World of Tea

The United States League of Tea Growers

2013-06-18T23:54:02Z

The United States League of Tea Growers had it’s founding meeting on June 8, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the World Tea Expo. The meeting was attended by several tea growers and many influential people in the tea industry. Nigel Melican and Jason McDonald headed up the meeting in hopes to get a group together for:

Building up plant husbandry knowledge
Developing best practice processing know-how
Developing appropriate automation
Product and process innovation
Trials related to US conditions
Access to cultivars specific to US requirements
Generic promotion of US grown teas
Collaboration and information sharing
Access to information resources
Development and promotion of agritourism

All of these things are sure to excite even the novice tea enthusiast. The competition is building around the world as more countries are beginning to experiment with tea production with the UK, New Zealand, and Australia being the most notable. If you are a tea grower in the United States and you would like more information on the United States League of Tea Growers, here are a few ways you can reach the group until the website is launched: LinkedIn / Facebook / Twitter or sign up for the mailing list here.

The meeting begins with many influential tea professionals in attendance.

Jason McDonald of FiLoLi tea farm in Mississippi kicks off the meeting with a map of where tea is currently being grown in America.

Nigel Melican of TeaCraft explains the viability of growing tea in the United States.

James Norwood Pratt tells us that “The time is now.”

In this photo: Nigel Melican (speaking), Richard Sakuma (tea farmer, WA), Bill Hall (tea farmer, SC), Eva Lee (tea farmer, HI).

Video from the meeting:

The slide-deck from the founding meeting:

US League of Tea Growers from Tony Gebely

How to Store Tea Leaves Between Steepings

2013-06-02T13:46:08Z

This is a question that I see often on r/tea. After speaking with several people, I believe I can shed some light on this issue. What I think is happening is that the ideals of Eastern steeping methods are mixing with Western steeping methods. This is a huge generalization, but here is how the two stlyes shake out:

Eastern Steeping: The tea leaves are steeped repeatedly with very small amounts of water for very short amounts of time, traditionally in a gaiwan or a smaller yixing pot that holds less than 1 cup of water. Also the ratio of leaves to water is higher with Eastern methods than with Western methods. This is the foundation of gongfu styles of tea preparation.

Western Steeping: The tea leaves are steeped in a larger vessel that holds several cups of water once or twice, for longer amounts of time.

When you hear people speaking of re-steeping, or bragging about how many steeps they are able to get out of a single portion of tea leaves they are usually referring to Eastern methods and because you are only producing a small amount of tea liquor and because the ratio of leaves to water is higher, you can move through several steepings rather quickly and storing the leaves between brewing isn’t an issue, they just sit in the steeping vessel (after all of the water has been decanted) until the next steeping.

Where this becomes confusing is when people try to use these methods on larger vessels with lower ratios of tea to water – perhaps an entire English size tea pot meant to hold 4 or more cups of water, or an Adagio branded tool called an ingenuiTea which holds 2 cups . In this case, if re-steeping is to be attempted, the tea drinker may want to wait many hours or even an entire day before re-steeping.

What I’m saying here is that, even if a high ratio of leaves to water is used for steeping tea in large quantities, the amount of tea you are making is so great, that hours will pass until you are ready for the next pot.

The truth is, once you steep leaves once and several hours pass, there is no good way to store them without diminishing the quality of the liquor they will produce. I’ve put really expensive leaves in the fridge overnight to try the next day, I’ve tried to dry them out and re-steep them the next day… but as James Norwood Pratt says… doing so, you’ll end up producing a tea that “tastes like the tea has become a ghost of itself.” So if you think you are unable to use the tea leaves to their maximum potential in a single day, try this: throw them in some cold water and put the water in the fridge overnight, decant in the morning and you should have a pleasant iced tea.

Nevertheless — here’s what I do at work for steeping: I bought a finum steeping basket (the only tea steeping device you’ll ever need in my opinion) that takes up almost all of the inside of my coffee mug. I put 3-5 grams of ball-style oolong (Dong Ding, Tiequanyin, LiShan, etc) in it, steep it for about 1-2 mins, put the leaves aside, drink it, then repeat it throughout the day, I am able to use the same leaves multiple times throughout the day, and when the day is done, I throw out the leaves. So I guess by the definitions in this post, my work habits are halfway in between Eastern and Western steeping methods.

What do you think? Is there a great way to store leaves between steepings, or is this simply Eastern ideals meeting Western methods?

Photo Credit: Black Pot | Yellow Gaiwan

The Average Color of Tea

2013-05-12T21:54:23Z

This is a composite image from photos of 85 different teas spanning green, yellow, white, oolong, black, and post-fermented teas. The “average color of tea” if you will.

What is a varietal tea?

2013-05-12T15:29:41Z

The word varietal is one that is often misused in the tea world (and also in the wine world). It is often erroneously used interchangeably with the word variety. Here’s the correct definition:

Varietal (adj) – a varietal tea is one that was made from a single variety of Camellia sinensis.

Correct usage: Tieguanyin is a varietal tea made from the ‘Tieguanyin’ cultivar (remember cultivar means “cultivated variety“) of Camellia sinensis.

Incorrect usage: Tieguanyin is made from the Tieguanyin varietal of Camellia sinensis.

Tea Varieties and Cultivars

2013-04-21T16:51:22Z

Plants are classified hierarchically by their division, class, subclass, order, family, genus, and species. They are also classified by variety and cultivar when necessary. Here’s how the tea plant shakes out:

Division -> Magnoliophyta
Class -> Magnoliopsida
Subclass -> Dilleniidae
Order -> Theales
Family -> Theaceae
Genus -> Camellia
Species -> Sinensis
[Source: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=Casi16]

Since we’ll only be dealing with the varieties and cultivars of the genus Camellia and the species sinensis we’ll leave out the higher level classifications and just start with Camellia sinensis for the sake of simplicity throughout the rest of this post. When notating plant names, there is a standard nomenclature we’ll use defined as follows:

Genus species var. variety ‘Cultivar’

Here is an example notation using the above nomenclature for a popular Japanese cultivar called Yabukita:

Camellia sinensis var. sinensis ‘Yabukita’

Breaking apart our sample notation, the genus is Camellia, the species is sinensis, the variety is sinensis, and the cultivar is Yabukita.

However, at times, the variety from which the cultivar came is not known, or may be a hybrid between several varieties. In this case, the following notation is also acceptable:

Camellia sinensis ‘Yabukita’

Some confusion arises with the fact that a cultivar is simply a cultivated variety, meaning that someone has recognized variations in a plant and has cultivated it to maintain these variations. The plant is still a variety, but because we’re cultivating it, we call it a cultivar. We know that in the tea world, cultivars are created from one of the main varieties or hybrids between the main varieties of Camellia sinensis used for tea production: sinensis, assamica, and parvifolia. This is why we sometimes see a variety and a cultivar listed for tea plants — when a plant exhibits variation within a variety, and is cultivated to maintain this variation, we end up with both a variety and a cultivar.

Simply put, varieties are found naturally in the world, once we propagate them for their variance, they become cultivars.

Many popular tea styles are actually processed cultivars with the same name, Tieguanyin and Dahongpao are two examples of this.

Tea Chemistry

2013-03-19T01:43:39Z

Tea chemistry is complex. Just how complex? Well, on the bush, tea leaves contain thousands of chemical compounds, when they are processed, these compounds break down, form complexes and form new compounds. When we steep tea leaves, our senses are tingled by the thousands of volatile compounds (collectively known as the “aroma complex”) from the tea liquor and the thousands of non-volatile compounds and the complexes between them, not all of which are water soluble, and the ones that are water soluble are soluble at a function of the properties of the water used for steeping like temperature, total dissolved solids, pH, etc. So all of this makes it very difficult to generalize and say that x chemical is responsible for y taste. Many tea chemicals have been categorized into broad groups, and collectively we have some idea of what happens to these groups during processing and what flavors and aromas they are responsible for. As tea gains popularity, there is no doubt that more research will be done on tea chemistry and we’ll have a clearer picture of what is going on chemically from the field to the cup.

Plant leaves are made up of mostly water, and when they are removed from the plant they begin to wilt and lose water. Tea leaves are no exception to this, in the field, they are made up of mostly water, when they are plucked the leaves begin to wilt, we call this process withering in the tea industry. As tea leaves wither, their cell walls begin to break down and the chemical components inside come in contact with one another and with oxygen, a reaction called oxidation. Over the years, tea producers have learned to control the natural tendency of tea leaves to wither and oxidize in order to produce a finished tea that has a desirable appearance, aroma, flavor, and taste using methods we’ll refer to as tea processing.

Amazingly, for hundreds of years tea masters have produced wonderful teas using principles of withering and oxidation with no knowledge of the underlying chemistry. From what we know today, the most important compounds in fresh tea leaves responsible for producing made teas with desirable appearance, aroma, flavor, and taste are polyphenols, amino acids, enzymes, pigments, carbohydrates, alkaloids, minerals and many volatile flavor and aromatic compounds. These components undergo changes during tea processing to produce what we’ll call a ‘finished’ or ‘made’ tea – one that has been processed and is ready for packaging or steeping. Let’s take a look at each of these compounds beginning with the most abundant, polyphenols.

Polyphenols
In steeped tea, polyphenols are largely responsible for astringency. The term polyphenol simply refers to a categorization of compounds composed of many phenolic groups, hence the name poly-phenol. These compounds are plant metabolites produced as a defense against insects and other animals and are the most abundant compounds in tea comprising as much as 30-40% of both freshly plucked tea leaves and solids in tea liquor¹. They are derived from amino acids via sunlight and therefore tea grown in the shade has a smaller concentration of polyphenols and a higher concentration of amino acids². The bud and first leaf have the highest concentration of polyphenols and polyphenol levels decrease in each leaf moving down the plant³. There are an estimated 30,000 polyphenolic compounds in tea⁴, flavonoids are arguably the most important group of polyphenols in tea and are the source of the many health claims surrounding tea, and specifically tea antioxidants. Within the flavonoid group, flavanols (also known as flavan-3-ols) are the most prevalent. Flavanols are also referred to as tannins, and during oxidation are converted to theaflavins and thearubigins—the compounds responsible for the dark color and robust flavors notably present in black teas. The major flavanols in tea are: catechin (C), epicatechin (EC), epicatechin gallate (ECG), gallocatechin (GC), epigallocatechin (EGC), and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is the most active of these catechins and is often the subject of studies regarding tea antioxidants. Tea flavanols are sometimes collectively referred to as catechins. Besides flavanols, tea flavonoids also include flavonols, flavones, isoflavones, and anthocyanins; all of which contribute to the color of a tea’s infusion and its taste.

Amino Acids
Amino acids give tea its brothiness, or umami taste. Tea leaves contain many amino acids, the most abundant of which is theanine. Camellia sinensis and a mushroom called Boletus badius are the only two natural sources of theanine found thus far in nature. In the tea field, sunlight converts amino acids to polyphenols, and as such; shade grown tea contains more amino acids than tea grown in direct sunlight. Some tea bushes are even deliberately shaded for several weeks before harvest to enhance the tea’s amino acid content. Theanine, more specifically L-Theanine is responsible for promoting alpha brain wave activity which promotes relaxation. L-Theanine in concert with caffeine can induce a state of “mindful alterness” in the tea drinker. In steeped tea, amino acids make up 6% of the extract solids¹.

Enzymes
Polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase are the most important enzymes in tea leaves. They are responsible for the enzymatic browning of tea leaves that takes place when the cell walls in the leaves are broken and the polyphenols are exposed to oxygen – otherwise known as oxidation. These enzymes may be denatured or deactivated using heat so that browning cannot occur; this is one of the first steps in green tea production and is why finished green tea leaves remain green. The enzymes may also be denatured by simply depriving them of moisture for a time which is what happens during the long withering period in white tea production.

Pigments
Plant pigments are responsible for absorbing light for photosynthesis. Pigments also give leaves their color. There are two major groups of pigments in fresh tea leaves: chlorophylls and carotenoids. These pigments condense during withering and oxidation and become darker. During oxidation, the green color of tea chlorophylls is converted to black pigments known as pheophytins. This conversion leads to the dark appearance of finished oxidized teas. Tea carotenoids are another pigment group found in tea leaves and are mainly composed of carotenes which are orange and xanthophylls which are yellow and are also responsible for the color of finished tea leaves.

Carbohydrates
All plants store energy formed during photosynthesis in starches and sugars, otherwise known as carbohydrates. Plants later use this stored energy to fuel important reactions, in tea, carbohydrates help to fuel the enzymatic reactions that take place during oxidation and are also responsible for the creation of polyphenols in young tea leaves. Carbohydrates make up on average 11% of extract solids in steeped tea¹ and lend to its sweetness.

Alkaloids
Alkaloids in tea include the stimulant caffeine and two similar compounds: theobromine and theophylline. The tea plant creates these chemicals as a natural combatant towards insects and other animals. On average, alkaloids in tea leaves make up 2% to 5% of the dry weight of the fresh leaves⁵. These alkaloids are also responsible for imparting a bitter taste in a tea infusion. Alkaloid levels depend on the varietal and cultivar of Camellia sinensis used, terroir (climate, geology, geography, , age of the leaves, and the propagation method (seed vs. cutting) used on the plant thus alkaloid levels can only be generalized from tea to tea.

Minerals
28 mineral elements have been found in the tea flush⁵. Compared to other plants, tea has a higher than average amount of: fluorine, manganese, arsenic, nickel, selenium, iodine, aluminum, and potassium⁵. Tea also has an unusually high amount of fluorine, which has been known to help prevent tooth decay in humans, however too much fluorine can be harmful. It is important to note that fluorine occurs in greater amounts in older tea leaves. Tea minerals vary greatly with each harvest and change greatly during processing.

Volatiles
The volatile substances in tea leaves are largely responsible for a tea’s flavor and aroma. The aroma complex of tea is made up of hundreds (maybe even thousands) of flavor and aroma compounds that exist in trace amounts. Many of these aromatic compounds do not exist in fresh tea leaves and are derived from other substances during processing. The flavor and aroma of each tea depends on a wide variety of combinations of these compounds, hence the name aroma complex. Compounds such as, linalool and linalool oxide are responsible for sweetness; geraniol and phenylacetaldehyde are responsible for floral aromas; nerolidol, benzaldehyde, methyl salicylate, and phenyl ethanol are responsible for fruity flavors; and trans-2-hexenal, n-hexanal, cis-3-hexenol, and b-ionone are responsible for a tea’s fresh flavor⁶. When studying tea’s aroma complex, it is sometimes broken into two parts: primary aroma (from fresh tea leaves) and secondary aroma (products of manufacture). Regardless, more and more research is being done on tea volatiles and how our olfaction system works in general, so we may expect some clarity on this issue in the coming years.

Sources:

Harbowy, Matthew E., and Douglas A. Balentine. “Tea Chemistry.” Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 16, no. 5 1997: 415–480
Ercisli, Sezai, Emine Orhan, Ozlem Ozdemir, Memnune Sengul, and Neva Gungor. “Seasonal Variation of Total Phenolic, Antioxidant Activity, Plant Nutritional Elements, and Fatty Acids in Tea Leaves Grown in Turkey.” Pharmaceutical Biology 46 (2008): 683–687
Bhatia, I.S. “Composition of Leaf in Relation to Liquor Characteristics of Made Tea.” Two and a Bud 83 (1961): 11–14.
Uncovering the secrets of tea – http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2012/11/tea-health-benefits
Zhen, Yong-su. Tea: Bioactivity and Therapeutic Potential. London: Taylor & Francis, 2002
“Tea Chemistry – Tocklai”. Tocklai Tea Research Association, n.d. http://www.tocklai.org/activities/tea-chemistry/

Where tea is grown in the United States

2013-03-16T13:55:37Z

Is tea grown in the United States? It sure is! American grown tea is growing in popularity. Tea farms have been popping up all around the country, here’s a run-down of what we’ve got so far (this post will be updated periodically):

Farms currently producing US grown tea:

Alabama
Fairhope Tea Plantation – [article]

South Carolina
Charleston Tea Plantation – [website]

Hawaii
Ahualoa – [website]
Big Island Tea – [website]
Cloudwater Tea Farm – [website]
Mauna Kea – [website]
Moonrise Tea – [website]
Na Liko – [website]
Onomea Tea – [website]
Tea Hawaii & Company – [website]

Michigan
Light of Day Organics – [website] [article]

Oregon
Minto Island Growers – [website] [article] [article]

Washington
Sakuma Brothers – [website]

Still working out the kinks:

Mississippi
FiLoLi Tea Farm – [website] [article]

California
Roy Fong of Imperial Tea Court’s Farm – [article]

Canada (had to mention it)
Teafarm [website]

Vancouver, BC
BC Tea Growers Society – [website]

Any others you know of? Let me know!

Tea in Michigan

2013-03-02T18:06:20Z

Katie and I were attending a wedding in Traverse City, Michigan last fall and while heading to Sleeping Bear Dunes, we made an awesome discovery. We happened upon a small tea shop called “Light of Day Organics” – we were surprised to learn that the owner, Angela Macke not only grows 240 different ingredients for her tea blends, but also has been growing Camellia sinensis since 2005! We were able to see the several varieties plants that she had in the greenhouse adjacent to her tea shop, unfortunately we did not have enough time to see her plants in the ground that have been growing since 2005. Here’s a few shots of what we saw:

While Angela currently only processes her tea into white tea to be used in her many blends, we were able to get a few leaves from her to try. I described the liquor as a delicate white tea, tasting sweet but not floral, reminiscent of pears, closest to a Yunnan Bai Hao Yinzhen. Here are what the leaves looked like:

If you are in the Northern Michigan area, be sure to meet up with Angela, she’s got a lot of good things happening on her farm!

Simple Classification Rules for Finished Tea

2013-04-21T17:10:58Z

Tea has been categorized many ways: by the color of the finished leaves, the color of the tea liquor, and by the percentage of oxidation the tea has gone through during processing. I recognize 7 major types of tea as they relate to the processing methods that created them: green, yellow, white, oolong, black, post-fermented, and post-processed. If you are reading a book that doesn’t recognize yellow tea or any of the post-fermented teas, please burn it immediately. Under each tea type of tea are tea styles that can be loosely categorized by the variations in processing each style undergoes, these styles can also vary based on the variety of the plant being used and it’s terroir (soil, climate, altitude, latitude). Put simply using green tea as an example, green tea is a type and the different kinds of green tea are styles.

Examples:
Type – Green / Style – Bi Luo Chun (China)
Type – Green / Style – Longjing (China)
Type – Green / Style – Giddapahar Green Delight (India)

So what I’m saying here is that tea is first defined as a type by a set of core processing steps it undergoes, then as a style by variations in those processing steps, by variety, then by terroir. I add terroir last because the same variety may be cultivated (when a variety is cultivated, it is called a cultivar) in several different regions. For more on cultivars and varieties, see this article.

Want one more layer of complexity? Sure you do. The same exact finished tea can exhibit different characteristics based on the time of year harvested. Most growing regions in India have 4 distinct growth periods or flushes. You can have the same type, style, and terroir, but different harvest seasons.

Examples:
Type – Black / Style – FTGFOP / Terroir – Margaret’s Hope Estate, Darjeeling India / Harvest – 1st Flush
Type – Black / Style – FTGFOP / Terroir – Margaret’s Hope Estate, Darjeeling India / Harvest – 2nd Flush
Type – Black / Style – FTGFOP / Terroir – Margaret’s Hope Estate, Darjeeling India / Harvest – Monsoon Flush
Type – Black / Style – FTGFOP / Terroir – Margaret’s Hope Estate, Darjeeling India / Harvest – Autumnal Flush

Traditionally, tea styles require a specific processing method, cultivar and terroir. Over time, many old definitions have changed to become broader (like white tea and pu-erh). Demand for teas defined by tiny processing areas or rare varietals brought about clones and the clones meant that the definitions changed over time. Some people still hold that a tea must adhere to the original definition to be authentic and “best.” Bai Hao Yin Zhen (“White Hair Silver Needle”) is an example of this, some hold that unless this tea is made from the “Da Bai” cultivar of Camellia sinensis grown in Fuding, Fujian China, it is not truly Bai Hao Yin Zhen — what then would you call this same tea grown in Yunnan? China lacks a formal appellation system to protect tea names and terroirs so it’s basically a free for all.

Beginner’s Guide to Steeping Japanese Green Tea

2013-02-11T00:52:33Z

Did you know that green tea is the most popular type of tea in Asia? It’s the most consumed tea in China, and Japan practically specializes in it.

Steeping Japanese green tea isn’t particularly difficult, you just have keep some points in mind.

Aren’t Japanese and Chinese green teas the same?

There is one major difference: the fixing process, which is known as “kill-green” in China. With a few exceptions, Japanese green teas are steamed while Chinese green teas are pan fired. For this reason, there is a great difference in the flavor, aroma, and color of the liquid.

There are a lot more factors to take into account: cultivars, terroir, shaping process (note that Japanese tea is mostly needle-shaped), time of harvest, picking method, and even cultural differences (teaware for example), among others.

Hence, Japanese green tea should be steeped differently than Chinese green tea.

Getting started

In cooking, there’s not an absolute standard recipe, each person has his own taste. It’s the same with tea, you steep it according to your preference. However, you should follow a recommended method at first. After learning the basics, you can then make adjustments as you see fit.

If you make an online search, you’ll see many different resources on how to steep Japanese green tea. How to choose which one to start with?

I suggest that you do as in Japan: follow the recommendations by the Nihoncha Instructor Association. It’s a non-profit organization that certifies tea instructors in Japan, and has a considerable authority when it comes to Japanese tea steeping guidelines.

Bear in mind that there are many types of Japanese green teas, and different grades for each. This results in different guidelines for each.

To avoid confusion, I’ll list general guidelines for bancha, sencha and gyokuro. That will give you a good starting point.

Steeping Guidelines

A basic rule of thumb is that the higher the quality of the green tea, the less temperature and volume of water you should use. The steeping time, on the other hand, will increase as a consequence of the lower temperature.

The reasoning behind this is that higher-grade Japanese green teas are more delicate, and thus require lower temperatures when steeping. Boiling water will quickly make the tea become bitter and lose all it’s complex yet subtle flavor.

You’ll also need less water to fully appreciate it’s taste. This also goes in hand with using smaller cups, a good tea is to be drank slowly and in small amounts.

Gyokuro

Recommended teaware: Houhin/shiboridashi teapots, and small cups.

Steeping guidelines:

For 3 people, use 10 gr of loose leaf, 60 ml (2 oz) of water at 50°C ~ 60°C (122°F ~ 140°F), and steep for 2 to 3 minutes.

For 1 person, use 4 gr of loose leaf and 20 ml (0.66 oz) of water.

Sencha

Recommended teaware: small or medium sized kyusu (depending on number of people), medium sized cups.

Steeping guidelines:

For 3 people, use 10 gr of loose leaf, 180 ml (6 oz) of water at 70ºC (158ºF), and steep for 1 to 1.5 minutes.

For 1 person, use 4 gr of loose leaf, and 60 ml (2 oz) of water.

Note: The above is for high-grade sencha. For lower sencha grades, use a higher temperature (about 10ºC more), and a bit more water. The steeping time should be no longer than a minute.

Bancha (also includes genmaicha and houjicha)

Recommended teaware: dobin or medium/large kyusu (depending on number of people), big enough cups, preferably thick because it is steeped with boiling water.

Steeping guidelines:

For 5 people, use 15 gr of loose leaf, 600 ml (20 oz) of boiling water, and steep for 30 seconds.

For 1 person, use 4 gr of loose leaf and 120 ml (4 oz) of boiling water.

Final tips

If you are using larger cups, don’t worry. Make adjustments according to the volume of water that your cup can hold.
You can use a thermometer at first, and in time you will get the feel for the right water temperature. A common method is to start with boiling water, and then cool water to the desired temperature by pouring it into a different container. This ways the temperature will decrease by about 10 degrees Celsius each time.
Use the highest quality of water possible. It directly affects the taste of your tea.