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Posted by: David
As many of you will know, our 2003 Wild Yi Wu Raw Puerh has been a real office favourite over the last couple of months. So it was with great excitement that last week, while on holiday in China, I paid a visit to a lovely Beijing teahouse specialising in fine puerh.
On my second day in Beijing, still jet-lagged and in need of a good, relaxing morning of drinking great tea, I set out from my hostel looking forward to the morning ahead.
Hidden away off a busy, restaurant packed street, the teahouse was a welcome respite from the sometimes overwhelming heat and pace of a Beijing summer. I was welcomed into the teahouse and taken up to a gallery level past many cases of puerh cakes from some of the most famous factories in China.
中国茶叶公司云南省公司- Zhong Guo Cha Ye Gong Si Yun Nan Sheng Gong Si 1950s Zhongcha Red Seal - Grade A Cake 中茶牌圆茶 - Zhong Cha Pai Yuan Cha
There’s something about rare and old puerh cakes that brings about a great sense of anticipation in me. It’s not that I get to drink them often by any means, it’s just that the way they are wrapped and how visibly old they are adds to the sense of a special occasion.
The above cake was the oldest on display, a 1950s Red Seal cake from Menghai Factory. Walking past these cakes, upto a table surrounded by large comfortable chairs definitely put me in the right mood to enjoy the tea I was about to drink.
云南七子饼茶 – Yun Nan Qi Zi Bing Cha 7582 – Menghai 1970s Cake (Green Seal) 七十年代厚纸绿印 – Qi Shi Nian Dai Hou Zhi Lu Ying
The cakes shown in these photos are rarely brought out to drink but I was lucky enough to be able to try a 1980s Menghai Cake which had a beautifully deeply coloured infusion and a very active mouthfeel. The flavour was long and smooth with some delicate sweetness and rich, almost leathery notes.
1980s Menghai Infusion
It also had a lovely calming effect which allowed to overcome my initial awe and to begin chatting in Mandarin with the owner of the teahouse and other customers around the table. For most of the morning, we enjoyed the multiple infusions that a tea like this can handle, taking breaks to try other cakes from the 1990s from both Xiaguan and Menghai factories.
I was also able to enjoy a nice long lunch in the teahouse during which, as the only foreigner, I was jostled into drinking numerous shots of 15 year old Mao Tai and 10 year old baijiu, a strong Chinese spirit distilled from sorghum. My plate was also stacked with ribs and wild mushrooms and was refilled frequently.
After some more tea to restore myself before venturing back into the busy Beijing streets, I took a closer look at some of the display cabinets and found some teaware gems – 1950s teacups and Yixing teapots, some of which are shown above.
云南七子饼茶 – Yun Nan Qi Zi Bing Cha 勐海九三年- Meng Hai Jiu San Nian 水蓝印-Shui Lan Yin Menghai 1993 Blue Seal Cake
I’ve loved puerh for as long as I have loved great tea and had been drinking a lot of it in the office before I left for China, but this teahouse experience gave me even more enthusiasm for puerh history and the tastes and feelings brought about by well aged teas. I left the teahouse feeling invigorated, ready to take on the 12 hour overnight train to Xi’an which I had booked for later that day.
Jing Afternoon Tea at the Langham Hotel
The Langham Hotel in London has recently re-opened their Palm Court for afternoon tea, and I was lucky enough to visit over the bank holiday weekend. The entrance to the hotel is extraordinary, with huge flags and extremely friendly doorman guiding you across a solid marble entrance, which certainly set the scene for a fantastic afternoon.
As an obsessive tea drinker, I was particularly pleased by the range of JING teas on offer! There are twenty seven teas to choose from, ranging from classics like Assam and Ceylon to Imperial Mountain Silver Needle Yellow Tea and White Darjeeling. I couldn’t resist the Yunnan Gold as it’s a personal favourite, and my partner chose a vintage puerh which the staff made perfectly, removing the tea leaves from the tea pot once it was infused in order to prevent the tea from becoming tannic. They were particularly welcome after a couple of glasses of champagne had gone straight to my head.
Tea Pot Displays
The Palm Court itself has been refurbished to an extremely high standard and is stunning. It was a great place to spend a few hours indulging in a wonderful English tradition.
The food deserves a special mention too as each time a plate reached our table, a small gasp came out of my mouth. The sandwiches were so ornate that it felt a shame to eat them, but I was certainly glad too. Traditional favourites like smoked salmon and roast beef were notched up a level to include fois gras and caviar, making them the most sumptous mid-day snacks I’ve ever had. The cakes are designed to look like famous designer jewellry, although it’s a shame that I don’t know more about the fashion world to truly appreciate this.
All in all, I cannot recommend the experience highly enough!
Posted by Bethan.
Following on from our recent post on Puerh tea tasting and the struggling puerh industry in Menghai county. Some of the Puerh we sell at JING comes in the form of Tuo Cha, small round cakes of compressed tea.
The tuo was originally created in Ching Gu County, Yunnan Province, in the Ming Dynasty period between A.D. 1573 – 1620. From 1620 0nwards, the production region expanded to include Xia Guan where the majority of today’s tuo production takes place.
MINI PUERH - 1998 MENGHAI SHU PUERH XIAO TUO
There are two varieties of Tuo Cha. One is made of cooked puerh leaves, and the other is made of raw puerh leaves.
Cooked puerh tuo cha fully consists of puerh tea which is steamed and then pressed into shape. This tea is general known as Yunnan Puerh Tuo Cha. Red, outstandingly earthy and flavoured, Puerh Tuo Cha often has an amazingly sweet finish. It’s popular throughout Asia and other continents has been researched for its health benefits. In particular, a French medical researcher concluded that drinking three portions of this tea each day significantly reduces cholesterol in the blood.
2008 RAW PUERH MINI TUO (XIAGUAN FACTORY)
Raw puerh tuo cha is made from fine and young raw puerh leaves which are then steamed and pressed into shape. This is called Yunnan Tuo Cha. With the best examples of this, it’s possible to see the if tiny hairs on the tea leaves still in tct. ‘Te Ji (superior grade) Tuo Cha’, is generally consider the best crop. It offers a rich flavour and wonderful taste. The colour of the infusion should be orange-yellow, bright and translucent.
Edward Eisler Tasting Puerh
Tasting Cups and Samples
Tasting Spoon Close-up
Last week, we tasted a fantastic range of 21 new Puerh teas. Of these 21, we’ll soon be selecting the best to be sold through our website. We’ll notify you when these are available.
We saw an article in the New York Times last week about how the economic crisis is affecting producers of Puerh in Menghai in Yunnan province in China. Just as shares in banks are falling, so prices of some puerh, which had grown to great heights over the last decade, have fallen.
If our most recent batch is anything to go by, then the quality of tea being produced in this area is still fantastic and you can rest assured that we’ll sell these great puerh teas at prices that aren’t inflated.
