Le mime de TeaMasters

Cette vidéo me rappelle ce temps où j'étais étudiant à l'Institut Commercial de Nancy. Au lieu de faire parti du Bureau Des Elèves (les fêtards) ou de la Junior Entreprise (les ambitieux), j'essayais déjà de combiner mes études de commerce avec l'art. Ainsi, mon association (Lorraine Art Corps) fit venir des élèves du Cours Florent à Nancy pour 2 représentations du 'Médecin Malgré Lui' de Molière, à l'automne 1991. L'idée était de promouvoir le théâtre classique et de permettre à de jeunes acteurs (et actrices) de gagner en expérience. Ce fut un véritable succès: ils jouèrent leurs 2 représentations à guichets fermés dans une salle Poirel en délire! Le metteur en scène était Thierry Hancisse qui faisait déjà parti de la Comédie Française! Et parmi les jeunes acteurs , il y avait notamment Jeanne Balibar et José Garcia... Ce qui est intéressant, c'est que je me rappelle aussi de l'excellent repas que nous fîmes après la représentation. Mes papilles se remémorent un très bon foie gras sur du pain aux noix et au miel! Ainsi, déjà à l'époque, l'art et le bon goût allaient déjà de pair!

Me voilà donc dans une vidéo où je mime 10 erreurs à ne pas commettre lors d'un Chaxi. L'idée du mime est de permettre à cette vidéo de toucher un public planétaire, sans la limite du langage, car le thé est une boisson universelle!



Ces 10 erreurs sont:
1. L'impéparation et la présence d'objets qui n'ont rien à faire dans le Chaxi,
2. Utiliser un sachet en plastique au lieu d'une jarre,
3. Toucher les feuilles quand on les fait passer entre invités,
4. Souffler sur les feuilles quand on les sent,
5. Verser l'eau de la bouilloire avec précipitation,
6. Parler pendant qu'on verse l'eau,
7. Regarder sa montre,
8. Faire du bruit d'eau en versant dans le bol à eaux usées,
9. Mal tenir la théière,
10. Boire la coupe d'un coup.

New Chaxi lessons: 1 teacher, 2 platforms, 3 dynasties, 4 teas, 5 videos

Here's the recap of another busy week of Chaxi lessons to help all the tea drinkers enjoy their favorite drink even more. And I hope you'll even learn a few new tricks and information along the way! If you didn't catch me live on my FaceBook page, you may scroll down that page to watch my videos in full. Or you can watch them on my YouTube channel. Unfortunately, some videos are cut short due to technical issues with my camera (it can only make videos up to 20 minutes long). So, if you see that the video is shorter than 20 minutes, it means it was recorded with that camera instead of the phone. So, if you want to see the end, you'll have to watch it on FB.

This week, we brewed a modern red tea (Hong Yun from Sun Moon Lake) and a lesson about porcelain:


We also traveled a lot in the past. Here, in a dark mood with the 2001 JinGua shu puerh from Xiaguan Tea Factory:


We also traveled to the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) to enjoy Shui Xian Yan Cha with this Chaozhou Gongfu Cha demonstration using real charcoal in my Nilu: (This video is complete)


This aged Gushu puerh gave us then the opportunity to revisit the spirit of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644):


And we finished the week in the Song dynasty (960-1279) whisking green tea powder like Emperor Song Huizong:

The technique I'm using is unlike what you've seen elsewhere. This was a FaceBook and Internet premiere! Enjoy!

Next week, I will be busy selecting spring Baozhongs and high mountain Oolongs. I'll keep you posted about the fresh leaves I'll find, but I may skip making videos on some days...

Helping a tea friend brew Gushu puerh

Here's part of an email I received from R. last week:

"Your teas are remarkable. The Wild Baozhong from Spring 2019 tastes like it was from this spring. I do have a question for you please, and I so much appreciate you sharing your knowledge with me Stephane.

I find that drinking raw puerh which I love, does not love me! The flavor profile is just awesome, but the energy the tea has is just too much. I feel too weird (tea high? or just too much caffeine for me?) after I drink it. Sometimes just after my 3rd steep I feel this wave of nervous energy come over me and I have to take a break. Sometimes it lasts for 20-30 minutes and I really don't like it. Mostly its not relaxing.....its anxiety provoking, unlike I get with high mountain Oolongs, Dancongs, lightly roasted Oolongs and even black teas, it's only with raw puerh. Do you have any thoughts on this? I am brewing using a 70-80 ml teapot and using 5 grams of tea with very short steeps and 210 degree water."

Since I'm making Live video lessons on my blog's FaceBook page during the confinement, I made this Chaxi lesson about young Gushu puerh to show how I'm doing it:



A little later, I made a second video where I examine the open leaves. This video isn't available on YouTube. You can only find it on my above mentioned FaceBook page. And I sent him this recommendation: "According to my calculations, I'm using 5 times less Gushu puerh than you when I take into account the size of my silver teapot (2 gr for 150 ml)! This means you could try it with 1 gram!"

A few days later I received R's answer:

"A quick report as I am on my 8th steeping of the Gushu with 1 gram in my 70ml. The first 4 minute steep was a little strong actually and same for the second steep at just less than 2 minutes although the flavor wonderful. Next time I will reduce the times for both 1st and 2nd.

From steeps 3 thru 8 I have been doing approx 3 minutes adding a little each steep and they have been wonderful. Its been about an hour while listening to Mahler 1 and I am on top of the world.

The energy was good and relaxing. Then I started sweating, but its hot here in Florida and I dont run the air much during the day. The tea hit me pretty hard, it just creeped up out of nowhere!!! but I was fine. Just a rush of energy for about 5-10 minutes and then I chilled out. Almost a numbing sensation in my head, ears and face........tea is amazing!

Everything I have learned on Youtube/other tea sites has been the opposite of what you have taught me. Use lots of tea, 5 to 8 grams or essentially fill the gaiwan or Yixing with dry tea and do very fast steeps.

I must say , using this Gung Fu Cha method (lots of tea/fast steeps) the flavors are amazing, but the tea energy (caffeine kick) will destroy my day and the flavors can be a bit much.

Your way is much more peaceful, relaxing and subtle. You get all the nuances and layers of flavors. It might be a lighter and tamer experience......more refined. I relate it to drinking a 1-2 year old Burgundy to a 13 year old. Same wine, completely different experience. Both good, but I prefer the second.

Thank you sir!!" 

Actually, my understanding of gongfu cha isn't lots of leaves and short steeps, but finding the right parameters for each tea. This search for the right brew takes more skill than always using the same approach. That's why I still like to call it gongfu to use 1 gr of gushu in a small teapot. Each tea has a different character and the more we understand it, the better we can brew the leaves accordingly! In the case of my spring 2019 Lancang Gushu puerh, for instance, the loose leaves come from 300 years old puerh trees and are very powerful. They haven't been mixed with plantation leaves and their old leaves have been sorted out. That's why it's so pure, refined and full of energy! Less is more!

More Chaxi lesson videos

This week, I continued to make new Live videos on FaceBook Live. That's the best place to watch them (on YouTube, some videos stop early, because my other camera can't record videos longer than 20 minutes). I also managed to solve the problem with the sound by purchasing a wireless microphone. Now you don't need to set the volume to the maximum anymore!

Here's an introduction video about who I am and with whom I've learned tea:

Et comme c'est un sujet important, j'ai même refait la vidéo en français:


And I finished the week with a Chaxi lesson about high mountain Oolong:



The Live format adds an element of reality to these videos. It's like a real Chaxi. You've practiced before, but the tea you are brewing now requires all your attention. The goal isn't perfection, but being there, in the present moment. There's no way to erase or delete a mistake. You have to find satisfaction in doing the best you can. And if not satisfied, you have to learn to avoid this mistake next time and improve. It's in the same spirit as gongfu cha! I hope to see your comments and likes next week. Let's use this time of lock down to learn how to enjoy brewing tea at home even more!

2 Hung Shui Oolong videos

Last week, I have started to broadcast live Chaxi lessons on Facebook. But since not everyone is following my Tea-masters Facebook page, I'm also recording them with a different camera (better sound!) and posting (some of) them on my YouTube Channel. Here are the last 2 lessons:

Aged Hung Shui Oolong from Lishan from winter 2007



Hung Shui Oolong from Alishan from spring 2016



Please comment on the videos if you have questions about how I brew, the tea... so that I can answer them for everybody! I hope that these classes will give you inspiration to enjoy tea at home with a Chaxi. Because if meditation is a tool to live in the present, a Chaxi is a tool to enjoy life where you are. Harmony in your tea space can be translated to your whole house. The principles are to make your personal space functional and beautiful!

Video: Chaxi lesson with a SanHsia BiLuoChun

As promised, here is a video of how I brew the 2020 Spring SanHsia BiLuoChun in a gaiwan:



The goal of the videos I produce during the confinement is to help you feel comfortable and healthy at home. Taiwan's example shows that this virus can be tamed and life continue almost normally if everybody shows discipline and follows the public recommendations.

The tea-masters.com boutique continues to function during this crisis. Unfortunately, some countries have suspended trade with Taiwan due to the virus (for fear of contamination through local activity, not for fear of importing the virus from Taiwan, since there are only very few cases in Taiwan). Luckily, the largest countries still allow deliveries from Taiwan: the USA, Canada, France, Germany, the UK.

Spring BiLuoChun from SanHsia

This spring, I'm back in San Hsia in the south of New Taipei City. This is one of the few tea regions in Taiwan that specializes in green tea (leaves without any oxidation). This production was originally intended for the Mainland Chinese officials who came with Chiang Kai Shek in 1949. Those who came from Northern regions were used to drinking green tea and habits are difficult to change! And since the state of war between the Communists and the Nationalists prevented any trade, their only solution was to find farmers to help them make green tea in Taiwan.

Since green tea is all about lightness and pure aromas, it's quite important that it should be grown organically. The trick to see spot an organic tea garden is to look at the feet of the tea bushes. Here, we see plenty of weed and a lots of insects! In one part of the garden, nature is actually overtaking the tea trees. Since the farmer is only working with his father, he doesn't have enough time to uproot all the weeds by himself. To compensate for the loss, he is planting new tea trees that will be easier to harvest (his harvesters are 80 years old neighbors!)

However, these new tea trees will only start to produce tea in 3 years...

On the picture below, you can see how the tea garden is slowly being invaded from the right.

I visited the garden on March 22nd, when temperatures reached 30 degrees Celsius at noon! Thanks to abundant rain fall this winter, there's a good growth of new tea.

However, with such heat, the aromas are already loosing some of their spring freshness. In theory, the best grade of green tea is harvested before the QingMin festival on April 5th. But in practice, the earlier the better, because that's when the weather is still cool, but just warm enough to grow some small leaves.

That's why, the batch I have selected was harvested on March 6!

The farmer used the Qingxin Ganzhong cultivar and turned this tea into a BiLuoChun. It was emperor QianLong (1711-1799) who invented this poetic name for this tea. It means Jade Snail Spring and it replaced a very crude name: tea so fragrant that it scares people to death!!

The next day, I tested this SanHsia BiLuoChun in 2 different bowls. In a dark green glazed porcelain bowl by Michel François with a deep and tall shape:

And I also brewed it in this shallow celadon bowl from the late Qing dynasty. This test showed the impact of the shape of the tea bowl on the taste of the tea. The shallow celadon bowl has lighter aromas, because its large surface in contact with air cools down faster. Its tea is more refined and thirst quenching.

The tall bowl has more power and the brew remains hot longer. And thanks to the very high quality of these leaves, the brew doesn't get bitter easily (provided you use few leaves, fewer than for Oolong).

Since everybody is staying at home right now, some readers have suggested I give tea lessons on my Facebook page. So, I will try to do so and I want to focus them on the subject of Chaxi. Because if meditation is a way to live in the present, the Chaxi is a way to enjoy life where we make our Chaxi. My goal is to make you feel so comfortable at home brewing tea that you won't want to go out (at least not before the threat is over)! See you soon.

Ces 2 héros en première ligne

Dans le parc national d'Alishan, 2014

Mes parents sont des amateurs de thé depuis ma plus tendre enfance et ma mère est la créatrice de mes plus beaux Chabu. Rien que pour cela, ils méritent toute notre reconnaissance pour leur influence sur mon blog.

Mais si je vous reparle d'eux aujourd'hui, c'est car ils forcent mon admiration par leur courage et leur sérénité. Mon père a 72 ans et comptait partir à la retraite dans le courant de cette année. Il est médecin généraliste dans le nord de l'Alsace. La situation sanitaire actuelle et le risque accru pour les personnes âgées auraient pu le conduire à prendre, dès maintenant, une retraite bien méritée et déjà repoussée depuis plusieurs années.

Kenting, sud de Taiwan, 2014

Et bien non! Il garde son cabinet médical ouvert pour diagnostiquer et soigner ses patients, car beaucoup ont le Covid-19. Il prend toutes les mesures possibles d'hygiène pour se protéger, mais c'est un exercice périlleux. En effet, il n'a pas assez de masques pour tous ses patients. Il ne peut qu'en donner aux personnes infectées. Or, pour savoir si quelqu'un est infecté ou non, il faut d'abord l'examiner et le questionner! Et tous n'ont pas de la fièvre ou de la toux...

Ainsi, si 20% des cas les plus graves vont à l'hôpital, cela veut dire que 80% de ses patients infectés iront le voir ou l'appelleront pour une visite à domicile. Mais ce n'est pas parce qu'on a peu ou pas de symptômes qu'on ne peut pas contaminer les personnes avec qui on entre en contact. C'est pourquoi le confinement est si important pour vous protéger et protéger les autres. Car si une personne enfreint le confinement et transmet le virus à une seule autre personne, cela peut conduire à des centaines, voire des milliers d'infections en aval si la personne que vous avez contaminé en infecte d'autres. Et avec un taux de décès de 2 à 5%, on peut être responsable de plusieurs morts (des centaines, voire des milliers) même en ne transmettant le virus qu'à une seule autre personne!

Gankou, sud de Taiwan, 2014

De nombreux médecins généralistes sont déjà atteints du virus en France. Les proches avec lesquels ils vivent sont donc très exposés. Hier, sur Skype, mes parents étaient presque aussi radieux et sereins que sur ces photos. Malgré les risques immenses qu'ils courent, leur courage et leur détermination l'emportent sur la peur. Ma mère aide au combat et confectionne ses propres masques, mais elle n'en porte pas quand elle est avec mon père. Si ça ce n'est pas de l'amour?! D'ailleurs, j'en profite pour dire que je les aime de tout mon coeur! Ils ont toute mon admiration et ma gratitude, et j'espère la vôtre aussi.

La plage Baisha, sud de Taiwan, 2016

Et si c'est le cas, alors respectez ce confinement! Vous avez le pouvoir de sauver leur vie, la vie des soignants en première ligne et de centaines d'inconnus avec lesquels nous sommes tous en lien sans le savoir. Merci! Faites-le pour eux, mais aussi pour vous, pour ne pas avoir de morts sur votre conscience.

A puerh for my nerves

1966 Gushu puerh, 3 grams

The constant flow of mostly bad news about the virus is nerve rattling. Most countries seem unprepared, make similar mistakes and are slow to adjust to the new reality. The good news that South Korea and China seem able to get the virus under control is mitigated by the fact that Western countries are way behind in terms of measures that work (tests, masks, confinement...). This statement by French officials could be funny if it were uttered under different circumstances: "Masks are useless and nobody should wear them, because we must reserve them for doctors and nurses." The solution may be to make your own masks with a vacuum cleaner bag or a tea towel!

Spring is coming and I'm waiting for a sunny day for a trip to San Hsia in search of pre- Qingmin festival green tea. But today was rainy and I felt I needed a strong tea as medecine for my mind. That's why I brewed my 1966 gushu puerh.

I already practice social distancing, but what I need even more is distancing myself from my phone and social media! So, this Chaxi helped me to focus on something different, happy and delicious. The balance in the Chaxi brings peace and harmony. The warm colors of the brew match with the brown/yellow/green colors of the Chabu. And the small Yixing zisha teapot does a great job concentrating the aromas in the cup. The world goes crazy and unpredictable, but aged puerh tea still tastes wonderful! It's almost as pure and smooth as Song Pin Hao, but has more of a backbone in the taste! I think many would even prefer it to a Song Pin Hao!!

 Tea doesn't cure the virus, but for me, it's the best remedy to remain calm and sane! I recommend that you give it a try as well!

L'espoir et le thé viennent de Taiwan

Oolong de Lishan du printemps 2017

Cette semaine a été bien éprouvante pour les nerfs et le moral. Des événements inimaginables il y a 2 mois se sont produits: arrêt des vols transatlantiques, fermeture des écoles, des régions entières en quarantaine, suspension des rencontres sportives...

Il est bien difficile d'écrire sur le thé et de vous indiquer, par exemple, que le Hong Shui de Dong Pian de janvier 2020 est disponible. Je n'ai pas le coeur à faire comme si ce virus n'existait pas. Mais je pense qu'il est de mon devoir de vous envoyer un message d'espoir de Taiwan.

En effet, cette île est très liée à la Chine Continentale. Un million de Taiwanais y travaille et est revenu pour fêter le Nouvel An Chinois vers la mi janvier. Et dès que les premiers cas sont apparus, Taiwan a pris des mesures rapides pour combattre la propagation du virus. Il faut dire que les Taiwanais ont eu de l'entrainement avec le SARS en 2003. Depuis, les gens portent des masques dans la rue quand ils sont malades ou quand ils vont voir un médecin. L'hygiène et la propreté sont également des principes très forts dans l'enseignement à Taiwan et à la maison (on enlève ses chaussures devant l'appartement).

Or, je constate que les infections sont très limitées avec 50 cas pour l'instant et un seul mort. Il est donc tout à fait possible de ralentir considérablement la progression de ce virus. Taiwan est devenu un exemple dans les médias internationaux et en France chez Libé. Il ne faut donc pas paniquer, mais s'inspirer des mesures et des comportements des Taiwanais. Le plus impressionnant, c'est le métro: tout le monde ou presque porte un masque et très peu de personnes s'y parlent.

Bref, buvez du thé chez vous et restez calme!