|
China and Japan Tea Trek III 2006
by Mary Lou Heiss
©2006
Our tea trip this
spring brought us to Fujian Province in eastern China, the home of
many of China’s famous teas. The emphasis of the trip was to
observe production of oolong tea in both south and north Fujian,
and also Fenghuang Dan Cong oolong in
northern Guangdong Province. Fujian is a treasure-house of China's
tea, and produces, in addition to the oolong teas, superb
examples of
black tea, jasmine tea, (such as the Jasmine Pearls) and authentic
white tea.
Because the fresh
tea leaf that is used to make Fujian oolongs must be larger in
size than what is necessary for the manufacture of green tea,
plucking does not begin in the early part of the spring but later,
in May and early June. Due to this later timing, we were able to stop in Japan along the way, and observe,
for the first time,
the green tea harvest in Shizuoka and Kyoto (Uji ) Prefectures.
 Tea cultivation and manufacture in Japan is
extremely different from that in China. Land is at a premium in
Japan, causing tea growers to squeeze tea gardens into small plots
of land in the mountains as well as on the outskirts of towns and
cities. In fact, we saw tea bushes growing in front and back yards
in residential neighborhoods, and the bullet train whizzes by tea
gardens in Shizuoka on a daily basis.
In keeping with Japan’s mode of efficiency, most Japanese
tea leaf is cut from the tea bush by mechanical shearers – a few
of the most expensive teas are hand-plucked in the early spring,
but the goal in manufacturing Japanese tea is in how the leaf
tastes, and not how it looks.
In Tokyo we met up with our colleague Elizabeth Andoh, author of Washoku: Recipes from a Japanese Kitchen.
The three of us jumped on the Shinkansen ( bullet train ) and
traveled down to Shizuoka, where we visited tea production, tea
gardens and the fast-paced Shizuoka wholesale tea auction. In
between tea lessons, Elizabeth gave us a serious cram-course in
odd and unique Japanese cooking ingredients. It is amazing
just how many variations of miso, soy sauce, tofu and noodles
there are to be found in Japan !
In Kyoto, we were hosted by a wonderful group of
Japanese businessmen who ended up learning more about tea than I
think they ever thought possible. They had as good a time as we
did ! They took us to ancient temples, contemplative tea gardens,
chanoyu ( the Japanese tea ceremony) on several occasions, a tea
research center, tea factories that specialize in Gyokuro, Matcha
and Sencha tea, and introduced us to artisan tea producers who
uphold the highest standards of quality in their tea production
and manufacture.
From Japan, we continued to Shanghai, China. It
seemed like a lifetime ago that we were last in eastern
China for the tea harvest ( two years ago we ventured into
western China which is geographically and spiritually a
very different place ). In fact, it has been six years to be exact
and much has changed for the better in the parts that we
re-visited in eastern China.
Six years ago the skyline of the new Pudong section
of Shanghai consisted of more construction cranes than buildings,
and that was a mind-boggling sight to behold. Back then, looking
across the Huangpo River from the walkway along the Bund to this
new section of the city, buildings were still mostly steel frames
and no one was yet living there. Few lights pierced the
darkness at night. At that time, we were told that Shanghai contained the
greatest concentration of construction cranes in any one spot on
the planet, and the strange, futuristic sight of dozens of them
poised in various positions seemed to make it a true statement.
Today, the cranes are gone and a first-class, very
brightly lit and densely inhabited new city has emerged. This
brawny city now boasts a new skyline and packs enough glass and
steel muscle to rival cities like Hong Kong and Singapore for
contemporary style, modern attitude and density of vertical space.
In fact, from across the river we could just make out
strategically placed neon signs that announced the presence of
Starbucks and Hagen-Daas stores.
Our first trip exposed us to unrelenting air
pollution in the form of thick clouds of stone dust that was
generated by
massive rock grinding operations set-up along side roads to supply
materials for road construction projects and road repairs. We also
realized that all of the blasting previously underway during the
construction of the Yangtze River 3 Gorges Dam Project had come to
an end,
bringing to a close one of the worst episodes of environmental air
pollution inflicted on the planet in modern time.
To our amazement ( and delight ) clear blue skies
have now returned and smooth roads pave the way to the distant
provinces where the tea grows. Even in the heart of the
countryside the familiar bumpy old roads that were scarred with
bone-rattling holes from missing chunks of pavement have been replaced with
efficient, fast new lanes. It is evident that it is indeed
possible for a country to re-invent itself in 6 years when there
is a large enough large labor force, deep enough pockets to make
it happen, and the common goal to achieve results.
 From Shanghai, a short flight to
Nanchang
in Jiangxi Province, brought us to the region that
is home to the fragrant ‘Clouds and Mist’ teas. Here, in early
morning and evening, fast moving blankets of swirling, gossamer
mists nestle into deeply-cut mountain valleys, swaddling the tea
bushes in veils of moisture. In this region of lush bamboo forests
and imposing mountains, this background has provided inspiration
to Chinese landscape painters, hermits, and poets for centuries.
Here we discovered two highly-esteemed
green teas from the Lu han and JingGanShan
regions,
both of which are rarely available outside of China. We were invited to
visit the LuShan Tea Research Center that oversees
the tea cultivation in a handful of villages
located within a strictly controlled agricultural production zone.
LuShan tea, as we learned, is an early-spring
picking of buds only, that to me, possesses the
quintessential sweet taste and fragrance of early spring teas from
eastern China.
Tea has been produced on LuShan for
over 2,000 years and was, like many of China’s premier teas, first
cultivated in temple gardens by local monks. Progress has been
slow to come to LuShan – we were told that the first
paved road into the mountain was built within the last 50 years.
Only a small quantity of
LuShan tea is produced - this year the total quantity was only
10,000 kilos. The highest grade of Lu han tea contains 40,000 tips in
1 pound of finished tea. This tea is priced ex-factory in Chinese
yuan at 1,000 yuan or the equivalent of U.S. $125.00 per pound.
Because of the booming Chinese economy and China’s
new position in world politics, many of the finest Chinese teas
are being purchased exclusively by the Chinese government for use
as diplomatic gifts to visiting foreign dignitaries or important
high-ranking officials. LuShan was the first of
several highly-regarded, place-specific teas that we encountered
on this trip that are experiencing unprecedented demand from Bejing. This in turn is focusing attention within China on its
treasure house of teas and contributing to a rise of tea prices
both internally and for export.
From LuShan we traveled south to
JingGanShan another area of exceptional natural beauty
that also produces exquisite ‘Clouds and Mist’ tea. Only 4 villages make up the entire production of
JingGanShan tea, which consists of one grade of
bud-tips and 4 grades of leaf. This tea is also only available in
limited quantities - only about 10,000 kilos from one spring
plucking is the total yield.
Again, the top grade of this tea fetches hefty sums
–only 400 pounds of the bud-tip, first grade tea is produced and
the ex-factory price for this tea is U.S. $250.00 a pound.
Following the first grade is the second grade tea, of which just
1,000 pounds is available. This tea, which is comprised of a 1 bud
and 1 leaf picking, is the favorite in Bejing and all of it is
reserved for the government’s private use. We estimate that this
year’s tea fetched the villagers close to $225.00 per pound.
 At the tea factory in JingGanShan the
entire village put on a demonstration for us of how they
manufacture their tea. Since their tea harvest was completed for
the year, the workers went into the tea fields and picked some tea
leaves ( larger in size than what they would ever pluck, but it
gave them something for them to use ) and then proceeded to fire
up their charcoal-operated tea firing-pans in order to show us the
hand-skills that they use to shape the leaf. All 15 of the female
tea firers took their places at their tea firing pans and began
working in unison. Before long, a deft, rhythmic motion settled in
as they worked turning freshly plucked leaf into finished tea.
We spent several spellbound hours watching them
shape the fresh leaf, then roll and twist it as they dried it in
their tea firing pans.
Periodically, they would pick up a bamboo scoop and lift the leaf
out of their firing pan. They took the leaf to a large wooden table where
they would work and shape it by hand, letting it cool a little
before returning it to the tea firing pan.
When the fresh leaf had been transformed into
finished tea, pots of hot water arrived and we luxuriated in the taste of
freshly-fired tea. In style, JingGanShan tea
was similar to Lu Shan tea, in that it possessed a
soft, sweet, fresh and clean smelling aroma and flavor, but it also
presented a pleasing, rich mineral note. We felt honored
to have witnessed such a special afternoon, and we applauded the
efforts of everyone in the tea factory. The workers responded to
our enthusiasm with big smiles and lots of shy and embarrassed
giggles.
From Jiangxi Province we headed south to southern
Fujian Province. To say that we were excited to be finally
visiting the most historic tea growing region of China doesn’t
quite do justice to the anticipation that we felt. To explain why,
Fujian is home to what is considered by tea professionals to be
China’s most sophisticated and complex teas – oolong teas –
which includes the famous Wuyi Rock Oolongs as well as
Tieguanyin Oolong. Fujian is also the historic home of the
popular Chinese white teas. If this were not enough to make
a hardened teaman weak in the knees, Fujian is also the origin of
delicately scented and exquisite jasmine teas, as well as
the unique, smoky and tarry Lapsang
Souchong black tea.
Fujian has the longest history of commercial tea
production in China, and it is here that many of those historic
teas were first produced for the Dutch and British traders who
came to purchase tea from the Chinese during the days of the China
Tea Trade in the 18th and 19th centuries.
From Jiangxi we took an overnight train to northern
Guangdong Province, which is located just south of Fujian. It was
here, in northern Guangdong, a place once known as Canton, that we
would begin our hunt for oolong. We awoke on the train in the city
of Chaozhou in the outskirts of the Phoenix Mountains. We had come
here to see the legendary Fenghuang Dan Cong Oolong
tea trees, and to observe production of this tea. Local history
dates production of this tea back to the Tang Dynasty ( 618-907 AD
) when indigenous tea bushes in this area were first shaped and
pruned in such a manner that the bushes developed into trees with
a single trunk.
A long and winding drive up a steep and notoriously narrow
road brought us to the elevation where the
'clouds and mist' settle in. By the time we reached this isolated garden of old tea trees,
the dense veils of mist had enveloped the tea garden and the trees
appeared as ghostly apparitions peering out at us from the beyond. Standing
nearly 15 feet tall and looking more like apple trees than tea
bushes, these old trees were reported to be well over 100 years
old.
Fenghuang Dan Cong Oolong
tea pickers use ladders to climb up into these trees in order to
reach the large leaves. Wet stones and muddy paths added to the
atmosphere but made it difficult to walk on the sloping paths. But
the thrill of seeing these large tea trees made the adventure
worthwhile.
 These tea trees are one of the nearly 300 varieties
of indigenous tea plants that are unique to northern Guangdong and
most of Fujian Province, and are the primary reason why these
oolong teas cannot be duplicated elsewhere. In addition to the
characteristics that the leaves from these old tea trees ( and the
other indigenous local tea bushes ) impart to the tea, local
modifications in leaf processing techniques coupled with varying
soil and weather conditions convey distinctive nuances of flavor
to these teas. The large-sized leaves yield gorgeous and stylish
tea that is long and slightly thick in appearance, and that has a
unique and desirable twisted shape, a fully oxidized appearance
and well–developed floral fragrance. Multiple infusions are the
norm with these teas.
Later, on our way to the Fenghuang Dan Cong
tea factory, we discovered that tea farmers
here use the side of the road as a convenient place to spread their
freshly plucked leaf for ‘withering’ before the leaf is brought
into the co-op tea factory for shaping and firing. (Withering is
the slow process of gradual cellular change brought on by moisture
loss that begins within tea leaves once the leaves have been
plucked from the bush. It is critical that a reduction in moisture
occurs in fresh leaf before the manufacturing process begins when
the tea will be an oxidized style. )
We watched farmers working in a small section of
road quickly remove handfuls of tea from their baskets and
sprinkle the leaves in a single layer over the asphalt. After a
short withering ( perhaps one hour ) the tea was swept up and put
back in the basket as if nothing at all had occurred. We were
delighted to observe this ingenious method of withering and
marveled at the simplicity and common sense of these hard-working
farmers.
 However, in the private tea factories withering is
done in a more controlled environment. The fresh leaf is laid out
on a series of large bamboo trays, which are placed side by side
on drying racks. After withering comes the lengthy tumbling,
rolling and drying processes required to make Fenghuang Dan
Cong Oolong. Processing usually begins at 3 PM and is
finished around 11 AM the following day, and each step in the
manufacture is critical – one mis-step and the entire batch of tea
is ruined.
Oolong teas are partially oxidized (they are not
fermented as is erroneously stated in many tea articles and books
) and this process of manufacture is the is the most
complicated to execute. The exquisite floral aroma of oolong teas is a result of
the numerous stages of rolling and drying that the fresh leaf
undergoes.
While the tea making process is similar for all
oolong teas, large tea leaves such as Fenghuang Dan
Cong require even more time for the tea workers to finesse the tea leaves to
the proper color and to coax the leaves into developing the
distinctive sweet, floral aroma that tea aficionados savor and
demand.
 Our
next stop along the oolong tea trail brought us to Anxi in southern Fujian, the home of the most famous Chinese
oolong, the noble Tieguanyin. Anxi sports an
abundance of tea shops and all of the necessary auxiliary tea
businesses that the growers and producers require, such as bamboo basket makers, tea machinery repair
shops and tea sorting stations. Tieguanyin is big
business here – only the Tieguanyin cultivar of tea
bush will yield genuine Tieguanyin tea.
Tieguanyin is named in honor of Guan Yin, the Chinese
Goddess of Mercy.
Our host, Mr. Wei Yue De, an exuberant and
charismatic teaman, was thrilled to have us visit – even though we
arrived at 11:30 PM. He immediately shuttled us off to dinner and
then later brought us back to his office where he personally
conducted a gongfu tea tasting for us of both his
traditional and new, floral-style Tieguanyin teas. Before
the night ended ( we “called it quits” after the 11th
infusion of the leaves ) he wanted us to go to sleep understanding
the three distinctive qualities that Tieguanyin
should express in the cup - fragrance, aftertaste, and
resonance - and personally see to it that we experienced the
fulfillment of this expectation as we tasted his tea.
 The following day Mr. Wei Yue De took us up
into the
mountains to visit his tea gardens. He was very excited to show us
his oldest tea garden, where the mother plants of most of
the plants in his garden were located. These old plants are
approximately 150 years of age. He showed us a commemorative stone
that he designed and had placed in his garden marking the
existence of the bushes. He also paid homage to the Goddess of the
tea, Guan Yin, by installing a life-size, white
marble statue of her in the center of his tea garden. From her
vantage point, she overlooks the terraced rows of tea bushes that
cascade down the mountainside. She is a prominent sight in the
garden.
From Anxi we headed to Changle, the region of fine
Jasmine tea production. We visited a very fragrant,
perfume-drenched Jasmine tea factory and were amazed to discover
that the tea-scenting manufacturing step had not yet taken place
yet this year. The intense jasmine aroma we so enjoyed was
leftover perfume still permeating the
factory from last years blossoms and production. Outside the
factory, we wandered thru an extensive garden of jasmine bushes
from which the aromatic flowers would be obtained. Blossoms are
ready for plucking in July and August, at which time the flowers
are introduced to the already-made base tea and the scenting
transfer fro flowers to tea occurs.
From Changle, our next destination was a White tea factory in Fuding.
It was very early Sunday morning, but fortunately for
us, tea workers work every day during the height of the busy tea season, so we were able to have our anxiously awaited visit.
This rural tea factory was peaceful and quiet and we heard only the sounds of local birds breaking the silence. Here,
the tea gardens are owned by the villagers, and only village
residents ( about 100 ) are used to pluck the tea – no outside
migrant workers are brought in.
 Inside the factory, the tea withering room was cool
and breezy. Freshly-picked bunches of leaf were laid out on the
withering mats, which were supported on wooden racks. The room was
designed to hold the maximize volume of wooden racks. Eight double
rows of shelving ( front and back ) filled the room with barely
enough room to walk around each rack. Each wooden rack consisted
of 5 sections of shelving, and each section had 15 rows of mats.
Which makes for a lot of fresh leaf.
The tea in the withering room was
Shou Mei white tea. This leaf was plucked from the ‘Da Hao’
Big Sprout variety of tea bush, a cultivar specific to Fuding. The
season for the manufacture of the fancier grade of bud-tip tea, the White Peony,
had finished in March. This village plucks 95 % of their leaf from
the Big Sprout variety of tea bushes and only 5 % from the Big
White variety, which develops the thinner sprouts plucked for
making White Peony.
Last but certainly not least, we arrived in the
Wuyi Mts, a place of extravagantly shaped rock landscapes, natural
waterfalls and lush nature preserves that feature protected bamboo
forests. Wuyi is historically very important in Chinese tea
history, as this is the place from whence the first teas came that
made their way to Europe with early Dutch traders.
 The
oolong teas manufactured here are called Wuyi Rock
teas, and they are rare and expensive oolong teas produced from
specific tea bush cultivars found only in this region. Cultivated
tea gardens have been developed here, but the lack of truly
cultivatable land here has kept the gardens small and isolated
from one another. Over 800 cultivars of tea bushes exist here and
no where else in China. Each cultivar produces a slightly
different leaf and resulting finished tea. Additionally, the rocky
soil and the mineral-rich environment adds nutrient and flavor to
the tea. Cuttings from these tea bushes planted and grown in other
parts of China (or anywhere!) do not have these flavor
characteristics because of this unique terroir.
 Here,
the tea grows in thin, rocky soil, and wild tea bushes sprout out
of the rock faces in places that seem impossible for plants to
live. But live and thrive they do – many of the old plants growing
here are hundreds of years old and still produce leaf.
Accordingly, the manufacture of fresh leaf here used old,
traditional skills, and often the tea is still
dried over a charcoal fire. We visited several factories and
tasted many of the great Wuyi Rock Oolong teas – Da Hong
Pao, Rou Gui, and Shui Xian. These teas are the stuff
of legends. Never did we think that we would have such a splendid
opportunity to taste and to learn so much about these famous teas.
No wonder these teas are the realm of Chinese tea connoissueurs -
we cannot
rave about them enough.
 Before
leaving Wuyi, we obtained last-minute permission to visit a
rarely-visited Lapsang Souchong tea smoking shed. Wuyi is the home
of this legendary tea, and the tea is still slowly dried over
indirect aromatic smoke from controlled pine wood charcoal fires.
During our visit we were presented with cups of a very subtle,
very elegant smoky tea that we had never before encountered and
did not recoginze. The owner of the tea factory took great delight
in stumping us with this, his most prized smoked tea. Called
Zhen Shan Xiao Zhong, he explained to us that this is the
original smoky tea of this area and processed in a more
specific and controlled manner than the standard, familiar Lapsang
Souchong, The price of
Zhen Shan Xiao Zhong reflects this special treatment but we
think that our smoked tea devotees will agree that this tea's
unique style and very special flavor merits the extra cost.
Now, back home, far from the clouds and mist and
the traditions that foster tea making hand-skills, we anticipate
the arrival of all of the new teas that we purchased on our
trip. We think that you will find some amazing new teas in these
additions to our already stellar line-up of black, jasmine, oolong
and white teas from Fujian:
 Black Tea - Fujian Province
Lapsang Souchong – authentic
Zhen Shan Xiao Zhong
Panyang Black – Golden Monkey
Green Tea – Fujian Province
Green Snow Buds – Lu Xue Ya
Lotus Heart – Lian Xin Cha
Tongyu Mountain Special Green
Green Tea – Jiangxi Province
Jin Gang Shan Jade Green
Lu Shan Clouds & Mist
Yangtze River Tribute Green
Jasmine Tea – Fujian Province
Rose-scented Raindrops
 Oolong tea – Fujian Province
Cave of the Golden Buddha
Da Hong Pao - Wuyi Rock Oolong
Rou Gui - Wuyi Rock Oolong
Tieguanyin - Charcoal-Fired Traditional Style
Tieguanyin - Clear Fragrant Style
Tieguanyin - Traditional Style
Oolong tea – Guangdong Province
Fenghuang Dan Cong
|
