6 derniers grammes du Hung Shui de Shan Lin Shi ( Gao Shan Cha ) de Printemps 2010
( Tea Masters )
Derniers grammes de ce magnifique Hung Shui provenant des hauts sommets des montagnes de Shan Lin Shi & bénéficiant d'une cueillette printanière de l'année 2010 : fin, puissant, l'air pur de sa montagne natale insuffle de la force, de la vigueur et un sentiment de grande pureté à la liqueur combinés à une douce torréfaction maîtrisée des feuilles. Un équilibre des saveurs et des arômes, une harmonie succulente, des parfums au nez comme en bouche à n'en plus finir et surtout bien charpentés et évoluant...Bientôt toutes les papilles en redemandent; après chaque passage dans le ventre de la théière après chaque gorgée inévitablement le corps ressent les effets sains offerts par cet Oolong dans une énergie bien répartie. Un Nectar de Jouvence Taiwanais de 2010 en somme sur l'instant, comme Présent. Revigorant par son caractère fruité passant des saveurs acidulées d'un pamplemousse rose, à celles plus juteuses et sucrées d'oranges sanguines... A cette explosion d'agrumes suit le doux et la rondeur de la liqueur : des parfums et un gout de noisettes réchauffent les ardeurs printanières des fleurs & du fruit, des noix s'ajoutent à ce bouquet joyeux... Sa texture fine et gouleyante est légèrement huileuse apporte un sentiment de plénitude et du liant... Un Top Hung Shui de Haute Montagne, celui d'un Grand Terroir : celles des fameuses parcelles de Shan Lin Shi...
Première Infusion : 1 minute : 6 grammes : Xi Shi Modern Zhu Ni 16 cl utilisé ( 20 cl. Xi Shi Zhu Ni à plein ) Eau Mt Roucous 95 °C Glass Kettle .
3 ième infusion à 1'30
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Document FENG CHI HSIANG
Experience of Roasting Tea
Sipping a mouthful of fine sweet tea cleans us up from the worries in life and remains the flavor deep inside. What makes the teas great depends not only on tea farmers’ planting skills but also on the roasting process afterwards. With the goal of making good teas, either the planting process or the roasting process should be carefully taken care of. The prefect cooperation of the two processes leads to a fine outcome at the end.
Besides a sensitive nose, the tongue can “memorize” too.
I visited my friend’s studio one day, a relaxing fragrance filled up the air, and at ease he told me his tea-roasting story. “Every tea is unique because each one contains at least 200 essences; and the flavors come out differently under the results of different fermentations and roasting processes” said my friend. “And it somehow requires some ‘talents’ to take a step into this career,” he continued. “My nose has always been sensitive since I was little, and I can tell different smells apart even the objects are really far away from me. In the past we used to use firewood to heat the pots when we cooked, and my Mom sometimes asked me to take care of the pots when she was away. But I knew it was dangerous if I played right next to the firewood, so I kept a distance and I could still smell the food inside the pots when they were ready.” My friend can remember all the teas he has ever tasted or made, and he would not repeat the same mistake a second time again if he tastes a bad tea.
Roasting skills are piled up by both continuous tries and experiences from failures. Someone once asked my friend why he knows teas so well, he replied “probably I have learned about teas and had our relationships mingled together in my previous life, because there are still limits for me even I have my sensitive nose and mouth.”
The roasting process is really complicated; it requires one’s good physical condition and sensitive nose and mouth to complete the process. Also because teas themselves change easily, some unknown or new flavors and transformations may pop up in the process. As a consequence, there goes a saying “we drink tea even when we age, yet remember no name at the end.” There are tens of thousands of tea species around the world as well as the changes coming along with them. However, there seem to be no a complete reference book relating to teas so far. Although it is hard to understand all the teas thoroughly and the development of tea-roasting has no borders, we can still set up a standard tea-roasting process and learn from our tries.
The roasting process matters – it distinguishes primarily and completely made teas.
As a Chinese saying goes “When drink water, think of its source,” which means we should be grateful and never forget where we come from. Similarly, it would be nice for us to know where good teas come from when we drink them. The following are the basic background information regarding to the making of teas. The tea making processes include farming, fertilizing, weeding, plucking, drying and processing, which so far compose the primarily made teas. It is fine to drink primarily-made teas, which also share the name “maocha,” yet the flavors change when we drink. In the next process, the flavors of primarily-made teas are changed or stabilized through roasting, thus come the completely-made teas. The completely-made teas fit the customers’ appetite more because the quality of tea leaves are better and the teas taste better too; moreover, the flavors of completely-made teas can be changed variously according to different preferences. On the other hand, some primarily-made teas are sold directly to the markets while some others are sent to professional tea makers for roasting. In the past, it was more common for tea stores to roast teas themselves yet the modern ones do not follow it now; also there are not that many people who know the roasting process well either.
The tea-making skills can be classified but the tea-roasting process cannot. There is a standard procedure for tea-planting; and managements and improvements can be applied during the process. However, the same case does not happen to the tea-roasting process; because the changes take place in the invisible roasting machines and it takes us time to wait until it finishes completely so that we can check. Since it is merely possible to take a look at the teas every now and then and the teas may change greatly even within ten minutes, as a consequence, experiences, sensibility and lessons learned from failures are required to roast teas well. Gifts is not what it only takes to succeed in roasting teas, efforts and applications of experiences matter as well; and they can only be learned by oneself but not taught by others.
One Step Further into Tea Roasting
Only the outcome of roasted teas can be seen but not the process. My friend really appreciates a lesson taught by an old tea-making master—“it takes time to contemplate when roast teas”—and I do too. It is true because, for example, the temperature and time should be set up properly in advance. When teas are finished roasting, we compare the products with the original plans and see if they are correspondent; if failed, then we go back to find out the factors and try again. It is okay to roast a second time again or to try all over from the beginning; yet it still takes continuous efforts to improve and make a progress.
During the tea-roasting process, it is possible to take a step back and start again in some degree, but it is impossible to go back to the very beginning or the original condition. Let me explain through the three tea juice colors—first green, then yellow and finally red. When the teas turn from green to yellow, they can still change back to green but of course not the original one; while when the teas eventually turn to red, it is impossible to change back to green but only yellow. Besides the three color stages, another feature of teas is that each color of tea juice is unique and can fit different appetites. Yet no matter how unique the tea is, it still has to follow the principle of not doing harm on human body and the tea quality should be stable.
In theory, the tea leaves grow older as the roasting process goes. However, the experience following provided is an exceptional: My friend once roasted some organic teas for eight or nine times, in total about eighty hours, then the flavors finally came out and the leaves were not scorched. Why? Because the main function to roast teas is to change the organic materials “in” tea leaves; so temperature matters more than time does. If temperature does not go beyond a certain spot, then tea leaves do not change. Once again, it still requires experience and concentration to roast teas well.
As I mentioned earlier, the roasting process starts after the teas are made into primarily-made ones. Therefore, it is important to know about the primarily-made teas well before we roast them, then further to choose the proper roasting time length and temperature, and finally to predict the changes that may come along together. In fact, it is necessary to acquire the knowledge about primarily-made teas in order to roast them; and the roasting process should be adjusted according to different plucking seasons, temperature and moisture conditions. Due to the differences, there are no two kinds of teas can be roasted in the same way.
The juice of freshly-roasted teas is simply like water, without color or flavor but a sweet taste, which is considered to be pure juice. Later the colors and flavors appear when the fresh completely-made teas are placed still for three to seven days; and this is called tea tempering. The roasted teas can also be put inside pots to develop new flavors. If the temperature of burning the pots is lower than the air outside, there will be some space remained in the pots themselves so that the temperature and moisture inside will be stable and no air can come in or go out through the pots. In other words, the inside of the pots can still be dry even it is humid outside. Moreover, the flavors of teas may change completely if they are placed in the pots for a year. Yet still, bad teas will not change to be better ones at the end even if they are left there for ten years; so the tea quality matters.
Good Teas Should not Only Smell Good but Also Taste Good
Generally, teas smell good; but only the teas that also taste good do they have real good smells. Teas have two kinds of fragrances—the surface fragrance, which is temporary, and the fermented fragrance, which is permanent. The surface fragrance is the smell of the common canned teas sold in stores nowadays. They smell good when they are first produced, but the flavors change once the cans are opened; in other words, the quality is not stable. However, the tea leaves after being roasted have more stable flavors; they smell good and taste sweet. The cooler the teas are, the sweeter they are.
There are many flower fragrances of teas according to different species; for example, jasmine, orchid, osmanthus and magnolia… etc. Besides the flower fragrances, teas can also be produced into smells of fruit fragrances, honey fragrances and alcohol fragrances due to different degrees of roasting, or more specific the fermentation of primarily-made teas.
Selling and buying teas are not merely commercial behaviors; it is a way to educate people. To tell weather primarily-made teas are good ones or not only takes simply a stir of a spoon; but to see the potentials of teas takes years of efforts to earn. Just like picking up good watermelons, it takes only a clap to choose the good ones. To sum up, experience matters.
The Happiness Comes Along with Teas
I remember how we usually enjoyed teas when I was little—a lot of friends gathered to chat and have snacks together; we were so busy talking and no one touched the teas even they were placed on the table for a long while. Finally we got to drink the dark colored teas which tasted brisk and bitter; yet the sweetness surprisingly appeared in my mouth after ten minutes. Then I finally realized that teas should be brewed before we have them. Nowadays we have the so-called tea-boiling culture aimed at brewing good teas; however, in the past, we simply brewed teas at ease, no matter how heavy or light the teas were.
There are many stories about teas; and they are sometimes sanctified while also sometimes disfigured. As a Chinese saying goes “firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy-bean sauce, vinegar and tea,” which stands for the seven daily necessities, teas are placed at the last position and only considered to be a “decoration” in life. In my opinion, I want to provide people with a new perspective to see teas and further to get to know about teas. The tea cultures we have today is the results of accumulations step by step; and every tea culture has its unique geographical and humanistic backgrounds. The main purpose of my promotion is to develop a long-term friendly relationship between teas and our environment.
I was once invited to a dinner meeting, and the host treated us some tea. I was curious about the fine tea I had, so I asked the host where the tea came from and how come it still tasted so good even after being brewed for six or seven times. He modestly told me he made the tea himself, and he would like to be the only customer himself if there had been this kind of fine tea running in the market; he wanted to enjoy the tea but not to sell the tea.
The joy of life lies everywhere and they can even be found on the smallest pieces; it is just a matter of how we see the small things around us. Simply the share of a pot of fine tea with our friends and family can bring out happiness among each other and further make our life more lovely and interesting.
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