The Story of Tea
Page 7
Activity: Bud and leaf pluck; Northern Hemisphere: July; Southern Hemisphere: January
Activity: Leaf and bud pluck; Northern Hemisphere: August; Southern Hemisphere: February
Autumn
Activity: Leaf and bud pluck Northern Hemisphere: September; Southern Hemisphere: March
Activity: Bud and leaf pluck; Northern Hemisphere: October; Southern Hemisphere: April
Activity: Pruning; Northern Hemisphere: November; Southern Hemisphere: May
Winter
Activity: Pruning/dormancy; Northern Hemisphere: December; Southern Hemisphere: June
Activity: Dormancy; Northern Hemisphere: January; Southern Hemisphere: July
Activity: Dormancy/bud break; Northern Hemisphere: February; Southern Hemisphere: August
AS WE BEGIN THIS DISCUSSION OF THE DIFFERENT TYPES, or styles, of tea, let’s first establish the fundamentals. It is essential that tea drinkers become familiar with these basics: the names given to the different types of tea, some information about the manufacture of tea and the process of oxidation (often incorrectly called fermentation) and the varying degrees to which it can be realized, and the ability to recognize whether a particular tea has been scented or flavored. It is also helpful if tea aficionados can recognize whether a tea is leaf tea, compressed tea, or handworked tea.
Some tea enthusiasts divide tea into two groups: the oxidized and the nonoxidized, while others separate tea into the so-called major and minor classes of tea. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s we used these popular designations in our own store. We have learned over the years, however, that to identify tea comprehensively, these categorizations are not adequate. We now describe tea with a more straightforward approach, so that casual tea customers can readily understand the principal distinctions, and then we guide interested tea enthusiasts in a more in-depth way.
First, readers should have a basic understanding of the difference between leaf tea and compressed tea. Although compressed tea (formerly known as “caked tea”) is historically “older” and can qualify as being a form of manufacture or production (depending on the process used), leaf tea is the manufacture style of most tea purchased today. One enduring form of compressed tea, pu-erh, is discussed more fully later in this chapter.
An experienced picker plucks leaf for Gunpowder tea on the high-plateau border near Fujian Province (Zhejiang Province, China).
The Six Classes of Leaf Manufacture
The foundation of our categorization is the six classes of leaf manufacture. These fundamental methods are augmented throughout this chapter with the historically important and popular styles of tea production (including scented, smoked, flavored, compressed or “bricked,” and presentation teas). Finished tea has been given many names over the centuries, but there have always been only six main “classes” of leaf tea manufacture. Most of these have subdivisions or distinctions from region to region, however, so read on!
One of the earliest and most logical systems for tea identification was devised early in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) in China, where tea experts identified tea by the color of the liquor of the brewed beverage. Thus they used the designations of white, yellow, green, blue, red, and black to differentiate the various classes of tea. Over time a few of these names have changed, but their characteristics have not.
During the twentieth century many tea writers used a tea identification system that included only the most common forms of tea consumed at the time. This led to the creation of the “major/minor” list that is still popular today. This system lists only five teas—the majors being green, oolong, and black, and the minors being scented and bricked. Although this system has some practical simplicity for retailers, we disagree with its lack of completeness and therefore correctness. The system combines disparate tea types and leaves out several important styles of leaf manufacture that are well known today.
Table 3.1 shows the evolution of the organization of the styles of finished tea, from the old system to the new. The table provides a detailed definition of each of the six classes of leaf tea manufacture (including their relative oxidation), based on the historical tea-processing tradition and tempered with consideration for modern improvements. Elsewhere in this chapter we explore the many other tea-production methods, showcasing scented, smoked, flavored, and other styles of tea.
Table 3.1. The Organization of the Styles of Finished Tea
Detailed list to follow
Ancient Chinese System (Ming dynasty 1363–1644; by color): White
Twentieth-Century System (William H. Ukers and most other twentieth-century tea writers; major/minor): Green
Ancient Chinese System (Ming dynasty 1363–1644; by color): Yellow
Twentieth-Century System (William H. Ukers and most other twentieth-century tea writers; major/minor): Oolong
Ancient Chinese System (Ming dynasty 1363–1644; by color): Green
Twentieth-Century System (William H. Ukers and most other twentieth-century tea writers; major/minor): Black
Ancient Chinese System (Ming dynasty 1363–1644; by color): Blue
Twentieth-Century System (William H. Ukers and most other twentieth-century tea writers; major/minor)
Ancient Chinese System (Ming dynasty 1363–1644; by color): Red
Twentieth-Century System (William H. Ukers and most other twentieth-century tea writers; major/minor): Scented
Ancient Chinese System (Ming dynasty 1363–1644; by color): Black
Twentieth-Century System (William H. Ukers and most other twentieth-century tea writers; major/minor): Bricked
Our Tea Identification System: Green
Organized by Level of Oxidation: None
Our Tea Identification System: Yellow
Organized by Level of Oxidation: None
Our Tea Identification System: White
Organized by Level of Oxidation: Very slight (>8 percent)
Our Tea Identification System: Oolong
Organized by Level of Oxidation: Partial (20–80 percent)
Our Tea Identification System: Black
Organized by Level of Oxidation: Complete
Our Tea Identification System: Pu-erh
Organized by Level of Oxidation: Always fermented, not always oxidized
The Eight Elements of Tea Production
All tea processing has eight elements in common: plucking; sorting; cleaning; primary drying/withering; the manufacture specific to the different classes of tea (green, yellow, white, oolong, black, and pu-erh); final firing/drying; sorting; and packing. It is the central process known as the manufacture (step five above) that differs, and this midway process determines the class to which the finished tea belongs. The difficulties and challenges of this phase are the subject of endless debate among tea producers. The question of which class is the more difficult to coax from the fresh leaf is unanswerable, as each has intricacies and peculiarities that vary from region to region, from day to day, and from tea to tea. Consistency in leaf tea manufacture is an achievable goal, but identicalness goes against nature and is therefore impossible.
The foundation of artisan tea is the pluck. High-quality leaf, which is required to produce exceptional tea, is plucked from the bush by hand, in most locations. The main exceptions to this are in Japan and in the gardens that process tea by the cut-tear-curl (CTC) method (see “Processing CTC-Manufactured Black Tea” later in this chapter). The plucking method varies, depending on the style and quality of the tea being produced. We have observed incredibly precise, artisanal plucking for such famous teas as Lu’an Guapian, Huang Shan Mao Feng, and Gunpowder. We have also seen so-called relaxed plucking of “run-of-the-harvest” tea.
An artisan tea manufacturer examines the progress of his aracha (primary tea) (Shizuoka, Japan).
In the gardens that specialize in the finer teas, the time-honored and exacting methodologies that have been used for centuries are still followed. Depending on which particular tea the finished product is to be, the choice of leaf may be
determined as it is picked, it may be sorted before being sent down the mountain, and it will definitely be sorted and further cleaned at the primary processing facility. These techniques are fascinating to observe, learn about, and ultimately taste in the finished tea. Particularly in China, the process is central to the appreciation of tea. In addition to having a glorious flavor when brewed, the leaf tea in China must have an excellent appearance throughout all the stages of manufacture and brewing; more specifically, it must have the appearance expected of its type. Throughout this chapter we provide several examples of this plucking specificity of individual teas.
In other countries, most notably Japan, the “look” of the leaf is less important. What is paramount to Japanese tea drinkers are the qualities of the brewed tea, which have been developed during the craft of the tea’s manufacture.
One of the most elemental ferries we have ever seen moving fresh leaf was this wooden “gondola,” which we rode back and forth to visit the tea gardens on Da Zhang Mountain (Jiangxi Province, China).
The mode of transport by which fresh leaf, deposited first in hand-carried pouches or baskets in the garden, is moved from the garden to the processing facility differs by region. Transport may be done by donkey-back, bucket conveyor belt, bicycle, tractor, motorbike, jeep, “pik-tuk” (the pickup version of the famous Asian three-wheeled “tuk-tuk”), aerial tram, boat, and truck. Containment during the early transfer must allow for good air circulation and a minimum of compression from the weight of the leaf. During this quick transport to the initial drying area, the fresh leaf begins to wilt, even though it is kept loosely gathered. It is transferred to progressively larger containers during transport to the processing facility.
This illustration portrays tea being transported by gondola. It is one in a series of nineteen panels that comprise an album that depicts tea production in China, circa 1790–1820. Image courtesy of Historic Deerfield.
The fresh leaf is taken to a processing facility, which will range from being a simple pavilion in the garden itself or in a village at the base of the mountain to a meticulously built regional factory specifically designed to process huge quantities of tea. These larger facilities typically include all the necessities of the employees: housing, schools, and medical facilities, as well as agricultural and recreational areas. Once at the processing facility, the fresh leaf is allowed to air-dry for a varying amount of time, depending on the class of tea to be manufactured.
Workers transport primary leaf from the receiving area to the manufacturing facility of a regional artisanal tea factory (Jiangxi Province, China).
During this preliminary phase of tea processing the leaf is sorted and cleaned. Debris, such as pieces of twig, broken leaves, and pebbles, is carefully removed, often by hand. Uniformity is critical to processing leaf into quality tea. The leaf must be processed in batches that are consistent, or the processing will not be even, and the resulting tea will not meet the expectations necessary to develop into a high-quality finished product.
From this point the fresh leaf will take different paths on the route that will turn it into its eventual finished product. The variously processed leaf will share commonality again at the point of “finishing,” when the final firing or drying occurs and the finished tea is given a final sorting. Finishing is an underestimated aspect of the whole of tea manufacture, but it is perhaps the most critical. Just as an ace finisher cannot create quality tea from poor leaf, if the tea is not finished properly, all the work that has gone before will be for naught.
A young mother sorts tea while her daughter watches (Anhui Province, China).
This modern tea facility in Wuyi presents young women with the opportunity to work in a clean, safe environment while earning a good wage (Fujian Province, China).
This illustration from a Chinese tea production album dated 1790–1820 depicts village tea sorting. Image courtesy of Historic Deerfield.
One of the most disappointing moments of our professional tea life has to be the time many years ago that we opened a new “fresh” sack of what should have been a glorious tribute green tea, only to discover that the tea had the musty, damp-hay smell and off-taste that reveals improper finishing. The correct low-moisture content had not been properly achieved during the final firing, so that batch was ruined.
So now let’s take a detailed look at the six great classes of tea. We will clarify how manufacture, that middle-phase process of tea production, determines which class of tea fresh leaf becomes.
Green Tea
The manufacture of green tea is all the more fascinating because there are several subcategories of the class. By describing the various styles of green tea, we show how their manufacture differs. We passionately encourage you to taste all of these fine teas and explore their intricacies. Perhaps you will be inspired to investigate the hundreds or even thousands of green teas available in the marketplace. We have been tea merchants for more than thirty years, and we are still as amazed and delighted by these artistic little leaves as we were in the early 1990s, when we first introduced extraordinary Chinese green teas to our customers.
The intrigue of artisan green tea has drawn us to Asia several times, allowing us a firsthand opportunity to source tea for our customers. We have been both to the world’s largest tea factory (in Kaihua, Zhejiang Province, China) and to tiny, remote rural villages, where a simple common building serves as the local “factory” during tea season. Among our wonderful tea adventures over the years: We have observed tea being fired in a public park on a weekday afternoon, toured one of the first joint-venture facilities established between a Chinese tea grower and a Japanese tea importer, journeyed to the mountainside shrine that honors the monk who first cultivated tea, spotted tea being dried on the patios of simple village residences, tracked down centuries-old ancient tea trees, crossed a reservoir in the dark on a boat that had no running lights, drunk tea with monks on sacred mountains, and navigated hair-raising switchbacks on steep mountain “roads.” We have participated in numerous experiences that have contributed to our knowledge of and fueled our passion for green tea.
There is no limit to the complexity, variety, and uniqueness of green tea. Consumers worldwide are being offered more choices of tea every day, and the best way to learn about green tea is to drink it. Many Americans think that they do not like green tea because too often their first taste is of inferior-quality green tea, brewed at too high a temperature and steeped for too long. To avoid this, follow our simple brewing instructions outlined in chapter 6. Green tea is not necessarily astringent. That being said, however, green tea can be astringent, and some varieties should be astringent, puckeringly so. Working alongside a reputable tea merchant, select the green teas that fit your taste preference.
Green tea is made by many tea artisans, in so many unique ways, that it is almost folly to attempt to describe it. There are reputed to be more than three thousand types of green tea in China alone, so it rivals wine in diversity. Please keep in mind that the information in this section describes artisan, high-quality, regional, authentically made leaf-style (not teabag) green tea.
Tea pickers in Tai Ping village (Anhui Province, China).
Fresh leaf for green tea is usually plucked in the morning and then brought down the mountain in baskets or cloth or fiber pouches. These containers promote air circulation and protect the fresh leaf from damage due to compression by weight.
After a quick, gentle sorting to remove twigs and extraneous matter, this fresh leaf is left to air-dry for a short time.
When processing green tea, this process is known as primary drying and is a shorter version of that used in the manufacture of oxidized leaf (for black tea and oolong), in which case it is known as withering. Primary drying helps prevent oxidation (the darkening of the leaf), whereas withering sets up the leaf for the rolling process that is so important to the manufacture of oolongs and black teas.
In this first phase of manufacture the picking is generally done by wom
en and young adults. The budset is being picked, so it is essential that the smallest hands with the most slender fingers be employed for this delicate task. During the peak of the season everyone (of all ages) plucks, and those who have larger fingers must be more careful and inevitably pluck more slowly. The entire community becomes involved and, as is the case with agriculture the world over, the appropriateness of an individual’s skills to the tasks needing to be done is the guide that dictates who does which task.
Primary leaf waiting to be fired (Anhui Province, China).
When the leaf arrives at the “factory,” the men generally assume responsibility, hauling the leaf around, operating the machinery, and performing the firing. But just as there are always men plucking leaf in the garden, skilled women also participate in these factory processes. Children often watch and learn, but they do not participate in these serious production activities. When we visited a remote tea factory in Jingangshan in southern Jiangzi Province in spring 2006, we learned that almost all the top tea firers in that community are female. The policy for that village is that no one is allowed to actually process leaf until he or she is at least eighteen. Before that, individuals can observe at their mentor’s side; this period generally lasts two years.
Once the leaf is within the factory, two to five inches of fresh leaf is spread on mats on the floor to air-dry, which reduces the moisture content by several percentage points. The desired change is from a moisture content of between 75 and 77 percent to one between 65 and 70 percent. After a period of time that may range from a few minutes to well over an hour (depending on the leaf, the time of day, and the ambient air temperature and humidity), the first four standard elements of tea processing are completed. It is now time to initiate the manufacture that will create the particular style of green tea desired.