Reading the Tea Leaves

Taiping Houkui 太平猴魁

Alex Edmunds — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 11:29:11 +0000

A 19th century adventurer was hiking through rural China, exploring the country’s hidden marvels. When came across a a series of hillsides in Anhui province, he smelled beautifully fragrant plants. He searched for hours and could not locate them. Fearing getting caught on the hillside as dark approached, he abandoned his search. Months later, he returned with two monkeys. He trained them to find fragrant smelling shrubbery. With the monkey’s help, he located a new variety of green tea. Appreciative of his feline friends’ success, he named the tea Taiping Houkui. Taiping is the mountain side it was discovered on; Houkui loosely means “the best that monkeys found.”

The world of tea abounds with myth and lore, and Taiping Houkui is no exception. Since a new method of drying and processing was implemented in the 1990s, this incredibly rare tea has become one of China’s top 10 most exceptional. It is grown on only 3 hillsides near Mount Huang in Anhui province. The reason it is limited to this unique area is its sensitivity to its environment: it must grow in an average of 15 degree C environment, with special quotas for sunshine, humidity and rain. In southern China, only these few hillsides surrounding Mount Huang satisfy these stringent requirements. The tea must be picked in a 15 day window between mid-April and early May.

Taiping Houkui is renowned for its fragrance and light, summery taste. It is also famous for having the largest leaves of an variety in the green tea family.

Taiping Houkui is Deng Xiaoping’s favorite tea. Hopefully you too will have the opportunity to sample one of China’s rare treasures.

Speculation in Pu’er Market

Alex Edmunds — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:03:16 +0000

As China’s middle class has emerged, demand for Pu’er has sky-rocketed, fueling a prolific bubble and then an equally devastating crash within a year. In the space of a decade, the vagaries of the tea market created a nouveau rich in China’s southwest Yunnan and then reverted this new class to paupers; one third of Yunnan Pu’er growers went out of business in 2008. For another perspective, check out this New York Times Article on the Pu’er bubble.

In a country with limited investment options, Pu’er became both a financial investment and a way to boast one’s wealth. Many Chinese poured their life savings into these frisbee-like disks of fermented tea. In recent years, prices for aged Pu’er increased more than 30% annually, sometimes even doubling in price in a year. During the the bubble, fake teas flooded the market and prompted a crackdown on illicit Pu’ers by the government in 2006. The government defined which regions of Yunnan officially have Pu’er leaves and created an official Pu’er seal to certify authentic teas.

Demand for this tea is expected to grow steadily in the next decade and beyond as China’s economy develops. The Pu’er market has rebounded strongly from its February lows, but now still remains a unique opportunity to acquire a fine bing or two that will appreciate strongly in the future. 2008 Pu’ers also bear the Olympic seal–a sort of collectors stamp for Pu’er tea. For more information on this mysterious tea, see a previous post on Pu’er tea.

China’s Tea Paradise: Hangzhou

Alex Edmunds — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:10:02 +0000

In the 13th Century, Marco Polo described Hangzhou as “the city of Heaven, undoubtedly the most splendid and beautiful city in the world.” Whether or not this city still qualifies as the most beautiful on earth, it is renowned as China’s most famous area for producing green tea. Located in the south of China–3 hours outside of Shanghai, Hangzhou’s temperate weather and humidity make it an ideal environment for tea production.

Workers Pick Dragon Well Tea in Meijiawu Village

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Hangzhou twice, once in 2007 and again over the summer. During my second visit, I made a side-trip to Meijiawu village 梅家坞, fifteen miles outside of Hangzhou’s city limits. Meijiawu is the heart of Hangzhou’s green tea production. There, they produce Dragon Well tea 龙井茶, a perennial favorite among Ming emperors. My father visited Hangzhou in 1981, right after China opened up to foreign visitors. He recalls watching the harvest of a particular Dragon Well so valued that only high level officials and ambassadors could drink it.

A farmer hand-dries tea leaves

This time around (thank you capitalism), he was able to buy this very same , for only US$400/kilo!

Pagoda in Hangzhou

If you visit China, make a stop in Hangzhou, try their fabulous tea, and let me know if you agree with Marco Polo.

Pu’er Tea

Alex Edmunds — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:24:31 +0000

I’d like to begin my first post discussing my favorite of teas, Pu’er.

Named after the small town in the southwest of Yunnan where it originally hailed from, Pu’er is known for its rich aromas and earthy flavor. Unlike nearly every other tea, Pu’er’s large leaves are plucked from the branches of enormous trees by little locals who climb them like monkeys (it’s quite a spectacle). As with fine wines, Pu’er improves with age. I personally enjoy an 8 year aged vintage I picked up while in Lijiang 丽江。

It is originally quite a caffeinated tea, but the caffeine ferments with aging, and it essentially loses its caffeine properties by year 8. Nonetheless, it’s sure to give you a good buzz–that’s why I enjoy it. Chinese Traditional Medicine declares that the best time to drink Pu’er is after a large meal, because it soaks up the oils and aids in digestion and weight loss. My co-workers jaunt because I enjoy drinking it first thing in the morning, substituting for coffee.

I remember the joy of first discovering Pu’er my sophomore year of college. Princeton experienced a major snowfall, and the campus was blanketed in white the months of January and February. Every morning, I steeped a mug of hot Pu’er and trudged through the snow to class, my little heart warmed by the hot cup and natural pick-me-up.

A Bin of Young Pu'er

If you are in China, I suggest picking up a bin and giving it a taste. It might not be your favorite at first, but it will quickly grow on you, as it did on me.

My Passion for Tea

Alex Edmunds — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:49:03 +0000

My affair with tea began in my sophomore year in college, when my roommate’s girlfriend brought back a tin of Pu’er and Oolong from Hong Kong after Christmas. He rarely stayed in my our room, and I finished most of the Pu’er and Oolong that Spring. Over the summer, I studied in China, and this affair turned to a passion. While travelling in Yunnan and Hangzhou, two of China’s premier tea production areas, I realized how much more I enjoy tea than coffee.

Over that summer, I amassed a sizable collection, consisting of green tea, jasmine, oolong, iron buddha, pu’er, and Yunnan black tea. Two years later, I graduated from Princeton University and at last exhausted this collection of Chinese teas.

Since graduation, I have returned to China. I now live in Beijing and work for WildChina, an environmentally sustainable travel agency. In the course of my travels throughout China, I research tea and sample the specialties from different provinces.

This blog represents the conglomeration of my experiences and studies. I hope you enjoy! Please don’t hesitate to reply or send me an email readingthetealeaves@gmail.com if you have a question or a request for a post on a certain topic.