You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2009.
Posted by: Ed
I spend a lot of the year travelling in China, India, Japan, Sri Lanka and Taiwan and perhaps too much time in London. When I am travelling in Asia, buying tea, Hong Kong is my hub. I grew up in the countryside and love being in nature. As a city, Hong Kong is one of the very few that I like and is definitely my favourite. My wife lived here for nearly 5 years before we met and we have a lot of freinds and family in the city.
I realised why I like it so much the other day. It’s because its so vibrant, squeezed between the sea and the mountains, which you can’t help seeing when you’re on the move. Its full of shrines to nature: fountains, little parks etc, which seem to have been made to give a real taste of what its like to be in the countryside.
It’s full of down-to-earth hustle and bustle. You have an incredible, beautiful building (perhaps a bank) and then right next to it, a little alley full of market stalls selling tofu, dried fish, amazing fruit and vegetables.
a Hong Kong market between two corporate buildings
There is no separation between the new and the old, the corporate and the stuff of everyday life.
steamed buns at a dragon dance ceremony
You also can’t get away from the fact that at night, its one of the most spectacular and atmospheric cities on the planet. Going into Hong Kong at night is so exciting. I always feel like its going to be a special night, even if I just walk through the streets.
the Hong Kong skyline at night
the Hong Kong International Finance Centre at night
I have left my bags many times, only to come back and find them in the same place. I don’t recommend this though! I have also loved staying on the surrounding islands of Lamma and Lantau. You can take a short ferry and a walk and be in a tiny fishing village, up a mountain or in what feels and looks like tropical jungle.
I think I have a made a good case for Hong Kong (and haven’t even mentioned the food or the tea culture!). Travel to Hong Kong when you can, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
50 Best Logo - from Big Hospitality
On Monday night, the who’s who of the foodie world got together to decide on the top 50 restaurants in the World. The full list is available here.
Special congratulations to both the Fat Duck and Hibiscus who we’re proud to supply with their tea. The Fat Duck was rated the second best restaurant in the world and the best restaurant in the UK. Hibiscus was deemed the 6th best restaurant in the UK and the 56th best in the world.
Posted by: David.
Posted by: David.
A quick update on the JING Tea/White Stuff Queen’s Birthday promotion. You can find our teas in any of their 55 stores today and over the next few days while stocks last. They’re using some very traditional looking teaware to serve the tea in. It should look like this in your local store, as it does in the London Spitalfields store.
White Stuff Tea Table
You’ll see a table stocked with lovely cups and our tea. Help yourself to a cup as below.
White Stuff Cup
At the till you’ll get a free teabag – either Assam Breakfast or Jasmine Silver Needle and a voucher giving you 15% off any order with us.
White Stuff Till
If only all shopping trips were like this then I might find myself trawling the shops a bit more!
Apparently the Queen has learnt of the promotion through a friend of hers who visited one of the shops so we’ll be expecting a call from her any moment now!
The Queen in Teabags - Andy Brown
It’s the Queen’s birthday tomorrow and we’ve teamed up with clothing company White Stuff to help you celebrate. In 55 stores around the country you’ll be able to try both our Assam Breakfast black tea and our Jasmine Silver Needle white tea. You’ll also be able to get vouchers to give you a 15% discount on any orders you make on our website.
Here’s a link to the locations of all the White Stuff stores. If you’re nearby, pop in for a cup and have a look at their great clothes too. On a side note, the above picture is made entirely from teabags…and it’s of the Queen, so it fits this post pretty much perfectly, great, it’s good when coincidences like that happen.
Posted by: David
A few weeks ago we started a Youtube channel to show our infusion guides for the various teaware we stock. They’re also embedded on our website. This weekend however, someone has posted a response to one of our videos which is certainly tongue in cheek and has a bit of a pop at the presentation of our videos. Have a look below to see for yourself.
It’s definitely one way to make to tea but obviously it’s not one we would suggest! Thanks to leggytwerp for posting the video. It’s always good to have a little laugh at yourself and this video has certainly made us do that in the JING Tea office.
Posted by: David
Inspired by all the talk of new spring green teas, I thought I would show you one of my favourites, Anji Bai Cha. It’s probably the nicest green tea I’ve ever had. Both the dry leaves and the post infusion leaves have this fantastically deep green colour which I’ve not seen before, even in the freshest Dragon Wells. This time I’m using our One Cup Teapot set which is easy and convenient to use (I have two at my desk at all times aas I alternate between two or more types of tea a day!).
Anji Bai Cha One Cup Teapot Set
A couple of good pinches of the dry leaves and then 70 degree water added.
Anji Bai Cha Full Cup
3 minutes for infusion and you’re left with a full cup and no water left in the teapot (they’re the same size). Anji Bai has a lovely sweet, fresh and sappy flavour and I enjoy every cup without fail.
Anji Bai Cha Green Tea
I’ve tried to show what I mean about the depth of colour in the Anji Bai leaves. To me they just look so fresh and healthy and I can’t help but feel that along with being delicious it’s also doing me good!
Anji Bai Leaves
I’m looking forward to the new batch at the end of the month!
Silver Needle (Yin Zhen) white tea time! After catching the beginning of the Dragon Well season in Hangzhou, I took a 6 hour ride down to Fujian to visit our white tea (silver needle and white peony/bai mu dan) producer, Mr Hua.
A traditional white tea producer - Mr Hua
So what’s the story behind Mr Hua and why does he stick to the traditional white tea production methods? What are these, how do they differ from commonly used methods and why do so few producers use them these days?
His grandfather and father were both tea producers producing two main types of tea – Tan Yang Gongfu (a famous Fujian black tea AKA Pan Yang Congou) and of course white tea. He believes only in traditional methods and will only produce tea to order. We buy his entire silver needle production.
It was raining when we visited his beautiful tea gardens. The rich red soil, like clay, sticking to our shoes in clumps. The mist in the high mountains gave a very serene and ancient feel to the place, and the only sound was the rain tapping the leaves on the trees and birds singing spring songs.
Dai Bai tea trees (used for white tea) red soil and organic fertiliser of decomposing ferns
What I love about Mr Hua is that he won’t ever compromise. He always uses the traditional methods because he believes (as do I) that they are the best way to make white tea. If people ask him to speed up and produce a much larger quantity of tea by using short-cuts, he says no – it’s something I always look for in producers but its becomes sadly uncommon. Demand for white tea has risen in recent year and the traditional way tastes better but costs more and there are not many producers who stick purely to quality. I also like the honesty of his face and his gentle way of talking. He never raises his voice or pushes his opinion, he just speaks softly from his life-time of experience of working with his grandfather, father and himself in these spectacular mountains. It’s amazing how the soft, gentle flavour of the tea mirrors the soft, misty mountains of the place where it’s produced and even Mr Hua’s manner.
So what is white tea? There are two commonly mistaken claims: 1) its the most expensive tea in the world (not even close); 2) it’s nothing to do with how the tea is picked.
Now for the technical definition bit – if you aren’t interested don’t worry! - just skip the next two paragraphs and maybe have a look at the photos.
White tea is defined as white tea through its processing. It differs from green tea: after picking and withering, the leaves are fired to prevent oxidation occurring (sometimes referred to fermentation). Oolong and black teas are bruised or rolled prior to firing to actively encourage oxidation by exposing the juices inside the leaf to the air.
white peony white tea (bud and two leaves) withering
White tea is just picked, and allowed to wither on trays and then very gently dried at 40-50 degrees Celsius until the tea’s moisture content is reduced to around 10%. (Withering is a crucial stage in all tea production. It allows the moisture in the fresh leaf to slowly and naturally reduce and the natural flavours and aromas to come out through the chemical changes that take place. You can’t wither too quickly otherwise the aroma in the tea doesn’t come out and pockets of water get stuck in the leaves, leading to bitterness.)
silver needle white tea (only buds/tips) withering
Traditionally-produced white tea is allowed to wither for four days. Because this takes up a lot of time and space (the leaves have to be thinly spread and not piled up) it’s not done much these days. Usually, the tea will be withered for just a couple of days, then assisted with machine drying. We pay more for it to be done the traditional way and it’s so worth it, as it brings out much more flavour and aroma which I thinks is a little bit like melon and cucumber. If you smell the tea as it withers, it smells like fresh spring flowers. I wish I could bottle the scent! So called, ‘white tea perfumes’ don’t smell anything like it. The traditional method also makes the tea softer and sweeter and much more full. Fast-produced white tea, as is nearly all tea you find on the market these days, has some harshness and ‘greenness’ to the taste. Some oxidation happens during the long withering but it usually its only around 10% – this make the flavour fuller and is considered again, correct and traditional.
There are two main types of white tea produced in China to try – Silver Needle, which is only buds, and White Peony (bai mu dan) which is composed of bud and two leaf sets. White peony is quite brittle and delicate so often breaks a little during packing and transport. It’s very popular in Hong Kong where you can order it in restaurant, known as Shou Mei Cha in Cantonese. It goes really well with food and is both refreshing and clean yet also richly-satisfying. White teas are also produced in India (Assam and Darjeeling), Sri Lanka and Africa – I have tasted a few good lots.
So, as soon as the new season’s tea is in our warehouse, we’ll let you know. We’ll also put some videos up as soon as Thomas (our video expert) has had a chance to edit them…
Last year, I talked to the farmer at our Dragon Well (Long Jing) farm near Hangzhou over a glass of spring tea, about what an amazing job he has done. Typically, with his diligent and modest attitude (he’s one of the last people I know who needs to be modest), he asked me what more he could do to make the tea better.
Absolutely hand-made
We went through everything, noting how he had over the years developed outstanding tea bushes from nurturing the soil through more than a decade of organic farming on previously wild land. This shows itself in the fat, juicy buds on the tea bushes which produce so much flavour and body in each cup. He has carefully nurtured saplings from wild seeded trees. He has also made sure the tea keeps its freshness through having vacuum packing and cold storage on site.
So what more could be done? The shaping could be improved. The firing could bring out the aroma more in order to make the very most of the great raw tea leaves.
I said, to make the tea as good as any Dragon Well in China, I suggested he brought in a top master to make the shape of the leaves during firing perfect. This meant taking on one of the top firing masters in the province. I suggested this hoping (but not expecting it) it would happen.
Mr Chen, expertly firing our Dragon Well green tea
When I arrived at the farm for the beginning of the spring picking this year, I saw someone I had not met before – Mr Chen. He was expertly pressing and turning leaves in his wok, effortlessly, with a look of relaxed focus and care. I chatted to him and got to know about his history. He had been brought into fire tea in the mei jia wu and shi feng – two of the traditional, oldest Dragon Well areas. He agreed with what I think, that the tea leaves here are better in quality than in West Lake with a much fuller thicker flavour by virtue of rich soil which has not been over farmed and fertilized. Sadly, this over production has really damaged the quality of the tea from West Lake, something which I can’t see changing due to increasing demand.
The next day I tasted the tea Mr Chen had fired with expectation. The look of the leaf was exactly what I had wanted. Beautifully consistent, incredible classic Dragon Well aroma and the taste, thick and full. We compared it to some top mei jia wu dragon well and it won the test. This was a really great feeling of achievement. More than 10 years of work on the land, investment in a new factory with state of the art equipment for packing and storage. Finally the investment in the skills of Mr Chen, an expert in the age old skill of hand firing the tea in a hot wok.
Add water and the tea leaves looks almost as fresh as when they were picked
Our new dragon well will be available at the end of the month. We’ll let you know as soon as its in!!! If you want us to tell you when it arrives, just email us though the JING tea website via contact us.
Anxi Tea Market
If you like the look of what you see on our blog and website you can also follow us on Twitter. While Twitter has been one of the most talked about internet phenomena since Facebook, it’s attracted a fair amount of criticism too. But from our point of view we have found it genuinely useful. As a quick way to respond to customer questions and ideas, it’s unrivalled. We can also keep our followers up to date on new tea releases, additions to the Flickr galllery and any other news from the company.
Our founder Ed is currently out in China finding all of our new season green, white and oolong teas so he’ll be sending updates from there while I keep things going from this end in London. If you’re interested in this then please follow us here
Posted by: David.
One of our favourites in the office at the moment is Li Shan oolong tea. It’s a lightly oxidised and fired Taiwanese oolong. Not only does it taste fantastic (extremely floral and creamy) but it does something rather special when you infuse it that not even a great tea like an Ali Shan oolong does. Only seeing this for yourself does it justice but I’ve taken some photos to try to show you what happens.
Li Shan Oolong Before
Just before boiling point water added, the leaves begin to unfurl
Li Shan During Infusion
The leaves have fully unfurled and have filled the teapot!
Li Shan after full infusion
The resulting cup is delicious and looks like this
Li Shan Cup
If you pluck a leaf out of the teapot it will look something like this, some of the largest leaves we’ve seen. A characterisitc of this tea is that the leaves are still attached to the stalks so they can look like mini branches.
Lishan Leaf
All in all it’s a great sight and a great taste at the end of it. Our Li Shan has been reviewed by a couple of tea blogs and thankfully, they seem to feel the same way about Li Shan as us. You can find these reviews at Tea Escapade and the Walker Tea Review.
Posted by Ed.
This village up in the hills outside Hangzhou (the famous Chinese tea capital and specifically the place for Dragon Well green tea) is such a special place. If you want to experience what the Chinese describe as good ‘kong qi’ or, to put it very simply, ‘really fresh air’, this is the place. There is no sound of cars as there are none for miles, and you are surrounded by the most amazing variety of trees, mountains and wild life. Green tea has been produced here for hundreds of years and life here is natural, simple and unspoilt.
Chinese village near our dragon well tea farm
One of the best things about the village are the houses. If you’ve been to China, I am sure you will agree that the scenery is great but often the buildings can be a little uninspiring. Here, it’s different. The rust-coloured rooves and cream coloured walls look great.
There are small fields of rape, great forests of bamboo with pointed bamboo shoots ready to be pulled up and eaten. I find that the natural ease of the place (it feels like millenia of natural ease) seeps into me and I feel calm and awake.
fresh bamboo shoot
The whole area has been organically farmed for more than 10 years. I’m going to write more about how this has affected the tea in a good way and how it is superior to West Lake Dragon Well as a result. Being someone who rates taste above all else, I never buy organic tea simply because it’s organic. But the tea here is better because it is organic with the fat, juicy tea buds that the land produces. This cannot be said for every organic tea by any means…more on that later.
Confucius Teahouse Beijing
Just came across a great article on Wired which quotes Kevin Rose and mentions Tim Ferriss (author of the Four Hour Work Week) as being lovers of fine tea. It’s well worth a read and it rings true for what we have been seeing on Twitter recently, more and more people are getting interested in where tea really comes from, the different varieties and the great skill that goes into producing the best teas.
I particularly like Rose’s quote “there’s a reason tea has been popular for thousands of years” and it’s encouraging to see that he thinks a new age for tea is only five years away. Hopefully with all the companies currently doing great work to educate people about great tea and with supporters like Rose and Ferriss that prediction will come true.
Both Rose and Ferriss seem to be on the same wavelength as us at JING and if either of them ever feel like hotdesking in London or Hong Kong there’s definitely room at the tea bars in the JING offices!
Although she doesn’t have the look of a wizened old sage, she really is a flowering tea master. With her beautiful, delicate and skilled hands, she makes some of the finest flowering teas in China and also teaches all the flowering tea artists in the production house.
flowering tea master
First, tea buds are picked from fields around Fuan from Da Bai tea trees.
Fuan tea fields and fresh tea buds
Then, after withering they are taken to the hand-tying house to be individually selected and tied together in neat little stacks
she selects tea buds and ties them together in a stack
Then flowers are tied onto the tea stack
tying flowers to the stack of tea buds
Various flowers can be used including lily, red amaranth and jasmine flowers. These are grown in Anhui, Tibet and Yunnan provinces
jasmine, amaranth and lily flowers used for flowering tea
Finally the stack of flowers and tea buds is carefully shaped into a ball and wrapped in muslin to keep the shape while it’s dried over gentle heat. (Sorry, I forgot to get a photo of this and all the old ones I have look rubbish – we will put a video up soon though.)
And this is what you are left with. Serving tip: watch your tea open and enjoy the light, sweet aromtic flavours, whilst thinking of the skilled tea master and imagining yourself in the mystic scene in the background to this photo.
enjoy the tea and imagine yourself here (if you like)
Posted by Ed
I spent most of the time on Twitter recently talking more about the Chinese food I’ve been eating than about tea. I thought I’d show some photos.
There’s one person who has a special place in my heart. She’s not on the World’s Best Restaurant list or on TV but she’s one of the best chefs. She makes simple food from wild ingredients for the tea masters in our Dragon Well farm.
miss nie my favourite chef
Here’s some of her specialities. Bamboo cooked and fresh and belly of pork. On the left, omelette with wild herbs and on the right some wild greens with chilli…
bamboo shoots
- fresh bamboo shoots
I can’t stop myself giving her a hug whenever i see her. She probably just thinks I’m a crazy foreigner.
There is so much written about how white tea (like silver needle or white peony) is made. There is a little bit of potential for variation but not much.
I just want to show the main part of the process through a photo and say -white tea is made by very simple processing. Picking, withering, drying very gently until the moisture content is about 10%. The best way to make it is the traditional way with four days of withering. This brings out amazingly fresh spring flower fragrances and beautifully pure melon taste. Having agreed on Our 2009 spring white tea today in Fujian, China, I am really happy. I have to admit, it’s better than last years crop (which was still good!).
Here is some silver needle white tea withering
Silver Needle white tea, withering
Posted by: David.
The sun is streaming into the office this afternoon so I thought I would make some tea at our tea bar. Following on from yesterday and the news of Browns winning best afternoon tea in London, I thought I would show you a different but equally good kind of afternoon (or anytime) tea.
Duanni Clay Teapot - Pouring
Using one of our hand made Duanni Yixing Clay Teapots I made a lovely pot of Tieguanyin oolong tea. This teapot is a gem, in the traditional Chinese style, it’s small and made from a very special type of clay, of which there is little remaining in China. It’s a rich, red brown colour with an unusual but very natural looking shape. When pouring, the tea leaves the spout in a lovely smooth arc of liquid as I hope the photo shows.
Monkey Picked Tieguanyin
The clay that these pots are made of is extremely absorbent so if you use one for oolongs over a long period of time, they’re said to absorb the flavour of the tea resulting in an even tastier cup. Legend/urban myth has it that after years of use of this type of pot, you can just pour hot water in and out will come tea! The Zisha Clay Teapot is hand made from a similar clay and has a slightly more classic shape.
Duanni Pot and Cups
While they are a bit of a hefty investment, if you’re looking to enjoy tea for many years to come, these little pots are great. Here’s a video of the Duanni in action too.
Browns Afternoon Tea Award
Congratulations to Browns Hotel for winning the Tea Guild’s Best for Afternoon Tea award. The top ten places for afternoon tea in London were anounced today. JING is proud to supply not only the winner but three more of the top ten.
We work very closely with Browns and it’s great that this work has been recognised by the Tea Guild. The training sessions that Bethan has given at the Browns have obviously paid off as the head of the Tea Guild, Irene Gorman said:
“The food and teas are absolutely exquisite, both in their presentation and taste. The staff have been well trained, really know their teas and are very happy to advise customers on their choice”
We’ve been tasting a lot of samples of teas recently and thought we would show you a little illustration of the importance of freshness when it comes to great tea.
Freshness in Sencha
This photo shows as obviously as possible the visible difference between the very freshest samples and those that have been opened and kept in a warm environment.
Both the samples above are exactly the same tea, infused for the same length of time, using the same amount of tea. The sample on the left has been in our office for few months. As it’s a popular tea, it’s been opened a lot and unfortunately we are unable to control the temperature of the office so it’s usually very warm. The sample on the right has come straight from our warehouse, as it would to a web customer. It’s been stored at normal room temperature and it has been in contact with as little air as possible. The colour is clearly brighter and the taste will be the very freshest you can get.
So the lesson here, to keep your tea as fresh as possible after you’ve opened it, store it in a cool, dark place and make sure you squeeze all of the air out when you reseal the bag. Our gold resealable bags are designed to help you with this and to make it as easy as possible for you to enjoy fresh tea for longer.
