Tea and Cookies (2 page)

In recent years, the romance of tea has returned with a renewed interest in fine teas sold by boutique tea merchants, mirroring the consumer’s interest in better coffee and wine. Teas with the flavors of spices, herbs, and fruits have brought new audiences to this ancient drink. Tea-rooms, many serving afternoon tea meals, are now vying with coffee bars as community gathering places.

TYPES OF TEA

The production of tea is similar to wine, as the soil, climate, time of harvest, handling, processing, and other factors all contribute to the quality of the final product. All tea is produced from the leaves (and sometimes buds) of a single evergreen plant related to the magnolia,
Camellia sinensis
. It is how the leaves are processed after picking that gives the tea its color and main flavor characteristics.

Freshly picked tea leaves.
istock Tea Hands ©istockphoto.com/blowbackphoto

When tea leaves are picked, they will eventually change color, the same way that cut fruit darkens when exposed to oxygen. Controlling the extent of oxidation, along with fermenting, rolling, crushing, and drying the leaves, are all ways to vary the flavor of tea leaves. Another important factor is when the tea leaves are harvested. The growth of shoots on the tea plant is called a “flush.” The first flush, considered the best for varieties such as Darjeeling, occurs in the spring, when only the youngest leaves are harvested. The subsequent second (summer) and third (late summer or autumn) flushes yield stronger leaves with harsher flavors.

There are five major categories of tea. In order of complexity of processing (which generally translates into depth of flavor), they are white, green, oolong, black, and pu-erh. Within these groups are presentation teas, blends, and flavored teas. Although the term “herbal tea” is commonly used to describe a beverage made from the leaves, bark, root, flowers, or twigs of plants, this is incorrect, as only beverages made from
Camellia sinensis
leaves are truly tea. I have included them because most people don’t make the distinction.

Here are brief explanations of each kind of tea, with some of my personal favorites that are representative of the particular style.

WHITE TEA

The least processed of the five major teas, white tea contains the youngest leaf tips and buds of tea plants. Unlike other teas, which are heated or oxidized, the fuzzy tea leaves are only air-dried, which retains the silvery white “down” that gives the tea its name.

Originally a specialty of the Fujian province of China, white tea is now harvested as well in other tea-producing regions, such as Darjeeling and Assam. These teas are always served plain in order to savor the very delicate and subtle flavor. Some white tea, known as artisan or presentation tea, is processed for visual appeal—the dried buds are tied together with osmanthus or other blossoms to create a bouquet that will unfurl in hot water. In order to see the transformation, brew this tea in a glass pot. White tea is often prepared in a series of short infusions, allowing the flavor to develop slowly.

Top left,
Silver Needles;
bottom right,
Pomegranate Bai Mu Dan.

Brewed Inner Blossom Osmanthus, an artisan-style white tea.

S
ILVER
N
EEDLES
, from Fujian, has long, thin, curled leaves that retain their silvery-white fuzzy surface, and is the top grade of Chinese white tea.

B
AI
M
U
D
AN
, the second grade of Chinese white tea, is also known as White Peony.

GREEN TEA

The leaves for green tea are never oxidized, so the vegetal, even grassy flavor is very close to the original leaf. First, the leaves are steamed to halt oxidation and set the verdant color, then they are rolled, spread out, and dried by more applied heat. Japan uses a hot-air process that ensures a delicate flavor. However, in China the leaves are often heated on a hot surface in a process called “firing,” curling the leaves into an elon-gated shape and giving the brewed tea a deeper richness. The processing of green tea, from steaming to the final drying, takes only about three hours. Green tea can be sweetened, but it should not be served with milk.

Clockwise from top left:
Dragonwell, Matcha, Genmaicha, sencha.

Chinese Green Tea

Green tea accounts for about two-thirds of Chinese tea production, and is often graded according to time of harvest, similar to the flush system. The First Spring crop collects only the plant buds in April; Second Spring includes some leaves in early June; and Third Spring harvests in July, but most of the flavor has been depleted, so the tea is used for mass-market consumption. Some Chinese green teas:

D
RAGONWELL
is visually identified by its long, wide leaves, which are kept intact by careful hand-firing. One of the classic Chinese teas, and a favorite of the emperors, it is still served at special occasions—it is the tea that Mao Tse-tung offered to Richard Nixon. Dragonwell is named for the town of its origin (Longjing, or Lung Ching in Chinese), which legend says had a water spring that was home to a dragon.

G
UNPOWDER
also has a distinctive shape, its leaves hand-rolled into pellets that resemble military gunpowder. Its fairly strong flavor makes it a good green tea to try if you are a black tea fan. Much of the gunpowder tea production is shipped to the Middle East and Morocco, where it is often brewed with peppermint.

G
REEN
S
NAIL
is sometimes sold by its Chinese name, Bi Lo Chun. Only the first two leaves and buds are hand-picked during the First Spring harvest, and, when dried, they take on the curly snail shape that gives the tea its name.

Japanese Green Tea

So much green tea is consumed in Japan that only 2 percent of the product is exported. The famous tea ceremony (
chanoyu
), a ritualized presentation and serving of matcha tea, was refined and popularized sometime in the fifteenth century by Murata Juko, the Zen priest who is considered the first Tea Master. Today, the intricacies of this tranquil ceremony are still studied and practiced not just in Japan, but by its admirers all over the world. The following list names some Japanese green teas that you are likely to find at a well-stocked tea shop.

S
ENCHA
is the most common Japanese green tea, made from the first and second flushes. It is known as “broiled” tea because the tea plants are grown in full sunlight. My local tea shop makes a big fuss over the arrival of their shipment of the very first picking,
shincha
.

B
ANCHA
is grown from the same plant as sencha, but the third and fourth flushes are used instead. The late harvesting lowers its quality, but also its price, making it the everyday tea for many green tea drinkers.

G
ENMAICHA
is sencha that has been flavored with puffed brown rice kernels, giving the tea a popcornlike aroma and mild nutty flavor. Many Japanese restaurants serve genmaicha to accompany their food.

G
YOKURO
, the highest grade of Japanese tea, starts out as sencha, grown in full sunlight. But two weeks before the harvest, the plants are covered and protected from light, which changes their flavor while it increases their caffeine content. Gyokuro requires a special brewing method—use water only heated to about 140°F, and steep the leaves for about 90 seconds. Because the tea will not be piping hot, be sure to warm the teapot and cups with hot water before brewing and serving. Its name translates to “Jade Dew,” which refers to the light green color of the brewed tea.

H
OJICHA
, “roasted tea,” is bancha (or sometimes sencha) leaves heated in a porcelain pot over charcoal, which gives it a roasted flavor. This process also naturally removes some of the caffeine, which is why some people choose hojicha as their bedtime tea.

M
ATCHA
, green tea leaves ground into a talclike fluorescent green powder, is used in the
chanoyu
ceremony, where it is whipped with hot water into a froth with a special bamboo whisk. Matcha can also be added to desserts (especially ice cream and custards) and some savory dishes (such as soba noodles) as a flavoring and coloring.

OOLONG TEA

The leaves for oolong tea are partially oxidized, giving the brew a flavor that has some of the bite of black tea, while retaining a bit of the grassiness of green tea. The amount of oxidation, from 10 to 80 percent, is determined by the producer. Oxidation also brings out the tea’s fruity notes, evident in the aroma of brewed oolong tea. The leaves can be long and curled, or rolled into pellets. The most famous Chinese oolongs are from the high elevations around Wuyi Mountain in the Fujian province, but Taiwan is also known for its oolong, and some Indians give their Darjeeling the oolong treatment.

Unlike many other teas, which become bitter if brewed too long, oolong tea improves with multiple brewings. The first two steepings are mild, but the flavor increases and blooms with the third and fourth steepings. The best way to enjoy oolong’s nuances is without sugar or milk. The following list identifies a variety of oolong teas:

Top left
, Formosa Milk;
bottom right
, Phoenix Dan Cong.

D
A
H
ONG
P
AO
(Big Red Robe or Royal Red Robe) is one of the most famous oolong teas from Fujian province. Its very large leaves are highly oxidized to give the tea a mild astringency similar to black tea.

I
RON
G
ODDESS
(Tie Guan Yin in Chinese) is probably named for an iron statue of the goddess of compassion. It is not very heavily oxidized, and has a light color and flavor. If designated “monkey-picked,” that does not mean that it was literally harvested by chimpanzees. There is a legend that Buddhist monks trained monkeys to pick the youngest leaves from plants growing on cliffs that were inaccessible to humans, but today the term means that only the most delicate leaves were used to produce the tea.

P
HOENIX
D
AN
C
ONG
hails from the area around Phoenix Mountain in the Quangdong region of China.
Dan cong
means “single bush,” a highly regarded strain of tea plant that has been cultivated for more than seven hundred years. Quangdong teas have very distinctive fruit and floral aromas, such as melon, peach, and magnolia.