Tea Adventures

This is a Communist country, which means you do not own anything,…

This is a Communist country, which means you do not own anything, everything belongs to the people / government. However the Grand Experiment did not work out, the country was in steep poverty and despair, so smartly, Chairman Deng kept his mouth shut until madman Mao died, and then instituted the ‘signal left but turn right’ policy. Quietly, everyone went back to capitalism. Somethings are eternal. The Chinese will always, for several thousand years now, do business, make money, grow tea, bribe very corrupt government officials. Vast corruption will never change. The word for official has two mouths. That means they have more say than you do.
You can buy property nowadays too, but you get to own it for 90, no wait, 50, no, wait, 60, years…? The regular Chinese person has lost track. The government changes policy constantly. I said that’s called ‘lease’, not ‘buy’, if you can only have it for a limited and ever changing amount of time. Besides, technically you still can not ‘own’ anything in China. You don’t own your own shirt.
When Confucius meets Karl Marx, watch out! Complete chaos is to put it lightly.
Above photo: the eternal blanket of grey smog completely smothering every city.

Heading out to Phoenix mountain, will hold my breath till then.

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Tea Adventures

Day 7 harvest of the White Peony King and Day 4 of the White Down…

Day 7 harvest of the White Peony King and Day 4 of the White Down (Baihao Yinzhen) costs doubled this year, due to huge sudden demand for place of origin leaves. Word got around on the health benefits. In China, it’s just the opposite: good tea taste comes first, health benefits second. Place of origin is really important, since ‘white teas’ from anywhere other than Fuding origin white varietals can not claim those benefits, nor taste.
My face turned a scorching black. So, do we not import white teas this year, or make zero or lose money ? Raise the price? Sure. The Chinese economy clips along at a forced slowdown to 9% growth in GDP, while the US is lucky is we get to 3% growth. That and the currency exchange and other woes, pretty much gives us the following options:
1. Sell fake white teas like other tea merchants
2. Increase the price so we break even
3. Not raise the price and lose money
4. Not sell any white teas

Unlike green teas where I have numerous regions to choose from ( we are not carrying Taiping Houkui until prices get back to reasonable), only real white tea is what we will carry.

Stay tuned, our final prices will come in in a few days.

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Tea Adventures

Seems like it might work-by Oct 5, the fall/winter Wuyi harvest…

Seems like it might work-by Oct 5, the fall/winter Wuyi harvest will begin. We might be able to do a combination China/Taiwan tour.
Wuyi, said Mr Zhang, is the kingdom of the snakes and paradise of the birds. I ran into a nice snake just around this waterfall, and very loud birds and cicadas were in constant concert. I still haven’t found the Wuyi martial arts school specializing in swords yet. Well, that’s my kind of trip, but Wuyi is comfortably enabled for tourists now, so safe to bring folks maybe!

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Rare Teas

Haven’t had Shui Jin Gui 水金龜 (water golden turtle), one of the 4…

Haven’t had Shui Jin Gui 水金龜 (water golden turtle), one of the 4 classic main Wuyi varietals, since almost a decade ago, nor have I tasted the 紫紅袍 Zi Hong Pao (purple red robe), a new varietal, ever. Wuyi Rock teas are literally grown on 3 cm of soil above their rocks underneath, but the rocks are soft and the tea roots dig them apart. Still, this high mineral content soil, old grove arbor style trees, lively water, and unique labor intensive production makes for the most complex, heaviest water, darkest tasting, longest lasting, tribute of a oolong tea ever.
I will have 5 kinds for audience tasting.

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Tea Adventures

The university tea majors come to intern at Mr. Zhang’s farm but…

The university tea majors come to intern at Mr. Zhang’s farm but he refuses. They only have theoretical and book knowledge, he says; then they attempt to lecture him. ‘Even worse, have you seen the tea books?’ I said I understand the sentiment. I can not bear to look at the books we carry at our teashop; if we did, we wouldn’t carry them and there will be no tea books for sale. I am referring to English tea books. Most Chinese tea books are at least accurate, if only too superficial for a dedicated tea master like Mr. Zhang. The tea books in English, now that’s painful. The authors don’t even try to get close to accuracy before they race to write a book. But here I rant bitterly again!

It’s really important how the stems are understood, said Mr. Zhang, for example. The stems carry the water that pushes the flavor and aromas out to the edges of the leaves. If the leaves are not dried quickly and properly without breakage，the water in the stems swell and flood and have no where to go. Properly dried leaves allow the 走水 water exit to be successful, swelling the veins in the backs of the leaves. All of this is entirely by very attentive, experienced handling. Mr. Zhang has a different specialist at every stage of production.
The interns, he said, has screwed up every batch of tea ever made, because of thinking that book learning was sufficient, and no one has told them about vital procedures like water exiting. He does not allow them back.

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