Happy Tomb Sweeping Day!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Today, April 5th is a significant day in the tea world and a national holiday in China. It is the first day of the month "Qing Meng".
It is the day that families reunite and visit their ancestor's burial sites and clean them up, pray, offer fruits (always oranges, they represent good luck) and flowers and have a great time eating, getting caught up and drinking tea.

It is a significant day for China and the rest of the world because it is when the tea pickers are hired from all of the surrounding villages and tea picking is started in earnest. Often the rains have subsided and the freshest, richest and largest tea buds of the season are harvested during the fifteen day month of Qing Meng. The prices also reflect the desirability of the tea harvested in this time frame; it is much more expensive.

The farmers work with a twenty four season calendar, each season lasting about 15 days. The season that preceded Qing Meng is called Jin Zhe, which means "spring thunder" and is an apt description of the rainy days we have been traveling through prior to Qing Meng. The next 15 day month after Qing Meng is called Gu Yu and the quality and the price of the tea remains high through this month also. After Gu Yu, the tea is considered less desirable, still wonderfully drinkable, but certainly less expensive. Freshness counts as does the month your tea was picked in.

Incidentally, the reason we were interviewed three times by television stations in China was because Qing Meng was coming up and they were pre-recording footage for broadcast today. So, in visiting what are considered extremely small, remote, hand- crafted tea producers still run by family trained tea masters they were quite amazed to find us, the westerners. They were also quite pleased: it gave their stories a different angle and proved a not-so subtle point the broadcasters were trying to make. That point was that modern Chinese are losing their appreciation and interest in the art of hand -crafted teas.With Westerners like us enjoying, studying and being very appreciative of their native gift to the world, it helped to prove their point.

I have a confession to make at this point. While it is April 5 in the Western Hemisphere, it is not in the the country of China. China is at least 15 hours ahead of the Western Hemisphere.

Drink your old tea and prepare to pick up some fresh tea plucked during Qing Meng and Gu Yu. It is worth the price.

Andy

China's Most popular Tea

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Outside of the tallest pagoda in China in the surrounding mountains lies the village and hillside tea gardens of Dragonwell, where China's most popular tea has been produced for hundreds of years.

The emperor's original eighteen tea bushes are on display there, remenants of the Qing dynasty.
We spent the rainy afternoon with 79 year old Dragonwell tea master Meng Shang Ye as he panfired some freshly picked dragonwell leaves and buds from the tea fields we had walked through just a few minutes before.

Mr. Meng explained Dragonwell tea is a richer tasting green tea than the most Chinese green teas. It consists of pickings of two leaves and a bud. This extra tiny leaf adds a deeper dimension to the flavor. The logo for my company, Farmers Market Tea is a classic representation of a Dragonwell tea leafn (two leaves and a bud)before it has been pan fired. Many of the lighter flavored teas use just the bud and the single leaf.

Dragonwell tea has its' own fragrance. Some people smell a roasting chestnut aroma while others think of a pleasant aroma from a country kitchen roasting beans with a charcoal kiln.

Whatever the fragrance you perceive it will take four infusions to experience the broad flavor profile of a well crafted Dragonwell. In the first infusion there will be a slight sweetness. The second, third and fourth infusion will deliver a full moith feel that you can taste down to your throat. That is the true taste of Dragonwell. A good Dragonwell will leave its flavor with you for 30 minutes.

They say it takes a few months to get to know Dragonwell; after that you have made a friend for life. The Chinese compare it to a mysterious, intelligent woman. Her finer points are not apparent to the casual observer, but her beauty develops over time to those that take the time to know her.

The most highly desired and expensive Dragonwell is picked from early April through April 20th. The second most desired Dragonwell is harvested through the first week of May.
Dragonwell picked after that time has all of the depth and mystery of flavor but it may not be as rich because of the effect of the declining rain after that time.
It keeps well for a year

Incidentally, we were interviewed for Beijing television while chatting with the wizened tea master.

The Queen's Tea

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

We visited two Keemun tea factories today. Both organic; one large and one small.

We tasted hand-crafted and machine processed teas. The hand-crafted leaves were dark and slightly curly; the machine processed leaves were more flat and uniform in shape. The machine processed tea is more in demand throughout the world due to the shape of the leaf. The hand made tea was mellower, richer and more desirable to an American palate that does not use milk or sugar.

The aroma is reminiscent of orchids and roasting chestnuts. The flavor has a full mouth flavor, rich and malty.

The color is a deep red when it is finished brewing. The deep red means there are many tea buds imparting a high amount of amino acids to give the red color.

Keemun (Qi Meng) is a milder black tea than Yunnan or the Indian Assam teas used to make the popular English and Irish breakfast blends.

Queen Elizabeth visited this area in 1986 and drank these teas. Every April and May large quantities are shipped to the Royal family.

We could not visit the nearby tea gardens; the Chinese National army was on maneuvers in the area. No foreigner is allowed to be close.

Teacher of the Tea People

Monday, March 30, 2009

We have spent two days in the historic Yellow Mountain district as guests of seventy year old tea master Wang Fangsheng.

He has won 56 awards and many titles. The humble tea farmers christened him with the title, "Teacher of the Tea People".

We interviewed and drank his teas in his antique-filled tea shop in the historic shopping district of Huangshan City. It is a square mile of walking access only shops with the buildings ranging in age from 100 to 300 years old.

Later we trekked through a village that straddles a mountain stream and up a two mile mountain trail of slate stones to visit the closest tea garden in Mr. Wang's family and the tea factory.

Along the trail we passed a memorial to all of the Chinese soldiers and farmers lost in the Japanese occupation. Mr Wang pointed to an area of very old and large tea bushes that were often used by the farmers to hide from the invaders

His "ancestors" searched for the very best ridges to grow high mountain tea. The ridges need excellent soil and good sun exposure and a wide variety of plants and crops nearby. I think they had an eye for scenery, too.

The farmers lunch was a variety of fresh vegetables, eggs and tea all of it grown within 100 yards of the rustic table we dined on. The rice was grown in the valley below and carried up by tea pickers.

Mr. Wang has invented many styles of tea. One of his teas is the youngest tribute tea given to foreign governments. The other tribute teas are hundreds of years old
.
Mr. Wang prominently displays a picture of Vladimir Putin receiving the four tribute teas from the previous Chinese chairman. That gorgeous set is now on display in a Russian museum. The sister set was brought out of Mr. Wang's vault and shown to us.

Mr. Wang is best known outside of tea circles for his invention of display teas in 1986.

He has fashioned close to three hundred beautiful, creative and very drinkable display teas. Hundreds of industry people have studied his techniques. The Chinese, Japanese and Koreans pre-order and buy almost all of his creations. The Japanese call him "The Father of Display Tea".

He asks that we all call him, "friend".

He also asks that all of the readers of this blog come and visit with him

He is sincere in his invitation.


Mr. Wang is a fifth generation tea maker and perhaps the most highly decorated tea maker we have met.