Do Not Judge The Tea By The Wrapper

I was packing my tea when I discovered that I had this ripe tea pu erh tea cake.  I checked my notes and found out that I had purchased this inexpensive cake in Kunming in 2009.  I had even had a sample taste before I made the purchase.  I was told that this was a 2005-06 ripe tea.  

This is a generic tea wrapper, that uses the "Tong Qing Hao" printed wrapper.  This was an old tea factory that had closed down many years ago.  Perhaps using such generic wrappers would helped the sales of tea at this tea shop.  

Anyway, after about 4 years of storage in hot and humid Singapore,  I decided to open this cake.  No surprises but I had expected more from his 8 year old cake.  The tea was weak in both aroma and taste and lasted 5 infusions before weakening.  I conclude that lower grade tea leaves might had been used to make this tea.  A lesson learnt - that I should not be smitten by the tea wrapper.  I had made my purchase where I had judged the tea by the wrapper.  

Tea Trekking In Hong Kong

After my tea stop at Lau Yu Fat Teashop, I took a bus to Sin Fook Teashop.  It was a quick 10 min bus ride.  Formerly located at Kowloon City Shopping Mall, the shop had relocated a few streets away and are now at 83, Tak Ku Ling Road, Kowloon City.  It was not difficult to locate.

But I digress.  2 things you must do while in Hong Kong - 1.  Get an 'octopus' card.  Buy it at train/subway stops. Its a stored value card that allows quick entry/exit of trains, buses and minibuses.  You can use it in supermarkets, covenience stores and at most fast food restaurants.  2.  Get a pre-paid phone card.  I got a 'China Mobile' card on my iPhone (HK$60) where you are loaded with a talk and data facility, and you can use it even in mainland China.  It was invaluable as I use maps and Whatsapp apps frequently during my trip.

Sin Fook Teahouse mainly cater to local tea drinkers and collectors.  Yes, you can sample the teas on sale there.  A fairly good choice of tea and tea accessories are for sale and I enjoyed my visit every time at this teashop.

I managed to meet tea blog celebrity, Marshaln later in the evening in Central, Hong Kong and as usual he was very generous in giving me a 2003 Dayi tuo (last pix).  Thank you.  

Marshaln brought me to Dragon Tea House, a recently opened tea shop.  Located at shop 116, 1F, Welland Plaza, 368 Queen's Road Central, Sheung Wan.  This shop is a little hard to find, but worth a visit only if you are in the area.

You would also have observed from the last pix that I had also snagged some moon cakes which were available during my trip in Hong Kong.  

Hong Kong - Dropping By At Lau Yu Fat Teashop

I was on a business trip in Hong Kong last week and I set aside half a day for Chinese tea.  I dropped by at Lau Yu Fat teashop.  This teashop is very convenient to visit as it sits on top of Lok Fu train stop (subway) in a shopping mall.  

Mr Lau Senior was in the shop and I had a wonderful tea sampling session with him.  This time he explained in detail and allowed me to sample the various traditional Hong Kong stored pu erh.  He explained that many new pu erh tea drinkers may think or assumed that such stored tea are 'old' tea due to its taste but the tea may be only less than 10 years old.  He remarked it was important to be able to distinguished such teas, as it will help a tea drinker in choosing his tea.

Hong Kong storage pu erh is pu erh tea stored in Hong Kong tea warehouses.  These warehouses would usually have higher humidity levels, as these warehouses are located in the Hong Kong countryside.  Pu erh tea stored at these places are not tempered in any way.  Its only the way that the tea is stored.  Mr Lau showed me pictures of his tea warehouse - it is very clean, and the tea are packed neatly in clean cardboard boxes on metal shelves.  

Hong Kong storage pu erh does taste like aged pu erh with an additional unique scent, something like damp wood.  This additional scent is very faint and will however dissipate within a year or two, when the tea is taken out of the warehouse and stored in the teashop.  

Lau Yu Fat Teashop is a fun place to visit; for me at least -  so many teas and tea accessories neatly arranged and labelled.  Mr Lau told me to purchase a Lin Ceramics  teapot (4th pix) and tells me that with extended use, pu erh tea brewed from this teapot would taste softer.  MasterCard time.

Gifting a tea newbie

A good friend called me telling me that he enjoys drinking oolongs and jasmine tea and wanted to brew tea at home.  He wanted something to brew his tea and had wanted to buy a 'brewing apparatus' (his own words) for his tea.  He requested me to help him choose his apparatus.  I asked him to come over to my place this evening.

I decided to give him a present - a 'brewing apparatus'.  I gave some thoughts and have narrowed down to 3 possible presents.  You can see, from the pix, my choices for the gift.  No, the tea tray is not included.

I liked the 1st pix.  Its a stylized gaiwan (aka easy gaiwan).  Unlike the regular gaiwan in the 2nd pix, brewing tea by a newbie is easier, as the pour-out of the tea is easier as it has a spout.  Pouring tea from a regular gaiwan needs practice as your hand need to balance the gaiwan cover correctly so you only pour out the tea while preventing the tea leaves from being poured out as well.  It will also be quite hot handling a gaiwan and accidents and spills may happen, especially to a newbie. The 3rd pix shows a easy gaiwan with handle. 

I will let my friend choose his gift. Such porcelain would be good for him as he can brew different kinds of Chinese tea with porcelain.  Clay teapots or clay gaiwans are not suitable - clay vessels will absorb the scents of a tea and may affect the aroma another different tea, making a tea session quite unpleasant. I will only dedicate one type of Chinese tea for a particular teapot.    

The Korean Way Of Tea

"The Korean Way of Tea" - written by Brother Anthony of Taize and Hong Kyeong-Hee.  Published by Seoul Selection in 2007.  This book deals with Korean tea.  

An excerpt :

"If the tea grows more or less freely, naturally, with minimal fertilizing and trimming, it is known as Yasaeng-cha (wild tea).  This is in contrast to the tea that grows in long, tidy rows in large-scale plantations; Koreans always feel that what grows naturally will be better that what is cultivated artificially.  In the end, the main difference is between hand-dried and machine-dried teas, tea made on a small scale by individuals and tea produced by machines in a factory.  Nothing on the boxes indicate the mode of production.

The most common way of indicating different grades of quality involves using the labels Ujeon (tea made in April), Sejak (tea made in April-early May) and Jungjak (tea made in May).  These correspond more or less to the 'first flush, second flush, third flush" of high quality Indian tea.  Ujeon, made of the smallest, earliest shoots, is always the most expensive, and sometimes quite excessively so.  Sejak is usually almost as good, at least despite using shoots that emerged slightly later.  A good producer's Jungjak will be only a little less intensely flavored, having been made later in May than the other two.  It will usually be quite a bit cheaper.  Buyers need to know that sometimes Ujeon can lose part of its special fragrance after a few months, even if sealed in a foil packet, it is not necessary the best buy by the time Christmas comes."

Reading this book, I sense there is a mix of Chinese and Japanese tea influences in that the tea leaves ranged from fine tea leaves to powdered tea, so you may have to brew it Kung fu style, or with a whisk when you brew powdered tea.  

This book delivers much information on Korean tea; from the tea farm to the final product.   My impressions from reading the book are that the authors seem to convey there is a spirituality and calmness when it comes to Korean Tea.  Fascinating.  

I like the way the authors described the way of tea:

"It is a poor, simple Way, not really needing a capital "W" to justify itself.  Take the time, it says, no matter who you are or where in the world you are.  Take the time to stop.  Be alone with yourself or a few others in a world where a lot of people are alone in the crowd; be quiet in a world where a lot of people are afraid of silence, always listening to music or shouting into a phone.  Stopping, alone, in a simple space with just the minimum needed to make tea and drink it.  That is the essential practice of the Way of Tea.  It is a far removed from the complicated, self-conscious complexities of a formal Tea ceremony."

2000 Langhe Raw Puerh Cake 357g

I had purchased this pu erh cake at the Malaysia tea expo 2013 (see previous blog).  This tea was for sale to visitors of the tea fair and a visitor like me could be entitled to buy an item (actually 3 different items) daily throughout the week of the tea expo.

I did not pay much attention to this cake when I arrived on the morning of the 1st day of the fair.  One of my tea friends there bought a cake and opened it and started brewing at one of the booths (he was a regular patron of one of the tea shops there.....and had the privilege to brew the tea).  I liked the taste and managed to buy a this cake for 125RM( US$39) before it was sold out the same afternoon.

One observation of this tea was that the storage of this cake seems good. From the taste, I could tell it was not stored in places like a kitchen or factory where the tea can absorbed strange smells.  The cake felt dry and the brittle wrapper broke and tore easily.  When I broke the cake by hand, the cakes gave that 'crispy biscuit' sensation while breaking the cake into small pieces to store in my tea caddy.

This tea is one of the better raw pu erh tea I had blog this year.  This tea is old - 13 years old and is well stored.  It has aged pu erh tea characteristics, which to me meant that the tea has that added dimension of a mature fragrant wood aroma, something like an old camphor wood accompanied by hint of a sweet floral scent.  It was a very smooth tea making it an enjoyable tea session.  A good tea.

I would like to add that I had tried (even bought little) slightly younger pu erh teas (2003-2004) that have a more pronounced aged pu erh character than this tea.  No.....this 2000 Langhe cake is a very good tea.  But what I want to convey to my readers is that - Do not be caught up by a tea you deemed to be very good.  Lets say you do come across such a tea at a tea shop, you like this tea very much, by all means if it is within your budget....buy a few cakes or a tong  but do not buy too many.......Yes, this tea may not be available the next time BUT there will be another tea out there.  Trust me on this.  If this tea was available, I might buy up to a tong of 7 pieces but not more as I do not want to drink this tea on a routine basis  (do a quick count...drinking 10g weekly if you had bought 4 tongs).  I had this debate with a tea friend and we had differing views. He would buy up the tea, all of it. "Its hard to find such teas! You may regret it".  I understand his point of view. 

Buying pu erh tea can be quite addictive.  Before you realize it, you would have acquired a good number of cakes.  What I am saying is this.....I do not want my readers to be caught in a cycle of 'tea chasing'.  I have a friend who would meet me every few months - "This is the best tea!" - and he would give me a generous sample.  Few months later, he would call me - "I found the best tea!"  To date, he had given me about 6 best teas.  

Tea for thought.  How many best tea cakes do you have?

Malaysia KL Tea Expo 2013 Part 2

You would have observed from the pictures that much tea for sale at the tea expo.  The 1st pix shows some Xiaguan tuo tea being sold, attracting buyers with "buy 2 get an additional one free".  I would like to add that 'knowing your tea and relative prices' would help you determine which deals are best for you.  

One of my Malaysian tea friend, Allan Woon, placed a cake in my hand when I met him at the tea expo (pix 5).  He beamed with pride, telling me he had pressed his own cakes.  Allan is an avid tea drinker and collector, and had pressed some Yiwu old tree pu erh.  This is real passion for chinese tea!

The next Malaysia tea fair is from 12-16 Oct at Viva Shopping Mall, in Kuala Lumpur as well.  Its a tea and coffee expo.  Exhibitors for this Oct expo have also send in their tea for an informal contest.  For sale at 20RM, you get 40 samples and you get to assess the tea.  You will assess the tea in 4 areas; tea leaf, tea soup, taste/aftertaste and aroma. You can see from the last pix, that you are only given the age and type of tea but you will not know the name or the tea dealer of that tea. Winners will be announced on opening day of the tea expo.  Quite a fun exercise.

Having a tea expo at a shopping mall is ideal for me.  I had a Japanese dinner and even watched a late night movie to end a nice day.  Superman did not wear his red undies outside, in this movie.