Emperor Shen Nung, Father of Tea
Black, white, yellow, red, green...what is missing here? Purple perhaps or blue?
I may find those with additional digging, but for now let me expound on what I know.
Let's start with the Black Teas.
We have Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Dooars, Keeman, Nilgiri, North China Congou, Sikkim, South China Congou, Yunnan.
Now a note on the delicate Darjeeling. This is usually an expensive tea for many reasons. It is like a wine in that it picks up the vagarities of the region where it is grown and in that way it is identified. The leaves are deliberately broken during manufacture as well unlike the normal black teas that are sorted according to the leaf sizes.
The Darjeelings are also identified by the estates they are grown on in the Himalayas as well as the "flush".
First Flush is April/May: Plucked from the first growth; light and flowery taste.
Second Flush is May/June: Harvested from the second growth; frutier and smoother.
Autumnal Flush Timing depends on when monsoon rainfall occurs: Larger leafed, harvested after the rainy season; rounder in taste.
I bet you thought someone just plucked a bunch of leaves and tossed them in a box for shipment, huh?
Darjeelings are rarely sold unblended because they are so expensive. Leaves that come from a single harvest and are unblended is called a vintage.
So remember that when you buy a Darjeeling tea in the grocery store you may be buying a blend of less than 50% of actual Darjeeling tea leaves.
I want to say it may seem that I left out a lot of teas that seem familiar to you, like Orange Pekoe or Irish Breakfast Tea. Sorry to say that Orange Pekoe has nothing to do with orange flavoring or colors, but with the leaf size and Irish Breakfast and his types are black teas that are blendings.
We will go into the particular blends of teas at another time as we will the leaf sizes.
Now let's do the "colored" teas.
Oolong is a classification all on its own out of Taiwan and mainland China having several varieties. Felt to be the King of Teas by connoisseurs it has by my taste buds overriding hints of Jasmine. Of course I haven't tasted all of the varieties. Some of these varieties you will not find except online.
Formosa Oolong, Pouchong, Pu er, Vinca Rose Oolong, Ti Kuan Yin, Wuyi AND my favorite...get ready...Dong Ding Oolong.
Explanation is ready when you stop laughing.
In chinese, Dong means "cold" or "chilled" and Ding means "top". In Taiwan there is a mountain called Dong Ding and it is there that this tea is grown waaay up on top. At least that is what my tea tasting friend told me.
Green Teas
Bancha, Baozhoang, Dragonwell, Gen Mai Cha, Gu Zhang Mao Jian, Gunpowder (AKA Pearl Tea), Gyokuro, Hojicha, Hyson, Longjing, Matcha, Pi Lo Chun, Sencha.
There are many green tea blends as well such as Jasmine and Green chai.
White Tea
Pai Mu Tan (White Peony)
White tea is the least processed of the tea leaves and it is also the most rare. It is 100% tip of the plant, this is the most tender and delicate cup of tea imaginable. Also one of the most expensive vintages.
Red Tea
Mountain Red Tea AKA Roobios
Hate to tell you, it isn't a tea. That is it isn't botanically related to the Camillia Sinesis plant that the above mentioned teas are a variety of. No, this is considered an herbal tea.
I threw it in here for fun and I know that many of you have heard of "red tea" by now.
Roobios pronounced Roy+boss, the Mountain Red tea is native to Cape Town, South Africa, and grows on the limestone slopes of Cedarberg Mountains. The bush isn't red, but the color of the tea is.
That about wraps it up for today, but I must leave you with one particular thing I found on one of my reference sites today.
Taiwan and Asia has a novelty tea drink that is a growing trend in the states, called "Bubble Tea".
Bubble Tea sometimes referred to as "Black Pearl Tea" is a infusion of hot tea poured over tapioca pearls. Often milk is added to heighten the contrast of white beverage and black spheres on the bottom of the glass. An extra wide straw is used to slurp up the tapioca pearls, which by this time are soft and flavorless.
Weird, huh? Believe it or not I have the recipe.
If any of you have tasted this Bubble Tea, please comment here on what it was like, I am very curious. I have already found a site online that sells the kits. I do not know why you would need a kit when it is just tapioca and tea, but whatever!
Brightest Tea Blessings to y'all!
2 comments:
Just thought I'd add that there are some Darjeeling estates that produce small (in comparison to the standard black) amounts of white, green, and oolong tea.
Also, pu erh is not really an oolong; it is in a class by itself as far as I know. Pu erh is a specially processed tea from China which is often compressed into bricks or cakes. There are green (raw) and black (cooked) varieties of pu erh as well. It is also the only tea that I know of that actually gets better with age if stored properly. Black pu erh tastes very earthy, almost like dirt...but in a good way. Green is earthy as well but can also taste minty, smoky, camphor like, woody, or like wet leaves on a forest floor. Now, I'm certainly no expert, but those are the tastes I've experienced.
Sorry for the long comment, I tend to ramble on about tea. The blog looks good, keep up the good work!
I stand corrected, I looked further into it,as I hate to be wrong, and Pu-reh, the term, refers not to color but to the special processing that allows the tea to have a very long shelf life. Like a fine brandy, Pu-reh actually improves with age.
To create green Pu-reh the leaves are partially fired to stop enzyme activity but leave enough moisture to allow them to continue their slow oxidation over time.
Blac or cooked Pu-rehs like other black teas are allowed to fully oxidize before they are fired producing a dark, rich infusion.
So thank you dolo, for making me look into it further!
Thank you also for my first teablog compliment
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