Da Hong Pao Clay Yixing teapot

30/06/2010, posted by Cha in teaware

I cannot say  I understand yixing clays or teapots, but I will post from time to time about my  teaware as a person who learns about them.

This teapot was acquired from  from Yunnan Sourcing and I imagined it would be a good match for shu puerh.  I tried it a few times with sheng puerh, and the results was also awesome.  The puerh brewed in this teapot was vastly superior to the one brewed in gaiwan and far more lengthy.   But the most important aspect for me is the fact that I enjoy it’s appearance. Seeing and touching it brings me comfort and I think that is a key aspect while brewing tea. In my case, the state of mind vastly influences the quality of the brewed tea. I also enjoy it’s color and the fact that it keeps the tea leaves unaffected for a long period of time. It feels very solid and it is what I call a obedient teapot.

I hope I will be able to learn more about teapots, especially on how shape and clay affect the quality of tea.  Of course I have read about it, but real knowledge comes from practice and trials and errors.  I think only trough hard  practice  and experimentation one can  obtain a real understanding of a process.  This is what kung fu really means.  One who has studied tea for 2-3 years can not be called a tea expert for this simple reason: time .

I think learning from a  teamaster would be helpful.  Often (generally speaking) ,  one who learns by himself is misguided by it’s own mind.   Our mind lies to  us a lot, especially when it comes to confirm certain values. I know this from martial arts so it’s easier for me to understand this aspect when it comes to tea. I am planning a tea trip that hopefully, will move me one step ahead.

Vendor Description

Da Hong Pao clay comes from the west side of the Fudong township of Yixing in Jiangsu province. At the boundary of Rentu village and Hongwei village is a small mining area, which produces this delicate double-layer clay. High in iron oxide, it takes on a crimson color after roasting in a kiln (Note: Da Hong Pao means “Crimson Robe” in Chinese). This is high density clay of exquisite quality with a high degree of crystallization. It brews tea that is soft, smooth, and great tasting. Over time brewing tea gives the teapot a highly pleasing bright red color. This type of clay is extremely rare. It produces excellent tasting tea and is highly acclaimed.

Mining area: western Fudong township of Yixing city
Kiln temperature: approx. 1040 C.
Contraction: approx. 45%-55%.

Appropriate for brewing: fresh Oolong teas (light roasted types) are extremely well-suited, Tie Guan Yin (medium roasted or highly roasted types), various kinds of Pu-erh.

Bottom Inscription: “Jianying Zhi Tao” (entirely handmade by Jianying, Da Hong Pao clay)

Handmade and kiln roasted at the perfect temperature. It has a fine gloss and a delightful delicate red color. Breathes well and is easy to cultivate through brewing tea. It will only increase in beauty as it ages. This teapot has a dignified and traditional shape. Its handle and spout are well-proportioned. This is a product of exquisite craft – simple and refined. It has a tight-fitting lid and a smooth flow of liquid. Practical and useful, this is a product of the highest value. This teapot comes with a certificate of authenticity.

The creator, Wang Jianying, is a nationally certified practitioner of fine arts and a member of Yixing pottery association. A fourth generation descendant of the famed Fan Dasheng, she is a Fan Family Teapot Company master craftsworker. She has been fascinated with the craft of zisha since childhood. In 1986, she began working with zisha pottery under the tutelage of her mother Fan Yuehong, quickly developing a substantial skillset. In recent years she has benefited from the careful guidance of the current head of the Fan Family Teapot Company, Fan Weiqun, and her pottery making skills have become increasingly mature. Her products have received numerous awards and have appeared in Chinese and international books and other publications. They are widely sought out by collectors.

A quality teapot requires quality material and quality workmanship. As a collectors item, it also demands that its producer has a certain level of official recognition. Master craftsworker Wang Jianying holds nationally recognized credentials. As such, these products have high potential to appreciate in value.

2009 Long Jing from Canton Tea Co

26/06/2010, posted by Cha in tea

I think everybody knows a thing of two about Long Jing.  I won’t insist about such and such, especially that most of the really great tea bloggers  have a post about Long Jing.  I will say some things about it’s provenience though.

This tea was one of the generous samples that Canton Tea Co sent to me.  I have posted about other teas from Canton Tea,  but this one resisted until this year mostly because … it wasn’t the proper time for it.

Here is the description Canton Tea offers on their site :

One of the most famous Chinese teas, this premium quality Long Jing produces a vibrant light green liquor with a fresh, nutty, lively flavor, with none of the bitterness associated with lower quality teas.

The leaves are unevenly shaped due to the age of the tea trees and the method of hand processing. The yellowish-green colour of the leaves is characteristic of the Shi Feng Long Jing producing areas and the ‘yu ye’ (fish leaves) show the authentic shape of the first picked leaves of the year.

I am not ‘tea wise enough’  to talk about Long Jing grades, but  I enjoyed this tea a lot.  It appears some other people also did because of it was awarded with two golden stars  at the Great Taste Awards.

Besides the tea itself, this tea session was very important for me because I finalized my resolve on  using tea setups that are not based on the tea tray.  I hope that I will progress in the future so that I will be able to create better tea experiences, by setting up the environment according to the moment.

Another important thing that I learned is related to water. I used near boiling water in order to brew this tea. I first filled the gaiwan 1/3 with water, then placed the leaves and then filled it with the rest of the water ( I learned this on a blog post from Teamasters ) . The rest of the infusions were brewed as shown in the video .

The infusions were consistent, and the taste didn’t drop off soon. After infusion 6, I added another amount of dry leaves, and I got 11 infusions per total. Pretty lengthy for a green tea session.

Now I can proceed to the 2010 Long Jing that I have received this year.  If you like their teas,  the readers of this blog can use the code LEAF and get a 15% discount.  I don’t know how much time this offer will be available though.

Home, episode 3, Red Robe

23/06/2010, posted by Cha in journal,tea

This was my last  brewing experience during that weekend.  The scope for all the tea sessions was in fact to study the energetic nature of  tea (chaqi) .  While the others were supposed to cool me down (and they did), this one was supposed to  put me in motion.

Of course, the time of  choosing was (not so) early in the morning.  I have chosen an heavy oxidized  oolong for this.  It’s the “Red Robe” (well not actually Red Robe) I wrote about here.

I took my time to take a pic with my porcelain teapot and to reflect on what I’ve learned during the weekend.   The main purpose for all these three teas was to study the effect of the teas on myself and the people around me.  Besides this, I have also began to use a plate instead of a tea tray for brewing tea in the gongfu cha way.  During the next week I acquired a nice looking plate  and a simple bowl in order to further brew tea in this fashion.

I have found that  using a plate gives you a great deal of flexibility in arranging your tea setup and makes you more focused on the tea.  However, reverting back to the tea table feels nice, mostly because of it’s commodity.  But most important, I now have multiple choices.  I always did, but I was too focused on brewing the tea in the proper way, with a tea table.

Home, episode 2 – Green Tea With Mint

20/06/2010, posted by Cha in journal,tea

This was the second time I brewed tea in that weekend. It was extremely hot so I had to cool down some how. That’s why I decided to use some mint. There are very few situations when I mix tea with something else and it doesn’t happen often, but this time, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to use fresh mint.

I had some green tea left from 2009 ( Monkey King)  and I used it all to fill the teapot. Perhaps I put to much tea, because the best results were after the forth infusion or so. But anyhow,  it did cool me down.  Both of the plants are yin, so I imagined the cooling effect has to amplify if I mix them both ( and there has to be a reason why in Morocco they love green tea with mint ) .

I think I made a much better use of the plate now,  and my understanding (combined with a lot of reading and pictures on the subject) of gongfu cha took a step further. With this understanding, the week that followed was a very good week for tea.

Home, episode 1 – Tie Gua Yin

16/06/2010, posted by Cha in tea

During the last weekend I visited my parents. That was the last place I expected to improve my tea education, but  it seems every place and opportunity is great.  Not having somebody to teach me, I rely on internet sources  , my small travels to Hong Kong  and lot and lot of brewing sessions. From time to time  I make small accidental steps forward, like this one, using the knowledge I gathered until that moment.

I went home with two teapots, one for tie gua yin, and with a small generic teapot. I also had some small cups and that’s it. I took my tie gua yin teapot with me because I wanted to maximize my tea experience. I perceive  that tea as a floral tea. It’s smell and taste always reminds me of flowers.  It so  happens that my parents have a lot of flowers. And by lot , I mean a lot. I didn’t included all the pictures here, but you can see more on flickr.

I chosen the evening for this tea.  I started by day and ended by night. The smell surrounding me changed as some flowers became more active and some  inactive. This was also in sync with how the infusions changed their taste. It was some how complementary.  I think it’s the best way to enjoy tie gua yin and the best time so far.  This was also an experiment for me ( the time , the surroundings) and I payed attention to the effect it had.

I  think I also understood how gongfu tools progressed in time.  Not having a tea table, I used a regular plate . It was actually nice and felt very comfortable.  In the next sessions I made a better use of it, and I started to understand the practicality of the old style gongfu sets . It was really instructive.

Yunnan Chitsu Pingcha

14/06/2010, posted by Cha in tea

A short overview of this cake I acquired on Hong Kong. This cake seemed to be the last out of a 7 disk stack. The seller told me it’s from 1993 . After unpacking it, I saw a short description in English which made me wonder. Since it was from 1993, why should it have a English description?

According to babelcarp,  tha parts from the name can be translated as :

chitsu, qizi (Qi1 Zi3) = compressed hei cha made as a stack of 7 bingcha, each layer 357g so the whole stack comes out to 2.5kg, literally Seven Sons (七子)

pingcha, bingcha (Bing Cha) = Tea, usually Pu’er, compressed into thick disks, literally Cake Tea.

I am wondering about the age still.  Perhaps I should take a photo of the label of the package so that a Chinese speaker friend can translate it to me. Perhaps i will answer to this question in  years from now.

On the other hand, the age doesn’t matter so much. The tea has a great taste, and it is lengthy enough.  It certainly resonates with you when it is brewed at the right moment.  Most important, it  transports me back to Hong Kong each time i drink from it.

Update ( on 18 September 2010):

I have learned that the black color denotes low quality. Not confirmed yet.

Update ( 5 April 2011)

Only the outer part was affected by dust, which resulted in a very dark color for the liquor. After breaking and airing it, it was very very nice.

Jin Jun Mei

11/06/2010, posted by Cha in tea

Also known as Golden Junmee, this is a rare black tea from Wuyi in Fujian province in China.  It’s acquired from  @JINGTea, and as usual, great quality.

While investigating it’s origin, I have found that this tea was created in 2005, by Master Liang Junde .  This tea master inherited traditionally process methods from his ancestors. He achieved mastery in the skills of plucking, drying, withering, fermenting, roasting and smoking of black tea, but he didn’t stop to the traditionally methods he inherited.  Based on the methods of producing their (top)   Lapsang Souchong ,  he created Jin Jun Mei in a similar method, but without smoke braising. If you want to read more about it,  you can  check this article on T’Ching,  or your can read more about Master Liang Junde on Seven Cups.

For me, it was a great experience. It was my  (almost) last  tea from 2009.  I can say that this tea is “something else” . It’s feeling  is smoother and it’s color is wonderful.  However, it did not resonate with me as much as the Imperial Concubine’s Smile black tea . I don’t know if it’s because I chosen the wrong moment to drink it or because of my brewing.  Whatever the reason, I will not have a second chance soon.

Learning a tea takes time, especially for a beginner like me. After learning a tea, one can say when it’s appropriate to drink it and when not. A beginner like me can’t judge a tea from start, that’s why acquiring a rare tea it’s a risky deal. Of course the tea is great, but I don’t believe I obtained the maximum from it.

Tea Details

05/06/2010, posted by Cha in journal

I start to believe that we  (westerners) give to many credits to tea grades, tea origin, tea whatever.  We promote good quality tea, but in a very mechanic way.  Like collectors. Tea, at least for me,  it’s not  just a beverage, it’s a state of mind, a way to become self aware, a tool to reflect or not to reflect at all.

I want to describe the feeling you have when you drink the right tea in the right moment.  I’m not good with words, but I hope the pictures bellow are more than enough  to describe that feeling.

I always  drink tea  on the floor.  Due to my martial arts background, I have no problems sitting like that for extended periods of time. It is actually relaxing and I am always focused on the tea or to my guests that way. (If you want to read more about enjoying tea on the floor , Adam Yusko talks about it  here.)

In fact, I feel very uncomfortable at a table, because I feel I don’t have enough space.  For a better experience , I recommend you to have a wall at your back , not in front, and a large space ahead (or windows).    ( These are actually Feng Shui principles. Since we are in that  zone, I highly  recommend the series of posts related to tea energy from MattCha’s blog.)

Now please press play while you watch the pics.

Oriental Beauty Supreme Oolong Tea ( Dong Fang Mei Ren Wu Long)

03/06/2010, posted by Cha in tea

This is a visually astonishing tea. It’s aquired from @JingTea, and as usual , excellent quality. There are plenty of good posts about it, so I will not bother you with too many details, but I will insist that you read this post. It will give you most of the details on it’s origin and different historical facts.

I like oxidized oolongs, as they are close to red teas , which I like a lot. As usual, I recommend you to brew it using the gong fu method. Take your time and experience it on all it’s aspects. This tea , besides it’s great taste, provides a rich visual experience from start to finish. Because of that, I prefer to drink it alone, because by socializing, you risk to miss the visual experience.

P.S.: Don’t you think some teas are better when you drink them alone?