The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea - Michael Harney [51]
• Yin Zhen white tea, page 21
• Golden Monkey Chinese black tea, page 107
• Golden Tip Assam black tea, page 144
SPRING TEAS
I dream of a day when we drink teas when they are in season. Spring teas are among the best of all teas, flush with nutrients to help the plants recover from their winter dormancy. They usually become available in midsummer. Here are four of the best spring teas in the world, from all over the world: two greens and two blacks.
• Bi Lo Chun Chinese green tea, page 37
• Matsuda’s Sencha Japanese green tea, page 57
• Panyong Congou Chinese black tea, page 110
• Singbulli SFTGFOP1 Supreme Dj 18 Darjeeling black tea, page 130
MIDSUMMER TEAS
After the burst of life in the springtime, tea plants quiet down and produce more subdued brews. These two teas take advantage of naturally occurring herbivores to boost the flavors in the leaves. Though one is an oolong from Taiwan and the other a black tea from India, they have charming similarities.
• Bai Hao, aka Fanciest Formosa Oolong, page 91
• Margaret’s Hope FTGFOP Muscatel Dj 275 Darjeeling black tea, page 133
BROTHY TEAS
These two teas are packed with amino acids; each has profoundly satisfying mouth-filling qualities.
• Taiping HouKui Chinese green tea, page 45
• Matsuda’s Sencha Japanese green tea, page 57
CHOCOLATY TEAS
These teas contain more than average amounts of certain amino acids that help generate surprisingly chocolaty flavors. They don’t taste like fudge, but they have the roasted flavors of barely sweetened cocoa powder. Though one is from China and the other India, their production methods are remarkably similar, designed to play up these cocoa notes.
• Keemun Hao Ya A Chinese black tea, page 114
• New Vithanakande Ceylon black tea, page 156
FLORAL TEAS
To discover the range of flavors possible in pure tea, it’s fun to compare a tea flavored with flowers with one in which floral aromas occur naturally.
• Osmanthus oolong, page 88, versus Golden Monkey Chinese black tea, page 107
• Dragon Pearl Jasmine Chinese green tea, page 47, versus Ti Guan Yin oolong, page 86
HIGH-ALTITUDE TEAS
Some of the most intensely flavored teas come from some of the highest regions in the world. Here we have a Taiwanese oolong with gardenia flavors and a Ceylon black tea with aromas of wintergreen.
• Ali Shan oolong, page 81
• Uva Highlands Pekoe Ceylon black tea, page 160
THE INFLUENCE OF FIRING ON TEA
To understand how firing, the final stage of tea preparation, can affect flavor, compare Tencha, a Japanese green tea that is not fired at all, with Gunpowder, one of the most heavily fired Chinese green teas.
• Tencha Japanese green tea, page 70
• Gunpowder Chinese green tea, page 49
SMOKY TEAS
Once upon a time, teas were so heavily fired that they tasted of pine smoke. A few still do. These are two of the tea world’s most intensely smoky varieties.
• Da Hong Pao oolong, page 93
• Lapsang Souchong Chinese black tea, page 117
APPENDIX
From Tree to Tea: The Chemistry of Tea
While the transformation of tea from bitter, waxy leaves on a bush to liquor in a pot may seem absurdly magical, tea makers actually follow the same basic steps worked out by farmers in China by the eighteenth century. To cultivate a taste for tea, it helps to understand the stages of tea production, as each phase contributes to the final taste. I have tried to write this out in the simplest possible language, since some of the scientific terminology may vex those (like me) for whom Chemistry 101 is a distant memory. Tea science is a burgeoning field; few resources have been dedicated to understanding the chemistry behind its flavor. Sometimes it can seem as though the conclusions change with every new study. From what little we do know, however, the science of tea can enthrall. Understanding these transformations