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2009 Darjeelings (4): Giddapahar & Okayti

The leaves are dead…

Long live the leaves!

More 2009 Darjeeling on the tasting table today. Two releases from the high-perched Giddapahar estate renowned for its highly aromatic teas.

The 1st Flush SFTGFOP1 ($3 / 100g from Lochan Tea; bottom leaves in the photo above and below) shows a contradiction between the visual aspect and the actual flavour. The dry leaf, wet leaf and brewed tea colour are announcing a fairly light tea: leaves are green, brew is apricotty-orange, while this tea actually packs in quite a bit of punch, with a bitterish, dry finish. The chewiness and murkiness are also signs of high oxidation. This however remains clean, with good intensity and not without interest but lacks the precision and distinctiveness of the best 2009 1st flushes.

Giddapahar 2nd (top) and 1st flush (bottom) after 5 minutes of infusion.

The 2nd Flush FTGFOP1 ($2 / 100g from Lochanagain; top samples on the two photos above) looks considerably more brown and oxidised than the above tea,plus the grade is somewhat lower and more rustic, with a high amount ofstems. Brews a very dark cup with a malty-purple hue. I’ve only had onelucky shot with this tea, a competition brewing soon after receiving thesample in June: a dark aromatic register with plummy fruit, wet earth, highoxidation; balanced astringency within a voluminous, raisiney, almostchocolatey, quite individual mouthfeel.

Giddapahar 2nd Flush FTGFOP1, expired leaf after 5 minutes.

But subsequent tastings have been very underwhelming, and the tea has developed an odd intensity of smokey, herby, onion-like, sulphury notes over the summer. The same, in fact, is true of the 1st Flush. Retasting alongside this morning both teas were on the verge of offensive. That’s quite an odd twist of tea leaf evolution.

The Okayti tea estate is rarely on anyone’s absolute favourite group but produces a reliable tea from its plantations that are among the region’s highest. This 2009 1st Flush FTGFOP1 China Special ($3 / 100g from Lochan; pictured above) is an excellent tea. A good grade with some tips, it has a herby, bergamotty aroma with hints of nuts and citrus. Light in body but high in tannins, it is a delicate tea that’s quite easy to overbrew; I actually prefer a second long brewing here for its fruitier, less tangy balance. Fresh and lively, not among the season’s best, but then more resilient in time than many. I’ll surely be seeking more teas from this estate.

2009 Darjeelings (3): Jungpana

Top to bottom: Autumn Delight, Imperial Muscatel, 2nd Flush Clonal, 1st Flush.
All brewed 5 minutes on 2g of leaf for 100ml water.

The independent tea estate of Jungpana might not enjoy the reputation of more centrally located gardens such as Castleton or Margaret’s Hope but has its loyal followers. I’m one of them. This year Jungpana has presented the best line-up of my (admittedly limited) 2009 tastings. Here are notes on four teas from three different flushes. (All sourced from Lochan Tea Ltd.).

The 1st Flush FTGFOP1 is simply a delightful first flush rendition of Darjeeling. The leaves are small and moderately tippy. Interestingly they show none of the fashionable green of modern Darjeeling productions: the oxidation is high, and the aroma is unfruity, quite spicy, and with enough notes of bergamot to pass for a light Earl Grey. The grade is high and the leaf selection has been very good: this is less of an indistinct mash than many a Darjeeling expired leaf.

Consequently to its highish oxidation it brews a deepish colour: although my initial brewings were warm amber-brown (as above) ,in a comparative ‘competition-style’ tasting (see photo at top of post, the 1st flush is first bottom) it’s a pretty medium-dark brown. Aroma is generic but not bad, echoing the bergamot of the nose in a lower key. A balanced cup, medium-bodied with good length and pleasantly citrusy-flavoured tannins on end. Hardly very complex but I like the balance and semi-ligthness here. However, this tea has quite some power up its sleeve and can become hefty when overbrewed but is deliciously clean with a lovely dried fruits expression. The only drawback is that my sample has deteriorated over a few months and what remains is yielding a less distinctive, walnutty tea with none of its former finesse. (I find this typical of first flush Darjeelings which really behave much like early-drinking primeur teas).

The 2nd flush Imperial Muscatel is well-presented with largish leaves and few tips; it has a very exciting scent of milk chocolate and other complex notes of herbs and dried fruits. Reasonably deep-coloured, it is all about harmony and complexity. It exudes a sense of calmness, depth and dimension. The tannins are very fused into a broad, almost mellow whole, although the tea by no means light. There’s a ripe, summery sense of second-flushness to this, quite different to the herby drive of the above FF. The empty cup aroma is especially noteworthy: summery, warm, spicy. (The famous muscatel scent escapes me here, though).

Tremendous complexity and balance but also considerable concealed power: just for fun I brewed it gongfu-style (photo above: the colour is slightly lighter but less than you would think given the infusion time relation is 5 minutes : 25 seconds) and it generated a very exciting 7 infusions with a fantastic chocolatey-roasted aroma cup, and a fair bit of potency; the earthy tannins are not far removed from a good Wuyi yancha. Remarkable tea and by some distance my favourite 2nd flush of this season.

Another 2nd flush is the FTGFOP1 Clonal. This one is fairly light, as preannounced by the leaf which is greener and tippier than even the FF here, with an intense smokey-bergamottey aroma. The cup is light-coloured (see photo at top of page, second bottom), peachy-amber in colour, with an exciting if short-lived aroma of fresh leaves, mown grass, freshly polished wood, with subsidiary notes of fresh summer fruits (peaches). Astringency is there, ending the palate progression in a crescendo. A nice tea, much more first than second flush in character, and if not compared to the vastly superior Imperial Muscatel above, really quite good.

The Autumn Delight is, obviously, from the autumn flush. After two remarkable and one very good tea this one is only good. A standard Darjeeling smallish leaf with some lighter brown hues to the whole but few tips, it boasts a lovely dry leaf aroma: more humid and fresh than the second flushes, gloriously intense fresh wood and walnut notes. The infusion starts with intense fruitiness (candied fruits: mango, cherries), mild spice, good concentration but little in the way of tannins. I like the balance and the feeling of effortless quality that is usual with Jungpana but it’s the least immediately engaging of their 2009 releases: it’s rather simple and one-dimensional. After the dry leaf aroma the biggest moment of interest is in the finish which is poignantly hazelnutty. Representative of an autumnal flush in being less generous, more bone-dry, less fruity than a second flush.

2009 2nd Flush Imperial Muscatel: large leaves.

2009 Darjeelings (2): Castleton

Castleton is one of the most famous Darjeeling tea gardens and according to a self-description you can read here, is particularly renowned for its intensely aromatic second flush muscatels. The latter found a confirmation in my tasting, with the additional advantage that the two teas tasted here are extremely representative of their flushes and genre. Both teas are sourced from Lochan Tea Ltd.

The 1st Flush FTGFOP1 Special (photo above and below) has small tippy leaves in a wide variety of green and light brown colours: it couldn’t look more 1st flush-typical. The wet leaf shows moderate oxidation and a good leaf selection. The dry leaf aroma is quite herby and earthy and less citrusy than many 1st flush Darjeelings this season.

The tea brews a surprisingly deep colour that shows this straight away to be one of the more structured 1st flushes, excitingly complete, dense and flavourful. But the texture remains light as befits a spring picking and so the assertive tannins that arrive at the end are really let loose. Their flavour is earthy, fully oxidised, less citrusy-bitterish than many 1st flushes. This is really good tea with plenty of personality. (Though on a side note, it seems to have deteriorated a bit since my first brewings in June; retastes this morning alongside the 2nd flush, it is now quite light, less flavourful at mid-palate, and tannins are sharper than before, though very clean).

The 2nd flush FTGFOP1 China Special (wet leaf above and below) is less tippy than the above tea, with a darker, more oxidative leaf appearance (consistent brown colours). The aroma is very intense, mixing chocolatey richness with mild herbiness. The milk chocolate aroma is reminiscent of a Chinese oolong tea from Wuyi.

This is showing classic Castleton character (as I understand it): balanced, stately, even lofty Darjeeling. It isn’t particularly aromatic in the brew and not so very muscatel-driven, but has a sweet fruity (dried fruits), almost honeyed flavour and dense texture at mid-palate that make it very attractive. Oxidation is rather high and the perception of the astringency is different from the above 1st flush: the tea tastes rounder, less drying, and the tannins are more walnuty in flavour than the earthy, woodsy 1st flush. Brewed alongside this ‘China Special’ is more complete and preferable to the 1st flush ‘Special’ (though as mentioned it might have to do with the latter sample’s freshness). It is not a particularly vivid or poised tea but for balance and breadth, is surely in the top league of Darjeeeling. (See Facebook discussion of this tea).

2009 Darjeelings (1): Margaret’s Hope

Over the next few days I’ll be posting reviews on a wide range of 2009 Darjeeling teas (interspersed with some wine talk for those uninterested in tea). All these are first and second flush teas sourced from Lochan Tea Ltd. but coming from renowned gardens, they can easily be obtained from other merchants. All teas were tasted several times including in competition standard (2g / 100ml boiling water / 5 minutes) and in large pot; my tasting notes are a summary of those several tastings.

Today I look at three samples from the Margaret’s Hope Estate, on which there’s information here.
A. 1st Flush FTGFOP1 China Special
B. 2nd Flush FTGFOP1
C. 2nd Flush Muscatel (see Facebook tasting)

2009 1st and 2nd Flush assessment.

As a side note, I remain confused by the many subgrades and additional appellations of Darjeeling teas. While it’s more or less clear what an FTGFOP1 is, the difference between various FTGFOP1s from the same estate and same flush isn’t clear at all. Nor is it easily grasped what ‘China’, ‘Clonal’, ‘Special’ mean, while other categories such as ‘Tippy’, ‘Imperial’, ‘Muscatel’ are entirely discretional.
It’s the usual practice of most merchants to offer a tea generically named Margaret’s Hope First Flush. There being several dozen second flush offerings from Margaret’s Hope, it’s always necessary to ask for a more specific name. But when, like in this case from Lochan, you learn that the tea in question is a First Flush FTGFOP1 China Special, how does it differ from a First Flush FTGFOP1 that’s not China and not Special? I’m often of the impression that even tea estate managers are rather vague on this. For easy reference and comparison it would be so much more useful to code teas with a ‘bin number’ or similar, so you’d know the First Flush FTGFOP1 #138 is the same you tried a few months ago from another source. Am I being too meticulous?

1st Flush FTGFOP1 China Special and 2nd Flush FTGFOP1.

On to the teas. The dry and wet leaf shows some minor differences that can be summarised thus: ‘C’ is more fragmented than ‘A’ or ‘B’. ‘A’ and ‘B’ are similar in showing impressively healthy, intact young leaves, but ‘B’ has somewhat larger leaves. A seems to have a bit more tips than ‘B’, which has very few. The leaf oxidation on all three samples is moderate, leaves are of the lighter shades of brown, and show a pleasantly crisp, herby-spicy (bergamotty) aroma, although ‘C’ is a little fruitier, applier, with a hint of that elusive grapey ‘muscatel’ character.

The above being said, the differences in flavour areminor. If tea ever has the bad luck to be rated on a 100-point scalesimilarly to wine, I’d score these teas less than 1 point apart.

Tea‘A’ is the lightest of the three and has the most pronounced bouquet ofdried aromatic herbs (verbena / bergamot). It has good body and goodlength but very limited astringency. It shows a dynamism and poignancythat ‘B’ and ‘C’ are lacking. On the finish there’s a pronounced nutty(hazelnutty?) note.

Tea‘B’ is best described as ‘complete’. It is a bit less punchy than ‘A’but adds just a bit more roundness and mid-palate filling. Thanks tothis, it seems even less tannic than ‘A’. There might just be a touchmore oxidation. Still light-bodied but deeper. Excellent tea.

2009 2nd Flush Muscatel.

Tea ‘C’ is centered around that faint grapey-appley ‘muscatel’ note. It is also a little drier on the throat, showing a more autumnal character than the 2nd Flush ‘B’. It is easier to overbrew (fragmented leaves), and contrasts with the light citrusy character of ‘A’. I’m much enjoying the second brewing here, which shows an exciting muscatel and bitter chocolate character. But in a way it’s the least eloquent of the three. A slightly lower grade?

This is a trio of seriously good teas from one of Darjeeling’s most famous estates. But I often find Margaret’s Hope teas to be somewhat on the safe side. Their aroma and flavour are consistently in the middle of the Darjeeling spectrum. The quality is very good indeed but I find them to lack the assertiveness of e.g. Castleton, the precision of Jungpana or the sprite of Giddapahar. The 2009 2nd Flush Muscatel is a good example. It has all you can expect from its appellation but somehow lacks sparkle.

2009 2nd Flush Muscatel.

Some Assams

I rarely drink any black tea, and when I do, I tend to go for the lighter styles such as Darjeeling, or complex Chinese teas I have a weakness for such as Yunnan. So Assam – the strongest black tea in Asia – is never high on my list.

It was interesting, therefore, to operate a full-immersion Assam course tasting six teas sourced from Lochan Tea Ltd. Two (teas B and D on the list below) are part of the ongoing online tasting on Facebook while the remaining four were part of the free 2nd Flush sampler pack I ordered back in June (and which is still available – see here).

Let me just say that the tasting revealed an unexpected richness of styles. I was expecting all teas to conform to the deeply coloured, full-bodied, tannic, chunky Assam stereotype but several samples actually showed quite some complexity and elegance. Plus it must be mentioned these teas offer tremendous value for money: they range from $1 to $4 per 100g which is several times less than good Chinese black teas and 50% less than a good Darjeeling.

All teas are 2009 2nd flushes from Assam and all were brewed competition-style (2g of leaf / 100ml boiling water / 5 minutes).

A. Budlabeta FTGFOP1

B. Harmutty Golden Paw

C. Harmutty FTGFOP1 Tippy

D. Hattialli Golden Bud

E. Rembeng FTGFOP1 Clonal

F. Sewpur SFTGFOP1

Top row, A to C, bottom row, D to F.

The dry leaf shows the great stylistic diversity of these six teas:

A. Highish grade (but leaves larger than other samples), negligible tips. Subdued aroma, unpushy oxidation, dried fruit/spicy: mulled orange, minor chocolate; caramel and red fruit jam too from warmed leaves.

B. Good grade, good proportion of golden tips/buds, but ‘Golden Paw’ is a little over-indulgent. Aroma not so oxidation-driven, quite sweet (brown sugar), minor spice, inviting.

C. The name says it all: this is tippy tea! Dominated by orange-amber tips (>50%). Aroma close to a Darjeeling: subtly herby, spicy (bergamot), more lifted, far less chocolatey and charcoaly than Assam average.

D. Good grade, deep black colour, around 20–30% tips yielding a brighter, orangey-spicy aroma to the deeply smokey, fully-oxidised aroma. Warmed leaf smell less attractive.

E. Another über-tippy Assam, very well-processed, abundantly hairy, orange-coloured tips (~50%), remaining leaves more brown than black in colour. Distinctive, very sweet aroma, almost grapey (muscatel?), dried red fruits; little obvious oxidation, no herbiness.

F. Good grade, conservative blend, small leaves, not very dark colour, negligible tips. Aroma subdued, earthy, herby, black-teaish, minor bitter chocolate. Expecting a bone-dry tea no-nonsense tea.

As you can see the difference in colour between the infused teas is very minor:

Tasting notes:

A. Pleasant dried fruits aroma (prunes perhaps) but unremarkable flavour, black-teaish (later Chinese mushrooms and seaweed, odd). Ordinary with little personality. Not too tannic.

B. Deepest colour of all. Meaty, chewy, deep aroma, Assam-typical with good depth of taste. Very tannic, easy to overbrew, a bit low on fruit. In the comparative tasting this is underwhelming and unbalanced. Lochan Tea recommend to brew this at 82C and as odd as it seems it makes sense: a much lighter version no black or purple hues, good fruit, echoes of dry leaf sweet treacly note; chewy, earthy Assam notes kept in the background. A little vague and unstructured with a chunky finish but better than with boiling water.

Harmutty 2009 FTGFOP1 Tippy: almost looking like a Darjeeling.

C. Standard parameters bring an unexpectedly hefty tea but fairly complete, with unaggressive tannins and excellent length (as always with buds). Even better when brewed lighter, wonderful tea, subtly spicy, juicy, mildly Oriental Beauty-like in the incomplete oxidation, not really tannic. Brilliant value. But positively un-Assamish.

D. Deep brown colour. Restrained aroma: rich, malty. Lovely balance in taste, very good tea, broad, voluminous and complete. Perhaps most tannic of six. Big, assertive. Here again Lochan recommend brewing at 90C giving some unexpected sophistication and softness in taste. Very different than C but excellent.

Hattialli 2009 Golden Bud: a classic Assam colour.

E. Extra fruitiness on nose, orangey, citrusy, bright, open. Nice balanced tannins. Nuanced and balanced. Surely best of flight together with C. Easy to brew, the tannins are so balanced you have to push it hard to get any astringency. Fantastic value.

F. Simplest of six, linear and uncomplex. Unremarkable and somewhat diluted even at high dosage. Not so much power even brewed with a heavy hand. Decent quality, cleaner and preferable to A.

Wet leaf appearance and final remarks:

A. Expired leaves quite thick and coarse, high amount of stalks. Wet leaf smells very earthy with minor fruit sweetness. Ordinary tea and clearly a lower grade (so why is it called an FTGFOP1).

B. Wet leaf is not bad showing an amount of tips, however this is a bit unbalanced and takes some extra care in the brewing to produce a good cup. Good not great. Best thing about this tea is the evocative ‘Golden Paw’ name.

Expired leaf of Harmutty 2009 FTGFOP1 Tippy.

C. About the highest grade I’ve seen in a black tea: wondrously healthy bud-and-leaf systems with not a particle of broken leaf. Thoroughly lovely from looking at the dry leaves to finishing the second brew cup. And it’s only $4 / 100g.

Expired leaf of Hattialli 2009 Golden Bud.

D. Nothing special about the wet leaf, seems less tippy than B but surely tastes better, a well-presented, balanced and complete tea, classic Assam with some extra elegance and character, recommended.

E. Wet leaf similar to C, lots of tips, intact leaf. Clearly a special small lot production. Brilliant tea at a ridiculous $2 / 100g although in the end I preferred C by a minor margin.

F. Wet leaf plain-looking, good grade with no fannings but nowhere the tippy extravagance of C and E. Small chopped leaves but at least not the coarse lower-grade leaf of A. Ordinary but not bad.

Himalayan oolong

As part of the ongoing Lochan Tea Co. online tasting on Facebook (see here
for their profile and contact them if you’d like to enroll for the second
round, to be organised soon), I’m tasting the 2009 Oolong from Meghma Estate in Nepal, and thought I’d compare it
with a 2009 2nd Flush Oolong from
Glenburn Estate in Darjeeling which I got also from Lochan earlier this
year.

Darjeeling and Nepal have historically specialised in black teas. However
with the increasing popularity of new types of tea in the West, the market
pressure on Himalayan tea producers is to introduce green, white, yellow, and
oolong (semi-oxidised) styles. These remain marginal but it’s interesting to
compare them with the classic Chinese examples.

The usual feeling is one of disappointment. Indian greens and oolongs
are rarely exciting and often fall short of ‘the real thing’. It’s important to
say that non-black teas in the Himalayan regions are produced with the same tea
plants that yield black tea (in China, it’s almost always a separate tea
cultivar, although green and black tea are produced from the same leaves in
some regions, and classic oolong varietals such as qingxin and tieguanyin
are occasionally used for black tea in Taiwan). And it’s also often argued that
Indian tea makers lack the expertise linked to green and oolong production in
China – although tea manufacture might seem a simple task there’s a number of
intricate processing steps such as wilting, roasting and rolling that need to
be very carefully timed.

I think no-one would argue there’s no oolong in India at the moment that
can challenge the iron-cast structure and longevity of a Dahongpao, or the
inimitable buttery texture of a high-grown Lishan from Taiwan. Green tea is
more open to debate but being produced from tea plants suited for black tea,
with its tannins and deep taste, Darjeeling green teas usually lack the finesse
and lightness of the best Chinese examples. Yet I often feel it’s a bit unfair
to compare the two. Indian (and Nepalese) green and oolong tea need to find
their own original style. The two teas tasted here go some way along that path,
I felt.

The 2009 Glenburn Estate Oolong is a 2nd flush tea with strange looks: as much as 40–50% tips mixed with small, fragmented, ‘black’
Darjeeling-looking young leaves, but with a silvery and green colour. Smell is
equally odd: a democratic mix of oxidative black-tea herby pungency and puer smokiness. The puer reminiscence continues on the nose and palate of the brewed
tea.

Brewed competition-styled (2g of leaf for 5 minutes), this is coming
really close to a black tea both in body and in the chewy, earthy register, but
when dosed high at ~4g and brewed gongfu-style
like a Chinese oolong, the oxidation is lower (~50% I guess), the whole is
lighter, a little walnutty, and generally lacks grip. (I prefer a longer infusion
here). Not so much texture or intensity at mid-palate but a decent profile.
Perhaps wrong to expect this to conform to any known Chinese or Taiwanese
oolong type: it’s just tasting of a slightly less oxidised Darjeeling.

The 2009 Meghma Estate (Facebook
profile) Oolong (also a 2nd
flush) is another modified-Darjeeling ‘oolong’, but a more successful one. The
oxidation is higher (~70%), and the dry leaf appearance is quite different:
fewer tips, medium-sized leaves that seem a little larger than those used for
black tea. The dry leaf aroma is very smokey and mildly spicy, with a vague
reminiscence of Oriental Beauty from Taiwan. Really good leaf quality here: it’s
no coincidence the tea also tastes good. Look at the expired leaf
photo with its intact bud-and-leaf systems:

I followed the Lochan recommended parameters (4g of leaf / 250ml boiling
water / 3 minutes) and unlike the 2009 Doke 2nd Flush Silver Needle white tea
tasted on Facebook yesterday, found them very successful. While the steeping
is a bit longer than I would have dared on my own, the result is a flavourful
and balanced tea, not overbrewed
and only medium-bodied, lighter in colour than expected:

A simple tea as befits its small-size leaf, this has in
fact quite a bit in common with a Darjeeling-styled black tea, including a
bergamottey and dried fruits spiciness, but lacks the tannins and remains a
little lighter. Interestingly but consistently with the wet leaf appearance the
subsequent brewings taste much like a ‘redded’ (partly oxidised before the shaqing stage of processing) puer, and share that crisp beany
character and a similar chewy constitution to the tannins. A gongfu session on lots of leaf and 30s,
20s, 30s etc. steeps yields similar results: initially very smokey, later with a
more pronounced black tea dryness.

In short, this has nothing to do with a Chinese or Taiwanese oolong but
builds a style of its own: that of a less-than-fully oxidised black tea,
lighter in body and less astringent but similarly flavoured to a Darjeeling (of
the more chunky style). Is there any interest in that? I would say so.

Glenburn 2009 Oolong (left, 1st infusion, 30 seconds), Meghma 2009 Oolong (right, 3rd infusion, 30 seconds):
the difference in oxidation is clear.

2008 Rougui

Let’s continue the Wuyi theme with another classic tea from this region of China: Rougui. The name means ‘cinnamon’ (in the meaning of ‘cassia’)
and refers, predictably, to the heady spicy aroma exuded by both dry leaf and
brew.

While not as ubiquitous as Shuixian, Rougui is
a fairly common tea. This example from 2008 is again from the Dragon Tea House
on eBay, and I bought for the extremely modic sum of $8 / 100g (interestingly,
the 2009 now on
offer at this merchant has increased to $18).

This is proper tea: it becomes obvious as soon
as you look at the leaves. They are long, intact, and well taken care of. There’s
a distinctive and nicely nuanced spicy aroma, perhaps of cinnamon tree bark if
you insist. Far less roasted and chocolatey than your usual Wuyi tea, and
surely less than either of the Shuixian I reviewed a few days ago. The tea’s
medium body and moderate roast are also obvious in the colour, which is never
darker than a deep orange-amber.

The tea’s ‘attack’ when you take a sip into your
mouth is strongly spicy, indeed redolent of powdered cinnamon, but the whole is
not very distinctive in flavour: from mid-palate on it recedes into a fairly
vague Wuyi typicity, before a well tannic and perhaps slightly mineral finish.
I have found that the most enjoyable sessions are those with a very high dosage
(6–7g / 100ml of water) and short infusion times. There’s never much roast in
the foreground but a very strong spiciness especially in the first infusion
(later, it tends to wane rather quickly).

The short-livedness of the cinnamonny aroma and
the somewhat cloudy appearance led me to think this tea could actually be
a fake. I mean a tea artificially flavoured with powdered spice. Mind you,
should my intuition be confirmed, it’s been done in a fairly subtle,
well-handled way, but I couldn’t help thinking that heady tree bark aroma was a
little too obvious and disjointed to be really natural. (It’s fairly common to
see China’s most popular tea sbeing counterfeited by artificial aromatisation: ‘Milk
Oolong’ – see review here – is another frequent example). Looking at the wet leaf it’s obviously a plantation tea: leaves are thin and fragile with litte structure, but processing has been good.

Dragon Tea House are a reputable merchant and I’m
keen to give them the benefit of a doubt on this tea, which if you disregard
where the spicy aroma is coming from, is actually a nicely balanced, moreish
tea that’s excellent value for money.

A Tale of Three Shuixians

Comparative tasting rocks. Tasting different things together is a perfect wake-me-up. You become more perceptive to the minute differences and analogies even of very similar things.

The setup.

I recently realised that among my 50+ tea reviews on this blog, one important tea family was still missing: Wuyi. ‘Cliff’ or ‘rock’ tea from eastern China’s Fujian. The Bordeaux of tea. Many, many tea drinkers’ favourite oolong. It’s not my favourite, but as every wine drinker with Bordeaux, I have several bins in the tea cellar, and enjoy them from time to time.

Shuixian (Western translation: Water Sprite) is the most popular and widely available oolong tea from Wuyi (and elsewhere in Fujian). It’s a generic name that refers both to a varietal of tea tree and to the style of tea that is obtained from it. As all Wuyi oolongs this is over 50%-oxidised and medium- to heavy-roasted. Of all Wuyi teas, Shuixian is considered to see the highest roast, though as will all things tea this varies from producer to producer.

Here I have a comparative look at three Shuixians. One was purchased in Poland from online merchant eHerbata and I infer it’s a 2008; it cost the equivalent of 6€ / 100g. (Hereafter referred to as sample ‘A’). Shuixian ‘B’ is the 2008 Premium Laocong (‘Old Tree’) from Dragon Tea House ($20 / 100g; now available in the 2009 vintage). ‘C’ is the 2008 Traditional Shuixian from Jing Tea ($26 / 100g).

Dry leaf appearance is similar in all three. We have the typical Wuyi long, twisted leaves that vary in colour from very deep green to almost black, but mostly are medium and medium dark brown. There’s little qualitative information to be drawn from the visual aspect alone, other than ‘A’ and ‘B’ contain a varying proportion of broken leaf while ‘C’ is the most intact (something you can’t really see on the photo above). Also, A is altogether lighter in colour with a degree of light brown leaves; hard to say why for the moment but it’s a hint I’ll elaborate on later.

As is common practice with Wuyi oolong, I brewed these teas in a gongfu succession of very short steeps on a large amount of leaf (4.5g for 75 ml of water; 15s, 15s, 25s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 1m etc.). The colour of the first brew is rather similar:

Tea ‘A’ came out rather unpleasant. It’s dominated by roast, and tastes both a little stale and overbrewed, with an untasty wet wood and soaked raisin profile. Bitterish and tannic in an unpleasant, unclean way on the finish. Later brewings are a little nicer, coming close ot a black tea in expression with a mulchy, sweaty character. This tea has much deteriorated since fall 2008 when I bought it (at the time it was a basic but essentially correct and pleasant tea). And it makes me think it’s not necessarily a 2008 but perhaps an older stock.

Tea ‘B’ gives a solid performance. It’s a chewy, rustic rendition of Shuixian with little in terms of finesse, and it’s slightly dominated by roast. The reason I compared Wuyi tea with Bordeaux is not casual, as I tend to think of roast in teas as similar to oak in wines. Oak is very easy to overdo. In youth, many red wines are dominated by oak; some shake this off with ageing, some don’t. This Shuixian probably won’t integrate its roast even if you age it for years. It’s also a tannic, mildly astringent tea. Good quality here: at least tastes like the real thing. I particularly like the middle infusions here (#2–5), where the roast recedes a bit, leaving an impressive, almost physical thickness to this oily brew. Later, chocolate comes back again.

Tea ‘C’ is quite different from the other two. It has a delightful clean bitter chocolate aroma to the warmed leaves, and shows lighter than ‘A’ or ‘B’, especially in later infusions whose colour is never darker than deep amber. Never an overpowering tea, this seems less roasted, with the leaf oxidation influencing the profile. It’s quite assertive throughout the middle infusions, semi-rich and rather buttery than milky (milk-chocolatey is often used as a mouthfeel descriptor for Shuixian). A very enjoyable tea with a transparent, high-quality profile and considerable finesse for a Wuyi tea.

Here’s a photo of the final 20-minute brewing:

As you can see tea ‘C’ is quite lighter in colour while ‘A’ and ‘B’ still brew very dark. Let’s have a closer look at the expired leaves now:

Here the observations from the dry leaf and the comparative tasting find their final confirmation. ‘A’ and ‘B’ are showing a high amount of broken leaf, leaf fragments, and in the case of ‘A’ also of stems. ‘C’ has the largest and most intact leaves that are also the lightest in colour; they open almost completely, showing that the roasting was at its lightest and most skillful here (long, careful roasting preserved the leaves better while quick commercial roast in electric machines at high temperatures tends to burn the leaves). Tea ‘A’ has leaves of different colour that remain twisted and rolled: the poorest roasting shows here. ‘B’ looks almost as good as ‘C’ but the leaves are consistently fragmented. It’s a slightly lower grade apparently than ‘C’, although the cup is quite pleasant.

It was an interesting tasting also in how to buy teas. Whether on the internet or in a physical shop we’re often confronted with elaborate prose on a given tea’s origins, and few technical details on how it was actually made. ‘Premium’, ‘Supreme’, ‘Traditional’ are meaningless terms that add to the confusion. Looking at the dry leaf and, if you have a chance, at the expired one (some online merchants post photos of these) can reasonably help you make an educated purchase. But best is, of course, trying the tea before you shell out the $25.

2008 Traditional Shuixian (Jing Tea), expired leaf after 10 infusions.

2007 Heavy-Roasted Winter Shanlinshi

Outstanding roasted oolong from Taiwan – perfect tea to drink on today’s chilly weather.

Beautiful tea

Oriental Beauty (a.k.a. Baihao) is one of the most renowned tea ‘appellations’. And it’s also one of the world’s strangest teas. With its unique production method and its distinctive bouquet, it is among teas roughly what oxidative dry sherry – amontillado and oloroso – is in the domain of wine.

You’ll find an extensive introduction to Oriental Beauty here. To summarise, it’s a lowland, summer, partly-oxidised (oolong) tea from northern Taiwan. More often than not produced from the Dapa varietal, its uniqueness lies in how it’s grown: in summer, local insects called tea jassids are encouraged to feed on the leaves; their bites initiate a process of oxidation within the leaves that later translates into a distinctive, spicy bouquet. Oriental Beauty is a tea with high oxidation (>50%, in which it differs from lighter oolongs from Central Taiwan and comes close to black tea) but little or no roast.

My duo of Oriental Beauties comes from Teamasters and comprises the 2008 Hsin Chu Oriental Beauty (hereafter ‘2008 OB’) and the 2008 Hsin Chu Oriental Beauty ‘Top’ (see vendor notes here). The latter is a limited selection that includes jassid-bitten leaves exclusively. The difference in price is huge: 33€ / 100g for the straight OB and no less than 100€ / 100g (sold in 25g packages) for the ‘Top’. This latter price is more a factor of rarity and prestige than actual ‘objective’ value. (Please note Teamasters are now offering the 2009 version of both teas).

The dry leaves of both versions are distinctive and beautiful. OB’s other Chinese name is wusicha, ‘the tea of five colours’, and you’ll see this unmistakeable mix of black, dark brown, beige, and tippy white hues on the photo:

The 2008 Top seems to have somewhat smaller leaves, impeccably sorted, and perhaps with fewer brownish ‘flakes’, but the aspect is similar. The dry leaf aroma of the 2008 OB is very distinctive and preannounces the flavour of the cup. Very spicy, with hints of tree bark, Chinese medicine, oriental mushrooms, and minor dry fruits, it’s quite unlike any other tea. The 2008 Top shows a slightly more fruity (dried fruits) bouquet and the impression of lighter, less earthy spiciness is reinforced as the leaves are put in a warmed cup.

2008 Hsin Chu Oriental Beauty: brewing no. 1 (45 seconds) and 6 (2 minutes).

As you can see from the photo above the colour of the infused 2008 OB is not particularly dark. With that spicy, mushroomey, cinnamonny aroma again, we are lured to a palate of lovely balance and presence. Laden with spice and dried fruits in a crisp, light framework, this tea shows an amazing sweet huigan aftertaste and a stunning sense of refreshment. It’s not particularly deep or intense but has a remarkable cleanliness and authenticity about it. I’m also impressed by the durability. I rarely go beyond 5–6 brewings with an oolong tea but here, 10 are easily possible, with the later ones taking minutes of steeping and still yielding the same medium-bodied, intensely perfumed result.

The 2008 Top shows a subtle but evident variation to the straight 2008 OB. It seems a little more oxidative, and less formulaic in its spicy, fruity bouquet. Whereas on the nose the register seemed lighter and fruitier, on the palate we have a more structured, tannic, almost austere tea. Intensity, breadth and length are also superior. These are milimetric differences but the step up from the 2008 OB is obvious. Is it worth the extra 70€? I guess not, but that’s not the point. Teamasters’ Stéphane Erler wanted to shows the highest grade of Oriental Beauty that can be obtained, and he’s there.

2008 Hsin Chu Oriental Beauty ‘Top’: spent leaves after 10 infusions.

The best part of Oriental Beauty, for me, is looking at the wet leaf. (I find myself increasingly examining spent leaves of my teas: there’s a lot of information to be gathered). Here we have some of the most immaculately processed leaves I have encountered. It’s a classic maofeng grade (two leaves and a bud), and the leaves are small, perfectly shaped, and undamaged. They are uniformly brown in colour due to their high oxidation but look as fresh and vigorous as if they were freshly picked; there is absolutely nothing ‘spent’ or ‘expired’ about them.

2008 Hsin Chu Oriental Beauty: spent leaves after 10 infusions.

In tea as in wine quality, the saying goes, is never an accident but always the result of intelligent effort. There has been a lot of intelligent effort put in the harvesting and production of this tea. What is purely a technical quality – proper handling of tea leaves – becomes an aesthetic one. This tea embodies perfection. It is distinctive, pure, deep, intense and rewarding. My favourite tea.