Hat tip.

Location was Billie’s place this time and we had all the IT geeks plus Jillian, Jenny, and Roan.

Drinks and appetizers by Brian included a cocktail with Earl Grey infused vodka (infused the night before) and edamame. Salad by Joe had the always winning combination of pears and blue cheese (stichelton) over greens with a salad dressing which included Dragon Well green tea. Soup by Craig was a rice/tofu/toasted nori in a genmaicha broth. Entree by Elph was a rice dish with coconut milk, pineapples, and chopped Pu Erh leaves covered with grilled shrimp (or chicken for the allergic). Dessert by Billie was a sorbet made with Silver Needle tea and an ice cream that combined Jasmine Pearl with Lapsang Souchoung.

A few of our recipes came from the book The Story of Tea by Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss which I just finished reading and really enjoyed.

I won’t do a transcript of our time, though I did take some copious notes; just the highlights. Ben spoke calmly and reassuringly on the subject of tea and I was amazed that he restrained himself from falling into the complex details. He later said that one of the challenges of speaking about tea is understanding that the vast majority of people in the US find it frighteningly daunting.

Rishi Tea stays focused on acquiring quality tea as directly as possible from the producer. They also are very into organic – they have worked hard to get USDA certification on 95% of their products. Ben said that the tea that Rishi Tea selects is in the top 2% of the available tea and then by further restricting themselves to USDA organic certifiable they are choosing one-quarter of 1% of that 2%.

They also do a good deal of business on blending teas, often with herbal ingredients, which I wasn’t aware of. One of their most popular teas is the Jasmine Pearl.

We sampled Sencha, Golden Yunnan and Golden Yunnan Buds, Silver Needle, Iron Goddess of Mercy, Wu Yi, Pu Erh, and Jasmine Pearl – both hot brewed and cold brewed. All excellent, of course.

We drank some of the Jin Xuan yesterday at about 1.5 tsp to 8 oz at 180 for 3 minutes. I had been brewing it with less tea but following my recent tendency I decided to go strong. I got a stronger green tea presence in the flavor in addition to the (now) usual butter. (It’s kinda like butter – hard to describe, but it’s a full rich mouth flavor with a creamy feel.)

Doing some research on Jin Xuan online I find references to the butter taste and “intriguing” aroma. The varietal is a product of the Taiwan Tea Agricultural Research center from the 1960′s.

Jin Xuan金萱: In 1981, Jin Xuan was given its current name. Among the 18 recognized varietals that have been bred, Jin Xuan is number 12 (台茶12號). In the breeding process, it was also given 2027. If you ever go to Taiwan, you might hear farmers talking about 12 or 27. Both of these numbers refer to Jin Xuan, so don’t be confused. Jin Xuan yeilds 20 to 40% more tea per plant than Chin Hsin Oolong and Chin Hsin Da Pa. Its signature fragrance is like osmanthus (桂花香) or milk (奶香). I have not come across a genuine milky one for a long time. Some customers came in with some milk Oolong and said tea merchants told them the tea plant was watered with milk, which produced the milky taste. I have never seen or heard any farmers doing that. The amount of Jin Xuan plants grown is only next to Chin Hsin Oolong. Jin Xuan plant branches grow wider, and its leaves have an oval shape and are bigger than Chin Hsin Oolong. Jin Xuan is widely grown throughout Taiwan in elevations less than 1600 meters. Source: Floating Leaves Tea

I emailed Haymen and asked him about the tea and how it was so flavorful. He reported that the tea was made only a few months ago and that was one of the reasons for the strong flavor.

Had a yummy roasty Wuyi today thanks to Vanessa at the Deli. I believe it’s the Rishi organic wuyi but I’ll confirm that. (yup.) Brewed it at 2 tsp to 8 oz at 180 degrees for 3 minutes. Nice rich caramel color to the tea and a roasted barley nose and flavor with a sweet edge on the finish. Very drinkable and seems like it would be great with food.

Wuyi teas are from the north of Fujian and are characteristically twisted instead of rolled into balls like southern Fujian or the central or southern Taiwan teas we’ve been tasting. The leaves fully open by the second steeping.

The Green Dragon brewed up pretty strong at 3 tsp to 8 oz at 175 degrees for 3 minutes. The color was a rich golden, the aroma and taste were both powerfully floral and very satisfying. We went through 2 pots of it pretty quickly.

I’m starting to become a fan of brewing oolong stronger.

Factoids on Dong Ding: lightly oxidized, name refers to a place but also a process, high mountain grown, hand picked, hand rolled into balls, first planted in the 1800s, thought to be a strain of the Wuyi from China, one of the more famous teas of Taiwan.

Taste is slightly sweet, slightly floral. A bit grassy. Some metallic edge. We may have brewed too lightly… (1 tsp to 8 oz at 185 degrees)

ok, brewed up another pot at 3 tsp to 8 oz at 175 degrees for 3 minutes. It has body! Smooth and pleasant – the smoothness has a sweet quality without actually being sweet. a bit of dryness on the finish. round full flavor with some floral and greenness and a nice lasting sweet finish.

Pictured above is our trusty all glass teapot from the good folks at Rishi Tea. We’ve broken the inside glass tea strainer on a couple of them over the years but it just gives us some good cooling pitchers for when we’re making the Japanese teas that like 140 degree water!

Flying to a remote corner of India and braving the long drive into the Himalayas may seem like an awful lot of effort for a good cup of tea, but Darjeeling tea isn’t simply good. It’s about the best in the world…

Link: http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/travel/14Tea.html
PDF: nytimes_high_tea_indian_style_14oct07.pdf

The tea leaves are in pieces about the length of a staple and vary widely in color from whitish green to black and are lightly twisted.

Rohini is at an elevation of between 2500 and 5000 feet and is a relatively newly restored plantation with most of the plantings done since 1996.

The tew brews up a light golden brown color with a lightly fruity/floral aroma and a light clean taste with very low tannins and a nice lingering soft flavor.