June Newsletter
Report from tea buying trip Spring 2009
The purchasing trip to China and Taiwan this year was extremely educational. It seems that China is growing and blazing past the infrastructure of the U.S. In Shanghai, we witnessed the most outrageously stunning architecture and high rises, with breathtaking style and display. Hong Kong was the most efficient city, but Shanghai was the most stylish. As for speed, the fastest train is now running there, faster than the bullet train of Japan. China is the new Captain Asia. Everywhere, demand for higher quality and better standard goods emerge, and as for tea, well, only the best need apply. The standard and taste and appreciation for tea was most definitely far in advance of what people drink in America. If the buildings in Shanghai make NYC look almost third world, the multitudes of blends and low quality teas generally accepted in the US make us look medieval.
I brought back some Nanjing Yu Hua (Rain Flower) tea for us to sample. Only the government at various levels is able to purchase this tea, as it is not only limited and expensive, it is one of the most difficult to craft. Mechanically mass produced Broken Orange Pekoes (BOPs) are what is most commonly served in the U.S. and Europe. Compare that with the Rain Flower tea that can only be shaped by hand on a wok fired to boiling 100 degrees C. Rolled into a pine needle shape, each fine tea bud must also be spine straight, resembling a knife edge and a hair point. To roll the tea buds into that shape, and without breakage, means only 10 artisans in China (and therefore the world) can accomplish it. It is fabulously subtle and has a clean, uplifting coating in the mouth. Mere double digit kilogram lots are made each year, and most of these teas never leave their locale. Even many mainland Chinese have never tasted it, but I think it's time for the American audience to experience this level of fine tea, as palates here are more and more demanding and discerning of fine cuisine and superior wines. The fact that mostly only inferior quality teas have been available is a result of commerce, lack of accessibility to remote boutique tea areas, and language and cultural challenges related to working with Asia.
But there is more. In Taiwan, merchants have become relegated to lower tier purchasers of tea. Corporate gift giving has taken priority. Business owners and managers purchase the top grade teas at the highest retail prices, giving gifts of tea that signify their taste, education, and cultural sophistication. Anyone can buy name brand goods, but only the true connoisseurs understand which are the finest teas. Taste is not duplicable! Li Shan Oolongs, for example, are pretty much exclusively bought up by major corporations and the Taiwanese government. Merchants have limited ability to purchase this tea now. Everywhere, only long standing, cultivated relationships can help gain access to the best teas in the most limited producing areas. We will continue to purchase these limited edition Li Shans, but also provide regular access to the highest elevation High Mountain Oolongs and other fantastic Taiwanese oolongs such as Baochong and Taiwan Beauty. No less handcrafted with care, the main difference is elevation and available mountain area on which various varietals are grown. Li Shan Oolongs are grown on at elevations going up as high as 2700 meters (over 8,800 feet), on steep, snowy cold mountains. High Mountain Oolongs from San Lin She, of the Nantou region, reach a mere 2,000 meters, and thus, are available to us for purchase! Of course, long term friendships with the farmers help.
Nanjing Yu Hua may not be available to us on a day to day basis, but a tea like Mao Jian, the Hairtip green tea, is also rolled to resemble a hair needle shape, though not to the perfection that the Rain Flower tea might achieve. Its taste is sweet and mildly grassy with a tremendously buttery brew, and miles better than coarse older leaves ground to bits and served as green teas in the marketplace.
Each spring harvest season, we don't only visit and select great teas for our audience, we continuously look for the next level of the best artisan teas made in the most boutique growing areas so that our palates will continue to elevate. In short, the American public deserves better than the fannings and low grade teas ubiquitously served in teabags. We believe it's time for fine tea in America. It's time our teas match the quality of our fine wines and cuisines!
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