Nigel Busts Tea Myths

In anticipation of Lainie Petersen's podcast tomorrow, in which she will be busting tea myths about caffeine in tea, I thought I'd repost Nigel Melican's tweets on the subject. (Please note, some changes on format, because they did not cut-and-paste cleanly.)

By the way, reading Mr. Melican's Twitter posts makes me feel like I have the inside scoop on all things tea. Do yourself a favor and just keep hitting "More". Much there about unusual tea origins, the chemistry of tea, and so on. Incidentally, he also corrected some misinformation I had about oxidation versus fermentation in black teas, while I was researching this.

1. TEA MYTHS BUSTED No4: Black tea (at 16.5 mg/g) does NOT have significantly LESS AOX polyphenols than Green tea (=17.0) http://bit.ly/PB98l
2. TEA MYTHS BUSTED No3: Green tea has SAME caffeine level as Black tea - based on 30 samples of each from German market http://bit.ly/PB98l
3. TEA MYTHS BUSTED No2: White tea is NOT unbelievably rich in AOX - just 2% more catechins than Green tea (av of 30 each) http://bit.ly/PB98l
4. TEA MYTHS BUSTED no1: White tea has MORE caffeine than green - White = 4.85%, Green = 2.9% (av of 30 samples each) http://bit.ly/PB98l
5. The "30 second home decaffeination" myth blown out of the water: see http://bit.ly/Raa37

Dreaming of Tea Mountains

Today I awakened from a dream in which I was walking a quite steep cliffside in Himalayan tea country, trying to visit to an out-of-the-way temple on a high place, set amidst an inaccessible tea garden. I was so proud to get to the top of the hill, using handholds the last part of the journey, when I saw a grandmother with her toddler granddaughter happily using the stairs, which were just over the other side.

Undoubtedly, a commentary on my life: unnecessarily doing things the hard way, when an easier path is just around the corner.

Review: Maeda-en Sencha Select

Quickly on the heels of my previous Maeda-en company green tea, I wanted to try another of their senchas: Maeda-en Sencha Select.

The leaves are mildly fragrant, with a fruity citrus high note. They are a very dark green, small, and a lot of broken powder, and they have a nice dry crunch to them, which shows me they've been stored properly, and kept away from the moisture that would degrade the quality.

THE PREPARATION

For this sencha, I steeped at a fairly low temperature of about 70C for 2 minutes, which is the long end for this tea, from the advice found on their Web site. With the low temperature, you can steep longer; and the converse is true, as well.

THE CUP

The liquor is a gold-green with a small amount of fogginess, and it's quite attractive. The aroma matches that of the leaves; very green smelling, with that hint of citrus in the high notes, like a mandarin orange-- a kind of green-gold scent, if you will. The flavor is quite pleasing-- a robust flavor that reminds me a bit of the sea, of freshly mown hay. The vegetable note is quite noticeable. I can only discern the slightest bitterness, and there is a sweet, lingering aftertaste.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

Not bad! As with the previous post, this Sencha seems to be a pleasing everyday tea that is quite comforting. I'm not a trained tea sommelier, so I won't hazard a guess as to how to pair this with food, but it is refreshing and clean, bright without being overbearing, and rather relaxed and friendly.

REVIEW: Maeda-en, Sen-cha Fukamushi Green Tea Select

Maeda-en is a green tea company I was unfamiliar with, until the folks at TeaViews gave me a sample of their Sen-Cha Fukamushi Green Tea Select. I've had a number of senchas before, though not of this type. A Fukamuchi sencha is described thus on the Web site:

Fukamushi Sen-cha (deep-steam green tea) is steamed for longer periods of time than regular Sen-cha, which gives its milder aroma and robust taste. Leaves tend to crumble because of this extra processing, and gives the tea its signature opaque quality.

Our Blender's Fukamushi Select is medium bodied with pronounced flavors of green tea, and is minimally bitter.

For a delicious cup, we recommend: 1 tbsp of leaves, brewed in 9-12 ounces of hot water (160 to 190), for 1 minute.

I was surprised at the very short steep time (1 minute), but perhaps because the tea leaves were small with a lot of powder in it, it would be bitter if steeped longer.

THE CUP

As the Web site described, this tea is a translucent jade green, which is a quality much loved by the Japanese. The tea is a mildly sweet, with an almost nutty, buttery flavor within the typically "grassy" green-tea flavor. There is very little bitterness, and it's very easy to drink. There is a very faint-but-sweet aftertaste, but it does linger quite nicely.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

This tea is relaxing and relaxed; it's not mind-blowing or amazing in any way, but it's very comforting and would be a great everyday tea. My little seven-year-old boy enjoyed his very much with buttered wheat toast and declared he wants to be a tea maker. Or a computer game maker. Or maybe both. What I take from this is that it's pleasant for even a little American boy to drink without milk or sugar to alter the taste, and of sufficient quality to set him thinking of a future in tea.

REVIEW: Green Hill Tea, Lapsang Souchong (Two Grades)

Green Hill Tea

(Please note update at end, with personal e-mail from none other than Norwood Pratt about this tea.)

My Internet friend, George Zhang, sent me several very delicious Lapsang Souchong teas recently, which were very popular with my family and friends. Also, a reviewer on TeaReviews.com, who is the resident Lapsang Souchong maven, wrote that Green Hill's LSs were "da bomb." I anxiously await her formal review on the Tea Reviews Web site to hear the rest of her thoughts.

You can purchase this tea here: http://greenhilltea.com/id20.html. Strangely, George's Web site does not reflect the various grades and prices of his different Lapsang Souchong teas, including those reviewed here. I would recommend contacting them directly via the Web site, in order to ensure you are getting the correct product. It is definitely worth the extra effort, and George Zhang is very helpful.


THE BACKGROUND
For me, as I've chronicled elsewhere, when I began my journey into the world of tea, I discovered LS many years ago, and I overdosed on it. After that, I have avoided smoky teas (including Russian Caravan, and some English Breakfast blends). When I mentioned this on Facebook, George challenged me that he thought his LS could win me over. I took him up on his challenge. He won.

I would like to invite you, fair reader, to explore high-end Lapsang Souchong further in a couple other blog posts I created regarding Green Hill's Lapsang Souchongs. In particular, the location and method of preparation for these teas, and how they are set apart from cheaper, less authentic LSs, may spell the difference between loving and hating this kind of tea. I know many people cannot stand Lapsang Souchong, who might love this tea because it is grown in the ancestral home of this type of tea, using just the right type of leaf, smoked in just the right way with just the right kind of pine tree. Because these specialized elements cost a lot to bring to the market, it's good to know that this is definitely worth it.

Link here:

http://39steeps.blogspot.com/2009/04/interesting-video-lapsong-souchong-tong.html

and especially here:

http://39steeps.blogspot.com/2009/04/review-lapsang-souchong-from-dong-mu.html



THE TEAS

Lapsang Souchong Special Grade

PREPARATION: 3 minutes, water just under boiling, 1 tsp to 1 cup

"Special" grade is the Green Hill Tea middle grade of LS. It was smooth, light, and the smoke was not at all overwhelming. There was a very pleasing huigan [sweet aftertaste] of roasted honey, which was quite surprisingly sweet for an unsweetened, smoked tea. Even my seven-year-old boy was able to drink this with no sugar or milk, because it was not in the least bitter. The liquor is a beautiful golden color.



Silver Tippy Lapsang (Top Grade)

Preparation: 3 minutes, just under boiling

I heated up the pot with the steam as the pot came up the boil. The aroma that came from the pot was very surprising-- bright, almost floral, with only a hint of smoke, but not at all overwhelming. Wow, so very fragrant.


THE CUP

SMOOTH, smooth, and very smooth. Very restrained, not too smoky at all. The cup is a very shiny, rich amber color.

My wife said: "Smooth. I'm not tasting any bitterness on my tongue right now."

It's in the aftertaste that the very high quality of this tea declares itself. The lingering huigan is honey, pine smoke, and a wisp of orchids or lilacs. Surprisingly mild, fragrant tea, and as smooth as glass or spun silk, without a hint of the acrid burn or heaviness one would expect from a typical Lapsang Souchong. What an extraordinary cup of tea.


UPDATE: Patty at TeaViews.com writes:

BTW, I mentioned that tea to Norwood Pratt in passing (in an email), and received this back --

"I bet I know that Bohea you love--it's from the Jiang Family back in the Wuyi Nature Reserve if I'm thinking of the right stuff--simply the world's best."

REVIEW: You, Me & Tea, Jasmine Silver Needle

You, Me & Tea has a high-end Jasmine Silver Needle white tea, which can be found on their Web site here. Silver needle is a quality designation known as yinzhen in Chinese. It indicates the tea is made only from the tea buds, and not at all from leaves. In this case, the tea is long spears, or needles, which because of the tiny white hairs on the buds, have a silvery appearance. This is a tea that is very carefully produced. It has to be flash-steamed quickly after being plucked, so the tea has minimal oxidation. White teas are typically very delicate and light.

There are a couple ways jasmine aroma and flavor can be introduced to the tea. One is by adding jasmine essential oil to the leaves. The tea experts frown on this method, though, and instead want their teas to be infused with jasmine aroma by placing the tea in close proximity to the flowers themselves. This can be done a number of times for the same tea, to get the desired strength of the jasmine aroma in the tea.


PREPARATION
70C, 1 cup filtered water to 1 heaping tsp tea.

When I'm brewing a delicate white tea, I try to keep the temperature low and sometimes allow for a longer steeping time to make up for it. In this case, 70c and about 3-4 minutes' steeping time, with 1 heaping teaspoon of tea per cup.

THE CUP
The taste of this tea is crisp and clean, and it's pretty pleasant. That being said, the jasmine aroma and flavor were quite dominant, and I was not able to discern much of the white tea flavor. For those like my wife, Suzanne, who enjoy the jasmine aroma on its own, this would be a very good choice. But for tea drinkers like me, who really want to taste the tea in tea, this will not work so well.

REVIEW: You, Me & Tea, Golden Monkey

Montague Dawson, The Great 1866 China Clipper Tea Race.


Let me start by saying I truly enjoyed this tea. It's a fun tea, an exciting tea, an unusual tea that is definitely worth the time to explore.

THE TERROIR
The Chinese would call this type of tea a Dian hong, 滇红, or Yunnan Red (Dian being a contracted term for Yunnan). In China, a fully oxidized tea is called red, because the color of the liquor is actually a reddish hue. In the west, we think of this as a black tea. And the naming of Chinese teas often is quite fanciful, with something like Golden Monkey typically signifying a high-end, if not the highest-end, grade of tea. With the exception of pu-erh tea (which is also from the Yunnan region of China, and is a double-fermented, compressed tea) and Keemun (an oxidized red tea, which is what is often used for high-quality English Breakfast), almost all other tea from China is green or oolong. This hearkens back to the days of the tea trade, when the only people drinking black teas were the Europeans who had no choice, because the nearly year-long clipper ship voyage from China would naturally cause the delicate green leaves to oxidize into black tea. Interestingly, though, the production of uncompressed black tea in Yunnan is a recent innovation, only having begun production in the 20th century.

As is often the case, I wish the Web site description would have included more information. Just saying the tea is from China is not enough information to persuade someone to make a purchase, is it. You, Me & Tea describes the tea, thus:

Country of Origin: China

Cup Characteristics: A full bodied tea with an exotic origin character which tea tasters describe as "mouth-feel"

Infusion: Very bright and golden coppery color

Ingredients: Luxury black tea

THE LEAVES
The long, twisty leaves are a combination of black and gold, with a heady smell.

THE PREPARATION
Nearly boiling water, 1 tsp per cup, 3 minutes.

THE CUP
In appearance the liquor is like a rich, amber ale (though without the bubbles, and steaming hot). This tastes very spicy and very, very unusual: an exciting, high-energy tea. In my notes, I described it as both "smooth and sharp," indicating the spicy brightness, coupled with a smooth mouthfeel.

This tea is wonderful and intense, and it commands my attention as I drink. The flavor is like hot metal and dark chocolate, though light and not heavy. This tea was good for at least three steepings, each with a satisfying, bright intensity.