be granted an audience and a couple of cups of his early 1990's Ming Hai Puerh the other day.
Roy is a salt-of-the-earth tea master, claiming that the pedigree of a tea or a tea master is not as important as the tea experience itself. "The tea should always be clean and bright," Roy said. "Let the personality of the tea and of the guest determine how you will begin," he says, reminding me of the many shamans I have filmed and interviewed from Africa to South America, most of whom agree that to heal a person, you must know the character of the person and the illness as well as the character of the plants that might heal him. So it is true of tea as well.
Roy suggests that a person experiment as much as possible with the teas that interest you. Try different water temperatures, serving vessels, leaf quantities and steeping times. This way you will begin to understand the potential range of flavors and expressions of the tea. Lower water temperatures bring out more floral notes of a tea, he claims. I have noticed this also, and that sometimes using less leaf and letting it steep a bit longer brings out more subtle and delicate notes that are otherwise lost.
Roy and I have both come to some other similar conclusions about optimal steeping habits. For one, don't boil the water only to let it cool down to a temperature that is best for the tea. Bring the water only to the temperature you want it to be, and not beyond. Remember that the water is a living entity, just as the tea is. Scalding or boiling it will change it's character. If you don't want to steep the tea in boiling water, don't bring it to a full boil, but only to the optimal steeping temperature.
Second, tea and metal are not that compatible during steeping. Although many teas are stored in metal containers or distributed in metal bags, when you are steeping the tea and the leaves are "waking up", you don't want them exposed to metal. I avoid metal strainers, spoons, and other items containing metals. I do use a stainless steel tea kettle, but I suspect that an enamel coated tea kettle would be optimal.
When I met with Roy, he was just about to leave for China. He says that to really know a tea, you need to climb the mountains where it grows and observe it in its natural setting. Many purveyors of tea buy their teas from brokers and never understand the teas' origins. "When you are in the mountains, you learn what the tea is going through, in its growing, harvesting, and processing," Roy said. "I could do it the easy way, just stay in my hotel room and meet with brokers, but then I wouldn't really understand the tea." He first went to Yunnan 20 years ago, though he "likes to do something new, learn something new about tea every time."
Puerh teas from old growth trees have become fashionable to buy and collect now, yet Roy has been at it for twenty years. When a tea comes from trees hundreds of years old, it embodies properties of the earth over those centuries: the air and atmosphere, the soil conditions, the light, even the stories of the local inhabitants. This is what engages tea lovers who perhaps long for bygone eras when one could not hear the hum of engines, machinery, and electricity, but only the sounds of the wind and the nearby streams. All of this is in this old growth tea, it is said.
"In most cases, wild teas taste better than cultivated teas,"Roy continued. "Nature knows best what to do with a plant. Man changes the balance of nature. Wild teas have usually been there for a long time. They are not self conscious. They grow as they are meant to grow. When a tea is cultivated, the end product is not what nature intended."
Last, but not least, Roy delighted in sharing that wherever you find great tea, you find great water. As with others who have made a pilgrimage to China to drink tea at the site of origin, Roy claims that the water, ladled from a nearby stream and simmered, makes the most outstanding, unrepeatable tea experience.
Look for Roy's book on ten top teas from China (title as yet unconfirmed) coming out soon. (It will be posted on this blog).
Teance in Berekley is a great community forum in the San Francisco Bay Area for tea education. Last week, students of tea were treated to a Korean tea ceremony performance by Korean tea master, Yoon Hee Kim.
While tea was first mentioned in Korea over 5000 years ago, it gained public attention when Buddhist monks used tea in a royal funeral in the seventh century. Korean poets and intellectuals engaged in tea ceremony and gatherings for tea for hundreds of years, but then tea lost its footing through a series of unfortunate events in Korea, including war and occupation by foreign forces. It was in the 1960s that tea made a comeback in Korea, and then again, it was through Buddhist monks, artists and intellectuals who celebrated its renaissance.
"What you begin, you end; what you start you bring to closure," said Kim, as she demonstrated the correct hand motions for this beautifully poised tea ceremony. "We see what tea does best when the three aspects of tea come together in harmony: color, fragrance, and taste," said Kim. "One should not overpower the others for tea to be in perfect balance."
According to Yoon Hee Kim, there are four types of Korean tea ceremony: Woman's Tea Service; Scholar's (Men's) Tea Service; Royal Tea Service (for royalty, of course); and Outdoor Tea Service, where poets and artists gather to talk about tea, art, and literature. And within a tea ceremony, there are often three steepings: the first for taste, the second, which is served with snacks, and the third, if the hostess wishes to continue, is for discussion.
Korean green tea is steeped at about 160-170°F, but according to Kim, tea growers of the finest teas claim that the water temperature shouldn't matter so much, and that special notes of a tea will be brought out at different temperatures. I found this fascinating, and, quite honestly, it reinforces my own experience in steeping tea. Kim also mentioned that while first flush teas are considered the most precious, summer and autumn teas have a complexity that can't be found in spring teas, and so in their own way, hold as much value. "A tea might have its own story that can be told only in the autumn flush," said Kim.
With the characteristic grace and humility of a great tea master, Yoon Hee Kim, gave us the sensual and delightful experience of Korean tea ceremony. If ever you have an opportunity to see it, take it.
LU YU, AUTHOR OF THE FIRST comprehensive book on tea culture (before there was such a concept), was intellectually rigorous, but at the same time, soulful and intuitive. These are the qualities found in a lot of great tea people today, which is why those of us who love tea are drawn to other tea people as well.
Lu Yu's understanding of tea was paralleled by his love of nature (the true source of any good cup of tea), from choosing the right plant, the right farming and processing methods, to, finally, using the right kind of water in which to brew the tea. In his book, The Classic of Tea, Lu Yu distinguishes between several different sources of water to optimize the steeping of tea:
"I would suggest that tea made from mountain streams is best, river water is all right, but well water tea is quite inferior....Never take tea made from water that falls in cascades, gushes from springs, rushes in a torrent or that eddies and surges as if nature were rinsing its mouth."
Lu Yu understood the elements of nature and how they played into the final expression of a good cup of tea. He therefore responded to that understanding with cooperation and respect. What initially seems like a personal preference actually has several layers of universal awareness, expediency, and action behind it.
First, water has its own nature, depending on where it comes from and the particular characteristics of its origin. Tea made from well water will be inferior to tea that springs from a mountain stream, says Lu Yu. Why? Perhaps because mountain water is WILD. What could be more exotic, intoxicating, memorable, and love-inducing than wild tea made from wild water? Then there is the tea plant and its leaves. Are the tea leaves from an ancient tree or a young bush? Was it grown high on the mountain, near lavendar or jasmine or onions? What time of day was it harvested? Who processed it and with what tools? How would a machine-processed tea differ from a tea that is lovingly processed with attention and care by the farmer who harvested it?
These are the questions asked by true tea people, like Master Yu. Inside these questions lies at least one basic premise: that all beings and objects possess their own nature, or spirit. The tea, the water, the hoe, the hand that plucks and processes the tea, the wok in which it is roasted, and the container in which it is finally packaged--all of these beings and objects influence the tea, not only because of their material composition, but because of the nature and energy they possess. Otherwise, why would Lu Yu differentiate between river and mountain stream water, or water that gushes rather than sits quietly in a pool? Although all water is H2O, not all water is the same in spirit or character. And I don't mean just hard or soft water, chlorinated or fluoridated water, but really the energy and nature of the water's source.
This harkens back to nature-based cosmologies in which believers recognize the inherent and particular spirit imbued in each place, object, and being. We all know it is there, whether we openly acknowledge this eternal truth or not. Who has not fallen in love with some very personal place--a forest, a quiet beach, a stretch of land that beckons? Some mystery falls upon a such a place, and we appreciate it even if we can't put a name on it.
Everything in this paradigm speaks of the intimate network of nature that is required for good tea--and the tea is very very good because it suggests a path to healthy sustainable living and survival. Not only physical survival, but spiritual survival--the very inclination to love life itself. We are all made of the same stuff: water, leaf, hand, sun, wok, Chinese paper with pretty designs. We know goodness better than we know math. We smell and taste it, we see it, fringing the edges of the quietly smiling tea master, who chooses to process his tea with his bare hands rather than with a machine. Everything in him speaks of the goodness of tea and life.
Lu Yu's understanding of tea was paralleled by his love of nature (the true source of any good cup of tea), from choosing the right plant, the right farming and processing methods, to, finally, using the right kind of water in which to brew the tea. In his book, The Classic of Tea, Lu Yu distinguishes between several different sources of water to optimize the steeping of tea:
"I would suggest that tea made from mountain streams is best, river water is all right, but well water tea is quite inferior....Never take tea made from water that falls in cascades, gushes from springs, rushes in a torrent or that eddies and surges as if nature were rinsing its mouth."
Lu Yu understood the elements of nature and how they played into the final expression of a good cup of tea. He therefore responded to that understanding with cooperation and respect. What initially seems like a personal preference actually has several layers of universal awareness, expediency, and action behind it.
First, water has its own nature, depending on where it comes from and the particular characteristics of its origin. Tea made from well water will be inferior to tea that springs from a mountain stream, says Lu Yu. Why? Perhaps because mountain water is WILD. What could be more exotic, intoxicating, memorable, and love-inducing than wild tea made from wild water? Then there is the tea plant and its leaves. Are the tea leaves from an ancient tree or a young bush? Was it grown high on the mountain, near lavendar or jasmine or onions? What time of day was it harvested? Who processed it and with what tools? How would a machine-processed tea differ from a tea that is lovingly processed with attention and care by the farmer who harvested it?
These are the questions asked by true tea people, like Master Yu. Inside these questions lies at least one basic premise: that all beings and objects possess their own nature, or spirit. The tea, the water, the hoe, the hand that plucks and processes the tea, the wok in which it is roasted, and the container in which it is finally packaged--all of these beings and objects influence the tea, not only because of their material composition, but because of the nature and energy they possess. Otherwise, why would Lu Yu differentiate between river and mountain stream water, or water that gushes rather than sits quietly in a pool? Although all water is H2O, not all water is the same in spirit or character. And I don't mean just hard or soft water, chlorinated or fluoridated water, but really the energy and nature of the water's source.
This harkens back to nature-based cosmologies in which believers recognize the inherent and particular spirit imbued in each place, object, and being. We all know it is there, whether we openly acknowledge this eternal truth or not. Who has not fallen in love with some very personal place--a forest, a quiet beach, a stretch of land that beckons? Some mystery falls upon a such a place, and we appreciate it even if we can't put a name on it.
Everything in this paradigm speaks of the intimate network of nature that is required for good tea--and the tea is very very good because it suggests a path to healthy sustainable living and survival. Not only physical survival, but spiritual survival--the very inclination to love life itself. We are all made of the same stuff: water, leaf, hand, sun, wok, Chinese paper with pretty designs. We know goodness better than we know math. We smell and taste it, we see it, fringing the edges of the quietly smiling tea master, who chooses to process his tea with his bare hands rather than with a machine. Everything in him speaks of the goodness of tea and life.
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