2003 Sea Dyke Brand Wu-I Ta Hung Pao

Xiamen Tea Import and Export Co Ltd produces and exports large quantities of tea especially oolong to many parts of the world.  One of its brands - Sea Dyke is a popular brand whose tea can be found in many tea shops and even supermarkets worldwide.  The better quality tea are packed and sold in tins and the economical teas are sold in paper boxes.  

One of the famous 'Sea Dyke' oolong is this Da Hong Pao tea (tin spelled it as Ta-Hung-Pao).  This is a popular oolong varietal.  Quality Da Hong Pao tea can command very high prices.  The best quality Da Hong Pao tea that are harvested every year are sold at more than US$2000 for 50 grams.

The story behind this tea was that a high ranking China official was sick when he was visiting one of the Xiamen provinces.  He was tended to and was given this tea to drink while he was recovering from his illness.  When the officer was cured, he took out his royal red robe and 'wore' it on the tea plants, something like a royal honor....thus the name Da Hong Pao which means big red robe.  

Da Hong Pao tea is primarily grown in the Wuyi region of Fujian China.  Tea grown in this region are also famously called yan cha or rock tea to reflect the geographical terrain in the tea growing region there; rocky and mountainous.  

This 2003 tin of Da Hong Pao is from this region.  It is interesting to note that later versions of this tea does not have the 'Wu-I' word printed on the tin.  I believed the higher costs of Wuyi tea had prevented 'Sea Dyke' from selling Da Hong Pao tea from this region.  My guess is that present production of this tea are a blend of oolong tea from other Fujian provinces.  

Back to this tea.    I enjoy the nice wood aroma and the mild salivating sensations after drinking a cup of this tea.  I was told to drink this tea strong or concentrated and to use small teapots and teacups.  I agree to this 'small scale' brew as the aroma does linger in the mouth for some time even though I had consumed only a mouthful of tea.  

I would like to thank my good friend Su from Malaysia, who came all the way to Singapore to give me this tin of very old oolong.  

2004 'Duoteli Brand' Liu Bao Tea

This is a 2004 Liu Bao tea from Duoteli.  This tea is made in Wuzhou, China.  Liu Bao tea is a black tea with the tea undergoing 'fermentation' as part of processing this tea.  Think ripe pu erh as pu erh do undergo fermentation for about 2 months before the tea is dried and packed away in cakes, tuos or bricks.  Liu Bao tea on the other hand, are also compressed into cakes or bricks but they are more commonly packed in loose form into large bags or baskets that may weigh from 1 kg to 30 kg.  They are also sold in smaller boxes like this 250g box I had opened.  

Liu Bao tea was a favorite with migrant Chinese workers that had came to work in tin mines in Malaysia (from late 19th century)  and it is no surprise that Malaysia is a popular place to find old aged Liu Bao (though most of these old tea are in the hands of collectors now).   I was told Liu Bao during that time was simply brewed Grandpa style, meaning a few spoonfuls of the tea is brewed in a large porcelain kettle and refilled a few times  daily with hot water when the kettle is empty.  

Today, Liu Bao tea is brewed in smaller tea gaiwans and teapots and  older Liu Bao tea (more than 30 years old) if available for sale, are expensive.  

I enjoy drinking liu bao tea.  Its aroma and taste has similarities to very old ripe tea.  I can detect strong fragrant wood and nice combinations of chinese herbs in the aroma liu bao tea.  I like to brew liu bao on the stronger side to enjoy that 'oomph'.  Let me forewarn my readers that this is an acquired taste and may not be liked by some of you.   

It is no surprise that there are some unscrupulous tea dealers that try to make a fast buck to newbie ripe tea drinkers, passing off the liu bao tea as very old ripes.  Do be careful if you are not familiar with your teas.  

Back to this 2004 liu bao tea.  This tea is very easy to drink with a nice aromatic character.  Good for 8-10 infusions.  I can only determine the date of this tea from an unopened carton that has the date printed on the carton.  The actual 250g box is undated.  I was also told that pre 2005 versions of this tea is hand-wrapped with cellophane plastic while later versions use shrink wrapped plastic.  

A nice tea but if you are living in Singapore or Malaysia, I recommend that you spend a bit more (take out your credit card) and buy the older liu bao tea, where the taste and aroma are amplified and more pronounced.  I will be visiting the tea expo in Malaysia in December and I will learn more about liu bao and share my findings with you.

Single Hole Teapot

Do you use a teapot when you brew your Chinese tea? And you are using a Chinese teapot?  Nice.....here is a fun quiz for you.  Can you identify, if any, a single hole teapot from the 1st 2 pix?  I will tell you the answer later.  

A single hole teapot is.......nah.....just look at pix 3.  Look at the inside of the teapot where the tea will pour out through the spout.  It is a single hole.  This is a single hole teapot.  Single hole teapots were considered older teapots and building a filter inside was considered a newer improvisation.  Pix 3 has a pretty ball filter inside.   I was told that teapot makers do not make these ball filters themselves as there are people in the same industry that specialized in ball filter production.  I will find out more on teapot making when I visit a teapot maker in China soon.  Please be aware that when you are buying Chinese teapots, single hole teapots now does not mean they are old, as some new teapots now are 'single hole' as well. 

Chinese teapot users like their teapot to pour out tea well when they use the teapot to brew tea.  A teapot is considered not good when it takes a long time to pour out tea from the pot.  Some tea friends in Malaysia use a 10 second test when they buy a teapot.  These friends will fill a teapot with water and count the time for the teapot to empty its contents.  Taking more than 10 seconds would means 'fail' and they will not buy this teapot.  

Putting a single hole teapot to the 10 second test would get you a 5 star performance.  You can understand why such teapots will pour fast.  When I started using such a teapot for the 1st time, I was hesitant that my precious tea leaves would pour out from the teapot as well.  No worries....the hydrated tea leaves expanded and stayed in the single hole teapot.  

There is a catch.  Tea leaves will sometimes get lodged in the mouth of the teapot and pouring of the tea would slow down to a trickle.  Swirling the tea while holding the teapot may not help as the leaves are seriously stuck at the 'single hole'.  Users of such teapots will usually have a bamboo food skewer or a toothpick  and use this stick, poking it in from the spout into the teapot to dislodge the tea leaves.  It is no coincidence that most single hole teapot have a straight spout.....so that a user can poke and clear the tea leaves.  

The Chinese teapot had 'evolved' and you see that filters are now designed into the making of teapots.  Pix 4 & 5 are some examples.  Any tea leaves gathering around the 'holes' of the teapot can be 'swirled' out gently by the user.  For single hole teapot users, they can now buy a metal attachment to affix to the inside of the teapot, which acts as a filter and also to resolve the clogged leaf issue (see pix 6).

So which teapot should u get? Single hole, multi hole or ball filter?  If you are a Chinese teapot user, you will, eventually, own one of each.  It does make a tea brewing session more interesting.  

And....did you identify the single hole teapot from pix 1 & 2?  The answer.... there are 3 of them that are single hole, the teapot at the front of the pix is a multi hole  one.  

Buying Puerh With A $30 Budget

Buying Pu erh with 30 bucks?  Having US$30 and making a purchase with online tea shops would be a challenge.  Many new pu erh tea are very expensive and $30 seem a bit insufficient especially if you are looking to purchase some raw pu erh tea.  

My recommendation is subjective as I am looking at the teas that are available online and that I had recently only tried some of these teas.  This would imply that I have not tried all the $30 teas out there but my intentions in this exercise is to show to my readers that one can buy reasonably good raw pu erh tea with this budget. 

The 1st 3 pix shows a Mengku 'Mu Ye Chun' raw pu erh tea that debuted in 2007.  Yes, this is the first Mu Ye Chun produced by Mengku tea factory.  A popular tea that saw this blend being produced on a yearly basis by Mengku.  This Mu Ye Chun blend is primarily tea leaves harvested from the Lincang region in Yunnan.  This tea is showing mild hints of aging in both taste and aroma.  This tea is non smoky and exhibit a nice bouquet of fruitiness in the tea.  And...this whole 400g tea cake has an asking price of less than $30 at online teashops.  Keep it for another 3 years and ...presto....it will be a 10 year old cake in your collection.  

If you are looking for pu erh tea with a smoky character. The 2013 Xiaguan Fangcha 100g brick makes a strong contender for your $30 budget.  Going for about $10 per brick, you can easily add 3 of these bricks to your collection.  I had talked about this tea in my earlier blog (link).  This tea has that nice smoky aroma and drinking this blend of 3-7 year old raw tea makes a pleasant tea session.  

But I digress.  My tea blogger friend Marshaln wrote an article entitled "Relativism In Tea" (link).  He explained that tea reviews are less relevant as they are subjective.  He gave the example of the different kinds of water used by tea drinkers round the world and brewing results would be different for these tea drinkers.  In his own words:

"There’s a reason I pretty much stopped writing tea reviews on this blog – they’re not useful and they don’t serve any real purpose, not even really for myself anymore at this point. So, I don’t do them."

I have a different point of view.  Most written works in the world today are subjective.  Reviews on food and drink, electronic gadgets, books or even hotel rooms are subjective in nature.  I rely on reviews when I want to find out more about a product.  Take hotel rooms for example.  The same hotel room can be described as too small or spacious, beds are hard or comfy, rude or friendly staff and quiet or noisy rooms are some reviews by users of these hotel rooms within a 3 month period.  When I am looking for a hotel in a new place, room costs, free wifi and close to food and transport amenities are important to me.  I will read such reviews and try to get a feel on the hotel.  Most of the time, it was a pleasant hotel room experience for me.  

Back to tea.  There is a huge assortment of tea out there for sale. Every teashop will say their tea are good if not the best.  Reading reviews or write ups on specific tea will help the reader discern and glean more information on the tea.  Facts like weight, price and age of the tea are indisputable.  But other things like whether a raw pu erh tea is smoky or not, fruity or not and stuff like mouthfeel of the tea may be very useful. Another advantage of writing your thoughts on tea is that  if another reader has the same tea, it would be fun to compare notes and may help in a future tea purchase.  There are teashops that consider 2010 raw pu erh as aged tea.....well that's the subjective part and its up to the reader to decide.  

Drinking Chinese tea is not a science.  For me...it is a 2 minute getaway from the hustle and bustle of city living.

Tea Waste Bowl

A tea waste bowl is simply a container where you discard water/tea used to wash the tea leaves or utensils.  It is also used to contain used tea leaves when you have many teas to brew.  In Japan, tea waste bowls are called kensui.  

Tea waste bowls may seem like a fancy unnecessary item but it has its uses in a tea brewing session.  If you are brewing more than 1 tea, like trying a few teas in a session, tea bowls may be very useful if you do not use a tea tray or in some cases, the tea tray may be too small to hold so much waste.  Yes, any container would suffice as a tea waste bowl but having a proper utensil does show we take our tea seriously (a little show off too as well).    

The 1st 2 pix show a Chinese made celadon waste bowl.  I bought it for its nice crackled look.  The 3rd/4th pix is an old Japan copper kensui.  The top lid can be removed for throwing spent tea and also for easy washing.   On a side note, I have noticed some owners lined their tea waste bowls with a plastic bag as they do not want these utensils to be badly stained with tea.  I am one step better...I don't use them...they are too pretty.  

The last pix is a sort of tea waste bowl.  It is used to stand your teapot and any excess water or tea that flows out from the teapot is collected into the base of the bowl.  This keep the base of the teapot dry and reduce excessive tea stains at the base of a teapot.

Pu erh Tea Bag

For ripe pu erh tea drinkers, I recommend that you buy a box of these tea bags.

"China Pu-erh Tea" is produced by Shantou Yi Hua Import & Export Corp Ltd, Guangdong China.  This tea comes in teabags and are packed in a 20 teabag or 100 teabag boxes.  

I had tried many pu erh tea bags and had been disappointed with the aroma and taste of the tea bags. There are ripe, raw and even pu erh tea bags that has either chrysanthemum or rose flowers added into the tea.  However, I found these tea bags to be lacking in that robustness that I enjoy in pu erh.....until now.

Filling a mug with boiling water and dunking this teabag in the mug for about 2 minutes together with a few jiggling movements of the teabag will yield a very dark aromatic, tasty cup of pu erh tea.  The color will be very dark, almost like red wine.  As this tea is produced in Guangdong, there is a hint of the storage flavor and aroma that closely resemble Hong Kong traditional pu erh storage.  I could detect and enjoy that slight old musty wood aroma. 

And.....this is no typo error.  It cost less than US$5 for an box of 100 teabags.  It is really value for money.  I have decided to buy a few boxes to give away as presents to my non tea drinking friends.  Yes, a cheapo gift but it is a good way to introduce pu erh tea to my friends.  

I carry these teabags with me whenever I am on the move.  I can easily have a quick nice cup of pu erh on the plane or during a meeting.  Have tea will travel.

Sea Dyke Ti Kuan Yin Red Tin

Sea Dyke Brand, under the auspices of Xiamen Tea Import & Export Co Ltd, produces many Chinese Tea and most of these tea are exported worldwide.  Some of the teas are relatively inexpensive and easily available. If you are residing in Europe or USA, a trip to your neighborhood Chinatown might be an exciting tea adventure for an afternoon.  You can also purchase these tea online and I noticed Amazon had even started to sell such tea in their stores.  

Ti Kuan Yin (also called Tie Guan Yin or TGY) is a Chinese oolong tea that is produced in Xiamen, China.  There are many variants of oolongs that are produced and they have names like Shui Hsien and Tie Luo Han.  TGY is named after the Goddess of Mercy.  Legend has it that the Goddess of Mercy appeared in a dream instructing a religious farmer to harvest a tea tree behind a temple.....and this tea was named TGY and became a much loved tea today.  

Sea Dyke produces a range of TGY for sale.  They are available either packed in paper boxes, tea bags or in a larger tin (with the tea prepacked in smaller packets inside).  This Ti Kuan Yin I have.....I call it the red tin version for easy reference....is considered the slightly better grade of TGY.  Going for about US$12 per tin, you get 125 grams of TGY encased in an double lidded tin.  If you work out the math, this would indicate about US$96 per kg pricing for this tea.  The paper box version are cheaper and goes for about half the price of this red tin version.  

This TGY red tin as you can see from the pix had an expiry date of Oct 2011.  No worries.  This tea is a heavy roast tea and will keep very well even way past its expiry date.  In fact, asking prices for these 'expired' tea are much higher as tea drinkers of these tea attest to a more mellower feel to the tea.  I had noticed that even in Guangzhou, there are tea drinkers looking for older versions of these tea.  

As mentioned, this TGY is a heavy roasted tea.  No, you will not get the delicate floral sweet aroma of the light roasted oolongs. This tea instead has strong flavors and aroma of wood; slightly toasty and mildly bitter.  This TGY had been a very popular tea for many years and I can understand why after I had a tea session of this TGY.  It is very easy to drink especially after a heavy meal.  This tea is also just as pleasant when the tea had cooled down to room temperature.  I have a friend who like drinking his TGY chilled.  I do not regard this tea as a top grade TGY, but it is a good enough for me.