blacktea

Balhyocha is a tea unique to Korea - it's not produced anywhere else - and its rich and varied flavor profiles are also unique, not quite like any other teas we've tasted here at Talking Tea. But for many tea drinkers, even afficianados of balhyocha, it's also rather mysterious. What exactly is balhyocha? How is it processed? What gives it its unique, lovely complexity?

To explore these questions we're chatting with Eric Glass, who, with Arthur Park, runs the annual TeaBuy Korea at Morning Crane Tea. Eric talks with us a bit about his own tea journey and how we came to discover Korean tea and in particular balhyocha, and then we delve into what balhyocha is and what it isn't. We discuss what defines balhyocha and what makes it difficult to categorize, we talk about the subcategory of balhyocha known as hwangcha or "yellow" tea (not to be confused with Chinese yellow tea), we discuss flavor profiles of balhyocha and we look at comparisons with oolongs and black tea or hongcha. We look at the origins of Korean tea cultivars and the impact of seed-grown versus clonal bushes, terroirs and processing techniques unique to balhyocha on the flavor profiles and body-feel of the teas.

In addition to the TeaBuy Korea, Eric ran Morning Crane's tea tour to Korea in 2023, and we discuss some of the challenges Eric saw tea producers encountering and the uncertain future they're facing. Eric also shares his perspectives on why Korean teas in general and balhyocha in particular aren't widely known outside of Korea, and he makes some recommendations for what kind of cups to use to best enjoy balhyocha.

 

Morning Crane's website is at morningcranetea.org.

The Korean Tea Drinkers Facebook page is here.

In addition to his work with Morning Crane, Eric Glass has his own tea company, The Fragrant Cup. Though The Fragrant Cup's website is currently being redesigned, for info about Fragrant Cup's offerings you can contact Eric directly at Tea@fragrantcup.com.

Follow Talking Tea on Instagram at talkingteapodcasts.

Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. 

more about Talking Tea 

 

The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.

 

This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

Episode image of the Dosim Dawan tea gardens, discussed in the episode, by Eric Glass. Adapted from original.

Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

早安~第90集上線了哦 有好多好多早餐在這裡 在我們最熟悉的早餐店裡 不管你睡得多晚起得多晚 對啊對啊對啊對啊~~~ For the Night is Dark and Full of Terrors 你準備好大喊 Abulasika 一起迎接挑戰了嗎？！ == 時間軸 00:00 自我介紹( 我想吃早餐！) 00:42 特別警告( 睡太晚、早餐午餐一起吃、跟不吃早餐的人歡迎你來聽哦！ ) 03:18 CeKarez把買早餐搞得很有儀式感 08:26 Pozi都看當天心情來決定早餐要吃什麼 08:58 阿嗚覺得蛋餅是一家店的靈魂 12:31 喝個豆漿紅茶毛也很多的阿嗚 15:10 高雄烘蛋堡強力推薦！ 16:58 油條原來可以沾米漿吃 21:14 一日之計在於晨，早餐開啟一天的人 24:20 挑戰 == 歡迎大家到我們的 IG 上留言分享你喜歡吃什麼早餐？ Abulasika IG : https://www.instagram.com/abulasika/

Green Tea is a popular antioxidant seen everywhere today. Allie Might, INHC, AADP, ATT dives into the benefits of adding this to your diet

Take advantage of an exclusive podcast offer today by visiting http://www.invitehealth.com/podcast.

For more information on the products or studies mentioned in this episode, as well as a complete transcript of the audio, click here

Today on Talking Tea we're exploring a tea origin and tea culture we haven't yet visited on the show. Turkish tea isn't widely known outside of Turkey, even though Turkey is a significant tea producer and has one of the largest per capita tea consumption rates in the world. To introduce us to this unique tea and tea culture, we're joined by Aimée Lévesque, owner and founder of Le bruit de l'eau, an online and brick-and-mortar tea house located in Rimouski, Quebec.

Aimée tells us about her own tea journey and the impetus for her starting a tea house in her home town of Rimouski, located on the St. Lawrence River about 500 km northeast of Montreal. And then we delve into Turkish tea. We discuss the history of tea production in Turkey, from early attempts at tea growing to the establishing of tea agriculture in the Rize region of northeastern Turkey, as well as the influence of Georgian tea and the use of assamica and sinensis cultivars in tea production. We chat about Turkish tea culture, which is ubiquitous in Turkey, the uses and benefits of the uniquely shaped Turkish tea glasses, and methods of brewing Turkish tea, especially in the traditional tea pot known as a çaydanlık.

More information about Le bruit de l'eau, including the location of the teahouse, its online store and special event info, is at its website, lebruitdeleau.ca.  You can also find Le bruit de l'eau on Instagram at lebruitdeleau  and on Facebook at salondetherimouski. 

The article on design and aestheics in Turkish tea glasses Aimée references in the episode is at design-and-semantics-of-form-and-movement-desform-2010-november-3.

Nilgün Yalçın, the Turkish tea educator Aimée mentions, is on Instagram at @nnilgunyalcin. 

The tea we're drinking in the episode is Hemşın Çayı from Çaykur.

 

Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.   

more about Talking Tea 

Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.

 

The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.

 

This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

 

Image of Turkish tea served in glasses, courtesy of Aimee Levesque.

Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

Green tea is often touted for its health benefits, but did you know that black tea also possesses supportive nutrients such as theaflavins? These are polyphenols that can help fend off inflammation, as well as viruses and bacteria.

Take advantage of an exclusive podcast offer today by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast or by clicking here.

For more information on the products or studies mentioned in this episode, click here. 

台灣茶聞名全球，在台灣，每個人幾乎都有一口茶經～ 不過，真正親臨茶山，跟著茶農學做茶，卻有另一番體會。 可知道野放茶？茶葉採收之後會進行哪些步驟？所謂的委凋、走水等字眼，代表哪些含義呢？ 跟著葉子一起看看吧～ 下一集，將帶大家日常漫步，探訪生活在高雄錦田路的他們～ ＠ FB : 葉子的漫遊者世界 / IG：flaneurleafwalk @ 節目單元：出國玩、品風土、日常散策、Hiking吧、小島迷 ＠7月17日起，每週六早上10:10:10上傳新節目 @ 企劃主持：葉思吟 ｜ 製作團隊：Arielle & Dook ｜ 封面繪圖：黃怡㛙 ｜ 圖像合成：施婉婷

夏日炎炎正好眠，下午紅茶真好食。在這個夏天炎熱的時候，管你是下午拿著假掰的高級西洋茶具還是從冰箱拿出冰鎮過後的冷泡紅茶，都是清爽解暑的好方法，但不論你是喜歡哪一種紅茶模式，紅茶在世界上影響力實在是非常廣，而夏天，又是享受紅茶最好的時候！

The taste in Fresh

 

Today’s episode Sesame Street is brought to you by the number 4 and the letter T...wait, nope. This is Totally Tell Me Everything and we’re talking about tea. The kind you drink, silly.

We couldn’t record a show about tea without having some of it while we talked. right? What were we drinking? Sarah made herself a glass of iced green tea with honey, and Bryn had hot peach tisane.

 

Question 1: What is it about tea that you are into?

 

Bryn starts us off by talking about the appeal of the ritual of tea, informed by her daily tea-drinking husband’s deep thoughts about this caffeinated beverage: “Tea is MOMENT. Tea is a respite in your day. It’s a moment of quiet and mindfulness and contemplation or just resting and not doing. It’s a moment for just being.”

 

Herbal teas/tisanes are Bryn’s jam these days, as she tries to avoid caffeine. She likes iced tea with flavored simple syrups that she makes herself.

 

Sarah first became interested in tea thanks to everyone’s favorite bald Starfleet hottie, Captain Picard, thanks to his iconic order: Tea, Earl Grey, Hot, even though Sarah likes to drink Lady Grey better than the Captain’s fave. 

 

But her big tea love is British High Tea!

 

• She got into this in when she was just out of college. She and her girlfriends would go about once a month and try out different tea rooms around LA, from the Valley to Orange County. 
• While in London on their honeymoon, Richard and Sarah went to have High Tea at Harrods of London. It did not live up to her expectations. :(
• A better tea experience, however, was at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood in 2004, when Sarah and her mom enjoyed a special tea-movie special event. The movie was Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. The theater rented out a dining space in the upper levels of Hollywood and Highland, for an Afternoon Tea Seating. After the film (which she loved), they were escorted across the street, up stairs and into this ballroom space with round tables all set with the traditional tea service 3-tiered tray. On walls and columns were costumes, photos and paintings from the movie. And seven Disney princesses walked around and visited your table, and you could go visit Ariel in her grotto. It was the BEST. Check out pics from Mouseplanet! (Side note: Stan Lee did not limit his cameos to just Marvel films. He has a rather disturbing cameo in this film!)
• Education Corner: Low Tea vs. High Tea

 

Question 2: What we want to learn about/deep dive?

 

Sarah was determined to find out where tea comes from and why there are different types. Her research came from a book! 

 

Some highlights:

 

• All tea comes from ONE PLANT, no matter the type. A single species of plant Camellia sinensis.  An evergreen shrub that has small white aromatic flowers. The leaves of this plant create tea when processed correctly! 
• Processing is what creates the different types. If you pluck the leaves off the plant and throw them in boiling water, you get a bitter beverage. The process has 5 stages:
  • Step 1: Withering - the leaves and buds are softened on large racks in a heated room or air-dry in the sun. Starch in leaf begins to convert to sugar, moisture content drops. WHITE TEA uses mostly the white buds, and maybe a leaf.
  • Step 2: Rolling - leaves are now soft and pliant and can be rolled - this twists and crushes the leaves and releases sap and stimulates fermentation. (GREEN TEA is immediately heated and dried, and does not go under the next Oxidation step)
  • Step 3: Oxidation - VIP b/c here is where the flavor and value are determined. Rolled leaves are placed on trays at a 1-2” thickness, then left in a cool damp place for 1-3 hours to oxidize. This causes a chemical reaction which heats the leaves. If the temp gets too high, the leaves taste burned. Too low and you have a metallic aftertaste. Oxidation makes leaves turn from green to copper. (OOLONG tea is partially oxidized (about 60%, then goes to next 2 stages.) 
  • Step 4: Drying - Oxidizes leaves are dried with hot air on a conveyer belt, which stops the fermentation process and turns the leaves the characteristic dark brown or black. 
  • Step 5: Grading/Sorting - Sorted into leaf grades based on size. Whole leaf produces the finest quality tea, dust size are used for the quick-brewing tea bags. 
• Herbal Teas, Rooibos and Yerba Mate do NOT come from this Camellia Sinensis, and we should be calling them “tisanes” (rhymes with “inane” and “brynane”), a medicinal drink or infusion.

 

Sarah also wanted more info on the origin of British Afternoon Tea. It’s fascinating!

 

• Thanks, Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, for the tea, coffee and freedom.

 

Bryn’s deep dive this month was shallow, as she sought the answer to the question: Is sun tea actually dangerous?

 

• Bryn was an ‘80s kid, and her mom made a lot of sun tea
• Verdict: Snopes says don’t do it: Tea steeped in a jar on your porch doesn’t get hot enough to kill the beasties in the water or the tea.

 

Question 3: What are you excited about regarding tea?

 

Sarah and Bryn are both all about the vessels!

 

• Bryn brought out an array of some of her favorite cups for drinking tea
  • Miss Piggy, Tony Brown, Unurth ceramics, 

 

• Sarah shared a new-found story behind her mom’s tea set: a vintage 1960s Japanese Somayaki Green Double Wall Tea Pot with 4 cups, a creamer and sugar bowl from Matsunaga Ceramics Shop.
  • The heart shape cut outs represent plovers (Chidori) - a species of wading bird. Notice the wavy brush pattern below? That represents waves. This combination of plovers and waves is called Nami-Chidori in Japanese, and is a common motif in Japanese arts.  
• She’s just so tickled that this tea set she grew up with turns out to have such history! 

 

•  
•  
•  

 

Final Thought

 

Sarah says tea is a moment, but it also creates a memory, whether it calls you back to an amusingly disappointing Harrods experience or a precious time with family from long ago. 

 

For Bryn, tea is another way to perform self care in a time when life seems to move too quickly. 

 

And perhaps the best final thought came from Eleanor Roosevelt (Or did it?):

 

A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong it is until it is in hot water. 

Eleanor Roosevelt

 

We hope you’ll come sit by us next month when we tackle another topic on Totally Tell Me Everything. Ta-ta!

 

About Totally Tell Me Everything

 

Two friends, one fun topic, three burning questions = lots of fun conversation! Each month we pick a topic and ask each other three questions about it - we learn about the subject, our past and each other. So come sit by us and we'll totally tell you everything!

 

How To Listen on the Go:

 

Listen now and leave a Review on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Google Podcasts | RSS

 

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a podcast rating and review!!

 

Social Media

 

• Instagram: http://instagram.com/totallytellmeeverything
• Sarah: http://instagram.com/jeditink
• Bryn: https://www.instagram.com/brynane/
• Join the Skywalking Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/488002904732240/

 

Subscribe to the Skywalking Network Newsletter

 

Today’s episode Sesame Street is brought to you by the number 4 and the letter T...wait, nope. This is Totally Tell Me Everything and we’re talking about tea. The kind you drink, silly.

We couldn’t record a show about tea without having some of it while we talked. right? What were we drinking? Sarah made herself a glass of iced green tea with honey, and Bryn had hot peach tisane.

 

Question 1: What is it about tea that you are into?

 

Bryn starts us off by talking about the appeal of the ritual of tea, informed by her daily tea-drinking husband’s deep thoughts about this caffeinated beverage: “Tea is MOMENT. Tea is a respite in your day. It’s a moment of quiet and mindfulness and contemplation or just resting and not doing. It’s a moment for just being.”

 

Herbal teas/tisanes are Bryn’s jam these days, as she tries to avoid caffeine. She likes iced tea with flavored simple syrups that she makes herself.

 

Sarah first became interested in tea thanks to everyone’s favorite bald Starfleet hottie, Captain Picard, thanks to his iconic order: Tea, Earl Grey, Hot, even though Sarah likes to drink Lady Grey better than the Captain’s fave. 

 

But her big tea love is British High Tea!

 

• She got into this in when she was just out of college. She and her girlfriends would go about once a month and try out different tea rooms around LA, from the Valley to Orange County. 
• While in London on their honeymoon, Richard and Sarah went to have High Tea at Harrods of London. It did not live up to her expectations. :(
• A better tea experience, however, was at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood in 2004, when Sarah and her mom enjoyed a special tea-movie special event. The movie was Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. The theater rented out a dining space in the upper levels of Hollywood and Highland, for an Afternoon Tea Seating. After the film (which she loved), they were escorted across the street, up stairs and into this ballroom space with round tables all set with the traditional tea service 3-tiered tray. On walls and columns were costumes, photos and paintings from the movie. And seven Disney princesses walked around and visited your table, and you could go visit Ariel in her grotto. It was the BEST. Check out pics from Mouseplanet! (Side note: Stan Lee did not limit his cameos to just Marvel films. He has a rather disturbing cameo in this film!)
• Education Corner: Low Tea vs. High Tea

 

Question 2: What we want to learn about/deep dive?

 

Sarah was determined to find out where tea comes from and why there are different types. Her research came from a book! 

 

Some highlights:

 

• All tea comes from ONE PLANT, no matter the type. A single species of plant Camellia sinensis.  An evergreen shrub that has small white aromatic flowers. The leaves of this plant create tea when processed correctly! 
• Processing is what creates the different types. If you pluck the leaves off the plant and throw them in boiling water, you get a bitter beverage. The process has 5 stages:
  • Step 1: Withering - the leaves and buds are softened on large racks in a heated room or air-dry in the sun. Starch in leaf begins to convert to sugar, moisture content drops. WHITE TEA uses mostly the white buds, and maybe a leaf.
  • Step 2: Rolling - leaves are now soft and pliant and can be rolled - this twists and crushes the leaves and releases sap and stimulates fermentation. (GREEN TEA is immediately heated and dried, and does not go under the next Oxidation step)
  • Step 3: Oxidation - VIP b/c here is where the flavor and value are determined. Rolled leaves are placed on trays at a 1-2” thickness, then left in a cool damp place for 1-3 hours to oxidize. This causes a chemical reaction which heats the leaves. If the temp gets too high, the leaves taste burned. Too low and you have a metallic aftertaste. Oxidation makes leaves turn from green to copper. (OOLONG tea is partially oxidized (about 60%, then goes to next 2 stages.) 
  • Step 4: Drying - Oxidizes leaves are dried with hot air on a conveyer belt, which stops the fermentation process and turns the leaves the characteristic dark brown or black. 
  • Step 5: Grading/Sorting - Sorted into leaf grades based on size. Whole leaf produces the finest quality tea, dust size are used for the quick-brewing tea bags. 
• Herbal Teas, Rooibos and Yerba Mate do NOT come from this Camellia Sinensis, and we should be calling them “tisanes” (rhymes with “inane” and “brynane”), a medicinal drink or infusion.

 

Sarah also wanted more info on the origin of British Afternoon Tea. It’s fascinating!

 

• Thanks, Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, for the tea, coffee and freedom.

 

Bryn’s deep dive this month was shallow, as she sought the answer to the question: Is sun tea actually dangerous?

 

• Bryn was an ‘80s kid, and her mom made a lot of sun tea
• Verdict: Snopes says don’t do it: Tea steeped in a jar on your porch doesn’t get hot enough to kill the beasties in the water or the tea.

 

Question 3: What are you excited about regarding tea?

 

Sarah and Bryn are both all about the vessels!

 

• Bryn brought out an array of some of her favorite cups for drinking tea
  • Miss Piggy, Tony Brown, Unurth ceramics, 

 

• Sarah shared a new-found story behind her mom’s tea set: a vintage 1960s Japanese Somayaki Green Double Wall Tea Pot with 4 cups, a creamer and sugar bowl from Matsunaga Ceramics Shop.
  • The heart shape cut outs represent plovers (Chidori) - a species of wading bird. Notice the wavy brush pattern below? That represents waves. This combination of plovers and waves is called Nami-Chidori in Japanese, and is a common motif in Japanese arts.  
• She’s just so tickled that this tea set she grew up with turns out to have such history! 

 

•  
•  
•  

 

Final Thought

 

Sarah says tea is a moment, but it also creates a memory, whether it calls you back to an amusingly disappointing Harrods experience or a precious time with family from long ago. 

 

For Bryn, tea is another way to perform self care in a time when life seems to move too quickly. 

 

And perhaps the best final thought came from Eleanor Roosevelt (Or did it?):

 

A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong it is until it is in hot water. 

Eleanor Roosevelt

 

We hope you’ll come sit by us next month when we tackle another topic on Totally Tell Me Everything. Ta-ta!

 

About Totally Tell Me Everything

 

Two friends, one fun topic, three burning questions = lots of fun conversation! Each month we pick a topic and ask each other three questions about it - we learn about the subject, our past and each other. So come sit by us and we'll totally tell you everything!

 

How To Listen on the Go:

 

Listen now and leave a Review on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Google Podcasts | RSS

 

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a podcast rating and review!!

 

Social Media

 

• Instagram: http://instagram.com/totallytellmeeverything
• Sarah: http://instagram.com/jeditink
• Bryn: https://www.instagram.com/brynane/
• Join the Skywalking Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/488002904732240/

 

Subscribe to the Skywalking Network Newsletter

 

Today’s episode Sesame Street is brought to you by the number 4 and the letter T...wait, nope. This is Totally Tell Me Everything and we’re talking about tea. The kind you drink, silly.

We couldn’t record a show about tea without having some of it while we talked. right? What were we drinking? Sarah made herself a glass of iced green tea with honey, and Bryn had hot peach tisane.

 

Question 1: What is it about tea that you are into?

 

Bryn starts us off by talking about the appeal of the ritual of tea, informed by her daily tea-drinking husband’s deep thoughts about this caffeinated beverage: “Tea is MOMENT. Tea is a respite in your day. It’s a moment of quiet and mindfulness and contemplation or just resting and not doing. It’s a moment for just being.”

 

Herbal teas/tisanes are Bryn’s jam these days, as she tries to avoid caffeine. She likes iced tea with flavored simple syrups that she makes herself.

 

Sarah first became interested in tea thanks to everyone’s favorite bald Starfleet hottie, Captain Picard, thanks to his iconic order: Tea, Earl Grey, Hot, even though Sarah likes to drink Lady Grey better than the Captain’s fave. 

 

But her big tea love is British High Tea!

 

• She got into this in when she was just out of college. She and her girlfriends would go about once a month and try out different tea rooms around LA, from the Valley to Orange County. 
• While in London on their honeymoon, Richard and Sarah went to have High Tea at Harrods of London. It did not live up to her expectations. :(
• A better tea experience, however, was at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood in 2004, when Sarah and her mom enjoyed a special tea-movie special event. The movie was Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. The theater rented out a dining space in the upper levels of Hollywood and Highland, for an Afternoon Tea Seating. After the film (which she loved), they were escorted across the street, up stairs and into this ballroom space with round tables all set with the traditional tea service 3-tiered tray. On walls and columns were costumes, photos and paintings from the movie. And seven Disney princesses walked around and visited your table, and you could go visit Ariel in her grotto. It was the BEST. Check out pics from Mouseplanet! (Side note: Stan Lee did not limit his cameos to just Marvel films. He has a rather disturbing cameo in this film!)
• Education Corner: Low Tea vs. High Tea

 

Question 2: What we want to learn about/deep dive?

 

Sarah was determined to find out where tea comes from and why there are different types. Her research came from a book! 

 

Some highlights:

 

• All tea comes from ONE PLANT, no matter the type. A single species of plant Camellia sinensis.  An evergreen shrub that has small white aromatic flowers. The leaves of this plant create tea when processed correctly! 
• Processing is what creates the different types. If you pluck the leaves off the plant and throw them in boiling water, you get a bitter beverage. The process has 5 stages:
  • Step 1: Withering - the leaves and buds are softened on large racks in a heated room or air-dry in the sun. Starch in leaf begins to convert to sugar, moisture content drops. WHITE TEA uses mostly the white buds, and maybe a leaf.
  • Step 2: Rolling - leaves are now soft and pliant and can be rolled - this twists and crushes the leaves and releases sap and stimulates fermentation. (GREEN TEA is immediately heated and dried, and does not go under the next Oxidation step)
  • Step 3: Oxidation - VIP b/c here is where the flavor and value are determined. Rolled leaves are placed on trays at a 1-2” thickness, then left in a cool damp place for 1-3 hours to oxidize. This causes a chemical reaction which heats the leaves. If the temp gets too high, the leaves taste burned. Too low and you have a metallic aftertaste. Oxidation makes leaves turn from green to copper. (OOLONG tea is partially oxidized (about 60%, then goes to next 2 stages.) 
  • Step 4: Drying - Oxidizes leaves are dried with hot air on a conveyer belt, which stops the fermentation process and turns the leaves the characteristic dark brown or black. 
  • Step 5: Grading/Sorting - Sorted into leaf grades based on size. Whole leaf produces the finest quality tea, dust size are used for the quick-brewing tea bags. 
• Herbal Teas, Rooibos and Yerba Mate do NOT come from this Camellia Sinensis, and we should be calling them “tisanes” (rhymes with “inane” and “brynane”), a medicinal drink or infusion.

 

Sarah also wanted more info on the origin of British Afternoon Tea. It’s fascinating!

 

• Thanks, Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, for the tea, coffee and freedom.

 

Bryn’s deep dive this month was shallow, as she sought the answer to the question: Is sun tea actually dangerous?

 

• Bryn was an ‘80s kid, and her mom made a lot of sun tea
• Verdict: Snopes says don’t do it: Tea steeped in a jar on your porch doesn’t get hot enough to kill the beasties in the water or the tea.

 

Question 3: What are you excited about regarding tea?

 

Sarah and Bryn are both all about the vessels!

 

• Bryn brought out an array of some of her favorite cups for drinking tea
  • Miss Piggy, Tony Brown, Unurth ceramics, 

 

• Sarah shared a new-found story behind her mom’s tea set: a vintage 1960s Japanese Somayaki Green Double Wall Tea Pot with 4 cups, a creamer and sugar bowl from Matsunaga Ceramics Shop.
  • The heart shape cut outs represent plovers (Chidori) - a species of wading bird. Notice the wavy brush pattern below? That represents waves. This combination of plovers and waves is called Nami-Chidori in Japanese, and is a common motif in Japanese arts.  
• She’s just so tickled that this tea set she grew up with turns out to have such history! 

 

•  
•  
•  

 

Final Thought

 

Sarah says tea is a moment, but it also creates a memory, whether it calls you back to an amusingly disappointing Harrods experience or a precious time with family from long ago. 

 

For Bryn, tea is another way to perform self care in a time when life seems to move too quickly. 

 

And perhaps the best final thought came from Eleanor Roosevelt (Or did it?):

 

A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong it is until it is in hot water. 

Eleanor Roosevelt

 

We hope you’ll come sit by us next month when we tackle another topic on Totally Tell Me Everything. Ta-ta!

 

About Totally Tell Me Everything

 

Two friends, one fun topic, three burning questions = lots of fun conversation! Each month we pick a topic and ask each other three questions about it - we learn about the subject, our past and each other. So come sit by us and we'll totally tell you everything!

 

How To Listen on the Go:

 

Listen now and leave a Review on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Google Podcasts | RSS

 

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave a podcast rating and review!!

 

Social Media

 

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Today’s episode Sesame Street is brought to you by the number 4 and the letter T...wait, nope. This is Totally Tell Me Everything and we’re talking about tea. The kind you drink, silly.

We couldn’t record a show about tea without having some of it while we talked. right? What were we drinking? Sarah made herself a glass of iced green tea with honey, and Bryn had hot peach tisane.

 

Question 1: What is it about tea that you are into?

 

Bryn starts us off by talking about the appeal of the ritual of tea, informed by her daily tea-drinking husband’s deep thoughts about this caffeinated beverage: “Tea is MOMENT. Tea is a respite in your day. It’s a moment of quiet and mindfulness and contemplation or just resting and not doing. It’s a moment for just being.”

 

Herbal teas/tisanes are Bryn’s jam these days, as she tries to avoid caffeine. She likes iced tea with flavored simple syrups that she makes herself.

 

Sarah first became interested in tea thanks to everyone’s favorite bald Starfleet hottie, Captain Picard, thanks to his iconic order: Tea, Earl Grey, Hot, even though Sarah likes to drink Lady Grey better than the Captain’s fave. 

 

But her big tea love is British High Tea!

 

• She got into this in when she was just out of college. She and her girlfriends would go about once a month and try out different tea rooms around LA, from the Valley to Orange County. 
• While in London on their honeymoon, Richard and Sarah went to have High Tea at Harrods of London. It did not live up to her expectations. :(
• A better tea experience, however, was at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood in 2004, when Sarah and her mom enjoyed a special tea-movie special event. The movie was Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. The theater rented out a dining space in the upper levels of Hollywood and Highland, for an Afternoon Tea Seating. After the film (which she loved), they were escorted across the street, up stairs and into this ballroom space with round tables all set with the traditional tea service 3-tiered tray. On walls and columns were costumes, photos and paintings from the movie. And seven Disney princesses walked around and visited your table, and you could go visit Ariel in her grotto. It was the BEST. Check out pics from Mouseplanet! (Side note: Stan Lee did not limit his cameos to just Marvel films. He has a rather disturbing cameo in this film!)
• Education Corner: Low Tea vs. High Tea

 

Question 2: What we want to learn about/deep dive?

 

Sarah was determined to find out where tea comes from and why there are different types. Her research came from a book! 

 

Some highlights:

 

• All tea comes from ONE PLANT, no matter the type. A single species of plant Camellia sinensis.  An evergreen shrub that has small white aromatic flowers. The leaves of this plant create tea when processed correctly! 
• Processing is what creates the different types. If you pluck the leaves off the plant and throw them in boiling water, you get a bitter beverage. The process has 5 stages:
  • Step 1: Withering - the leaves and buds are softened on large racks in a heated room or air-dry in the sun. Starch in leaf begins to convert to sugar, moisture content drops. WHITE TEA uses mostly the white buds, and maybe a leaf.
  • Step 2: Rolling - leaves are now soft and pliant and can be rolled - this twists and crushes the leaves and releases sap and stimulates fermentation. (GREEN TEA is immediately heated and dried, and does not go under the next Oxidation step)
  • Step 3: Oxidation - VIP b/c here is where the flavor and value are determined. Rolled leaves are placed on trays at a 1-2” thickness, then left in a cool damp place for 1-3 hours to oxidize. This causes a chemical reaction which heats the leaves. If the temp gets too high, the leaves taste burned. Too low and you have a metallic aftertaste. Oxidation makes leaves turn from green to copper. (OOLONG tea is partially oxidized (about 60%, then goes to next 2 stages.) 
  • Step 4: Drying - Oxidizes leaves are dried with hot air on a conveyer belt, which stops the fermentation process and turns the leaves the characteristic dark brown or black. 
  • Step 5: Grading/Sorting - Sorted into leaf grades based on size. Whole leaf produces the finest quality tea, dust size are used for the quick-brewing tea bags. 
• Herbal Teas, Rooibos and Yerba Mate do NOT come from this Camellia Sinensis, and we should be calling them “tisanes” (rhymes with “inane” and “brynane”), a medicinal drink or infusion.

 

Sarah also wanted more info on the origin of British Afternoon Tea. It’s fascinating!

 

• Thanks, Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, for the tea, coffee and freedom.

 

Bryn’s deep dive this month was shallow, as she sought the answer to the question: Is sun tea actually dangerous?

 

• Bryn was an ‘80s kid, and her mom made a lot of sun tea
• Verdict: Snopes says don’t do it: Tea steeped in a jar on your porch doesn’t get hot enough to kill the beasties in the water or the tea.

 

Question 3: What are you excited about regarding tea?

 

Sarah and Bryn are both all about the vessels!

 

• Bryn brought out an array of some of her favorite cups for drinking tea
  • Miss Piggy, Tony Brown, Unurth ceramics, 

 

• Sarah shared a new-found story behind her mom’s tea set: a vintage 1960s Japanese Somayaki Green Double Wall Tea Pot with 4 cups, a creamer and sugar bowl from Matsunaga Ceramics Shop.
  • The heart shape cut outs represent plovers (Chidori) - a species of wading bird. Notice the wavy brush pattern below? That represents waves. This combination of plovers and waves is called Nami-Chidori in Japanese, and is a common motif in Japanese arts.  
• She’s just so tickled that this tea set she grew up with turns out to have such history! 

 

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Final Thought

 

Sarah says tea is a moment, but it also creates a memory, whether it calls you back to an amusingly disappointing Harrods experience or a precious time with family from long ago. 

 

For Bryn, tea is another way to perform self care in a time when life seems to move too quickly. 

 

And perhaps the best final thought came from Eleanor Roosevelt (Or did it?):

 

A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong it is until it is in hot water. 

Eleanor Roosevelt

 

We hope you’ll come sit by us next month when we tackle another topic on Totally Tell Me Everything. Ta-ta!

 

About Totally Tell Me Everything

 

Two friends, one fun topic, three burning questions = lots of fun conversation! Each month we pick a topic and ask each other three questions about it - we learn about the subject, our past and each other. So come sit by us and we'll totally tell you everything!

 

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Today we're continuing with our periodic series of shorter episodes focusing on one tea, one producer or one region that may be new to the tea stage or that we're excited about and want to explore further. We're joined by our frequent guest Kevin Gascoyne, co-owner of Montreal's Camellia Sinensis Tea House and one of the world's leading experts on Indian tea,  to explore Lakyrsiew, a young boutique tea garden in India's very wet Meghalaya state.

Kevin chats with us about the history of tea growing in the Meghalaya region, from its origins in the mid-19th century to its revival in the early 21st century. Meghalaya is situated just south of Assam and has some of the highest rainfalls in the world. We discuss the effects of the climate, soil and altitude of Lakyrsiew on the Darjeeling plants being grown there and the cultivars finding success in this terroir. Kevin gives us some tips on comparing the Lakyrsiew autumnal flush with other teas, particularly Darjeelings, to see how the same cultivars can exhibit different qualities when grown in different terroirs. And we look at the recent development of the Lakyrsiew garden and its efforts to find what Kevin calls the "magic" to unlocking what's unique to the leaf.

Kevin also gives us a brief update on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Himalayan tea production regions and updates us on Camellia Sinensis' online and in-person programs and operations during the pandemic.

 

For more info on Camellia Sinensis, including its online store and blog, go to its website at camellia-sinensis.com.

Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.   

more about Talking Tea 

Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.

 

The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.

 

This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

Image of the Lakyrsiew garden courtesy of Camellia Sinensis. Adapted from original.

 

Primos y Primas, Grab that tesesito☕⠀
New Episode of the Dear God Podcast STREAMING NOW 🙌⠀{sound on to listen} 🎙

⠀—⠀Dear God, How do we stop feeding fear? 〰️ 🌸☁️🌟
A special thanks to our primo @sacredblossomfarm
for some amazing teas. No herbicides or pesticides. No flavor additives. They grow sacred herbs, flowers, and fruits for your teacup. Herbal teas blended to support health and taste delicious. Shop at sacredblossomfarm . com Use my code DEARGOD to get 15% OFF and if you're not info cafecito this Tea is Life!🌟

Primas y Primos in light of the #coronivirus and the cute kid's animated movie #thecroods I was totally inspired to talk about feeding fears. I'd like to FIRST say that we must keep everyone that has gotten sick in our thoughts and prayers. Fear grabs our attention. It gets us ready to fight—or flee. Whether we mask our fear with macho bravado or slink away to seek refuge, it can have a powerful effect on our thinking, decisions, and actions. Healthy fear can keep us from harm. But too often fear keeps us from doing what we want—or need—to do. Sometimes it provokes us into wrong or dangerous responses.

In this episode, topics of discussion will include The 5 Ways To Stop Feeding Your Fears. Life should be an adventure, with ups and downs, with rewards and struggles. Today you might fail, but tomorrow you will feel the thrill of gaining and let me tell you that thrill is worth your every fall. Tune in!

Don't forget to check out this week's episode!
Please subscribe to Dear God Are we there yet? and rate/review the podcast! It helps us out greatly. Remember that you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, I Heart Radio, FM Radio, Google Podcasts, Spreaker, Castbox & RadioPublic. ⠀—⠀
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Today we're exploring a bit of tea science on Talking Tea. We're joined by Eric Scott, a a tea scientist and researcher at Tufts University, to chat about some of the many ways a basic understanding of the science of tea can benefit us as tea consumers and tea professionals.

Eric tells us a bit about his own tea journey and the work he's doing in tea chemistry, the chemical ecology of tea and the effects of climate change on tea. We chat with Eric about how even a little knowledge of tea chemistry adds to the story behind the tea we're drinking, can enhance our enjoyment of tea and our perception of flavors, and, if we're working in the tea industry, can help us educate consumers. We look at tea's relationship with caffeine, the importance of caffeine to the tea plant and how understanding this can bust some myths about caffeine and tea. We touch on two topics relating to shou pu erh and heicha: we look at why you might want to rinse your leaves if you're drinking shou pu erh or heicha, and we look at "fermentation". Most of us in the tea world have probably heard that oolongs and black/red teas are oxidized, not fermented, but we go a little deeper into what "fermentation" actually is and why it's not what actually happens in the processing of dark teas and shou puerh, even though those are often called "fermented" or "post-fermented". 

Eric also gives us a peek into his research on the impact of climate change on tea. We chat about the effects of climate change on the monsoon season in Yunnan, and it's potentially game-changing effects on pu erh the pu erh market. We touch on the effects of drought on tea farms in India and Taiwan. And we look at Eric's work on climate change and bug-bitten teas, and how bug-bitten teas may help tea farmers succeed and innovate in the face of climate-change.

Eric's Tea Science Tuesdays video series is available on the Tea Geek YouTube channel (and sometimes on Instagram). Eric is on Instagram @leafyeric and on Twitter @leafyericscott. More on Eric and his work is at his website, ericrscott.com.

Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.   

more about Talking Tea 

Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.

 

The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.

 

Image “Chemistry is Awesome!!!”, by erika.hicks, used under a Creative Commons CC By 2.0 license.  Adapted from original.

This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

 

We're delving into some sticky topics today on Talking Tea as we look at the roles mass marketing, gender, racism and modern British history have played in shaping tea markets and tea culture in the West. Joining us is historian Erika Rappaport, author of the recently published book A Thirst For Empire: How Tea Shaped the Modern World. Erika's work as a historian focuses in the areas of gender, consumer culture and British history, and "A Thirst for Empire" delves into all of these areas in looking at the forces that shaped tea culture and tea markets in the West.

Erika talks with us about how tea can shine a spotlight on the role of mass marketing in shaping modern tastes and trade. We discuss the origins of her book, exploring the long association of tea with women and feminine culture in the UK and the US. We chat about the influence of the "temperance" movements of the 19th century, promoting tea and tea culture as a healthier and spiritually beneficial alternative to alcohol, and the role of industry lobbies in promoting sweet tea in the West and especially iced tea in the US. We look at the reasons for the shift in Western consumer preference from green tea to black tea in the 19th and 20th centuries.  And we look at the disturbing use of racism and nationalism in advertising by British tea planters to promote "Empire" tea over Chinese tea, and how this eventually led to the widespread preference in the West for industrialized, mass-produced commodity tea.

A Thirst for Empire is published by Princeton University Press, and is widely available at retailers. 

 

Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.   

more about Talking Tea 

Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.

 

The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.

 

This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

 

Image of British soldier drinking tea in 1944 India, © IWM (IB 1882), courtesy of the Imperial War Museum. More information on the photo is available at https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193624

Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

 

Today Talking Tea is in Middlebury, Vermont, at Stone Leaf Teahouse, a unique tea space in this bucolic town. Joining us is John Wetzel, founder and owner of Stone Leaf.

The town of Middlebury may be best known for being the home of Middlebury College, but since its founding 10 years ago Stone Leaf has also become well-known in and beyond Middlebury for the quality of its teas and for the warmth and tranquility of its teahouse. We chat with John about Stone Leaf's origins, how he developed his vision for the space and for the company, and how he drew on both US coffee culture and tea culture in Asia and Europe as influences for his design. The teahouse sits partially underground (it's built into a slope), and though John half-jokingly calls it a sort of "tea cave", he also explains how he used this feature as part of his design, to create a space well-suited for the storage, preparation and enjoyment of tea, a space that allows for both focus and connection.

Stone Leaf carries a wide variety of teas, and we chat about one of their newest teas, a hongcha (red tea, known as black tea in the West) from Alishan in Taiwan. Alishan is usually known for its oolongs, and this tea is in fact made from the oolong Jin Xuan cultivar. We talk about the use of this cultivar in making a hongcha, the influence of cultivar and terroir on the tea's flavor, aroma and appearance, and about emerging trends in making new styles of teas from cultivars and regions traditionally associated with different varieties.

More information about Stone Leaf, including the location of the teahouse, its online store and special event info, is at its website, stoneleaftea.com. You can  also find Stone Leaf on Instagram at stoneleafteahouse  and on Facebook at Stone Leaf Teahouse. 

 

Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.   

more about Talking Tea 

Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.

 

The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.

 

This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

 

Image of interior of Stone Leaf Teahouse, courtesy of Stone Leaf Teahouse.

Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

 

 

 

 

Most everyone is familiar with pairing wine and cheese, but pairing tea and cheese is much less well known and less understood. (By the way, that's tea in the glass in the photo above, not wine.) Some tea drinkers may even find the idea of tea and cheese pairing a bit counterintuitive, if not a bit, well, odd. But at Talking Tea we've experienced some delicious pairings of tea with cheese, so we wanted to explore the issue more in depth.

Joining us today to talk about pairing tea with cheese, and to do some pairings with us, is Lisa Boalt Richardson. Lisa is a tea writer and educator who has written and taught on the subject of pairing tea with cheese and other foods, making tea and food pairings accessible and easy to understand. We begin our chat by looking at the basic premises behind tea and food pairings from a common-sense perspective, and then we start to look specifically at pairing cheese with tea. Lisa explains why cheese and tea can pair very well together, and we chat about the importance of identifying levels of fat in cheese and astringency in tea, as well as other elements in the flavor and mouthfeel of each, in order to create excellent pairings. We discuss different goals in creating pairings, as well as different methods of tasting the tea and the cheese we're pairing. And then we do two pairings together: a triple-cream cheese paired with a first flush darjeeling, and then the same cheese with an assam, as we talk about the reasons Lisa suggested these pairings, the results of the pairings and why some pairings are likely to work better than others.

More information about Lisa Boalt Richardson, including info on her book Modern Tea: A Fresh Look at an Ancient Beverage (referenced in the episode), is at her website, lisaknowstea.com. You can  also find Lisa on Facebook at lisaknowstea. Lisa is also an instructor at the World Tea Academy; info on their courses and programs is at worldteaacademy.com.

The cheese used by Talking Tea was St. Stephen's triple-cream, made by Four Fat Fowl and purchased at DiBruno Brothers in Philadelphia. The teas Talking Tea used in our pairings were purchased at Camellia Sinensis Tea House and at Tea Dealers.

 

Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.   

more about Talking Tea 

Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.

 

The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.

 

This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

 

Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

 

We've been wanting to explore chaxi on Talking Tea ever since we visited the Tea Institute at Penn State University back in 2016. Tea was prepared and served to us by students in the Chinese tea track at the Institute with a degree of artistry and calm precision we had never quite witnessed anywhere else, and when we asked some of the students where they learned to prepare tea in this way, they suggested we speak with one of their teachers and mentors, Stéphane Erler, to learn more about chaxi, an artistic expression of tea originating in Taiwan.

It took us a couple of years, but we finally caught up with Stéphane recently on one of his visits to the US, and we're proud to welcome him to Talking Tea. Stéphane is a tea educator, seller and blogger based in Taiwan - he hosts the very well-respected Tea Masters Blog - and, among other things, Stéphane practices, teaches and writes about chaxi. We talk with Stéphane about his own beginnings in tea, his study and work with tea master Teaparker, and about the history of chaxi in Taiwan, and then we delve into the practice and principles of chaxi.

Chaxi means "tea play", and Stéphane chats with us about how chaxi is a kind of performance but also a way of creating a tea mandala, a picture of a harmonious world through tea. We discuss the priorities of function and art within chaxi, and we explore the question of how the host can best express the character of the leaves as well as the host's own sentiments and feelings through the chaxi.  In this context we talk about the choice of teaware, the importance of colors and visual harmony, the use of flowers or plants, the addition of music or other background art, and most importantly the skills and mindset needed to prepare the best possible tea in a beautiful setting, finding resonance and harmonious connections between the tea, the teaware, the setting and the participants.

Further resources for learning about chaxi are on Stéphane's blog, teamasters.blogspot.com. Stéphane's selection of excellent teas (we've tried several of them, and they were all fantastic), teawares and other items for use in chaxi are available at his online boutique, tea-masters.com.  You can  also find Stéphane on Twitter at @TeaMastersBlog and on Instagram at @stephane_erler.

 

Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.   

more about Talking Tea 

Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.

Talking Tea's 2016 coverage of the Penn State Tea Institute is in our episodes Tea Goes to College and Tea, Heart to Heart. 

 

The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.

 

This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

Photo of a chaxi by Stéphane Erler, courtesy of Stéphane Erler.

Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.

 

Today we're chatting with Zhen Lu and Phil Rushworth of Zhen Tea about a category of tea that's not widely understood outside of China or even within China, and that's heicha, or "dark tea", hailing from outside the pu erh region. You may remember Zhen and Phil from our earlier episode "Lapsang Souchong - Beyond the Smoke", and today we're chatting at the Zhen Tea headquarters in Ottawa, Canada.

Now pu erh (at least shu pu erh) is a dark tea, and plenty of people know plenty about pu erh. But the many wonderful non-pu erh dark teas don't enjoy the same celebrity status as pu erh, and those teas are what we're focusing on in this episode. (We're intentionally avoiding the highly controversial issue of whether sheng pu erh is properly called heicha, which could be a topic for an entire episode on its own.)

Zhen and Phil carry a varied selection of dark teas, and they chat with us about the sometimes confusing nomenclature of heicha, its somewhat murky history, its regions of origin and terroir, and "wet piling", the fermentation process that makes heicha unique among all teas. We sample and discuss two dark teas - an aged Fu Zhuan from 2013, and a new experimental take on traditional Tibetan tea - as we talk about the variations of flavor and mouthfeel in non-pu erh dark teas, how the flavors differ from typical shu pu erh flavor profiles, and how these variations are influenced by terroir and growing conditions. Zhen and Phil also brief us on some of the innovations we're beginning to see in heicha and the delicacy and difficulty of the wet-piling process, and we talk about the relaxing, almost meditative, physical and mental sensations many of us experience with heicha. Zhen also gives us some tips on storing dark teas at home.

More on Zhen Tea, including its teas, teaware, online store and new online magazine Charen, is at zhentea.ca.

Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.   

more about Talking Tea 

Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events.

 

The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.

 

This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.

Photo of Zang Cha-Gan Hong courtesy of Zhen Tea.

Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.