Spring Teas 2020, Part 3
by Lydia KungAnd continuing on….
This third part of a post about 2020 Spring Teas provides a more extensive look at a few select teas.
This tea was brought out to us at every stop at tea companies in Hunan, as a prized tea to be marveled at — the cup more than the leaves perhaps.
The high cost of this tea is due in large part to the picking: normally 4 to 5 lbs of fresh leaves yield a pound of finished tea. In the case of this Golden Green, due to high moisture content in the leaves, a worker is only able to pluck 1 kg a day. High L-theanine content accounts for the deep flavor and umami finish. The single plucking period this spring was between mid March to the first week of April. I selected our small batch (price ~ flavor) from three lots; as of this writing, this tea from those three sources are sold out.
Orchid Snow Bud Green
A green tea from Zhejiang almost always promises a good cup. Near Shaoxing, a place well known for its “yellow” wine, the nearby mountains are the backdrop for this tea. High peaks are surrounded by pine and bamboo, and ever present clouds provide humidity that coaxes fat buds from tea bushes.
This tea got my attention right away with its finely wound leaves. Texts refer to “eagle claws” in describing the finished shape. During the Ming Dynasty, the tea was named “lan xue,” or Orchid Snow.
Picked before and just around the Qing Ming festival (April 5, 2020), the pluck is a bud and one leaf. De-enzyming is done in small batches, about a kilo at a time at a temperature of 190 to 200°C. The kneading to shape the leaves is done over a warm pan, at ~70 to 80°C.
The most winsome feature of this Green is its chestnut-y note, one that begins once the tea is poured and then carrying over to the palate. An elegant cup that delivers the best of green teas with clarity. Much sought after in the local domestic market, I believe this is very new in the U.S.
So named in 1964 because of the shape and color of the leaves, this is perhaps the best known tea from Emei Mountain in western Sichuan. A world heritage site that is surrounded by clouds for much of the year, Mt. Emei is a renowned and storied tea area. Little packets of Emei Green tea are placed in rooms at fine hotels in the area. For those who make the easy trek up Mt. Emei, a large temple and square await, where recordings of monks chanting fill the air.
Tea gardens that produce Bamboo Leaves Green (Zhu Ye Qing) range between 600 to 1500 meters in altitude. The dry leaves look as if they are single buds but this pre Qing Ming batch comprises a bud and a leaf budsets, which yield more flavor. Traditional de-enzyming proceeded in three stages of firing and resting/cooling.
Nowadays, there is scant manual contact with the tea. One production line processes fresh leaves through to the semi-finished dry tea, with the application of high temperature, automatic shaping, electrostatic color separation, sifting (non-tea particles) and drying. (This is quite different from most processing facilities where withering is done in one spot in the factory, firing in another, with the tea moved to cool elsewhere, then moved again to be rolled and later to be dried.)
Such an investment – the entire line is fully enclosed — speaks to the cachet this Green carries. Like Dragonwell from the far eastern part of the country, this tea is likely to be served in glasses, so the visual component can be appreciated.
Honeysuckle Dew Green (Gan Lu)
Competing in the context of tea origins with Emei is Meng Ding in southwestern Sichuan. Long celebrated by literati in the past, Meng Ding now holds yearly tea festivals.
Gan Lu literally means “sweet” (as in a honeyed aftertaste) and “dew.”
“Killing the green” (sa qing) or de-enzyming is done in small batches of about half a kilo, at temperatures between 140 – 160°C. The shaping consists of twisting, which is done three times while still pan firing the leaves. The pluck standard is a bud and one leaf.
Organic Yin Hao Green
Part of the Chinese name for this pre Qing Ming Green tea refers to its origin near the Xin’an River in Anhui. The tea base is not far from Yellow Mountain (Huang Shan) where at an elevation of about 800 meters, the forest coverage is about 90%.
As noted at the beginning of Part 1 of this post, I was remiss in not fully appreciating the gift tucked unopened into my suitcase. This Yin Hao Green is also referred to as ZhuangYuanFu. ZhuangYuan means “Number One Scholar,” and Fu means mansion. In the past, many scholars came from this region, and this reference signifies that the tea comes from a famous locale.
Plucking standards are high and exacting. Some 3,000 fresh buds and budsets are needed to make 500 grams (1.1 lb). The finished tea is a dark green covered with white down, offering up a refined aromatic cup, and once again, a hint of chestnuts comes forth, always a hallmark of fine Greens.
A long list of gold medal awards (and poems too) can be found in researching this tea, where “flowing streams from mountains, spring’s essence, and fragrant clouds” nurture this Green. It has earned an EU Organic Tea Certification for 19 consecutive years.
Traditionally, processing meant small batches, about 0.5 kg at a time, with de-enzyming done at first at 140-160°C for 2 to 3 minutes then dropping the temperature to 90-100°C for 4-6 minutes. Manual twisting is applied with light-heavy-light pressure. Now manufacturing is more streamlined but the entire process still only takes about 30 to 40 minutes to shape the leaves and to bring the moisture level down to about 20%.
The overall look of this tea is silver and green – – – Yin Hao/Silver Tip is a straightforward and apt name. There is a great deal written about suggested brewing methods for this tea, much of which is better suited to tea demonstrations (and perhaps where there are paying guests). There is one brewing method with a name that caught my attention: “Phoenix Three Nods.” The comments refer to the movements as a show of respect to the tea and to those about to partake. The gist of the little ritual is to hold the pot of hot water very high, with a strong pour that flips the leaves quickly and evenly in the vessel, forcing the leaves to unfurl and bloom quickly, allowing the aroma to waft upwards immediately.
My gratitude- – – that came with a better appreciation of the tea – – – to my Anhui hosts was months late. It’s not just the value of the gift. I ought to have made time to inquire about and asked to taste this with my hosts when I was in Huang Shan. And even more regret after I learned one of my hosts took second place in a country wide 2019 tea brewing competition, a lost opportunity there for sure. Perhaps I should have exercised a guest’s prerogative even if Chinese etiquette frowns on opening gifts in the presence of the giver. A lesson well remembered.
The notes above were culled (rather hurriedly) from various sources, and the abundance of information available about such teas — just barely mined — was a fresh reminder of how much remains to be learned. Now there’s a Corrective Action!
May 14, 2020