Purple Black & Black Dragon Teas

The tea came to us by air, but the wait was longer than I expected. There was a final step to remove stems from the finished tea.  Unfortunately, our supply is limited and I just learned that no more is available from the producer.

Note the violet tinged leaves shown in the Zi Juan cultivar at left.

Yunnan holds pride of place in tea history. The southwestern province is known for that distinctive, peculiar aged Puer, for Ancient Wild tea trees, and for Yunnan Black teas (Dian Hong). In that last group are some showy gold tipped teas and include a subset of gold single- bud teas.

Menghai is now an easy one hour flight from Kunming. My first visit there meant a 7 hour ride over bumpy roads with Robert Dick who, as the FDA’s tea expert, wanted to see Puer processing up close. During those years, Mr. Dick had to sign off on all tea entries, and Puer was very much in his sights.

紫鹃  Zi Juan, the Cultivar:

The 1^st character (on the left) means purple. The 2^nd character “juan” can be broken down into its two parts. The radical on the left when paired with the radical for “female” means virtuous, as in a virtuous woman.  The radical on the right means bird. There is folklore that ties the DuJuan bird to the word for azaleas, which can be red and sometimes verging on the fuchsia/purple spectrum. (One source states that purple tea, Zi Cha, is known as “crimson tea” in French.)

These purplish tea bushes in Yunnan have been known prior to and researched since the 1980s. In the mid 2000s, the Yunnan Tea Research institute initiated more dedicated work at experimental gardens with natural pH levels between 4.4 and 5.5, indicating a moderate to high rainfall area. The high demand for Puer made Zi Juan a good candidate because the cultivar can tolerate varying altitudes, soil conditions, and heat. We should bear in mind the long growing season in Yunnan, with spring beginning in some years as early as late February. (On one visit to Menghai in March, the chocolates we had brought as gifts were already melting.)

The purple coloring is attributable to anthocyanin.  A quick search shows that this is a type of flavonoid with antioxidant effects that exists in nature. This pigment yields hues from red to purple and is responsible for the color of blueberries and currants, as examples. The research institute’s experiments included work to increase the production of anthocyanin in young plants before a robust production of chlorophyll.  (There is also Purple Tea from Kenya, a Black with high anthocyanin pigmentation. The flavor, however, is markedly different from the tea described here.)

In the past, very old tea trees in Yunnan (of which there are many) did not receive much attention. Later on, as tea makers discovered the potential that these ancient wild trees held, this category enjoyed a blossoming and the boom continues, albeit in a small way given the high prices. Similarly, for many years tea leaves naturally tinged with violet were tossed together with other plucking for Puer.  The interest in dedicating production and processing possibilities was more recent. Our Organic Purple Bamboo Black is one such example, produced exclusively from purplish leaves. The lovely flavor that I have described, however, was not naturally guaranteed by the cultivar. The fact that it was not very distinctive probably relegated those leaves to a “not 1^st rate” category – – – until researchers found a way to bring out features inherent in the cultivar and process it as a special Black tea.

There is a great juxtaposition here: from Yunnan we can enjoy what very old trees can still offer, and we can also discover a new iteration of what had been noted (purplish!) but had not been deemed especially noteworthy.

OO LONG as in “Black Dragon” 

The two words that make up “oo long”  烏龍 mean dark/black dragon. This reference to the long twisted leaves applies to the Oolongs we know from northern Fujian, not the semi-balled teas from the southern part of the province.

Given the large price difference between conventional Shui Hsien (not the century-old type) and WuYi teas such as Da Hong Pao, it is natural to ask how one can tell them apart. A 1^st or special grade Shui Hsien sometimes does not taste radically different from a modest Da Hong Pao. 

Shown below are those three teas:

The cultivars are distinct.  Beyond that, one factor is the origin: Da Hong Pao and Rou Gui are Wuyi Rock teas, confined to and delineated by a small area, Wuyi.  Shui Hsien can be found from a broader range of locations. 

Cultivars and locations established, attention should be directed to roasting, the technique being a significant differentiating feature in this context.

Da Hong Pao and Rou Gui are picked and processed in May. When the primary tea is finished, several rounds of roasting follow. This is not the fairly quick roasting that semi-balled Oolongs undergo. With these darker, long leafed Oolongs, there is a resting period between each roasting cycle. This is to allow moisture in the leaves to be redistributed evenly before the next roasting step.  In local parlance, this is “to move water.” The entire process can take up to several weeks.  (Note: This is not the post-manufacture baking we see for some Oolongs; that makes up a different group, as are Aged Oolongs.)

In addition to the protracted resting times, the method of roasting takes on importance – – – whether powered by electricity or by charcoal.

Both methods are able to bring the heat up to the required temperature. Hand roasting small batches over charcoal means that the worker is able to monitor more closely the gradual change the leaves undergo.

Workers claim that charcoal roasting  gives the finished teas dimensions lacking in tea that is entirely roasted by electrical means, and that the latter tend to be more one-note.

When placed side by side – – – a conventional Shui Hsien that is about 1/5 the price of a Rou Gui or Da Hong Pao, it may take more than a few sips to distinguish these. Moving from cup to cup, one finds higher aroma from the Wuyi teas, greater complexity, and a more multi-note finish. The longer processing time required by Wuyi teas, much of it being resting periods between roasting, served a purpose.

I still remember one manager’s preference: she stood solidly behind tea from old Shui Hsien bushes, much to our group’s surprise. We had expected her vote for a bigger name cultivar. Her choice was based on the very smooth quality of tea from old Shui Hsien plants, yielding the high aroma of this group but without any astringency.  Her preference is probably a hard sell nowadays. Market demand sustains the high pricing of other Wuyi teas, and then at the other end of the spectrum, the floral, friendly, lightly oxidized Ti Kuan Yin remains popular among younger tea drinkers.

As with the organic Purple Bamboo Black, we see here the prominent role of terroir combined with innovation, and how wonderful to witness two emerging examples.  Both teas embody skill sets (drawing out distinctive qualities of Zi Juan purple in one case and roasting skills in the other instance) that elevate our overall tasting experience in a new way, once the backstory is laid out.

Lastly, the arrival of Fern Trail Amber Oolong from Taiwan last week:

This is a revelatory tea. Even as a familiar cup I brew often, this tea always surprises as it reveals the range that an Oolong can yield, brought out by the craft of roasting.  For what it offers, this is a good value tea, and I have kept our margin low in the hope that more will find this a worthwhile indulgence.

July 21, 2020