Teas from China

China is the only country that manufactures all six main classes of tea - white, yellow, green, oolong, black and pu-erh.  All tea is derived from the same plant - the Camellia Sinensis plant.  There are different varieties of these plants that determine leaf size etc, but it is how the tea leaves are processed that determines what type of tea you are drinking.

This week I am tasting eight teas from China.  They include:  White Silver Needle, White Peony, Dragonwell (green), Ti Kuan Yin (oolong), Jasmine (green scented), Keemun (black), Puerh, and Lapsang Souchong (black tea smoked over green pine).

White teas are the least processed of all teas.  It is typically plucked when the leaf is very immature.  it still has the tiny white velvety hairs on the leaf and bud set.  Once plucked it is allowed to wither for a short time and then dried at vary low temperatures.  This is the most delicate of all teas, and has a delicate sweetness on the palate when sipped.  It is grown in the Fujian province of China.

White silver needle (Bai Hao Yin Zhen),  is the premium type of white tea.  Only the unopened bud set is used.  White peony (Bai Mudan) uses a mixture of the bud set mixed with the actual leaf.  The flavour is similar, but because of the leaf being included, it provides for a tea with a bit more body than the bud set only.  It is cheaper but also very good.

Green teas in China are typically pan fired.  This generally imparts a smokiness to the flavour of the tea to some degree.  Dragon well (Longjing) is pan fired in a wood charcoal stoked wok.  The tea maker presses the leaves against the side of the wok to get the flat leaf appearance typical of Longjing.  The smokiness in Longjing is fairly light and it is one of the better tasting Chinese green teas that I have tried to date (those being gunpowder, and an unknown Chinese pan fired in Tea 101). I'm not that keen on the smoke flavour.  Maybe it will grow on me as I taste more.

Oolong teas are semi oxidized teas.  They are oxidized anywhere from 20% to 80%.  In tea 101 and in the current module we tasted Tieguanyin.  The dried leaf is balled and generally has the stem attached.  The tea liquor is fairly light in colour - has a lime greenish tinge to it and the flavour is sweet with a lingering aftertaste of peaches.  This oolong is probably my favourite tea to date.

The Jasmine scented tea is a green tea that has been scented with Jasmine flowers.  It has a strong jasmine smell and flavour.  There are no flowers visible in the dry tea leaves.  A very pleasant tea.  Last month I made lemon and jasmine tea sorbet.  It was very good, but I think the lemon and the sugar was a bit overpowering in flavour.  Once I've tried a few more times and perfected the flavour to what I think is good I will post the recipe.  The original recipe was from Tea Magazine.

We then move into the dark fully oxidized teas.  Keemun (Hao Ya A) is a Chinese black tea from the Anhui Province.  It has a brisk full bodied flavour, but is lighter than the Assam Orthodox I had in Tea 101.  It also does not have that lovely molasses/caramel flavour that I love.  Overall it's a good black tea, with a touch of floral sweetness, and on the lighter side.

The Pu-erh tea was the same as the Tea 101 course.  Pu-erh is from the Yunnan Province in China.  Pu-erh tea has been protected by the Chinese government, and it can only be called Pu-erh if it is from that region.  If its produced anywhere else in the world it may not be called Pu-erh.  Pu-erh differs in that it is only partially dried and then it is piled and left to age - or compost if you will.  Pu-erh teas have a very earthy, mushroomy flavour.

Finally to round out the Chinese teas we tried Lapsang Souchong.  This tea is definitely an acquired taste that has not bee acquired by me.  I'm not sure I'll ever acquire this particular taste, but to tell you how it's made will give you a good indication of what it tastes like.  It is black tea that has been smoked over green pine wood.  So you know it is incredibly smokey in flavour.  OK if you like that.  But I'm not a huge fan.

So that is a summary of teas that I tasted this week!!  My top picks include the scented jasmine green tea, and the Tieguanyin Oolong tea (aka - Monkey Picked Oolong).