Un cours de thé chinois dans l'esprit de la dynastie Song

Ceci n'est pas du Chanoyu!
Cela ressemble à la cérémonie de thé appelée aussi Chado au Japon, mais ce n'est pas une cérémonie et sa pratique est plus ancienne encore. En effet, elle remonte à la dynastie Song (960-1279) et c'est cette préparation chinoise du thé qui inspira la cérémonie de thé japonaise.

Préchauffage du bol

Contrairement au Chanoyu qui continue d'être enseigné à travers plusieurs écoles (Urasenke et Omotesenke...) au Japon et dans le monde entier, la pratique du thé des Song s'est éteinte en Chine et ce n'est que depuis une bonne dizaine d'années que des amateurs de thé (tels Teaparker) s'y remettent.

Ajout de matcha dans le bol préchauffé

Ayant eu le privilège de retourner aux sources de ce thé, j'eus envie de transmettre ce rare savoir à mon étudiant lors d'un cours particulier.

Les puristes m'objecteront peut-être que cette façon de préparer n'est pas exactement celle des Song. En effet, j'utilise ici un modèle de fouet en bambou japonais, différent de ce qui se faisait durant les Song. Cette tetsubin japonaise n'est pas très traditionnelle non plus! A l'époque, on utilisait plutôt des aiguières en céramique. Cela permettait de fouetter tout en versant l'eau, ce qui n'est pas le cas dans le Chanoyu.

L'emploi du fouet japonais est justifié par l'évolution de ce fouet durant la dynastie Song. Sa forme n'était pas figée et changea, mais sa fonction restait la même: obtenir le meilleur thé possible. Or, comme ce fouet moderne a une ergonomie qui nous donne une bonne mousse, son emploi est conforme à l'esprit de départ. C'est pareil pour l'utilisation de la tetsubin. L'important est d'arriver à verser l'eau bouillante tout en fouettant. Par contre, ma petite jarre en céladon est d'époque et permet de voir que très peu de poudre de thé suffisait pour un bol. Et ce bol à glaise noire est provient de Jianyang, comme ceux des Song, même si c'est une reproduction moderne.

L'avantage de cette approche, c'est qu'en l'espace d'une heure, mon étudiant a pu me voir préparer un bol, puis a bien réussi son tout premier bol lui-même, en suivant mes instructions. Il avait eu l'occasion de déguster un matcha dans un magasin de thé au Japon, mais c'est celui préparé à la chinoise qu'il a préféré! (J'explique cela par le fait que le goût du thé est primordial dans la méthode des Song, alors que le côté formel de la cérémonie importe plus pour les Japonais. Mais c'est sûrement aussi une question d'habitude et de goût personnel!)

Pour partager le thé, nous le versons dans des coupes plus petites. Celles au premier plan sont des coupes de Jianyang, et celle en arrière plan est en céladon. Cela nous permet de vérifier que la couleur noire donne le meilleur contraste à ce thé.

Mais pour bien déguster, rien ne vaut la sensation de prendre son bol à 2 mains!

Spring 2019 Wenshan Baozhong - Semi Wild

We have 3 good news for Baozhong lovers: 3 new spring 2019 Baozhongs have joined our selection! The most affordable is a Jinlan Baozhong (only 3.5 USD per 25 gr or 17.5 USD for 150 gr). Jinlan is the name of its cultivar and the first time we encounter it! It means golden orchid and is based on SiJiChun, which is why it has such a flowery name! The second is the very traditional 'Subtropical Forest' Baozhong, which I've reviewed here in French. This year's quality is outstanding and it even has some insect bites! I heartily recommend it.

In this article, I would like to give you a short account of the Semi Wild Baozhong. It was harvested on May 8th, less than 10 days ago! The quality of its Qingxin Oolong leaves is simply amazing. You can feel it in your hands. Dry, they have a kind of strength and elasticity, because they have grown nicely and almost must be squeezed to fit in the zhuni Shipiao teapot!

And open, the leaves are very thick, well nourished from a naturally rich and healthy soil. Apart from the red oxidation marks, it's as if they had just been picked! (See below).

And the taste is so soft and pure! It's really coming close to perfection of how a fresh Baozhong should be.

There's something else that's remarkable: the price. We live in an era when rich Chinese buyers are driving up the prices of the best teas of most areas. Shifeng Longjing, Wuyi Yan Cha, Lao Banzhang puerh, aged sheng puerh, Da Yu Ling Oolong... these famous teas have seen their prices increase dramatically in the last 10 years. Luckily for us, Wenshan Baozhong teas have not (yet!) become the target of Chinese buyers. This is why the premium for the such great quality leaves remains very reasonable.

The shape of the dry leaves of Wenshan Baozhongs is what sets them apart from other Oolongs in Taiwan. Single leaves often look like snakes or dragons. They stimulate your poetic imagination! With this Semi Wild Baozhong, some of the leaves come with 2 leaves and a bud. For me, this looks like a dancer!

Baozhong forêt subtropicale du printemps 2019

Baozhong 'forêt subtropicale'

Le Baozhong est un thé partiellement oxydé, originaire du nord de Taiwan. Sa forme torsadée nous rappelle celle des Yan Cha de Wuyi, le berceau de tous le Oolongs. Ce n'est pas une coincidence, mais le fruit de l'histoire: au milieu du XIXème siècle, un grand nombre de Chinois du Fujian (région productrice de thé où on trouve Wuyi et Anxi) vinrent s'installer à Taiwan. Comme les Yan Cha, le Baozhong peut être fait à partir de nombreux cultivars. Il tire son nom de la façon dont on l'emballait autrefois: au milieu d'une feuille de papier pliée en forme de cube rectangulaire.

Cette année, j'ai sélectionné 3 Wenshan Baozhongs frais très typés et représentatifs de ce terroir taiwanais. Il y a un Jinlan Baozhong très bon marché qui nous rappelle que le Baozhong est un thé populaire consommé tous les jours par un grand nombre de Taiwanais. A l'autre extrême, j'ai aussi pu mettre la main sur quelques kgs d'un Baozhong semi sauvage, issu de plantations abandonnée. Je vous en parlerai dans un prochain article, mais on est presque hors catégorie tant la qualité de ce Baozhong est exceptionnelle. 

Aujourd'hui, je veux vous présenter ce Baozhong 'forêt subtropicale' comme un juste milieu de ce qui fait un bon Wenshan Baozhong. Récolté à la main le 6 mai, il est fait à partir du cultivar le plus usité en haute montagne et à Dong Ding: le qingxin Oolong. Ce cultivar a des rendements un peu moindres, mais concentre plus de saveurs dans ses longues feuilles étroites. C'est le cultivar privilégié pour obtenir plus de longueur en bouche et donc un plaisir prolongé (si l'on équilibre bien son infusion). D'après moi, c'est le cultivar qui exprime le mieux les senteurs des forêts qu'on trouve autour des plantations de thé du Wenshan. Et cette année, nous avons de la chance, car ce batch fut un peu mordu par des insectes! Cela a deux conséquences favorables: une oxydation un peu plus forte qui donne plus de saveurs, et la paix de l'esprit concernant un emploi éventuel de pesticides (impossible à exclure entièrement, mais au moins leur emploi serait très raisonné). C'est un Baozhong que je sélectionne chaque année et qui connait toujours un grand succès, et ce printemps il est particulièrement réussi!

Spaciba to my Russian friends and aged tea!

Russians and citizens of former Soviet republics have a special love for tea. Despite writing only in English and French, my blog stats often show that Russians are among the top readers of my blog. (And they are also regular buyers on my online boutique!) Several years ago, in 2012, Vladimir, one of my Russian readers, even gifted me this box of aged red tea made in Georgia in July 1960! After the Aged Tea event at Penn State, I wished to revisit this tea again and see what we can learn from it.

1. The packaging
The first risk with aged tea is to purchase a fake aged tea. To avoid this risk, we can look at the packaging to see if it fits its supposed historic context. The fact that this is a gift and that I didn't pay anything for this tea means I have zero financial risk, but maybe the person who gave me this tea got fooled by a seller, who knows? Even if it's a gift, you still must be careful and not take everything at face value. A PSU professor came to one of the events with a box of tea he had received from a colleague who returned from China. He had no idea what it was. After examination of the leaves, it turned out that it was an artificially scented red tea (from Fujian). The person who made the gift probably also didn't know what he was buying...
With this metallic box, we can clearly see how time has impacted the paper and the metal. This is what you'd expect from a 50-60 years old box. Second, the shape of the tea box is the same as that of Chinese tea boxes in Wuyi, before 2000, and in which they'd keep samples of all the Yan Cha produced by the State company. (Teaparker showed pictures of similar boxes in Wuyi). And, indeed, this box serves the same purpose in Georgia: keeping samples of the teas produced then.
While there are a lot of fake teas in the famous tea regions of China, there are fewer risks that someone would fake the relatively unknown red tea from Georgia. The fact that the person who got this for me is Russian also makes sense, because Georgian teas are mostly sold in Russia (and not China or England).

 2. The tea leaves
Now that we have established that the packaging is genuine, let's examine the leaves and see their appearance. The leaves are small and black. There are some stems, but no buds. These leaves are mostly broken. Their scent is light, sweetly astringent with notes of wood and clean. There are no signs or scents of dirt or mold.

3. The brew
This tea is an excellent example of what quality aged tea should look like: excellent transparency and shine! (And I didn't rinse the leaves!) It almost looks like a new red tea! However, the fragrances are different and confirm that the tea is indeed aged. Nevertheless, the fact that the brew looks so similar is also a sign that fully oxidized teas don't evolve as much as Oolongs or puerhs. Even after almost 60 years, this tea feels like a red that has only aged a bit. Compared to an Oolong, it feels only 20 years of age. Maybe the cool and dry Russian climate also helped preserve the freshness of these leaves longer.

The last time I brewed this tea (on the blog) was for Christmas 2012. Then, I used more leaves. Now, I am much more aware of how precious an aged tea of 60 years is. I used my Ming dynasty Dehua porcelain teapot to brew it! This added another dimension to the experience.
Again, spaciba to Vladimir and all my Russian tea friends!

The aged tea event at PSU

A tea box from Hong Kong from the 1930s

2 weeks ago, Teaparker and I returned a 6th time to Penn State in order to teach tea to a student organization created by Jason Cohen in 2010. After Oolong, Puerh, Chaozhou gongfu cha, Yixing teapots, Porcelain, this year's theme was Aged Teas.

The concept of 'aged tea' is actually rather new. For a long time, tea was considered best young and fresh. In the 1980s, very few people appreciated aged puerh or aged Oolong. Then, Teaparker recalls paying 40 USD for a red mark cake of puerh from the 1950s, which now costs well over 100,000 USD! This was just a little bit more expensive than good Taiwanese Dong Ding Oolong, but it was already much more than a new cake (1 or 2 USD at the time). This shows that the rare merchants and lovers of aged puerh already recognized the value these teas 40 years ago.

In recent years, tea auctions in Hong Kong and Shanghai have helped popularize aged puerh. Record prices make for great headlines and have grabbed the imagination of tea collectors all around Asia. A Song Pin Hao tong (= 7 cakes) from the 1920s set a record of 13.3 million HKD or 1.7 million USD! That's over 700 USD per gram (vs 41 USD for gold)!

A Qing dynasty pewter caddy for Da Hong Pao from Tian Xin

The craze for aged teas doesn't stop at puerh anymore. Oolongs, white teas, even green teas can age well under the right circumstances, as Teaparker demonstrated with a 40 years old Shi Feng Longjing green tea from his collection.

But not everything that is old is gold! The wine market is a good example: only very fine wines see the price of their past vintages increase consistently. Common, every day wines don't see their value or their price increase.

The main thing to understand is the value, the quality of the tea. What is the difference between a tea that is aged and valuable, and one that is old, past its prime?

This was probably the major benefit of attending this 4 days event: the tea students at PSU got the opportunity to smell and taste some marvelous aged teas. A 1950s red mark puerh, a scented Baozhong from the 1960s, a 1975 7542, a Wuyi Yan Cha from the 1980s, a Dong Ding Oolong from spring 1982, a TGY from 1990...

What are the common traits of all these well aged teas? They are very clean in terms of scents and appearance. The brew is shiny, not foggy. The dry scents are light.

The taste is pure, smooth and has a long aftertaste. It doesn't feel old, but exhales an energy that can be felt in your body.

This kind of aged tea is very different from an old, tired, flawed tea. It's a little bit like the difference when a professional pianist plays these versions of 'Twinkle, twinkle little star' and when a young child (that is not yours!) plays the same first notes. On the one hand you have art, perfection, beauty and on the other you have something very rough and uncomfortable for your ears!

For music, it's usually quite easy to tell which is art and which is beginner's level. For tea, this can be much more tricky, especially if the environment is beautiful, the people nice, the story well told... And if you have never had a great cup of aged tea! That's why it was important to let them experience good aged teas.

This education is extremely valuable for at least 2 reasons. First, it will prevent these students from making simple purchasing mistakes. The very high prices of aged tea have created lots of incentives to sellers to offer expensive teas that are fake or simply old and bad, or that exaggerate their age.

Second, it gives these tea drinkers a glimpse into the world of the most refined teas. I didn't see anybody not liking these teas. But, of course, how much one likes (and values) these teas is very personal and varies from one person to another. This is a good motivator to start your tea collection early, so that you don't have to your house in order to enjoy a 90 years old Song Pin Hao!

There are several strategies to build your own tea collection:
1. start small and experiment with different teas, jars to get a feel how different teas evolve with time.
2. choose young teas that have a good reputation and a good potential to age well. The best candidates are sheng gushu puerh and medium roasted Oolongs. When it comes to aging, quality is more important than quantity. 1 kg of roasted SiJiChun won't age as nicely as 100 gr of Hung Shui Oolong from Dong Ding or Alishan. Better age 1 excellent puerh cake than 1 tong of plantation puerh.

3. If, like me, you are much closer to 50 than 20 or 30, then you may also consider teas that are 10 to 20 years old and that show the right aging potential and reasonable prices. This 1999 7542 or this 1998 Hung Shui Oolong from Lishan would give you a good head start at a reasonable premium.

My own conclusion from this aged tea event is that aged teas don't taste old, but elegant and extremely smooth. They linger on the palate and their pleasure is both long lasting and very unique. The lesson is that their beauty has less to do with their age than with their intrinsic qualities. These teas don't become excellent by miracle, but because they had this potential in their leaves from the very beginning. Appreciating aged teas also helps us better define what is a good young tea.

Remember the perfection of these aged masterpieces and share your tea happiness!

Note: Looking again at these pictures, I get to see the concentration, interest and passion of these students. Even with more than 20 students at a time, they'd manage to focus all their attention on the subject of tea. This made teaching and learning so easy! Thanks to all who attended the classes.

Où est la version francophone de tea-masters?

Les premiers Oolongs de printemps arrivent, mais ma boutique www.tea-masters.com ne revient toujours pas à sa forme initiale bilingue anglais et français. J'en suis sincèrement désolé. N'y voyez pas un signe que je renie mes origines ou que mes clients francophones me sont indifférents. Au contraire! Certes, mes commandes en anglais sont au moins 2 fois plus nombreuses, mais cela n'explique pas l'arrêt temporaire de ma boutique en français. En fait, j'utilise une plateforme française -Prestashop- pour ma boutique en ligne. Et en début d'année, cette entreprise a demandé à ses clients de migrer vers une nouvelle version de son logiciel. J'acceptai leur proposition et payai leur forfait. Malheureusement, durant la migration, la partie française de la boutique disparut du site original! D'après leurs techniciens, il n'est pas possible de la migrer dans la version simple. Il faut le faire dans la version la plus avancée de leur logiciel. Vous imaginez ma frustration de voir quelque chose de simple devenir compliqué et prendre tant de temps! Mais je persévère afin de récupérer toutes mes données en français. J'espère que le nouveau site sera bientôt prêt et vous remercie de votre compréhension dans cette attente.

Tea news

Spring is a busy time for tea bloggers. The sun shines longer, but the articles become shorter!

1. I have come back from Alishan with some great harvest pictures, and 2 spring teas: a Jinxuan Oolong and a Qingxin Oolong. The Qingxin was harvested on April 29th and is already available on May 2nd! For Wenshan Baozhongs and other high mountain Oolongs, it will take more time until they are available. Thanks for your patience.

2. The Podcast I did with Ken Cohen of Talking Tea while I was in NYC has been released. You may listen to me discussing Chaxi: Harmony, Art & Expression in Tea.

3. This may be a good time to remind my readers that if you like the content of this blog, the pictures I post on my Photo blog or Instagram, the best way to support my work is with a purchase on the tea-masters.com boutique. The teas I source in Taiwan are of great quality and my Chabu are made by hand exclusively for my boutique. And there are many benefits when you order from my boutique: free tea postcards, free samples (above 60 USD), free shipping (above 100 USD) and free eBooks about tea (starting at 60 USD orders)...
I'm very grateful for the support I receive all around the world!

Mountains of glass and steel

NYC is a city where men have created mountains of glass and steel. Even coming from a big city like Taipei with its 101 bamboo shaped building, it's hard not to be fascinated by New York's skyline. 

This is especially the case at night or in the early hours of a sunny morning! I wonder if these buildings have inspired the name of the Floating Mountain Tea House. In any case, I find this an excellent tea house name in this city! And that's one reason why I was eager to meet with Scott Norton there.

(I'm sorry if I didn't contact all my blog readers in the NYC area. These trips always receive a very late approval and it's difficult to plan many or large events. That's why it made sense to meet someone who is very dedicated to tea education and share some of my techniques so that he can pass it onward to a large number of people.)

So, I brought my little gold coated silver teapot and I let Scott play with it! He's a fast learner and poured with calm and dexterity.

We tasted three very different teas. A green tea from the tea house, a lapsang souchong and my early 1990s green mark. All three felt particularly pure and light brewed in the silver teapot.

It's as if the teas were under a microscope: all their scents were intensified. We also experimented with different cups to see how they affect taste and color. The ivory hue went really well with the red tea and the aged sheng puerh.

I still feel that the best place to brew tea is at home where I have all my teas and accessories (or in nature), but such a tea house is a really nice place to have tea with a friend when the home is not an option. And it's also the opportunity to meet other tea drinkers at events hosted by the tea house and where Scott is the instructor. If you're new to the tea scene, I think it's a great way to learn.

And it's also a place where you can find inspiration for some simple and beautiful flower arrangements! Because the taste tea is always a taste of nature...

I wish Scott and the Floating Mountain tea house success in spreading traditional tea culture in NYC. It's not an easy task in a city where the water quality is more suited to brew coffee than fine teas!

But when the air is clear and the sky is blue, it feels we're walking among mountains of glass and steel! That's when I feel almost electrified by the energy of city! It's a similar feeling to a sunrise in Alishan or Lishan.

Bryant Park

Even in the big city, you'll find the green beauty of nature...

Central Park

... and a longing for a good cup of tea.