Green memoir from a vermilion noir tea

Probably I am not a black tea fan, or to say better, I am not a great black tea drinker and I am surely not a member of the  new way black tea drinkers society. My favored teas are the true aged black teas, but they are called black in chinese (Hei Cha) and have nothing to do with classic european style indian blacks. Thinking to the red-black empire, I enjoy various chinese blacks, like very much the deep chocolate aroma of the Jiuqu Hong Mei, I wonder about the infinite variegation of yunnan red teas and consider Darjeeling FF teas something double-tongued and double faced, greenish black creature.   In some way we like in this black teas a character what is out of blackness. Recently we, western tea neologists prefer infuse it in a very unusual low temperature ranges to obtain even more mild tastes and aromas. I cannot adjudicate when this tendencies are erroneous or not, maybe we are forwarding to new type of  sense of taste, maybe there will be eternally different gastronomic rules on the two faces of the planet. The tradition is also not monochrome, but teach us certainly otherwise. The new way of the only sweet and only mild taste is an experiment  ignoring and incurious of the cha qi of this teas.  To explain exactly what I want to say and to express all my doubts and scruples I found  the perfect companion in a japanese black tea, from a small-family run farm in a black tea producing area called Makurazaki in Kagoshima prefecture from Kyuushu. Japanese black is not widely prevalent and known, it is a rare speciality submerged in the immense japanese green tea sea, such as botabotacha, goishicha and other very limited, but quite interesting local inventions. On the 40 g bag Te Zu Mi  means hand picked and refers to the early spring only bud-quality of this tea. However in the production the original leaf shape is not conserved due to the intensive rolling process. Heated our traditional sencha vermillion tea pot we put in the tea and the smell which reaces us diffuses in a wide spectrum with profound aromatic breath. We use a very mild purified crab-eye water at  95 Co. Less than 1 minute we wait before we go to fill our small cups and the tea became very dense, accompanied by intensive smell and deep vermilion colour. Laudable astringency, medium cha qi, very intensive fruity umami and contented sweetness. Yes, we feel the chocolate, coffee and other roasted beans aromas as we can fell it in every high end black tea, but the really inexplicable sense of this koucha is some rich green-resembling passion. You don't perceive it, just after finished the last 6-7. infusion. It is not a true, direct detection of taste, but a general sensation.. Even more it is a sort of memorial of green between all of senses in your palate when you feel you must turn to prepare again this tea. And this is the best sign. 

    

                           

                           
Hungarian readers please refer this article here: www.japantea.hu

Shining capital - Matcha Miyako no Shiro

This is a medium grade matcha from Nagahiro Yasumori's traditional tea shop located in Kyoto at the covered market of the Teramachi street. This is his 2. rank matcha of the line which contains 7 powdered teas. This shop represent a traditional "old fashioned", rustic style and offers his own blends and brands. Mr. Nagahiro Yasumori is a highly educated tea conossieur and expert of chanoyu, but all this western terms are useless to explain what in chado experience means. Many years of study can authorise someone to be able to ask questions about customs, utensils and their true functions. In the way of japanese tea every detail is important, so one must be very cautious and conservative, if want present a tea, an utensil, an action. The first picture seems to be real and intimate, but it  is a "highly" erroneous caption, because in this post we prepare koicha (thick tea) and never the tea for koicha will drawed in the tea bowl with the chashaku (tea scoop). Except the first movements chaire tea caddy must be used to enhance the richness, and the precious, healing character of this tea. In this context the chashaku tea scoop over the tea powder is truthless and superfluous. 

Preparing the koicha one must give attention to cleanliness and neatness, the prepared koicha must be not slushed on the wall  of the chawan. Here on the pictures isn't tatami under the chawan, we laid some bamboo overlay and this is less than some casual style. It is not prohibited to prepare casual matcha in the office, but better gives our best in setting-up the stage. So before public pictures of japanese leaf tea or in particular of matcha think twice of this. It is more important even in the case of this tea, which is named Miyako no Shiro, Shining Capital, referring the luxurious tradition of the old capital. The tea on this early summer climate day can be prepared both as usucha and koicha and in both state carries thick, creamy, rustic tastes. Prepared as usucha is not sweeter and easier, but their foam do it more "comfortable". In both cases it isn't a warm blooded cup which imbues my organs. It is a calm, extent-tea, with deep resonance. No comparison with other teas for respect of it, but to be a 2000 Yen/40 gr matcha is far excellent. More excellent, than my pictures.

Ez egy közepesnek mondható matcha Nagahiro Yasumori régi teaboltjából Kyotóból a Teramachi utca-piacáról.Ez az ő, 7 matchát felvonultató listáján a második. A bolt amolyan régi vágású, hagyományos Uji stílust képvisel és saját keverékeket mutat be saját név alatt. Nagahiro Yasumori egy magasan képzett tea conossieur és szakértő, de ezek a nyugati kifejezések teljességgel érdemtelenek arra, hogy a tea útján szerzett tapasztalatot kifejezzék. Sok-sok év tanulás érdemesíthet és tehet képessé valakit arra, hogy kérdéseket tudjon feltenni teákról, eszközökről és azok mibenlétéről. A japán tea útján minden részlet nagyon fontos, így bárkinek, aki valamilyen képet, filmet, ábrázolást kíván ezekkel kapcsolatosan közzétenni, nagyon óvatosan és konzervatívan kell eljárnia. Az első kép például egy hibás felvétel, mert koichát készítünk, márpedig a koicha teáját az első pillanatoktól eltekintve nem chashaku teaszedővel szedjük a teáscsészébe.Chaire teatárolót kell használni ezzel is hangsúlyozva ennek a teának a gazdag, kincs jellegét, gyógyító erejét. Ebben a kontextusban a kiszedett tea fölött bemutatott egy chashakunyi tea hamis és teljesen fölösleges. 

A koicha elkészítésekor különös hangsúlyt kell fektetni a tisztaságra, így a chawan falára felkent tea sem szép látvány. Itt a képeken tatami sem jutott a chawan alá, csupán egy felemás bambuszterítő terül el és ez kevesebb, mint bármiféle "otthoni", vagy "irodai" stílus.  Kétszer gondold meg hát, mielőtt ilyen képeket teszel közzé. Még fontosabb ez egy olyan tea esetében, aminek a neve Miyako no Shiro, azaz Ragyogó Főváros, és a régi főváros szellemi tradíciójának gazdagságára utal. 

A tea, amit ezen a korai nyári  délelőtt megkóstolunk, alkalmas usucha és koicha elkészítésére is, mindkét "halmazállapotában"  vastag, krémes, rusztikus ízeket szállít.  Usuchaként az elvárás ellenére sem édesebb és könnyebb, csupán komfortosabbá teszi a habja. Sem így, sem úgy, nem hevítő ital, nem ugrasztja sem agyam, sem szívem, csupán kiderül az ég. Nyugodt, szétterülő tea, telve mély visszhanggal, zúgással. Nem hasonlítjuk össze más teákkal, mert tiszteletünk megakadályozza ezt, de a 2000 Yen/40 grammos matcha kategóriában nagyon is kitűnő. Sokkal kitűnőbb, mint a képeim.

Effectiveness of Aged Tea - 30 years old wulong from Taiwan

After the last words of  the last post I had an illness. Nothing serious, but it came as  a living contradiction of the lesson of that post and my old tea and health theory-complex. In tea circles old tea is considered as a daily treatment for many diseases and  many types of green tea, or blends of fresh green with medicinal herbs is a matter of effective medicine. Old is better, due to the ancient wisdom myth and age-long experience.  There are many facts to confirm it in the modern science, but no evidences and methods exists for the measurement of the effectiveness of a certain tea. A certain tea doesn't exist, only the liquor of my tea and my moment tea.

                                  
For example researches of the last two decades show the effects of made tea and tea infusion on blood lipids, blood pressure and other cardiovascular disorders, we know even more about antibacterial, anti caries and anticarcinogenesis activity of tea, but nobody can declare his own tea is an effective medicine against this or that disease, without evidences of composition and true and equal preparation methode of a certain medicine tea prepared at home.
                                 
As chemistry this infusion is bright, shining and yellow-brown due to the water soluble flavonols (kaempherol, quercetin, isoquercetin) Some of this flavonols goes under a transforming process in course of the years guided by fungus and mycrobas. Dark yellow colour is formed by carotenoids and chlorophyll-degradative products, such as pheophorbide A and B. Secondary poliyphenolic compounds are formed during the early and the after fermentation process and this materials, (theasinensin, or oolongtheanin found only in wulong teas) give a unique aroma and flavor to the tea.

For me who believe tea is an effective drug,  is possible to form a measurement of it in the daily life. Tea is a very effective and chiefly preventive material for myself which must be completed with a conscious and healthy daily nourishment and a complex modus vivendi. If you live healthy in a sane environment, if you prevent yourself with the adequate means, if in your spirit you retain balance, peace and forgiveness and you have also fortune, you will not become ill.

   Now I bring out to support my fortune a very old wulong (oolong) tea from Taiwan, it doesn't ware any creditable name, or aging dates, the farmer call it a 30 years old Dong Ding, but it doesn't look at all as a present day or a semi aged tight rolled  Dong Ding. It looks like a big industry small leaf tea mixed with some young shoots twisted in small snails and needles. Judging the age is relatively simple, you see the shade of the leaf, the colour of the infusion and in particular the shade of the infused leaf. The original color of the leaves is very dark indeed, traditionally baked taiwan oolong becomes toned dun and puke in the course of the unlearnt time. I use for this tea a very slow black yixing tea pot without a ball filter. After a deep and hot washing infusion, which serves to exorcise unwanted fungus and microbas, we begin our long trip on this very strain tea, the character of which is a herbal, spicy experiment accompanied with some bitterness on the beginning and insistent flower aroma in the aftertaste.
                          
                          
                                     Bright yellow infusion in the latter stage
                             
                                  Leaves are opening in the yixing pot

                           
                                Leaf judging is important activity for any tea drinker

The pungency of this tea is good for my throat, the bitterness gives a support for my heart and venues, mold taste is antibacterial and helps my digestion, sweet taste is sign of polysacharyds, which maintains very effectively my blood-glucose level. The only fact not so good for me is sourness and some acidity particularly in forced aged, and in semi aged oolongs.  30 years ago, when this tea probably was harvested,  I didn't cared about this factors, it was  more important the neighbor girlfriend and much more the following match of the "mundial".

Two teas, four days, one week

Four days without posting, but not without tea. To be accurate three days with two teas. The previous Yi Wu wild arbor tea was enough for two days and an another, but an aged puerh for another two. To overdrink a tea is dangerous and we must select carefully what type of tea we are drinking in a certain day. Maybe a young tea-man does better with more tea, but not without consequences. In this matter I drink every day a matcha and choose an other one, possibly not more. When I choose a young, wild sheng puerh it is enough for two days and I rarely drink more than 1-2 puerh in a week. I don't drink more shu puerh, eventually some aged one and I rather prefer some other type aged hei cha. (shu puerh is also a hei cha produced with big leaves - da yi cultivars). Now let's taste the second puerh of the weekend.  This is an aged sheng san cha, scattered Tea (散茶). Usually the loose-leaf puerh is the raw material of the compressed tea which is just rarely a green tea (mao cha) but more often a shu puerh. This tea seems quite like a shu puerh, because its appareance is dark, with the characteristic earthy flavor. I didn't take a picture of the entire 5 Kg sack of this loose-leaf tea, therefore  on the photo above only several pieces of the compressed tea is visible. It became compressed in the course of years in a big tea jar. This is a very old, "low quality" mao cha with stalks, leaf venues, big leaves, buds blended and than incidentally aged (forgot) in my friend tea shop in Taiwan.

                        

 The tea was there surely "since the end of the high school" - it must be around 30 years old. The price was friendly respect the age thanks to the "no name, no recipe" stage. We use this tea after two times short washing at 90 Co. Voluntary or casual, this blend became very good balanced. Astringency in the first 5 infusions it presents no special bitterness and completely missed off flavor, moderate cha qi and caffeine as in the aged teas, where the potency moves in the course of the years in complex flavours and aftertaste. The colour of an aged sheng is typical dark, scarce of red, with many oils on the surface of the cup, and the infusion is deep. From the 5th to the10th infusions some sour state can be noted and the tea begin to transform in an ethereal state. From the10th to the 15th infusions the color gradually disappears and comes on the stage the infinite aged tea sweetness. After 15 infusion we can infuse the tea again and again to obtain an almost colorless very long sweet infusion. Drinking this tea and the other young wild tea we feel curated against every illness.
 
                                                                    15 th infusion

Sweet old-new Yi-Wu mountain tea

What is your best Yi Wu mountain puerh tea you have ever tried? Maybe some old, expensive Yi Wu wild from the 70's. Some other from the 80's. Or I am sure you cannot resist to a big leaf, wild Yi Wu from the mid or the end 90's. Ok, but what was the best Yi-Wu at an affordable price? Some tea from the new era of the Douji label without doubt. Yes, they have very good young teas, especially from the expensive 2006 and previous range. But whatever you think the best YiWu teas you tasted were sold all through Hong Kong or Taiwan vendors. No one from the recent pseudo "Yi Wu cakes" at 10 USD in the mainland was a remarkable tea. We tasted several samples from it with my friends from Taiwan and any time they said - "green tea". Yes, sheng puerh is a green tea, but it must be yellowish bright in the cup, with hundreds of oils and aroma, clean and pure aroma, with nutty full body, semi sweet in the main taste and long sweet in the aftertaste. Generally speaking fresh Yi Wu could be a green tea, but with a wide panoramic, fresh character and thick middle lane which serve to guarantee the capacity of aging. Yi Wu is so good, because the most balanced of all puerh teas between cha qi, taste, aroma and appearance, and this middle bold lane characterized by amino acids is not overwritten by too harsh kick force.

In this Yi Wu range of my memory one recent, very comfortable experience is the usual or traditionally named Yi Wu Zheng Shan from The Yin Yi Tea Art, a malaysian vendor labeled in 2006. The price is over 70 USD for a cake which is 400 gr. The aspect of the cake is beautiful as it must be every wild arbor tea, eventually watch pictures here. The most frequent aroma in Yi Wu teas is the camphor which does not have a fast character, but very rich and diversified without sour aspect.

The liquor is shining bright yellow and the taste is bold and as swelter as the rain after summer and as sweet and full as some fig jam. After taste is creamy and as long as the future of this tea will be. Many other Taiwan and Malaysia settled vendors are keeping guard to produce so excellent teas.

Magyar olvasók itt találják a teljes szöveget.

New season, expired tea

This is a tea it has been expired over a half year. A quite unique tea which called shinmatcha, composing the name of the first presentation tea in Japan (shincha) and the matcha. While in matcha producing process is indispensable to "age" the tea to obtain mellow taste almost for a half of year, manufacture a first matcha immediately after the harvest is a very special method and only few producers can grant it. Publish this post right now is obviously too early, we have more than one month to this season shincha and shinmatcha and we wish for all tea lovers a god tea season, not as last year. So why now and what is this tea out of season? This is a shinmatcha Gin (silver level) of Marukyu Koyamaen from 2009, best before date is 12.09.2009. This is one of the last tins remained and we taste it curiously, how the last year expired tea is finished.

Koyamaen method of tea making is based on a 300 years old tradition, but uses a new style producing any moment fresh tea and secure, creditable blends. This is why the best before date is generally 8 months form the leaf teas and 6 month for the powdered green tea matcha. This doesn't means that the tea is really expired after this date. Only the freshness is not so sharp, but the tea itself despite the altering is still good and ready to brew. After almost one year this tea is markedly changed. Last year sharp, strong freshness, phrenetic cha qi is out. Colour is a bit palish, but still alive. (you can watch the original here)I remember this tea was too fast, and rather too bitter. The gold level of the same tea in 2008 was one of the best matcha ever, last year creamy, but not so complex due to the catastrophic climate conditions before the harvest. Now the silver shinmatcha has two faces. The bitterness to be over gives the one face, on the other side we have a immensely deep sweetness. Medium umami is also present, but the main peculiar is this doubled sweetness. Properly stored a tea is always transforming and you have ever a chance to be able to find the point which is right for you. Once steeped on the way, passion for tea is never expired.

Ez a tea több, mint egy éve lejárt. Egészen különleges lényről van szó, shinmatchának hívjuk, aminek neve a szezon első szedésű és elsőnek, bemutatkozásként elkészített tea nevéből (shincha) és a matcha, a porrá őrölt zöld tea nevéből áll össze. Mivel a porrá őrölt zöld tea, illetve általában minden árnyékolt zöld tea gyártásához elengedhetetlena tea érlelése, ami a matcha alapteája esetében legalább 6 hónap, ehhez hasonló első matcha termelése igazán különleges dolog és csak kevés gyártó vállalkozik rá. Shinmatchát bemutatni egy áprilisi cikkben nyilvánvalóan korai, még legalább egy hónapunk van addig, amíg megérkezik a 2010-es shincha és shinmatcha, kívánunk minden tea kedvelőnek a tavalyinál szebb szezont.

De akkor mire ez a tea most? Ez egy shinmatcha Gin (ezüst) Marukyu Koyamaentől 2009-ből, aminek lejárata 12.09.2009. 12.09-én volt. Ez egyike a néhány megmaradt doboznak, a suszter megpucolja lyukas cipőjét, mi felnyitjuk megmaradt teánkat.

Koyamaen gyártási módja 300 éves hagyományon nyugszik, de teljesen új is, mert minden pillanatban mindig friss és biztosan ugyanazt az ízt garantáló blendeket gyárt, ezért van, hogy a leveles teáit 8 hónapra,a matchát csupán hat hónapra kalibrálja.

Ez nem jelenti azt, hogy a tea lejárt ezután a dátum után. A teamester által garantált és kívánt frissességben és ízkombinációban lejárt, de a tea minden változás ellenére nagyon is elkészíthető.

Elkészítve az egyéves szülinapja előtt álló shinmatchát érezhető, hogy jelentősen megváltozott. Tavalyi éles erős frissessége, vágtató cha qi-je már a múlté. A szín valamivel haloványabb, de továbbra is élő.

Emlékszem mennyire erős, túlságosan is gyors és meglehetősen keserű tea volt a friss teából készített matcha.

Ugyanennek a teának az arany fokozata 2008-ban a legjobb teák egyike volt, tavaly krémesen finom, de nem annyira komplex.

Most az ezüst shinmatchának két arca van. A keserűség továbbra is az egyik, de másik oldalról, hátul a torokig nagyon mély átható édesség társul hozzá és jelen van egy közepes umami is.

A jól tárolt jó tea sosem árul el, mindig ad egy lehetőséget arra, hogy képességeid szerint megtaláld a közös pontot tea és te közötted.

Ha pedig ráléptél az útra, a tea iránti szenvedély sosem jár le.

Qiqiang 旗 枪 flags and spears is the name of this the tea category on the time scale of the development of the new tea buds. One not opened bud contained another tip inside and one open, fresh leaf. Very short time to pick it, and an early, very fresh tea. As time scale we can call it also Mingqian (明前) tea, because picked before Qing Ming (Clear Brightness) in early April.

This tea is quite unique and symbolize the ambition of the new chinese tea and development of the last decade. The intention is to produce very mild, fruity, sweet green which is also rich in taste, but smell and mildness seems to be more important.

This is a pre-season Long Jing tea outside the famed XiHu - West Lake, but more expensive as the real one. There are several second rank terroirs producing Long Jing and some of them has the advantage to begin the crop much earlier as the traditional Long Jing plantages. First crop in this regions is simultaneous with early march biluochun type, "not open bud" teas from Sichuan. The meaning of this tea is the same of the japanese shincha, the first tea. The plantage offers a first fresh tea after the long march winter and would like also present how this year will be. To be the first signifies a cost relatively high, this pre season teas are 2 times expensive as a high quality, but regular crop Xi Hu tea. The secondary pre season terroirs are Qian Tang, He Shan, Xin Chang, Yuezhou etc.., all in the same province, Zhejiang.

In green tea preparing there are several ways, but for this early crop teas is obligatory to use mild, pure 70 Co water, with very cautious pouring. This tea is very fragrant with fruity and floral smell, denote suspiciously green, light green colour, all this reveal that total poliphenol and amino acid content is unusual high. If you observe this photo you can see the red lines over the shape of the leaves. This means tea is very rich and strong and despite the mindful and expert handmade firing process, the leaves began to the fermentation. It is not necessary to taste it. Enough to watch and you know you will feel in your mouth a delicious tea beauty, a fine liquor with extremly strong cha qi.

Magyarul mindez részletesen itt olvasható.