Archive for the ‘Appreciation’ Category

Enjoying Nilgiri tea from Corsley Estate

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

This week Cat and I have been drinking Corsley Estate TGFOP (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe – one of the highest grades of Indian teas). Corsley Estate is nestled in the Blue Hills or Nilgiri district of southern India’s Tamil Nadu province.

This single-estate black tea is a classic Nilgiri tea with lemon notes and nice astringency with a light almost honey like sweetness. The liquor brews up with substantial body without being overwhelming and is very nice on its own without any additions. However, if you are so inclined, it could probably handle a splash of milk. Overall, a very pleasant and easy to enjoy cup of tea.

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All In This Tea

Monday, March 8th, 2010

This past week, we watched the documentary “All In This Tea”, which follows David Lee Hoffman as he travels China’s tea producing provinces in search of fine tea. You can view “All in This Tea” online via Amazon.

I was impressed by the extent of the miscommunication between Hoffman and the industrial tea growers and exporters in China, especially considering he seemed more than willing to pay above market price to farmers for teas he selected.  Finding quality tea was less a problem than convincing local authorities to allow him to purchase his selections direct from the farmers for export.

One of the major themes of the film involves Hoffman trying to convince Chinese tea manufacturers that production methods matter and that higher yield through use of modern fertilizers and insecticides have draw backs.  The movie was filmed in 1997, so I am hopeful that getting truly wonderful organically produced teas exported from China is easier today than it was during the making of the film.

There is also great footage of tea being picked, and then transformed through oxidization, firing, and/or fermentation.  The level of expertise to create truly great tea was made very clear.  This would definitely be worth an entire documentary unto itself.

There were a few other elements of the film I also quite enjoyed.  The film showed off Hoffman’s huge collection of Pu-Er teas, which come in amazing varieties.  He has a huge aging cave dedicated to these bricks of tea.

On a completely different note, I found it fascinating to listen to the flamboyant James Norwood Pratt, having only read his books.  He waxed eloquent about the joys of fine tea at a filmed tea class, and I could definitely see his ties to wine tastings I have endured.

Finally, one other highlight of the film is the discussion of Robert Fortune’s exploits in China.  He smuggled tea plants and growing technology out of China  in 1843 to feed the growing British demand for tea through upstart Indian plantations.  The documentary includes footage of the areas Fortune explored, and also some intriguing photos of Fortune traveling in traditional Chinese clothing and in a sedan chair.

While not a transcendental film, All In This Tea is definitely worth viewing by anyone who enjoys tea.  Besides a documentary about the process of creating tea, I’m also ready to watch an entire documentary about Winnie Yu of Teance, who contributed some of the most enjoyable explanations of the appeal of tea.

IMDb entry http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1015968/

This movie can be purchased from Amazon.com: All In This Tea
OR
Viewed online at Amazon.com for $1.99 (pretty cool!): All In This Tea

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Rereading old favorites

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Today I reread parts of  “A History of the World in Six Glasses” by Tom Standage.  It is a fascinating read that looks at how human history has been influenced by beer, coffee, spirits, wine, cola and of course tea.

The chapter on tea relates the mythical origins of tea cultivation in China.  Even more interesting to me is the highly unlikely adoption of tea by Europeans, particularly the British who make it a central part of their culture in little over a century after its introduction.

I am also intrigued by the British attempts to secure another source of tea by introducing tea to India.  They experience many failures and then discover the plant growing wild.  Hopefully our experiment of growing tea this summer will go better, since I don’t think there are any native tea plants hiding in our hedge.

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Darjeeling from Singtom Estate’s 2nd Flush

Monday, January 25th, 2010

It has been a while since my last post (almost three years), but fortunately only several hours since my last pot of tea.  Interesting years, full of changes and adventures big and small, but tea has made an appearance in most of the intervening episodes.

Recently, I have been on a kick of drinking unflavored black teas, sometimes blends, but tonight a cup of Singtom Estate’s 2nd Flush is keeping me company.  This Darjeeling is just a little astringent and substantially more robust than a typical Darjeeling; delicious.  Mostly, it seems I have been returning to the flavors and blends that are most familiar.  I image this is not uncommon on cold winter nights to seek out enduring comforts.

Anyhow, put the pot back on the boil.  I am looking forward to actively exploring more of tea and tea culture with you.

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Matcha in my cup

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

I ran through my all the teas that I keep at my desk yesterday, except for this packet of matcha, a finely ground green tea from Japan. I had been putting off drinking it because the preparation is different from the teas that I normally prepare. I thought it would be difficult to get a good infusion because proper matcha preparation is at the heart of the elaborate Japanese Tea Ceremony. After poking around a little on the web, however, I found that like most tea you drink it as you like. The only hard and fast rule being that you not use boiling water in the preparation of matcha.

I put teaspoon or so of the fine powdered tea into the cup and wisked it up with a spoon (I did not have a regulation bamboo whisk with me). I am still playing around with the concentration of matcha to water. If you never have had tried this drink it is surprisingly thick and frothy because the tea powder is suspended in the cup.

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Tea History Article Reprinted

Monday, March 12th, 2007

We at tbdtea.com were recently contacted by Dr. Manjit Handa at Healing Matrix. He was looking for information on tea, its history and health benefits. We looked around their site liked what we saw and agreed to have our article on the history of tea reprinted. Now you can checkout the article again in either its original form or at its new home – now updated with a list of references for those of you who need to know more.

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Earl Grey White Tip

Sunday, March 11th, 2007
Cat and I always enjoy a cup of Earl Grey. Recently, however, the blends that we have tasted have been either too weak or too overpowered by bergamot. This weekend we served some of our friends TeaSource’s Earl Grey White Tip. It was fabulous, quite well balanced and very aromatic. The bergamot flavor was subtle and the infusion was robust enough to handle the addition of milk. Kudos to Bill Waddington and the rest of the folks at TeaSource.

Posted in Appreciation, Black, Teas Tasted | No Comments »

2nd Flush Darjeeling

Monday, February 19th, 2007

This past weekend I had some 2nd Flush Darjeeling, I cannot remember the estate right now, but the leaves came from SerendipiTea. We had a pot after breakfast and it was a bit weak, even after steeping for four minutes. The aroma from the pot and the leaves were very nice full muscatel, but out of the cup it was very thin.

In the interest of full disclosure, Darjeeling is not my favorite, but this one seemed weaker than most. I’ll try it again but it probably needs to be steeped upwards of five minutes to get the full flavor as the seller’s site suggests. Better luck next time I guess.

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David enters the TBD blogosphere

Friday, February 9th, 2007

I’m here at my new Synotac home, enjoying the last of a Mao Jian green. Robin Stevens, a contributor to Fresh Cup Magazine, sent some along with her last article. It was made the women of Nanchang Women’s College in Taiwan. The liquor is quite light in color and has a subtle flavor, a little astringent (or is leftover from my yogurt?). Anyway, it’s rolled into tiny strips, around half the length of a silver needle and looks a heck of a lot like it as well—lots of tips. It’s a nice retreat from the (I know, horror of horrors!) machiatto I had this morning. I’m going to try and get a few infusions out of it, as I steeped it for only about a minute—let’s see what it will hold. Glad to be a part of TBD. Thanks Cat and Ben for creating the site—it’s very nicely done. i’ll be back… David

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Tea Rocks My World

Wednesday, February 7th, 2007

How much do I love tea? Today, with my cold, it gives me such joy to have a warm, delightful liquid to hold, breathe over, and sip. I’m looking forward to being able to taste it more tomorrow!

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