Mrs. Su's Dong Ding Tea

Today I am drinking a beautiful Dong Ding tea made by Mrs. Su. You can see her making tea at 7:00 in this wonderful short documentary. My friend and tea guide Shiuwen of Floating Leaves Tea, with her talented partners, have made the video. Please watch!  

About the documentary: "This is a portrait of farmers Mr. and Mrs. Su, their dedication to their land on Dong Ding mountain and their family business of oolong tea making. The land on Dong Ding itself is incredible for tea production, which is the land that Mr Su's forefathers passed down to them. The Su family have preserved the art and land of their ancestors for many years.
This short film also features Mr Zhan, a tea roasting master that inspired our tea journey. His teas are like magic. He also works with Dong Ding oolong. We plan to produce a full length film to preserve his legacy and share his story with a wider audience."

If you love Taiwanese oolongs and want to help preserve the history and tradition of charcoal roasting, please consider donating to the making of the full-length documentary.

Totem Teas

I recently spent a lovely afternoon drinking tea with friends. I'm hard-pressed to find a way I'd rather spend my time. In this gathering, Phillip, of Totem Teas, guided us through his current selection. Phillip's business model is to sell teas he's excited to drink. It's a great plan! He also sells very fine incense.

I enjoy hearing about people's tea journeys, and Phillip's began with a passion for Japanese teas. Below is his first teapot, well-loved and used. 

We tasted a number of teas together, making our way from a light Lishan oolong to a deeply oxidized Bai Hao.  Note the lovely multi-colored leaves below, one hint of a good  Bai Hao (Oriental Beauty).

All very good teas! I was particularly drawn to the Floral Mountain Tie Guan Yin. I found this to be a liminal tea. It had the light, top notes of the modern, competition styles (Anxi, greener) but with a depth of roasty groundedness (more like my preference, Muzha style). Another point of interest for this tea - it hails from Ali Shan.

Now let's talk incense.  I used to avoid it. It made me sneeze or gave me a headache. Then I discovered the amazingly delicate pleasures of Japanese incense. I was hooked, and my love of incense has grown. Finding the type of incense I appreciate isn't an easy thing from the US, and I'm delighted to recommend Phillip's line. He's got some really nice incense here, folks.

I appreciate the well-curated line of teas and incense from Totem Teas. Buying teas via the internet is always a risk - you don't get the benefit of sampling. What I can say is that you're in good hands with Phillip's choices.  

PDX Tea: Opening, Documentary Fundraiser and Roasted Dong Ding

It is with much excitement that I share that PDX TEA has re-opened in a welcoming and tranquil new space in Portland! David Galli hosts tastings and educational events, as well as curating high-quality teas (for sale). Many of these teas have come from his travels. David is a good friend, and I know first-hand how lucky Portland is to have someone with his level of knowledge and tasting abilities to be part of our tea journeys. 

Last Sunday, several tea lovers gathered to taste charcoal roasted Dong Ding. We were able to enjoy three different roasting levels. We noticed how the tea shifted not only by roasting level, but also within the consecutive brews of the same tea. 

Roasting tea is a specialized skill. Often the tea roaster is a different person from the grower and also the tea maker. Roasting involves science (temperature, moisture levels), as well as sensory arts (the smell of the leaf, the feel of it in your fingers, the control of the heat).  After a tea is roasted, sometimes the roasters let the tea rest for awhile to mellow before selling it.   

There are different kinds of roasting. Below, David is showing an electric roaster. The Dong Ding tea we drank is a very special type, roasted over charcoals (they are banked with various levels of ash to manage the amount of heat). People who enjoy this type of tea  have concerns that the knowledge and skills of charcoal roasting are dwindling.  To that end, this tasting was a fundraiser for a project to make a Taiwan Tea Documentary, including charcoal roasting. Shiuwen Tai of Floating Leaves Tea is trying to raise funds for this project.  It's a very worth cause, and I have donated!  (Also note - Shiuwen is offering a 30% discount to my blog readers on the High Mountain Tea Sampler - see here.)

I look forward to many wonderful tea tastings at PDX Tea, and I wish all the best to the Taiwan Tea Documentary project!

Baozhong: Lunch

Shiuwen, of Floating Leaves Tea, is writing a series on her blog about five major categories of Oolong tea from Taiwan. This is based on her recent presentation at the NW Tea Fest and I'm honored to have been able to help with that.  She begins with Baozhong tea - read the story here.

Farmer Chen

For the duration of this series, I thought I'd share a few side stories.  Today I'll talk about a fantastic lunch we had in Pinglin. We had been visiting and tasting teas in Farmer Chen's shop. When it was lunchtime, we walked to the restaurant that his wife operates and were treated to a feast!  

Walking through town

Farmer Chen's wife

The lunch menu:  apple soda, chicken on the bone, pork fat sandwiches on sesame buns, red rice with dates and pork, river shrimp, shrimp with apples and guava, whole "fragrant fish", fried mashed potato balls with egg and corn, chicken broth soup with goji berries and dates, greens, tea jelly.  Here are a few images.

Chicken broth with dates and goji berries 

The meal included several types of fish

Shrimp with apples and guava

Fried river shrimp

Meals always included greens

Tea jelly

This was our first full day of adventuring in Taiwan and we were welcomed with such generosity! I continue to send thoughts of thanks to Farmer Chen and his wife.  And thanks, too, for the great tea you make!

More on Bowl-Style Brewing

Preparing to brew bowl style

Sometimes things just come together. I had been thinking about my time in Taiwan and experiences with bowl-style brewing (also sometimes called "Grandpa" style, at least in the US). Shiuwen of Floating Leaves had recommended bowl-style for the  Hong Shui (red water) tea  I had been drinking. Then I received some tea from Global Tea Hut that also recommended bowl-style brewing!

Today I had the opportunity to share tea with friends and tried out this style of brewing again.  It's fun and straight-forward.  However, I learned an important lesson.  Use LESS tea than you would if brewing gong fu style.  I overdid it on our second tea and we had quite robust brews.

Some tips for brewing this style:
* Prewarm the bowls by pouring in hot water and then pouring off.
* Have a waste water bowl (any large bowl will do) nearby for the pouring off.
* Use less tea than you think you might need!  A trial run in the bowls you plan to use will help with this!  I got it half right.  I had done a trial, but in different bowls.  I had the proportions way off.
* Engage all your senses.  This type of brewing is very intimate with the tea.

Here's more on this topic from those who know far more than I:
Floating Leaves (blog)
A Tea Addict's Journal (blog)
Global Tea Hut (video; Please note that the brewer, Wu De, has brewed thousands of bowls of tea.  Use this as a general guide and don't compare yourself.)
"Big Bowl Tea" pictures and a bit of history (news article)

Let me know if you give this style of brewing a try.  I'd love to hear about it!

Hong Shui (Red Water) Tea, Bowl Style

I recently re-opened some tea that had been resting for several months. I brought it back from Taiwan about a year ago.  It's called Hong Shui (Red Water).  This tea is highly oxidized with a bit of a roast (to increase the shelf life). I think it's yummy!  Shiuwen, of Floating Leaves Tea suggested that I try brewing it "bowl style".  Good timing, as this brewing style had been on my mind.

"Bowl Style" is very  simple.  Choose a bowl (a rice bowl works great) that you can drink from directly, but isn't giant.  Add leaves in the bottom, pour hot water, let steep for a bit and enjoy.  Repeat.  Above, I'm using a summer-style Japanese tea bowl.  It doesn't have to be a special tea bowl.  Find something you have that works.

This Red Water tea is rolled into a ball during processing.  The leaves open as they steep.  It's fun to watch, and this brewing style allows for a great view.  Above, first steeping after a minute.  The leaf is still fairly tight.

 Second steeping, just after pouring hot water. Notice how much the leaf has opened.

One of the things I love about this brewing style is the intimacy with the leaf.  It literally engaged all my senses.  Visually, I get the best view of what's happening during the steeping process. When I drink the tea, my nose is deep in the bowl and the aroma envelopes me.  The taste of the tea changes from steeping to steeping, and I even got to chew on a few leaves as they slipped into my mouth in the early steeping.  (Once opened fully, they stick together in the bottom of the bowl.)  That counts for touch as does playing with the leaf to unfurl it fully. You can't see it very well, but in the last photo, I'm showing some unrolled leaf.  And finally, most surprising was the connection to sound.  It was magical!  After the leaf unfurled, when I would tip the bowl up to sip, I heard this little gurgling sound, like the movement of a gentle spring, as the water navigated the leaf terrain and made it to my mouth.  I loved it!

What Is Oolong (Wulong) Tea?

Ti Guan Yin tea in Muzha, Taiwan

What is oolong tea?  This is perhaps the most difficult Tea 101 topic I've written.  The tea is not one tea, but rather a range of hundreds (maybe thousands?) of teas that range between light and fresh to dark and roasty.  Technically, oolong tea spans the broad chasm between a green and a black.  Oolongs vary in many factors, but fundamentally, the variation is based on the amount of oxidation that the leaf undergoes in its process, from ~10% up to 75 (perhaps 85)%.  Factor in the local growing conditions, the tea farmer's skill and the tea maker's artistry, the roasting (if it applies), whether the tea is balled or twisted, the storage, the water, the brewer - and you have innumerable variations. 

The magic, to me, of oolong teas is in their diversity.  An oolong honors its provenance, forms a partnership with the tea farmer, yields to the hand of the tea maker and expresses itself uniquely for the brewer.  From the very green and minimally oxidized Baozhong, to the high mountain fragrant teas (like Alishan), to the highly oxidized Bai Hao oolongs to the deeply roasted traditional Ti Guan Yin or Wuyi teas, I hold that there is an oolong for everyone.  My tastes change based on the season and my mood, but I am generally drawn toward the heavily oxidized and/or roastier versions.  But wow how I appreciate the heavenly aromas or creamy mouth feel of others.

Baozhong oolong tea in Pinglin, Taiwan

Oolong tea processing originated in China, possibly the Wuyi region.  Today, Taiwan joins China in production of incredible oolong teas. (Some people believe the best oolongs are from Taiwan, but this is a highly personal choice.  I find great teas from both China and Taiwan.)  I had the wonderful opportunity to tour Taiwan last May and I've been blogging about it off and on, and will continue to do so.  The photos in this post are from that trip.

Oolong teas are often (and I find best) brewed in gong fu style.  This style of brewing invites us to slow down and be with the tea, and with our sipping companions.  (Here is a simple primer on one gong fu method.)  You may have heard of those tiny yixing pots; those are perfect for Gong Fu brewing, but porcelain and glass work well, too - as does a gaiwan.

Tell me, my tea friends, do you enjoy oolong teas?  If so, which ones and why?  And if you're just beginning to explore this style, please feel free to ask me questions.  I am by no means an expert, but I am a diligent student and can share what I've learned from those far more experienced than I, and from my sipping experiences.  And that sipping is the best way to explore and learn!

Breathing Tea



Picking tea in Muzha, Taiwan

Happy Friday!  Just breathe in deeply and smell the fresh tea leaves.

Breathe out and let your breath become part of the tea itself.

One big circle.

Tea Making Process and Stirring Green Video (Alishan)

Son-in-Law, Tea Farmer, considering his freshly made tea

At the Alishan tea farm, the Son-in-Law (that's what we called him) has stepped into the role of primary tea farmer.  He's tall, handsome and kind.  He has a sense of calm presence beyond his age (38).  He was our guide through the tea making process. 

The tea farmer works closely with the experts at the processing factory.  The tea waits for no one.  It's round-the-clock work once the tea is picked.  To make Alishan tea, it takes two days and one night.  Processing is done in small batches; in our case it was specific to a day's picking.  Each day of picking has a different shining quality (aroma, broth, mouth feel, etc.)  and therefore should be processed specifically to bring out its best features.   

Process for making tea, shown to us by the owner of the facility

The process for making Alishan tea:
1 - Tea picking
2 - Outdoor oxidation
3 - Indoor oxidation
4 - Stirring green
5 - Killing green
6 - Shaping
7 - Drying
8 - Fixing the product

Tea that is oxidizing, a very crucial part of the process that turns the raw leaf into magic

This tea processing facility is ISO certified at 4 stars.  (ISO is an international quality standards body and I know from work experience how big of a deal this is.) It seems as though only 5 Taiwan tea processing factories have 5 stars.

It takes 3 - 5 years for a talented person to become good at this tea making work.  It requires sensitivity to many factors including:  temperature and humidity, tea varietal and season, preferences of the tea maker, and of course the leaf itself.  Listening to the leaf is done in many ways, and a lot of it is done through the nose.  The tea makers use the tea aroma as an indication of when it's time for the next step.

For a tea geek like me, it's really exciting to have been there, in the quite literal middle of all of this.  The aromas of the withering teas, the hard work, the rhythms of it all.  Such anticipation for the first taste (see top photo).

Here's a video of "stirring green" which helps the "water travel" in the tea.  It's awesome to watch these guys do their thing.  (And you can go here for some pics of "killing the green.")

Taiwan: Picking Tea in Alishan

In Alishan (high mountain oolong), tea pickers (predominantly women) are often seasonal workers who move from farm to farm as the tea becomes ready to pick.  The readiness of the tea differs by altitude and microclimate.  It's an intense few days. The farm where we stayed had four days of picking during this flush.

The pickers work hard at this job. They fill their baskets and then deliver them to be weighed. The results are recorded in the books. Note the picker's blade attached to her finger. Not everyone uses these, but my own attempt at picking showed me how strong the stalk can be. For these high mountain oolong teas, three leaves and a bud get harvested.

Hard work in a very beautiful setting!  Thank you to all the people who bring the tea to life.

Taiwan: Scooter Culture

Scooters are everywhere in Taiwan!  They are the primary mode of transportation for many, many people. Makes me miss Stella, my former scooter.

Photos (click to enlarge):  pink power!, doing business off the back of a scooter, temple entrance in background, row of scooters in foreground

Taiwan: Alishan

Buddhist nun serving tea

We've just returned from four days on the Alishan mountain and at Sun Moon lake, both important tea growing areas in Taiwan. I'll focus first on Alishan. The region is so beautiful!  We were welcomed by the tea farmer like family and stayed at the tea farm. Tea, tea and more tea!

Time for Wu-Wo, too. I'm learning of the concept of "affinity" - and under such, we spontaneously met a group of Buddhist nuns while doing Wu-Wo tea beside a beautiful rock. They invited  us to have tea at their temple.  (Which we did). Beautiful gardens at the temple and ironically, a treasure trove of Taiwanese crackers and cookies.

Witnessing the picking and making of tea is particularly exciting for me. We followed the lifecycle of tea from  picking to processing to packaging. The tea at this farm for this season was picked in four days and we got to see the heart of the alchemy to turn it from picked leaf to dry tea.  This included getting up at midnight to witness "killing the green" - stopping the oxidation with heat. We tasted teas that were finished just hours prior. Majestic views, wonderful people and fragrant, luscious tea. My heart is full of gratitude!

Photos (click to enlarge):  view of Alishan mountains, tea fields and village; grandma and Granddaughter making tea; Wu-Wo; tea withering; "killing the green" to stop the oxidation (using heat tubes); Buddhist nun making tea