Geography of Chinese Tea (book review)

 

This is a great reference on Chinese tea background.  It's by Sergey Shevelev, the founder of Moychay, probably the main Russian tea vendor, and developer of a series of tea clubs (not exactly like a cafe).  Sergey talks about the book, about what went into it, and what it means to him, in this video gathering description (which seems more about talking through a tasting session, to be clear; I mention it more to bring up the video theme and location).  There are more book details here.

Sergey has been a very positive and helpful tea contact for awhile, and I helped do a final read-through of this text, and Moychay sent some teas in thanks, so in a sense I'm not impartial.  Maybe hardly anyone ever is completely objective about almost anything they experience, but that's leading into a different set of concerns.  To me I seem to have no problems at all communicating exactly the same thing I would based on a different connection context, or a complete lack of one, but who knows.  This post might go a bit far in the opposite direction, describing what I see as limitations in the work, which are more about scope choices and related to which interests it applies to, since I thought the content was quite good. 

It's interesting comparing and contrasting this topic scope with another tea text I did a late-stage editing read through for, Tony Gebely's Tea:  A User's Guide.  It really helps place what this about, the range.  Both are quite good texts, I think, both very informative, detailed, and well-grounded, but the scope covered is quite different.  There some overlap related to some tea processing and types information, but in general that text is all about user experience of and approach to tea, and this is about deeper background context than most people would ever encounter.  

This book is mostly about tea types, plant type inputs, locations, history, regional geography, processing steps, and so on, of course mostly limited to China, with some coverage of Taiwan, which may seem to overlap or be completely separate, depending on the subject being considered.  For tea it overlaps.  Since it mentions a lot of natural spaces, parks, and tea oriented landmarks in different places it overlaps with what a tourist in China focused on tea would seek out and experience.  It's not as much about related legends, which do come up here and there, so some main ones are included, but there is more about that non-fiction background.  It doesn't really cover brewing approaches, ceremonial aspects, or teaware either, at least some of which Sergey mentioned in that video cited as being covered in a separate text still under development.

Sergey making pu'er (he's the one on the right)

It's funny how much there is left to cover, given that.  It runs long because it doesn't stop at describing the best known areas and types, and ventures on to geographical descriptions and processing steps.  The first 50 pages is about tea culture and historical background, with a bit on tea plant compounds (which does overlap with Tony's book), but the rest of the overlap with Tony's reference is really with a lengthy list but abbreviated depth description of tea types, with this going a lot further on what those are and how they are produced.

Pictures tell a lot of the story; clear and impactful images of the famous and not as famous tea growing areas really fill in a sense of those places.  Then images of the actual teas and processing steps also round out a little on what a broad range would be like, venturing into tangents like aging background, as is relevant to the type being described.  History of every area gets detailed treatment.  

I suppose that means this book wouldn't be for everyone, going the extra couple of layers deeper beyond what tea experience itself is about.  Tea processing is a fascinating subject to me, but even that only goes so far in informing the actual experience, and less so the history.  For a range like oxidation level background it does apply to experience, because the text talks through what the most conventional styles are like, with less on what other variations and style interpretations might be like.  I don't mean just for Tie Guan Yin, pu'er, or Dan Congs, I mean for a very broad range of popular teas from across China, some of which aren't very familiar in "the West."

even for the more familiar historical sub-themes the extra details are is still interesting

In describing what works best about Sergey's communication about teas in the past I've always mentioned that he is a true tea enthusiast, in addition to being a vendor, with that other natural focus on the commercial side.  No doubt the history and background was always fascinating to him too, and this book represents ideas collected over many years and visits to China (at least 10, he mentioned), ideas which were previously only brought up in narrow scope video content.  He has long been a student of Chinese language, which might work as a general cut-off for how far someone tends to take dedication to the range of subjects.  

On the opposite side, for people who are bad with languages, not going there and not studying Mandarin doesn't seem to represent a gap or lack of commitment.  I was a lot more open to foreign language studies earlier in life myself, studying French, Spanish, and Sanskrit in academic circumstances, and now my Thai is still fairly limited even for living in Thailand for 14 years.  I suppose that partly relates to the added difficulty of moving beyond Latin based languages; learning Devanagari--traditional Indian language script--to study Sanskrit came a cost to me, and pushing through different language forms and structure seemed a bit punishing, and didn't go well.  Or maybe my brain is just less plastic now?  Hard to say, but it seems to relate as much to motivation level.

One part of how this approaches describing teas stands out as what some would interpret as a strength of the work, and others a weakness.  It describes type-typical experienced aspects in specific tea versions, or I suppose more accurately as one relatively typical version might be interpreted.  That's great, for passing on a sense of what a type might be like.  For people looking for gaps, with a negative bias, it could seem to introduce error, since any given type occurs as a broad range of exhibited aspects, with the "type-typical" theme only being so narrow.  

I don't see it as problematic describing that.  Any text would trip over itself trying to describe exceptions to every generality or a more complete flavors / taste / aroma range, and typically skipping that makes the most sense, to me.  One tea expert in particular comes to mind in mentioning that, an old favorite blog based reference who started discussions and an answer to every question with "it just depends," using half the answer content space to address context and range of exceptions.  To me that approach works too, since the placement of ideas and discussion limitations are also interesting, but not to cover this much scope.  It works better in a short passage to emphasize limitations, talking around and placing a narrower idea range, than to go through that over and over in a long text.

For the tea history, area descriptions, about type ranges, and general processing descriptions it's not as relevant anyway; it comes up more in discussion of aspects of types as a sensory experience.  This work passes on a sense of a typical experience range, but doesn't try to replace experience, or account for exceptions.  To cite an example of the kind of thing "left out," as a tea reviewer it's interesting to try to identify what I see as "quality markers," what sets apart the best versions of types, but really I think it's best to not venture into that subjective a scope in a broad work like this.  The other text on tea I mentioned, Tony Gebely's work, made the same scope decision to focus on general types descriptions, and not get swept into what separates quality levels, which again I think is for the best.

As I keep encountering more and more detailed tea background, and talking to vendors about processing themes and such, it's harder to find new ground I've not covered.  Half of this text was relatively unfamiliar, because I'm not an expert on how to process teas, and I've encountered a lot more about main tea areas than others (eg. Wuyishan and Yunnan, versus entire broad regions that I wasn't really clear on covered in great detail in this).

One might wonder, if a lot of Chinese people really do drink ordinary quality and relatively "generic" tea (an idea that comes up, which matches my experience), how is it possible that there is so much detailed background available on such a broad range of areas and types?  This seems to be a look into what informed locals would know and experience about their own area, types, and history, or that degree of coverage plus a bit more.  We are already exposed to some of that in those places I mentioned, Wuyishan (a Fujian area) and Yunnan (a whole province), but Chinese tea history doesn't end at those sorts of better known areas.  I don't just mean related to hei cha and a few more types of green and black tea either, and yellow tea; there is a broader and deeper still-living culture and history to be explored.

One might wonder if it wouldn't feel incomplete, like a gap, to hear about another dozen or more types of teas--or maybe 50, or more--and to not experience them, to only encounter them as ideas and description.  Sure, I suppose it could.  Also this treatment may not be as interesting for people who tend to narrow in on one range of teas they like and leave the rest aside the broad background exploration theme.  There's nothing wrong with only drinking oolongs, or sheng pu'er.  This book is mainly for people who like the background of tea in addition to the experience of it, although it could be used differently, for example as a narrower reference for specific types, or as an intro to the theme of tea processing.

For being a relatively long book, 511 pages, this isn't a difficult read though.  Again pictures tell a lot of the story, so actual text is much more limited, and it being separated out by broad and then narrower geographical areas make it approachable and much easier to read.  

For people into texts as a reference in general, and to the scope I've outlined in particular, I would definitely recommend this book.  As with most people I tend to consume more content related to shorter online videos myself, but there are different strengths and limitations related to the two forms.  It would take many hours out of a year to get to this much detailed content online, and one never would run across all of these same ideas, across any exploration time frame, not even a decade.  

On the Chinese language internet that may be more practical, but English Western web text or video sources just aren't that readily available, detailed, or complete.  Sergey's Youtube videos are a nice exception, or Farmerleaf's, and TeaDB is a good video blog, and the Tea House Ghost channel a nice reference, but all of these only treat one narrow and typically more conventional topic in short videos, with substantial focus on practical advice and perspective.  They just can't explore the tea history, geographical input, processing, and types descriptions from many main regions in China in the same way this text does.

Gopaldhara Spring Honey Oolong and Summer Golden Tips

 

Spring / first flush tea on the left in all photos, second flush / summer harvest right

I'm trying two teas from a new set provided by Rishi of Gopaldhara for review (many thanks).  We talked to him not long ago in one of those online meetups, here.  The theme of developing higher quality, whole-leaf oolong that draws on varied processing approach inputs, especially from oolong processing from China, was a bit familiar prior to then, but nice to hear more details about directly.  The proof is always in the pudding, and their teas have been great for a long time, for years.  I would expect them to continue to improve, making results hard to place in relation to past experiences with Darjeeling, maybe even with their own prior versions.

Just prior to trying these teas I remembered that the last time I reviewed a set of samples from them I kept doing combined tastings that coupled first and second flush versions, which is not an intuitive approach at all.  It makes the most sense to try versions that are as similar as possible, to identify finer differences between them, variations in feel, flavor aspects, or intensity that distinguish them.  Trying dissimilar teas actually leads to picking up less in the tasting process, in a similar way that the more versions you taste the harder it is to focus, or background noise and distractions can have a negative effect.  Oh well.  I'm not sure what I picked these based on; it seemed like maybe there would be a common character thread that is interesting, probably only reacting to the names.  Or it's down to my stupidity and random chance.

On with tasting then.  Of course I'm brewing these Gongfu style; for teas of this type it's really the only valid approach, per my preference and opinion.  I've discussed that recently, about how vendors might actually recommend whatever they think would work well and ring a bell for consumers, so a website suggestion for these teas would probably relate to Western style brewing, related to the latter factor.  Eventually I might try some of these versions prepared Western style but to me it doesn't get the best results out of them.

Review:

Spring Honey Oolong:  just fantastic; really what I expected.  Sweet, creamy, rich floral notes are intensely pleasant.  Of course there is none of the astringency edge in typical Darjeeling first flush versions, which can be ok, maybe even a positive balance, but to me the teas are much better without it, or at least with a very moderate input of that.  Fullness and creaminess replaces that.  The taste range is primarily floral but strong fruit tones stand out too, maybe a type of berry I probably won't place.  It's not far off the range of red raspberry but that's not it.  The floral tones are complex, probably a mix, only well described if someone could split that apart, which I can't.  

Sweetness is at a high level, which supports the rest really well.  You never fully appreciate sweetness until it's not present at a normal level in a tea, and then you miss it.  The brightness resembles citrus, almost lemony, but as much in effect as the actual taste of lemons.  Often it's possible to specify a different citrus then, but this seems to be in between lemon and tangerine.

Summer Golden Tips:  the contrast is just great, how these are both so good in related but different ways.  A light astringency edge is present in this; it's a black tea.  It's on the soft side as Indian black teas go, of course, replacing a typical biting edge with structure in this case, versus creaminess in the first.  There's a lot going on in relation to flavor.  A mild version of malt couples with that astringency, nothing like the form of typical Assam, but not so different than the highest end versions.  Floral tones inclined towards fruit stand out in this too, but across a much different range.  Those are rounded out by a nice balancing warm mineral range.  

The floral tones and fruit are different in the two tea versions, different flowers, and a different warm fruit range versus the bright berry of the first, towards light citrus.  The fruit is a little like dried tamarind, not exactly like dried longan, but in that direction.  Dried longan is fantastic, by the way; if you ever see that you should buy it.

Second infusion:

Spring Honey Oolong:  this is a little too intense, too strongly brewed, and I used a time just under 10 seconds.  It's fine, not at all ruined, but finding the optimum might involve taking care to account for intensity.  Astringency picked up a good bit, not to the level of a chopped leaf version but with enough to move towards a comparable balance and effect.  I suppose that's a good thing, or to me it's just different.  Honey is really pronounced now.  I suppose it was present last round but not like now.  

Golden Summer Tips:  really essentially the same flavors as last round, just with relative balance of inputs switched around a little.  Astringency level is comparable to the honey oolong but in a completely different form.  There is citrus and muscatel range to this; maybe that didn't come out as strong in a first round.  Muscatel range is very moderate though; it could easily be interpreted as some other general fruit range.

It's complex in a positive way, and also intense.  It's interesting experiencing strong flavor intensity and positive feel with moderate astringency input.  Notable, but still moderate.  That input effect would change completely brewed lighter, which would take a really fast infusion time at the high proportion I'm using.  Of course backing off that proportion is an option.

Fourth infusion:

I took a break for a few hours and used the third round as a rinse to refresh the tea, which I drank, but didn't write notes for.  It was an interesting break; first we bathed the cats, when it started to rain, so we had to do that in a roofed area that serves as a garage space.  It kept on raining and the kids decided to go shoot baskets in a downpour, so I joined them for that.  I helped them clean the bathroom that they use (the covid theme relates to us not having a housekeeper visit), and I went for a run after, when it was only raining lightly.

Spring Honey Oolong:  honey is still really pronounced in this round, and floral tone, with a citrus range closer to orange peel now.  There's an astringency edge paired with a flavor that is distinctive in first flush Darjeeling, which I take to taste like green wood mixed with a floral tone.  It's a great balanced and complex effect, adding in nice intensity, smooth feel, and more aftertaste than Darjeeling versions ever tend to have.  That high level of sweetness and honey tone works well for me.  But is it oolong?

Kind of.  I don't know about the processing steps, and for the most part I'm more concerned about aspects outcome than category placement anyway.  Feel is quite smooth, rich, and full for any Darjeeling (just not on the level of those for Taiwanese high mountain oolong).  They can have a great structure, or fullness, but not typically like this (again not based on a God's eye view of Darjeeling, just a prior impression).  The flavor set is definitely not even close to Chinese oolong versions ranges I'm familiar with, since that part is Darjeeling, the list I keep repeating.  Leaving aside any expectations about Darjeeling or oolong the overall effect is great, and it also works folding those in, to me.  It's nothing like one of the typical type-ranges of oolong (Wuyi Yancha, Dan Cong, Anxi TGY, or Taiwanese high mountain versions), but then those are all different from each other too.  

It might not make that much sense to ask if there is a subset of commonality within those four type ranges that this overlaps with; the first part isn't as simple as it first sounds.  Within those broad categories oxidation level, roast, leaf input related factors, processing, and quality level cause a lot of variation.  I think there is common ground among all those oolongs but I'm not so clear on what it is; smoothness, fullness of feel, flavor intensity, a refinement in better versions (that part is vague), and being approachable (not challenging).  This isn't completely different, it just tastes like Darjeeling, and feel and aftertaste are less pronounced.

Summer Golden Tips:  this came out less intense than the other for the same parameters; that doesn't automatically mean anything in particular to me.  The astringency edge has shifted to come across as dryness, still paired with warm mineral undertone and malt flavor, or at least it seems connected to me.  It's pleasant.  

The other Spring version seems just a bit more novel, including a set of aspects that you don't often run across together.  This is a well-balanced version of second flush black tea Darjeeling, it seems.  For a broken leaf tea this astringency edge would be light, but for a more whole leaf version it stands out as moderate (lower medium level), and distinctive in character.  The complex range of supporting flavor is unusual.  

It's not so atypical for black tea versions of Darjeeling to hammer just a few flavor aspects, and this does express a limited set most, but keeps going beyond that.  It's malty; that seems different.  Citrus is a main supporting tone but really that balances with floral and fruit range.  Muscatel is limited in this, maybe not even in a range one would interpret as that, maybe as well left described as only citrus.

I think it would seem more impressive if this other tea wasn't so unique, complex, balanced, and intense.  It's quite good, but the novelty of the other version adds another dimension.  I usually like second flush versions better too, the way that aspect range comes together at that oxidation level.

Conclusions:

The next infusion wasn't so different and late rounds transitions seem like a lot of trouble to add, going through what shifts most later on.  These are so high in quality and exceptional in character that I don't think either is going to fade fast or shift to straight woody taste.  So then it's either about what comes out stronger later (usually flavor profile narrows and astringency picks up as you stretch infusion times), or there could be a surprise, some kind of shift.  I'm doing this edit days later but there were no surprises, they just kept transitioning, and brewed a lot of rounds, at least ten.

It's hard to describe just how good these teas are.  My friend Ralph made a good point in reviewing one (not the same, maybe, but from a similar set, with this Spring version reviewed here) about how not expecting this particular character going in can be experienced as a challenge.  The novelty could make them work really well, but it's also possible to not completely get what's going on at first, in the same way one does in drinking familiar tea types.  Brewing approach can require a slight adjustment in relation to chopped leaf Darjeeling, with the more moderate astringency probably a positive difference for most people.  Both of these weren't as soft as mild Chinese black teas can be, but the astringency present was in a good range to balance the rest, not detracting from the experience.

Beyond that whole leaf character they really must be experimenting with shifts in processing styles, as Rishi described, years past earlier forms of changes where what is different but not better gets included, onto moving forwards with approaches that have been working out well.  Of course factors like weather would make a lot of difference too.  2021 must have been a really hard year just to keep making tea there, but that didn't showing up in any negative ways in these teas.

So they are amazing teas, as usual, just more of the same, in relation to that being how their teas go.  Based on this early impression they might have set the bar that bit higher, as I would've expected.  The "golden tips" version suffers a little in comparison with the other for just being a pretty good, novel, high quality, well-balanced example, and for giving up a little intensity and complexity, but all that is no small feat, and it's quite pleasant to experience.  I think if that citrus present had seemed a little more pronounced, and further into muscatel range in character, it would've came across quite differently, but it was nice as it was.  It's possible that for trying these a few more times, with novelty as less of a factor, I would like the second flush version as much for being a solid, well balanced black tea version, since that general type range is a personal favorite.

Vendor descriptions:

This rambled on so long I almost forgot to include Gopaldhara's input about what I was trying.

Rohini Honey Oolong Spring – First Flush 2021 (it seems like it's that)

A rare first flush oolong tea made from the best quality AV2 bushes, which has very finely plucked tippy whole leaves with a silvery appearance. It has a traditional spring character & tantalizing sweet aroma with a finish of honey. The tea has a very pleasant & distinct aftertaste with zero astringency which leaves behind a very memorable experience.

The tea bushes are grown and harvested at an elevation between 1500-3000 feet...

That sounds right.  Onto the other:

Rohini Summer Golden Tips – Rare Hand Rolled Tea 2021 (I had no idea both were from Rohini; I should read the information sheet next time)

Rohini Summer Golden Tips is one of the finest second flush teas from Rohini Tea Estate of Darjeeling. The tea is made from small leaves having lots of buds. It is made from AV2 bushes which is one of the most preferred clones of Darjeeling. The leaves are freshly plucked in the last week of May. The dry leaves appear to be brownish with lots of golden tips.  This finest second flush tea brews into a bright orange and clear cup having mouthful, sweet & fruity muscatel character with a finish of honey.

Second flush teas are considered matured because of the sufficient rainfall received during the month of May in the Darjeeling region. The leaves absorb enough water during the monsoon period which helps in developing rich colour, strong aroma & muscatel flavour to the teas. 

Sounds right too, the muscatel just came across more as a less distinct citrus range in this tasting, to me, which is pretty close.

Keo shooting baskets during the tasting, before it rained

reviewing outside again

I haven't posted her picture in awhile.  she made that bag; she's really creative.

long haired Keo with Myra

Rishi of Gopaldhara on changes to Darjeeling processing

 

We met with Rishi, the plantation manager of Gopaldhara and Rohini, two of the main Darjeeling plantations.  Or surely many others of them are significant, or all just slightly different.  He explained that Gopaldhara is one of the older plantations, and that Rohini one of the newer ones, with Gopaldhara working with issues with many plants being older there, and Rohini producing from younger plants, at lower elevation.  So the challenges would be different, and potential outcome related to what approaches would work out well at both.

Josh Linvers joined us this time too, the tea sommelier from Canada who we've met with twice.  He went through a Darjeeling exploration phase this year, focused as much on Gopaldhara as any other source, so it made sense to include him.  He had even been in contact with Rishi, in discussing what he had reviewed.

Per usual this won't cover everything we talked about; these summaries don't work out like that.  And some degree of bias or selection has to be applied in that filtering. This represents an indicative summary, but also one adjusted for what I see as main themes, or most interesting for readers, avoiding personal discussion scope, which didn't come up much this time.

Changing Darjeeling tea processing and aspects outcome

To me this is not only one of the main things we discussed but also one of the main themes Gopaldhara has been working on for years.  They've been moving towards making more whole-leaf versions of teas, versus Darjeeling tending to be quite broken or chopped in many product forms in the past.  Rishi explained why that is, and to some extent even covered more about the different forms (to a tiresome extent, really, delving deep into how the grade codes work, which are complicated, but I'll not even touch on that here).  He clarified they make as much of whole leaf versions as they can, with some proportion always broken leaf of different sizes, and with that outcome varying by harvest season, material type input, and other factors. 

The basics, as he described it, relate to Darjeeling tea production stemming back to how the British made tea 150 years ago.  That was based mostly on automated production of Assamica variety teas (although it would require a tea historian to place how the equipment varied over that time), with more focus on low elevation growth.  Darjeeling is based mainly on variety Sinensis plant types now, as it has been for some time, just newer form selected genetics cultivars of those.  

Per his surely oversimplified summary, condensed for an audience not comprised of tea production professionals, this earlier production, which extends to the present day, had involved use of a different kind of rolling table than is typically used in Chinese production.  Rolling is the step of bruising the leaves, enabling air contact with enzymes that cause oxidation.  Use of the prior form of equipment results in production of a much higher proportion of broken leaf material.

So beyond the rounded off description his goal has been to make whole-leaf Darjeeling teas.  Of course this would also relate to the picking methods used, and sorting concerns, and so on; it's not all about one piece of equipment and one processing step.

It's not as if all Darjeeling isn't sorted by leaf size.  Automated processes support separating and selling whatever is produced as finer particles, broken leaf, and more whole leaf.  The difference lies in setting up processing, and changing equipment use, to lead to production of a much more whole-leaf main outcome form.  

This isn't unfamiliar in higher quality Chinese tea production; it's standard from there.  I drink broken leaf tea from time to time, but on the average day I'm drinking very whole leaf sheng pu'er, at different times replaced by very whole leaf versions of oolong or Chinese black teas, and so on.  Or sometimes Darjeeling, or other teas from lots of places.  I'm drinking a black tea from Russia while I write this initial draft (whole leaf processed, but a gaba version, a completely different story).

This doesn't result in a claim that Gopaldhara is leading the way to completely changing Darjeeling tea, or that they already stand far above almost all other producers at this time.  It does seem likely that Rishi is a real visionary, leading the way in a likely future direction, which was probably already clear enough to some others, who have been taking similar steps.  Other parts of the story fill in why it's just not that simple.

Making these changes adds cost, from the harvest step on through equipment expenses and processing time.  The demand has to be there, or else they aren't producing this tea for an established market to consume.  Distribution channels also need to be open to the change. They've been selling other forms of Darjeeling for a long time (mostly that, at least), and need to accept a shift in cost, and other changes.  It's just far easier to source and sell the same products than to make any changes, which also involves some degree of risk.  It would filter down to packaging issues too; more whole leaf products won't be as dense, changing that requirement.

Before going further with that range of effects, and how it has worked out in practice, we might consider why Rishi sees this as a natural next step, and why it's so necessary.  He explained that it's his passion to make better versions of tea.  Seems a bit idealistic, maybe almost too simple, but I fully accept that a main part of pushing this change is a personal love of tea.  It's the part that presumably all tea enthusiasts share, just in different forms.  Per my preference their teas are the best Darjeeling I've ever tried.  But then I'm not a Darjeeling specialist, and focus more on Chinese teas, which has probably driven me to be biased towards this tea form and related character (experienced brewed tea aspects that tend to correspond with that form).

While I'm on an aside I want to cover one more tangent, prior to getting back to how broad awareness and demand issues are playing out.  Brewing some teas Western style works better than a Gongfu approach, and for some Gongfu brewing is much better.  It applies by tea type as one factor, with others also relevant.  Sheng pu'er gives better results brewed Gongfu style (using a much higher proportion and many short infusions, versus using a teaspoon per cup brewed for 4 to 5 minutes, maybe only for two infusions).  Broken leaf material, for green and black tea, typically works out better brewed Western style.  As I see it shu pu'er is an odd exception; it works fairly well made lots of different ways, not just Western or Gongfu brewed, but also "grandpa style," or even thermos brewed.  If one assumes that only Western style brewing is going to be used this change to whole leaf versions would still be positive, but that offsets some of the potential for improved experience.

All of that is my own personal opinion; others could see brewing issues and likely cause and effect patterns far differently.  That applies to most range related to tea.  Expectations change a lot, and personal preference changes what is the best-case outcome quite a bit.

there's always at least one issue with every picture (credit Suzana)

Demand and awareness patterns

We talked as much about how distribution channels and end-point vending is affected by shifting the nature of the product (moving from broken leaf to whole leaf), but I'll settle more here on the consumer perspective instead.  In taking up that other discussion it could easily seem like I'm blaming wholesale distribution systems and companies for being short-sighted, or favoring profits over an inclination to provide the highest quality tea, and all of this isn't intended as judgmental in that way.  Change occurs slowly in relation to the activities of large companies and governments, or even related to consumer preferences (typically); it just is what it is. Selling what people already expect and want is a much easier, more direct path to profiting as a business.  It works as well to look at related issues from a different angle and consider consumer preference instead of distribution or sales range, which is the angle I'll review the same issues in regard to instead.

Some people are getting it.  Access to these teas is out there in different vending forms, and word gets out.  Not nearly as much in India as in European markets and in America, as Rishi described it.  That's partly due to expectations, to the developed tea enthusiast perspective in places like the US having been shaped by Chinese product ranges, in part.  Indians don't already drink that much Chinese tea; they produce their own domestically.

To be clear when I'm talking about "tea enthusiast preference" here I'm generally not referring to people buying tea in tins at the grocery store.  That's a different range of products.  It seems so judgmental, to sweep aside the entire mainstream product range as irrelevant, but that's not entirely what I mean, and a bit beside the point.  Those teas are fine, there is nothing wrong with consuming them and loving them, they're just something else, a different kind of thing.  They are lower in quality and cost, in general.  Part of why what I mean might not be clear is because what grocery stores sell varies by country, and by type of grocery store, specialty stores versus more mainstream versions.  At the same time I say that I've been to grocery stores in a dozen different countries, throughout the US, a lot of Asia, in Australia, and in Russia, and it's a lot more consistent than one might expect.  Tea aisles in China are really something to see but even in places like Japan the range can be limited (although they are a lot more open to foreign teas than I expected, based on very limited sampling input there).

Products sold by a mainstream online outlet like Yunnan Sourcing represent this "better quality" range I'm talking about. Or even Adagio, to a lesser extent, or Moychay, in Russia.  Per ideas outlined by Ralph in the last talk--meeting with an Assam farmer and producer and smaller scale online Indian specialty tea vendor--the main channels in Germany sell tea not completely unlike grocery store tin versions, maybe just a slightly broader range across parts of the scale.  Smaller shops and online vendors fill in higher quality source range (whole-leaf tea, higher quality Chinese and Japanese teas, a typical broad range of sheng pu'er and oolongs, etc.).  In India Ketlee, that vendor outlet we discussed last week, and others like Tea Leaf Theory, represent attempts to source and distribute higher quality range.

Soon enough in one might question how broad the demand is for these ranges of tea, leading to the question of how relevant they are in relation to the grocery store versions (again which I'm not really condemning, or really clearly defining, even though I don't really drink much of that range).  Are we talking about the equivalent of a $30-40 bottle of wine, something mid-range but priced beyond what many people would purchase, or $100-200 per bottle versions, that next level up, demanded by an even smaller group?  

Right now by consumer count the demand for higher quality tea is limited (everywhere, per my understanding), even for 10-20 cents a gram moderate cost tea.  The expense level is at the far low end of the scale though, in relation to wine.  On the high side 3 grams of 20 cent a gram tea would easily brew two cups, at 30 cents a cup, and on that low side for "better wine" a glass of $30 / bottle costs about $8.  To put both in perspective a retail take-away cup of coffee tends to sell for over $5 in the US now, which varies here in Bangkok depending on the outlet, but that range is common too.

Limited demand seems to be about limited awareness, not mostly about a cost barrier.  People in the US overwhelmingly favor drinking tea-bag tea that costs less than 5 cents a cup, versus that 30 cent range, but I think many could easily afford the extra quarter.  Then in interest-specific tea groups that can seem odd, since some people are debating whether $80 a cake sheng pu'er is good enough for them to drink or not (which is already beyond my own tea budget, to be clear).  That's still 22 cents a gram, dividing out from a standard 357 gram amount, so still just at what I'm describing as the high side of high quality but moderate cost specialty tea.

Without someone having experienced any of this range I'm talking about it would all be far too abstract to make any sense of it.  How could someone get any feel for the typical differences in wines that retail for $10, $30, and $100 per bottle if they never drank much wine at all?  It could all seem a waste, something that only wealthier people need to be concerned about.  Then it's a little odd setting that framing related to tea, and saying that a 30 cent cup of tea is out of bounds, while someone regularly buys $5 cups of coffee (or maybe $8 is more typical at Starbucks now).  Water costs $1 a bottle, inexpensive versions of it.  Again, it's probably more about awareness and developed preference based on prior exposure than a cost and value issue.

Huyen's nephew learns about Darjeeling

Other scope

Since that was a main point, that already involved a few tangents, I won't go further in detail about other discussion.  The parts about tea processing were interesting, but I can't summarize that clearly, even if I wanted to.  We talked a little about what is considered to be oolong in India, but it's probably as well just setting that aside, since use of terms and actually different character products tend to mix in such a discussion.  If Indian oolong is ever a lot like Taiwanese or Fujian oolong then I've not tried that yet, but I've definitely tried some exceptional teas presented as Indian oolong, that were just something else.  One other part about plantation worker issues stood out as worth a short description.

It seems as well to add a comment clarifying this directly from him, from later message discussion:

Darjeeling for a specialty tea region is plucking 4 seasons. It is rare because it is a plantation model. Those dependent on the plantation don't do anything else. This is challenging and explains a lot of the reasons why things are structured the way they are. 

Rishi didn't really map out all of that part, or suggest how to resolve staff related concerns that remain problematic.  Tea plantation worker pay is a concern, and other worker welfare and security issues.  He said that standard pay rates, and what they can afford to pay to their harvest and processing staff, are on the low side, in relation to what would provide a high standard of living.  And work demands and conditions are challenging, not ideal.  He mentioned ways they were trying offset and resolve those concerns, which don't all relate to increasing worker pay.  They are also focusing on employee welfare and benefit issues, trying to make sure that health care is available, and retirement support.

Both Suzana and Rishi mentioned regional factors and cultural issues that keep it all from being simple, competing broad forms of employment by regions, and patterns in work preferences that all employers need to work around.  Since this was a shorter discussion, not explored in depth in terms of causes or potential resolution, it seems as well to just set it aside here.

It's interesting to consider how those issues went in relation to covid changing things, but we didn't get to that.  Assuring worker safety must have been a nightmare, a complete impossibility to fully accomplish.  Throughout all the discussion more focus was on tea though, especially on what Gopaldhara and Rohini are trying to do that's a bit different and challenging, which really seemed to work out well.

Oolong pu'er, about sheng aging potential

Related to reviewing different sheng versions lately considering which sheng pu'er will age well and which won't keeps coming up.

A comment about a Moychay Nan Nuo sheng relates directly to that (here on Reddit, by Jay, if he's familiar, who sells tea here):

It'll be interesting to watch it age over several years but my gut instinct is that it will fade rather quickly in BKK. The fruity flavors often indicate oolong style pu that will fade out with age.


I had framed a similar idea in that original review more as a question.


I love the fruit in it, and that overall "bright" effect.  Often when I'm drinking sheng made within the past year I'm saying this might be better in a year or two, a little less edgy, but in this case I'm not so sure.  If that brightness were to decline, as it would to some extent, the balance might be just as positive, or more so, or the tea could've been best drank when very young like this.


Of course the deeper issue is what aspect range indicates a tea will age well, and to what extent that varies by preference, or is it not possible to tell by trying a tea.  All of that is essentially what this post is about.  I frame that as a question in the response to that comment by Jay about "oolong pu'er":


I've ran across this description, and take it to mean sheng pu'er that resembles oolong in aspect character, smooth, not astringent or bitter, sweet, sometimes with fruit aspects.

The odd twist is that often mentions of that term pair it with descriptions of processing variation (or error, depending on interpretation) with the tea heated more in the kill-green (shaqing) step causing conversion of compounds essential to sheng pu'er fermentation (or whatever someone wants to call that, since there's more back-story about that term too). But only at that simple one-step variation description it should become more like a green tea, shouldn't it? 

Some other descriptions, which usually don't mention "oolong-style" as a comment, say sheng that's heated too much more or less is green tea. But green tea usually tastes nothing at all like oolong, with more initial oxidation being a main difference in the two, beyond difference in resulting aspects. That additional oxidation wouldn't be present in sheng that got a bit hot during processing. 


Jay mentioned that Tea Chat discussion link for further reference, along with a concise overview "some of the stuff that is aromatic and flavorful and easy to drink today can die in a matter of three years."


I'll look into that Tea Chat discussion here, citing parts of it.  It never really resolves, but it's interesting to consider individual points made.  I want to touch on another tangent first, about people using the terms fragrant and aromatic in different ways.  I'm sure it means something very clear and consistent to the people using it, probably even well agreed upon in limited groups or circles, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that the meaning varies among people.

exploring sheng aging by trying six years of consecutive samples (here and here)

more to follow about turning another page in trying interesting versions

More on aroma, fragrance, and other aspect descriptions

It's common enough knowledge that basic taste / flavor is really divided into two parts, what our tongues pick up (salty, sweet, umami, etc.) and aromatic compounds, identified in sensors in the lower rear of the nasal passages instead, related to our sense of smell.  I've mentioned this "basics" video summary by Barb Stuckey before, author of "Taste What You're Missing."

It would be simple if aroma is intended as only the information carried by aromatic compounds that are identified by sensation related to smell.  In this tea vendor blog post that's essentially how it's being used.

The problem is that I've ran across other range of uses before, and it doesn't seem to be quite that simple in these citations.  Jay mentioned in that comment "some of the stuff that is aromatic and flavorful," apparently contrasting the two (which I had just cited).  It doesn't work well for flavor to mean what's tasted by the tongue in that, although it could still work.  Typical language use of the concept of flavor includes both types of sensory input, but then the concepts of taste and flavor tend to blur together in common use.  In lots of citations related to tea use of all of the terms seems to vary, but to generally incline towards one specific concept range, assumed as shared and understood.

A research article (Tea Aroma Formation) summarizes aromatic compounds present in tea, reflecting that simple version:

The current review summarizes tea aroma compounds and their formation in green, black, and oolong tea. The flavor of tea can be divided into two categories: taste (non-volatile compounds) and aroma (volatile compounds). All of these aroma molecules are generated from carotenoids, lipids, glycosides, etc. precursors, and also from Maillard reaction. In the current review, we focus on the formation mechanism of main aromas during the tea manufacturing process.


So why not just leave it at that?  "Taste" can be reduced to what the tongue is picking up, "aroma" to the rest, to aromatic compound input.  Or on the looser side taste or flavor could mean both, and someone could be more specific about how they're using the terms if it's really necessary.  The reason I'm not comfortable leaving it at that (that first option) relates to running across the terms being used in different ways.  Generally loose ordinary language use of broad terms is something else, but I mean in discussions about tea.

Of course most of the flavor of all teas is carried mostly by aromatic compounds.  Sweetness is picked up through sensation by the tongue (mostly, as far as I know and can determine), even though it's not typically sugars causing that in tea, but also other compounds that come across similarly.  The same is true for the feel of teas, astringency, and bitterness and sourness, obviously, but beyond that most is "aromatic," or from the contribution of volatile compounds.

Onto the complication:  often the pronounced floral or fruit range in a tea like a Mi Lan Xiang Dan Cong is referred to as flavorful, while the more subtle, different range in a Ya Shi (duck shit) Dan Cong is referred to as aromatic instead.  Of course some people will disagree completely with that; my central point is that people are using the terms in different ways.  Is that convention--if correctly identified--only because someone is using the terms in the wrong way, or that they aren't clear on how limited tongue-based taste perception is?  Maybe.  But it seems to represent a different convention that breaks "flavor" apart differently than just between tongue and nasal passages instead.

I've been through some degree of training in wine tasting but referring back to that doesn't help (which could instead relate to limitations in my own training and memory).  And even if there had been a clear convention and terms break-down there it still might not carry over.

Ordinarily I'd speculate, and say that a certain range seems to have represented what people are meaning by "aroma" in some cases, with the rest pushed off to "flavor" or whatever else.  I have expressed thoughts on this before but I can't really get much clearer to pinning this down.  I tend to use "aromatic" myself in a specific and limited sense that's probably not universal, or who knows, maybe almost entirely incorrectly.

Just because someone is from within the Chinese tea tradition (like my online friend Cindy, who even makes tea) they're not necessarily a great reference for a universal use of terms.  Even if someone could site a tea-master or ancient tradition school lineage that wouldn't necessarily support their use of any description terms as universal.

All of this isn't really central to this discussion, the part about oolong pu'er, but it sort of does keep coming up in the parts of it.

Kalani checking out a dragon.  Happy New Year!

About types of sheng, and "oolong pu'er"

Part of the broader idea of exploring sheng lately has been to start to sort out how different types of age differently.  Of course aging input is just one issue related to judging or enjoying a sheng pu'er.  Related to exploring that, most recently I tried a series of Yiwu sheng samples designed to show aging effect (here and here), and before that  attended a vertical tasting of those (narrowed to teas from Ding Jia Zhai, a village in that larger Yiwu area).

It's a review that I understand is going to be a process, nothing I'm going to get far with in any limited amount of time.  It goes without saying that I'm barely getting started, but I do keep saying that anyway.  "Just getting started" means different things to different people, and what I mean is that I've tried and reviewed some related teas over the last four years, but not that many of them, something like a few dozen.  There are probably less than 20 related reviews here, of versions of sheng. 

Tea quality is another issue, beyond any sort of count related to what someone has tried.  It would be possible to keep trying low to medium quality versions of sheng pu'er and not really see that half of the picture, or to many, to get much relevant exposure about what the tea type is really supposed to be about.


The discussion in that Tea Chat thread about "oolong pu'er" goes a lot further with isolating aging concerns, with the main two references here:

Tea Chat forum "Oolong Pu'er Processing" thread

Related, The Mandarin's Tea "Oolong Pu" post

A citation from the author of the second personal blog post (by Tim) within that original thread outline the central theme and concept definition of "oolong pu'er:"


Those high aromatic new style Puerh which goes stale in 8 plus years. They can't age and a total waste of time and money...  

...flat in the body, don't last many brews in a balanced way (aroma and body) but high aroma from the production of 2006 to current?  [2013, at that time of writing]


From there discussion varied related to root causes or descriptions of effect.  One vendor offered an summary of some issues and conditions, but it's not intended as a consensus take here, or even representative, just a good place to start (cited from "Bannacha's" post):


If you're refering to tea that got too much Sha Qing, they are quite easy to identify: the leaves are very green, they are astringent and they get bland very quickly, just like green tea.

By controlling the Sha Qing time and the wok temperature, you can make redder or greener tea, and, as long as it's not extreme, I think there's a large span of well processed tea. Then, it depends on your personal taste, what kind of aroma you prefer, and which mountain you're dealing with. I like a greener processing on Mengku tea, because it brings out the high pitched fragrance of this area. Redder tea might be good to emphasize on the body, the mouth feeling.



Later discussion identified a potential difference in the drying step as a potential main issue, that replacing sun-drying with an alternative process (citing "Nada" on page 2)


...He's been experimenting with how cakes have been ageing that have had different processing techniques & noticed a big difference between those that had been dried in a heated room after pressing vs those that had been dried in the open air. 

...We tasted some of his past pressings and there did seem to be a strong correlation. The naturally dried cakes did seem to be ageing better. 

In freshly pressed teas, the difference seems to be huge - the cakes dried in a heated room had strong aroma and tasted fresh soon after pressing, while naturally dried cakes seem to take months after pressing to recover from the process and have a much more subdued aroma.

Really all of these citations are just samples, and the whole thread is well worth a read. Of course people are going to be using some terms in slightly different ways (me even more so than them), and preferences would vary, but it seems possible to read past those issues and extract some clear insights.  It would be interesting if I could even tentatively link any of what I've experienced back to these patterns, but passing on guesses at this point would seem less than helpful. 

the "Oolong Puerh" FB business page.  that might've not worked out.

The various points raised don't really fall together as a clearly connected, narrow-range set of ideas, as this summary hasn't (so far, but it does keep meandering).  If you read through even the first four or five pages of that Tea Chat discussion it's narrower than this review of it makes out, but still hard to summarize.  

I'll cite a part that was particularly interesting, some comments on positive attributes of sheng by Shah82 (a name reference that might ring a bell; I've mentioned other input from him in this blog before), from page 4 of that discussion (edited down only a little for length):

Nobody is an expert. Not really, because this hobby is far too young as a broad phenomenon. Virtually everyone's experience in the West consists of furtive samplings of tiny quantities of the well stored aged tea, usually of well known tea like 7542 or 8582. So everyone is making best guesses, especially given how processing methods and blends have changed since the 80s and 90s. So you have to come up with a system that estimates how you should think of a tea. 

So for me, I go with: 

1) Does the aroma endure? You can't fake or process a quality aroma with depth/complexity/fullness, rise off the cup, and lasting more than a minute or so. 

2) How comfortable is it to drink? Is there astringency or bitterness? Is that astringency/bitterness productive in generating lingering aftertaste and huigans? Silky, gloopy, whatever texture? 

3) Is it like drinking water or some kind of soup? Body is a bit different than texture--you can have a thinner body, with a silk texture and that'd be pretty cool. Or a thick one that isn't right in some way. 

4) How much power, activity, and presence does the soup have on top of, and inside the throat? Too many people think mere cooling is a sign of quality. It is, sorta, but what sets off the really good from the mundane is the nature of the cool. Good tea has a different kind of cooling that's more ben-gay than mint. The effect tends to go down the throat and up the nose. It can also travel around the mouth, as in "wind rain effect" as the Chinese call it. 

5) How much qi does it have? Does said qi move along the meridians, so to speak, or does it just sit there? Is it comfortable or harsh? 

6) Does the tea have several stages in flavor as you go through a pot of water? Are the finishing brews pleasantly sweet and comfy? 

... You have to make choices about what you want. You'd read me or any of the bloggers strictly in the context of where your preferences and priorities tend to overlap with mine or anyone else... 

I will say that taste itself is highly deceptive. It depends on your water, whether you let the dry leave sit in the bowl a week or two, or any number of things. It can change with the years. The classic way people buy bad tea is by preferentially buying "approachable" flavor or aroma puerh. Which is why you see so much problematically tinkered puerh that gives a oolongly fruity or floral taste (or more red and mellow malt). 

For me, the easy way to tell, again, is to see whether that aroma *endures*. Many of these teas also will betray badness by becoming hard to drink or pointless to drink by about brew 6-8. *Few* puerh, however, are done straight processing green. A little butteriness is sought after. Or a little hongcha, or some nice smokiness. That's alright, so long as most of the underlying qualities are still there to age.

Ok, not edited down much.  There's lots interesting there, which I won't really comment further on.  I will mention that the one sentence about communication and shared perspective does deserve some extra thinking through.  It's insightful and clear enough, but perhaps easy to miss what is really being said.  As I take it he acknowledges that preference is a real issue, a context framework that the rest of the experience rests on, and that input from him or from tea bloggers is only valid to the degree that a general approach is shared.

Put another way, reading others' ideas about how they approach tea, and what they prefer, only goes so far.  There would seem to be better and worse references beyond that issue of generally matching preference scale.  As an example, a tea blogger could be on exactly the same page as a reader relating to general preference (for types, relating to subject concerns, and brewing approach, etc.), and still pass on a lot of wrong information, or could describe teas very badly.  And I suppose the opposite could be true; an online reference or discussion point could relate to a completely different scope than a reader is typically interested in or exposed to (eg. be written about a tea type that isn't of interest, or be based on very different personal preference scope) and it could still be interesting.

Typical mapping related to that, identifying who is speaking from a similar perspective framework, is simple enough; you just find an example of discussion of a favorite tea type, and see if the observations match (likes, as part of that, but also the details of the take, like aspect descriptions).

That last citation is a good example of how such ideas can be interesting, or even potentially helpful, probably not just related to people who are clear on what he's talking about.  At times others' perspectives are paired with attitudes and personality aspect inputs that can be a bit off-putting, and I suppose it all has to balance.

that one blog mascot again

Oolong pu'er as a positive description

Oddly this doesn't come up.  If there really are differences in processing approaches, and differences in aspect range of young teas, and in personal preferences, it would stand to reason that there couldn't be a completely clear division between what is good and bad.  But that's essentially how the term "oolong pu'er" tends to be used, only as a criticism of a specific version of a young sheng. 

The implication is that teas should be able to improve with age, or that people should prefer some other aspect range than is found in such a tea.  But that's usually not explicitly stated.  More often one or two aspects are criticized, and the person commenting just moves on.  I suppose the way this review of the discussion plays out accounts for one reason why that might occur:  it's not simple outlining what one might desire in a sheng, even when someone has the experience and communication tools at their disposal to do so.

All of this is only food for thought, to be compared to actual personal tea drinking experience. 

One interesting complication is that tea related preferences change over time, and that preference related to specific types of aspects changes.  It would seem problematic to try and like what you think you're supposed to like, to steer personal preference along the path of some consensus-defined natural learning curve.  Or maybe that could work.  Even for taking external input seriously, in a case when a tea drinker tries to branch out and add depth to the range of what they can appreciate, someone would still need to experience tea enjoyment tea by tea, and sip by sip, to work with where they are to some degree.

And so I come back to where this started:  will that Moychay Nan Nuo sheng age well, will it continue to improve?  I'm not sure.  I did just try it again with breakfast, to keep tabs on if my impression changes, and to compare it to the other related tea versions I've been trying this year.  I just checked; four of eleven posts this year were about sheng, with six versions reviewed, and two more in draft form now.  It's not a bad pace but a slow start to the blogging year, versus last year.  I still really like the tea.

I plan to keep drinking some, to enjoy it as it is now, and leave enough to try some later too.  Of course there's a bit of a gap in that approach:  if it does seem to improve over several years, or go through an "awkward phase" between years 8 and 13 (or whenever), it will essentially be gone by the time it has improved, already drank.  It would seem best if I could set aside a good bit of varied tea now to hedge my bets related to versions changing in different ways.  As far as making better guesses about likely changes I'm not getting far, yet.

Growing tea plants at home

The subject keeps coming up:  can I grow tea plants at home, and if so can I process them into tea I could drink?  I was asking the same thing myself awhile back, I just never did get around to finding those plants and getting it done.  I live in Bangkok, so I'd be looking into plants that are ok with quite warm weather instead of cold, but the concerns seem similar.

I never did get around to writing about the subject; not having followed up there wasn't that much to say.  Looking back I that was in 2013, right around the time this blog started, and I was a lot less chatty and diverse in tea writing back then. 

Back then I discussed it a little with a nursery (Camellia Forest Nursery, in North Carolina), a business that sells tea plants in the US.  They're one of the main plant sources that comes up in discussion, to the limited extent I run across that.  They mentioned this advice related to growing tea plants in hot weather climates (like Bangkok), or indoors versus outdoors:

home based tea plant garden in Mexico (related story)

Tea in general will tolerate high temperatures as long as it gets water.  They do need a cooler period in the winter as they go dormant for a while.  There are tea plantations in warm areas of China and Vietnam...


...For growing tea indoors, again they like cooler temperatures and high humidity during the winter so a hot dry house sometimes is stressful for the plant.  If you have a cool sunroom they will do well indoors.


We have a couple of nice, small garden areas at the house I live in, even though we're in the city.

at the house; we could clear a space for some plants out there

Online references:  a source for plants and tea growing group

The Camellia Forest Nursery website sells different related types of plants (other decorative Camellias and other plants), with a section on Camellia Sinensis (tea!).  It includes an overview of processed types, and a separate website on growing and producing tea (and a Facebook page).  It wouldn't be remarkably simple, getting the right version of the plants to thrive under local conditions, and then picking and processing leaves into good quality finished tea, but having a go at it wouldn't seem that impossible either. 

A second interesting reference is a Facebook group about growing tea in the US, Let's Grow Tea.  The group focus is really more about small producers helping each other share information, rather than for people with a few plants growing in a greenhouse themed room in their house, but even just paging through discussions would turn up good information related to common issues.  And the group members seem nice.

Wonosari plantation in East Java, Indonesia, from visiting in 2016

Input from David Parks, Camellia Forest Nursery co-owner

Those nursery website pages go through lots of detail, on different types of Camellia Sinensis plants, and on growing zones and specific plant weather tolerances.  It seems to be most of what someone would need to know related to if it would be practical or not.

camellia japonica version (credit Camellia Forest FB page)

From there other levels of concerns would crop up, related to growing inside versus outside, watering, nutrition, and pest issues, harvesting leaves, and especially related to actually processing tea.  It would seem highly impractical to actually try to produce substantial amounts of tea, even if someone did happen to live in a suitable US environment (to the South), but of course that wouldn't generally be the point.  What tea enthusiast wouldn't want to add some plants around their house that could actually produce tea to drink?  Even if is difficult, and recreating a favorite Wuyi Yancha or pu'er wouldn't be practical.



I asked the owners of the Camellia Forest Nursery if they could fill in more details, and David was kind enough to summarize some thoughts related to trends in that actually happening and related background, as follows.


The interest in tea over the last 30 years has grown from a few individuals and a handful of nurseries to a general interest in tea and tea potentially being sold in big box stores. There are even some nurseries that sell only tea plants but I saw in a large nursery R+D department that they are experimenting with tea that would be marketed to big box stores as a premade hedge. We have gone from selling a few dozen plants to thousands of tea plants-the nursery has grown ten fold also.

In general, people do enjoy the tea made from their own plants. They find it is very different from typical bagged tea but are pleasantly surprised. There are cases of people using mature leaves or even the dead leaves with rather poor success.

Since we are a mail order nursery we get requests from all over the country even locations that are too cold for growing tea. So many people try growing it indoors. The success varies but it can be done. Although actual production will probably be limited unless one is experienced growing plants to get good growth without getting too big a plant for a pot. Moving the plant outdoors in the summer and indoors in the winter is probably the best option. People also have success in small or large greenhouses. One customer grows tea in a polyhouse in Michigan.

USDA plant hardiness zone map (credit USDA site)

This year was a cold hardiness test for tea in North Carolina. We had one night when the temperature dropped to 3 F and almost 2 weeks of temperatures below freezing. So far most looks OK and even tender varieties are expected to regrow from the roots. One issue we see is that harvested tea will keep growing into the fall and not harden off so the top leaves of many bushes are completely brown but lower leaves look green. Although not attractive I believe this does not hurt the plants and we will prune off these leaves very soon in preparation for the new flush in spring. Surprisingly some varieties like Sochi appear almost unhurt. Other varieties that look good include small leaf tea, 'Dave's Fave', and Lipton Plantation.

Camellia Forest nursery photo from a 2013 ice storm (credit their FB page)

Snow actually protects plants although it can splay out tea branches if it is very heavy snow. It is the low temperatures that seem to damage tea the most. From reports I have gotten from customers Sochi tea does appear to be one of the hardiest. It comes from tea plantations around the black sea in Russia. My Korean strain and small leaf tea have also been hardy strains and the best variety has not been clear.


Some of those last parts overlap with a story about trying North Korean tea, and about how they were able to produce that there.

All of this encourages me to renew my own efforts to track down tea plants here.  Thailand produces tea, so I only need to go to the North and I can visit plantations up there.  And Bangkok is a big place, with a little bit of everything around; most likely tea plants are also here.

Nursery open house announcement (details here)