Countryside Tea Factory Of Yunnan China

I am guessing you are shaking your head in disbelief when you read the title of this blog.  I am not tea drunk.  There is, really, a 'Countryside Tea Factory'.  Just look at the wrapper on the last pix. 

I got this 50g tuo as a gift from a tea distributor in Guangzhou last month.  He told me it was from his personal collection.  

My guess is this tuo is about 15 years old.  This mini tuo is highly compressed and I almost 'poke' myself with a tea pick as I was dismantling the tuo.

These are my findings from 2 sessions of this tea.  There  was hardly any sweetness in the tea.  This tea is strong in both taste and aroma.  There were strong herbal notes in the tea; almost medicinal herbs and a bitter tree bark taste in the initial infusions.  Middle infusions were quite mouthwatering with a herbal soup taste like lingzhi and ginseng roots.  I felt the aftertaste is a little dry.  This tea made a dozen good infusions in one sitting.  I believed my tea distributor friend liked the unique herbal medicinal profile in the tea.  An interesting tea....from the countryside. 

Bottled Water

Water make up a big part of your tea.  Many of us are willing to spend considerable amount of $$ on our tea.  For many tea drinkers, we may spent a few dollars for 10g of tea leaves for a session of tea.  I have yet to read on tea forums or blogs about the cost of water in a tea session.  

I suppose water is considered cheap.  If you are lucky (like me), the tap water in your country may be drunk 'straight from the tap' and I would be using this tap water to boil and make tea.  In countries where tap water is not directly drinkable, one would consider maybe adding a filter to 'clean' the tap water or may use bottled water in the home.

My friends in China, Hong Kong and Malaysia had told me to drink bottled water whenever I travelled to visit them.  I noticed, in all these 3 places, that my friends used quite 'high tech'  electronic water filtration devices in their homes to filter their tap water.  The tap water is ran though 4-5 filtration modules before it is 'considered safe to drink'.  The filters, I was told are changed 2-4 times a year.  

When it comes to tea, my friends and teashops in these 3 countries would used bottled water for their tea sessions.  There are many brands of water available but in Malaysia, the 'Spritzer' brand is preferred and in China. the 'Nongfu' brand is used for tea brewing.  I am sure these folks have tried many brands before settling on these preferred brands.  If my math serve me right, it cost about US$1.50 to buy about 2 litres of water in these 2 countries.  So if you use 2 litres of water in a tea session, than the water cost is US$1.50 in this example.  

It was surprising, or not surprising, that I found the water from these 2 brands tasted quite similar to each other.  When I brewed ripe pu erh tea at home using these 2 brands, the water tasted a tiny bit sweeter than my home tap water.  It was a fun experiment to do and I urge my readers to try the occasional bottled water in your shops to see whether you can discern any difference in your tea.  

I also encourage that you use 100c (boiling water) when you brew your tea....it does make a difference.  Do also remember to use boiling water as well for subsequent infusions as well. 

I also know a few of my hardcore tea buddies (3 of them)  would go outdoors to collect spring water and bring home to brew tea.  They tell me its the best water.  

We should be thankful we have water to drink.  I have read articles that there will be future wars among countries whose conflict will be over water.  

Lin Ceramics Purion Teaware - Revisit

During my more than 10 years of blogging about tea, I had written that there were many small ways or ideas that may improve a tea session.  

Some of these ideas (you may disagree with me) include: 

a) using a clay teapot than a gaiwan to brew your tea

b) experimenting with water - trying bottled or filtered water and see the impact on the aroma and taste of the tea.  Use boiling 100c water to brew pu erh and high roasted oolong is an exercise I recommend.

c) breaking up a pu erh cake and storing it in a tea caddy for 2 weeks before you try the tea

d) a slightly expensive option is to use clay kettles to boil your water and the possibility of using a Japanese iron tetsubin for boiling water as well.  

The Lin Ceramics purion clay is, to me, an interesting phenomena.  When I brew pu erh in a Lin's purion teapot, the aroma and taste of the tea seem slightly amplified.

I brought over a teapot (3 years ago) to my tea drinking group in Guangzhou, China and my friends there (mainly in their late 40s and 50s and had never seen a purion teapot before) could discern this difference in taste and aroma.  These friends are now owners of  purion tea ware and they would occasionally brew tea in a purion teapot to enjoy this phenomena.

I cannot explain the reason.  My thoughts are that the higher iron content in the clay could have affected the taste and aroma of the tea.  I am still intrigued by this purion teapot after so many years of use.

One local tea buddy considered that using purion teapot would  'artificially' enhanced the tea and does not give a true representation of that tea.  I can understand his argument but many of us do try to make a tea as 'tasty' as possible, and may use those ideas I listed in the beginning of this blog to brew their tea.  I was quietly relieved that he does not know that I occasionally concoct an alcoholic tea session......he would have fainted.  

I would like to add that this difference (using purion) in the tea (taste and aroma) is only discernible by 'hardcore' (close to it anyway) tea drinkers and this difference is ever so slight.   If you consider yourself as  'hardcore', I suggest you should 'beg, borrow or steal' a purion tea ware and try it yourself.   

Wuyistar Lao Cong Shui Xian

I was supposed to try this tin of tea last Christmas, but it was not opened (perhaps overlooked).  This is the Wuyistar brand of shui hsien oolong.

Wuyistar is quite a big oolong factory in China and I had noticed, these few years that this company was trying to get a bigger presence outside China.  I saw a shop outlet in Hong Kong just outside the exit of Prince Edward subway station.  They are even represented in Singapore, located at Yue Hwa emporium.  In the Malaysia tea expo last year, Wuyistar took up a big central booth in the expo to showcase their products.

I opened a 2017 tin.  Information on the box indicated that this 125g tinned oolong was from the famed Wuyi mountains and  it was 1st grade oolong.  Notice the double lids and the extra foil top when you open the inner lid.  This metal foil are commonly seen in powered milk tins.  The tea leaves are shiny and plump.  Keeping oolong tea in tins than just packets will help keep the leaves from breaking into small bits.

I filled my teapot with about 75-80% of oolong and proceeded to make 6 strong infusions of this tea.  I could see the tea weakening in its colour by the 6th infusion.  This tea is heavy roasted and strong in aroma and taste. Mouthwatering with good salivating sensation after drinking a cup of tea.  A good tea but the box description of classifying this tea as a 1st grade Wuyi oolong was a little exaggerated.  

In my limited experience of drinking shui hsien, I found or felt that there are 2 main variants - one where the tea was more mineral in taste and another where there is a very slight floral or 'perfumed' aroma in the aftertaste.  Sea Dyke brand of Lao Chong Shui Hsien is an example where it has this 'perfumed' finish.  I enjoy both versions.

For the Shui Hsien tea drinker, do consider buying a tin of Wuyistar if you come across it.  

Pardon Me, But What Is Your Cup Size?

In the late 80s and early 90s, there were teapots that were sold by their cup size. I have a collection of teapots made during this period that actually had the 'cup size' clearly labeled on the tea box. You can see from the 2nd pix,  3 teapots and their respective sizes on the box - 4,6,8. The 6 cup teapot stated that it was for 6 cups. I measured this teapot and the teapot could hold about 90ml ....which would suggest that a 6 cup teapot can fill up 6 teacups of 15ml each.

I was intrigued. I asked my teapot collector friends and yes, it was considered, in the 80s, that a standard teacup size was 15ml. I managed to lay my hands on a few early 80s tea sets (see pix 3) where the teacups came in 15ml sizes.

Today, teapots and teacups come in many sizes. Teapots are sold with pretty accurate description on the capacity usually in ml.

Wouldn't it be great if teapots today are sold by their cup sizes? On the other hand, would it be better if we drink our tea in 15ml sized teacups?   

The Case For Drinking Older Pu erh

The famous fairy tale of Aladdin is a well beloved story that even movie adaptation of this story can be a money making business even to this day.  We can fondly remember the royal sorcerer tricking Aladdin's wife with the 'new lamps for old' exchange so that the sorcerer (the baddie) can get his hands to own the genie that resided in that old lamp.  

Older pu erh is like an old lamp that has a genie inside.  This genie inside your older pu erh is called complexity.  There is complexity in older puerh that is not found in newer pu.  This complexity is made up of a combination of taste and aroma that is only present with 'time in storage'.  The pu erh must had been stored away for a certain period and in a climate that will aged the pu erh.  In my opinion, about 8-10 years for raw pu erh and 6-8 years for ripe pu erh.  The tea when stored away, will age to a smooth, sweet and mellow cup of tea.  You can actually taste the difference between a newly pressed pu and an old pu.  

Another reason you may consider buying older pu erh is the price.  Yes, older pu are and should be more expensive than newer made ones.  But if you looked harder, you can actually can buy a decent older cake that is comparable in price to a new tea now available.  The 1st pix shows a 2007 Xiaguan.  This 12 year old tea can still be purchased for about $80 (I found several online and teashops that sells this tea for under $80 as I post this blog).  For this price , you are not only paying for the tea, you are also paying for the 12 years of storage.  New pu erh can be expensive.  This would be due to the higher cost of production (salaries, rent, warehousing).  I have seen a couple of anomalies where a previous year's production is cheaper than a current year's pu erh tea.  If you are a tea drinker and wished to age some tea yourself, may I humbly suggest buying a slightly older tea (3-5 years old) that will already give you a head start in your storage adventures.  Storing away a 10 year old tea for another 10 years.....you will get a 20 year old tea for your efforts.  

Thats my 2 cents worth.  Time to watch Aladdin.  Its a whole new world out there! 

Fukien Tea Shop High Roast Tie Guan Yin - A Happy Anomoly

When it comes to high fired or roasted oolong, many Chinese tea drinkers would like to drink older and aged versions of these tea.  Such oolongs with some age in them are highly prized and can be quite expensive as well.  The high firing tea, after aging, would be more subdued and the aroma and taste of the oolong would become more smooth and mellow.  

There is a anomoly - The Fukien teashop Tie Kuan Yin

Fukien teashop in Hong Kong produces and sell a high roast oolong.  The roast levels are very high of about 40 hours of roasting over 2-3 days.  The result - a high roasted but sweet caramel finish.  This very popular tea has gained fans from Korea and Japan that a few of these loyal customers would patiently stand outside the shop in the mornings waiting for the doors to open (10am).

I had a tea drinker friend that had purchased this oolong and found out to her dismay that the tea lost its flavours and became 'flat' and mellow after the tea was opened and kept for a year.  

I was in Hong Kong last week and bought out this concern to Mr Yeo, the proprietor of Fukien Tea.  He explained that the high roasted oolong would mellow out after one year and the 'roastiness' of the tea would decrease after a year.  Mr Yeo explained that this tea was produced to be enjoyed for its high roast and this tea should be consumed within 1 year.  This tea is not designed for aging.  

A loyal customer myself, I buy the tea for the roast and the aromatic caramel results of this roast.  This appreciation of this tea is different when compared to the traditional high roasted oolong where it is more desirable to age the tea to reduce 'high fire' oolong to a more mellow and smoother finish.   

I buy my tea from Fukien about 3 times a year in small quantities and will continue to do in years to come.  

A happy anomoly.  Time for tea.