Whereas Assam is very flat and low lying, the hills of Darjeeling rise to an altitude of 2,133.6 metres (7,000 feet), and tea grows on the steep slopes from approximately 609.6 metres (2,000 feet) up to the very highest peaks. There are around 80 tea gardens in the region, although the exact number changes all the time as gardens go out of production, or split up, or amalgamate neighbouring estates. Most estates have their own factory and a village for the workers who pick and process the tea. There are also clinics and hospitals, creches, junior schools, places of worship, community centres, and shops. Several estates also offer accommodation for tourists or potential buyers who visit each year to buy teas for their business.

The flavours of Darjeeling tea

The flavours of Darjeeling teas can vary for several reasons.

The first is the way in which the seasons, climate and weather patterns change during the growing period from spring through to autumn.

The second is the altitude of the gardens, for the highest altitudes will always have an advantage over the lower elevations in terms of the quality and flavour of the teas.

The third is the type or types of tea plants growing on each individual estate.

• Some gardens have very old bushes that were grown from seed in the 1850s when the region was developed for commercial production. These seed-grown plants are all slightly different, grow at slightly different speeds, yield different amounts of leaf shoots and buds, and bring valuable diversity to the flavour of the teas plucked from them.
• Some gardens have plants that have been grown more recently by Vegetative Propagation (VP), which creates new plants from leaf cuttings taken from a carefully selected mother bush. Each of those new cloned plants is an exact copy of the mother plant, so the bushes will all grow at the same rate, flush at the same time and give the same flavour and aroma characteristics to the tea made from them. The estate manager therefore knows exactly what to expect from his plants.
• Some gardens have a mixture of both seed grown and clonal plants.

Of the three factors that affect the quality and flavour profile of Darjeeling teas, the one with the most influence is the changing of the seasons and the weather conditions that prevail at different times of the year. Because of climate change, traditional weather patterns have been shifting in recent years and are much less predictable that in earlier times.

There are four main harvesting periods in Darjeeling: early spring; late spring into early summer, midsummer; and autumn. In the winter months, the tea bushes go into a period of dormancy and do not start producing new leaf shoots again until the following spring.

Darjeeling First Flush

In spring, from late March and into April, the First Flush teas are picked and, because the weather is still cool and rather dry, the tea plants produce tiny new leaf buds and baby leaves which grow very slowly. These rather stressful conditions may be harsh for the plant but allow the tea leaves to develop delicate but complex layers of flavour and aroma. These teas are often described as having a ‘muscatel’ character, meaning they often smell and taste a little like muscat grapes, which are famous for their sweet and aromatic floral and fruity notes.

However, in the past 30 years or so, Darjeeling first flush teas have gradually become rather green in both colour and flavour profile and, if not brewed carefully, can taste rather grassy, astringent and slightly bitter. The increasing demand for greener First Flush teas has come from Japan (and from the wholesalers in Germany who sell these teas into Japan),and Darjeeling  factory managers have tweaked the black tea processing method to please those buyers.

The production of traditional First Flush

To make traditional black teas which have dark brown leaves, the freshly picked leaf is brought into the factory and is allowed to wither (to reduce the water content of the leaves) until approximately 30 – 35% of the water has been evaporated. This makes the tea much easier to manipulate during the next stages of the processing.

To make greener First Flush teas, the tea leaves go through what is called a ‘hard wither’, which removes 65 – 70% of the leaves’ water content (double the percentage lost in a traditional wither). For oxidation to take place in the leaves, there must be oxygen in the air, enzymes in the tea and water in the leaves, and the reduction of water remaining in the leaves after a hard wither makes it much more difficult for the tea to ‘oxidise’ and turn dark brown. The best teas still have suggestions of stone fruits such as peaches and apricots, but most are often rather crisp and grassy.

Darjeeling Second Flush

Darjeeling Second Flush teas are harvested and processed in May and June, when the weather is warmer and rainfall increases. These teas are fully oxidised and so look and taste very different from the greener First Flush. They are a rich woody brown and have more of the expected muscatel character mingled with fruity sweetness and slightly toasty notes.

Third Flush

The third harvest from late June through to late August, early September, is known as the ‘monsoon flush’. It rains almost incessantly during this period and, because there is so much water in the air, in the soil and in the tea leaves, the quality of the tea drops to give a very plain and rather uninteresting brew.

The teas are fully oxidised and so look very similar to the Second Flush teas but instead of being sold as single origin Darjeelings, they are often used in blends.

Autumnal Darjeeling harvest

The autumnal harvest is picked from late October to November when the rains and the sun’s warmth gradually decrease. The slower growth of the bushes results in teas that brew full bodied liquors with rich fruity flavours and hints of sweet grapes and ripe berries. For some tea lovers, this is their favourite season for Darjeeling teas.

The post What is Darjeeling tea: types and flavours first appeared on Blog Royal Tips.

• Most of the teas are mechanically picked using hand-held hedge trimmer type machines or ride-on harvesting machines.
• The tea producers do not sort their tea at the end of the process; instead they sell the unsorted tea, known as ‘aracha’, to wholesalers who sort all the large batches of the teas they buy into different types which are then sold to retail outlets or international buyers.
• Teas are sold at auctions held in various parts of the country; however, unlike tea auctions held in other traditional tea producing countries, the buyers at a Japanese auction have not tasted the teas before the auction takes place; they examine the tea leaves very carefully and can ask to have them brewed if they would like to taste.

The names of Japanese teas give us a lot of information about each tea. Here is a list of the best known Japanese teas that are available in international markets.

Shincha (meaning ‘new tea’), also called Ichiban-cha (meaning ‘first tea’)

This is the very first harvest of the year. During the winter months, the plants store nutrients, minerals and amino acids such as L-theanine, so when the tea is picked in early spring (in mid to late April), the teas are wonderfully umami, sweet and smooth. Because of the very slow growth at the start of the season, only small quantities of Shincha are made each year; some Shincha teas are processed by machine and some by hand and the tea can be steamed or panned.

Sencha (meaning ‘simmered tea’)

After the very limited Shincha harvest, Sencha is the first main harvest of the year and is processed by steaming, hence its name. This method of stopping oxidation by steaming the freshly picked leaves was invented in Japan in 1738. Most Sencha teas are harvested mechanically and can be processed by hand or machine; it is the most widely produced and consumed tea in Japan.

Bancha

Bancha is made from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th harvests picked in June, July, August and September, and is therefore a lower grade than Sencha. Most Bancha is harvested mechanically and can be steamed or panned.

Kabusecha (the word comes from ‘kabuseru’ meaning to cover or place on top)

Some of Japanese teas are shaded before they are picked. If the word Kabusecha appears on a packet of tea, it means it has been shaded.

There are two types of shading:

• ‘Jika-gake’ directly covers the tea bushes and cuts out approximately 50% of sunlight for between 7 and 10 days
• ‘Tana-gake’ shades the tea bushes under a framed canopy that sits several feet above the bushes; up to 90% of sunlight is cut out for 21 to 28 days before harvesting; in the past, rice straw and reeds were used to create the shade but today, modern materials which are easier to handle, are used.

The idea of covering the bushes evolved when tea producers were trying to protect their bushes from frost; they found that if the bushes were shaded, the tea had a much sweeter, umami, more brothy taste. This is because, when tea bushes are grown in restricted sunlight, the leaves retain more of the sweet-tasting amino-acid called L-theanine, and develop fewer bitter-tasting polyphenols. The more the sunlight is cut out, and the longer the period of shading, the higher the level of L-theanine, and the sweeter and umami the taste of the tea. Shaded teas also contain more chlorophyll and caffeine.

Some Sencha teas are shaded by the ‘jika-gake’ method and are therefore a better quality, more umami and sweeter than unshaded Senchas.

Gyokuro (meaning ‘jewel dew’, ‘jade dew’ or ‘precious dew’)

Gyokuro is considered the very best of Japanese teas and is brewed with more leaf than usual to the amount of water. It is a very special tea and is drunk in small quantities from small tea bowls on special occasions. It is shaded for 21 to 28 days by the ‘tana-gake’ framed canopy method and is picked by hand in late April and early May, at the beginning of the season. It is usually processed by hand using the ‘temomi’ (meaning hand-rolled) method on a special heated table called a hoirou table.

Tencha (meaning ‘mortar’ or ‘grind’)

The name of this very special tea refers to the fact that Tencha is ground to make Matcha, the finely powdered green tea that is whisked into hot water and served at a Japanese Green Tea Ceremony. Tencha is shaded in the same way as Gyokuro and is picked, processed and dried in the early part of the season. All the stalks and fibres are removed from the dried tea so that, when it is ground to make Matcha, it is only the finest fleshy part of the leaves that are used. The grinding must be carried out very slowly in traditional stone mills and only 40 grams of matcha is made in one hour. If the grinding process is speeded up by more modern methods, there is a risk that the tea will be damaged by the build up of heat.

Karigane (meaning ‘cry of the wild goose’ or ‘wild goose’)

Karigane is the stems, stalks and twigs that have been separated from Gyokuro or shaded Sencha. This tea therefore has a sweet, brothy and umami character. The name comes from the fact that the small pieces of stalk that float in the tea while it is being brewed look like pieces of driftwood that provide a welcome resting place for wild geese during their migratory journey each year.

Kukicha (meaning ‘twig tea’)

Kukicha is the stems, stalks and twigs that have been separated from Sencha or Bancha leaves; it has not been shaded and is a lower grade tea.

Kamairicha (meaning ‘the tea of the pan’)

Kamairicha is a panned tea, rather than the more common steamed tea made in Japan. Japan learned how to make tea from the Chinese and so when the Chinese steamed their teas, the Japanese copied; when the Chinese started to pan their teas, Japan did the same, but then developed their own way of steaming the leaves in the 18^th century and Sencha was born. Tea and knowledge about processing tea arrived into Japan from China through the south western area of Kyushu, the closest region to the Chinese coast, and it is in that region that processors have kept to their old traditional ways and still make panned green teas.

Tama Ryokucha (meaning ‘coiled green tea’; also called ‘Guricha’, meaning ‘curled tea’)

This tea can be steamed or panned and, instead of being rolled into shiny flat needles like most Japanese teas, it looks more like a hand rolled Chinese tea. Most of these teas are made in the Kyushu region

Hojicha (meaning ‘roasted tea’)

Hojicha is made from a steamed green tea (an ordinary Sencha, Bancha or Kukicha) that is roasted. This turns the leaves to a mid brown colour, gives the tea a mellow, toasty, nutty flavour and reduces the amount of caffeine in the tea.

Genmaicha (meaning ‘brown rice tea’ or toasted white rice tea’) sometimes called ‘popcorn tea’)

Genmaicha can be made using an ordinary Sencha, or Bancha, or Kukicha green tea to which is added roasted popped rice. ‘Genmai’can refer to brown rice or toasted white rice. One story about how it came to be made tells that in the 15^th century, a servant who had stolen some rice from his master and hidden it in his sleeve, accidentally dropped some into his master’s bowl of tea. His master was very angry and is said to have immediately beheaded his servant, but then sat down to drink his tea and found that he really liked it.

Another story says that in the early 20^th century, tea merchants combined their green tea with rice to make it go further during times of poverty. To make this kind of tea, the rice is soaked in water, steamed, dried, roasted and cooled. During the roasting some kernels of rice pop and so the tea is sometimes known as popcorn tea.

Matcha iri Genmaicha (also Genmaicha Matcha-Iri)

This modern mixture of Genmaicha with powdered green matcha was introduced a few years ago as a reaction to the rapidly increasing interest in matcha and its high levels of health benefits. The blend adds the pleasant nutty, toasty flavour of the Genmaicha to the slightly bitter flavour of the Matcha and makes it more palatable.

The post All about Japanese teas first appeared on Blog Royal Tips.

The History of Chai Tea

The most famous and popular type of spiced milky tea is the version made in India and the popularity of the drink seems to have grown during the 19th century when the British established and developed tea cultivation in Assam and Darjeeling in the north east, and in the Nilgiri Hills in the south west of the country. Although large quantities of black tea, made in those regions, was being shipped back to Britain for consumption there and elsewhere in the west, the Indians themselves did not drink much tea.

A campaign in India by the Indian Tea Association, a British owned tea promotional body, to encourage the consumption of tea within India, helped to increase sales and led to businesses being set up by a growing number of ‘chai wallahs’ or brewed tea merchants. Since the British by that time were drinking their black teas with milk and sugar, the same became popular in India, but many of the tea vendors also began to add locally grown spices such as nutmeg, cloves and cardamom.

It is possible that the use of spices developed from ancient ayurvedic medicinal recipes that used different spices for their various health benefits.

Traditional Recipe and Ingredients

Today chai is popular all over India, sold from stalls in the street and brewed at home. Modern recipes usually include strong black tea, milk, sweetener of some kind, and a mix of spices. These ingredients are boiled up together until all the flavours develop and balance with each other to create a wonderfully rich, warming sweet, spicy and invigorating, comforting drink.

In the north of India, the black tea used is usually strong black Assam CTC, while in the south a Nilgiri CTC or broken black grade is the base tea. The tea needs to be really robust and full of flavor so that it is not overwhelmed by all the other strong tastes and aromas.

The milk used in India is traditionally water buffalo milk but in other parts of the world it is usually cow’s milk. The milk is usually mixed one part milk to two, three or four parts water. Some people use evaporated or condensed milk to give extra sweetness. Any kind of sugar (soft brown, demerara crystals, syrup, honey, palm sugar or cane sugar) can be used and in India, many people use jaggery, an unrefined sugar made from sugar cane juice or palm juice and then reduced to give a very rich sweet flavor.

In India, the spice mix, called ‘karha’, varies according to region, vendor or household and if you ask for the recipe, everyone will tell you something different. The traditional ingredients usually include grated fresh root ginger, green or black cardamom, and black pepper, but different merchants might also add cloves, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, start anise, and fennel seeds. In the south, fresh basil leaves are sometimes used and occasionally the blend will also add chilli powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, rose petals, a little salt, or liquorice root. In Western India, the recipe rarely includes cloves and black pepper, and in Kashmir, green tea is used instead of black and the ‘karha’ spice mix uses more subtle flavours such as almonds, saffron and cardamom.

Chai wallahs and people at home in India usually make up their own mix of flavourings, whereas commercial mixtures sold in grocery stores usually restrict the number of spices to fewer traditional ingredients.

To prepare a good chai, everything is put into the pan together to allow the spices and the tea to fully infuse their flavours and strength into the brew.

At street stalls, once the liquids have been brought to the boil, the pan or kettle is set to simmer and when ready, the solids are strained off and the thick, sweet beverage is served in little handleless, unglazed terracotta clay cups called ‘kulhars‘. These are cheaply made and the intention is that, once the customer has drunk the chai, the cup is smashed on the ground, returning it to the earth in pieces of broken earthenware with the result that no plastic or paper cups are left littering the streets.

Masala chai is also popular in East Africa, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates, where it is known as ‘chai karak’.

Over the past 15 to 20 years, chai has become more and more popular in the West where companies offer a range of concentrated tea-based syrups that are designed to be diluted with hot water or milk; teabag blends that mix black tea, rooibos or yerba mate with a selection of spices and are designed to be brewed in hot water; ground spice mixtures that can be added to a cup of tea after it has been brewed; soluble granules for stirring into hot water rather like instant coffee granules; and unsweetened iced-tea powder for adding to a blend of spices, sugar and milk.

The beverage can be served hot or iced, and some café and restaurants even offer an additional shot of espresso coffee and call the resulting brew ‘java chai’ or ‘Dirty Chai’. Recent health trends have also led to brands offering turmeric chai and matcha chai.

Benefits of Chai Tea

As well as giving hot sweet milky tea its invigorating, warming and comforting spicy character, the individual spices in the mix are also thought to offer wide a range of health benefits.

Cloves, cinnamon and ginger are all thought to have an anti-inflammatory effect and can therefore be helpful against rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions that cause swelling of the joints. Cloves are also said to boost the immune system, have antibacterial properties, protect the liver, and help control diabetes.

Cinnamon is a source of antioxidants, also helps fight diabetes, infections and viruses, and protects the teeth.

Ginger stimulates the circulation, helps cure nausea, motion sickness and upset stomachs. It may also help indigestion, reduce blood sugar and cholesterol levels and protect against heart disease.

Cardamoms are related to ginger and may also help indigestion, calm nausea, clean the kidneys, and stimulate the appetite.

Black peppercorns stimulate the taste buds, have antibacterial properties, can help against weight loss, and are also said to improve brain function.

Fresh basil, so popular in southern Indian versions of the brew, are also said to act as an anti-inflammatory herb, to have antibacterial and anti-microbial properties, combat stress and fight depression.

The tea, of course, also delivers antioxidant polyphenols into the body and a beneficial dose of L-theanine that produces alpha waves in the brain and calms mental and physical stress.

No wonder this deliciously satisfying nourishing and uplifting drink is becoming so popular around the world.

The post Masala Chai Tea: History, Ingredients and Benefits first appeared on Blog Royal Tips.

When the tea arrives at the factory door, it is first stored in cool air for a few hours and then placed in machines that are controlled by computers to steam, roll, twist, press and dry the leaves. The dried tea that comes out at the end of the production line is a mass of different sized pieces of leaf, stalks, stems, leaf veins and small, broken and dusty particles.

This unsorted tea is called ‘aracha’ and most growers and producers do not refine this crude tea but sell it in bulk through auctions to wholesalers.

The wholesalers then store the tea in chilled conditions to keep it fresh and, when it is needed at different times through the year, they refine the tea, sorting the leaf particles from the stems and stalks to give different types of tea with different names.

Sencha and Kukicha, two green tea varieties from the same harvest

‘Sencha’, for example, consists of dried leaves that are refined from ‘aracha’ made from fresh leaf shoots picked in the spring. After plucking the tea is steamed to stop oxidation. Sometimes this steaming is light and quick, for 30 to 45-seconds (called ‘asamushi’ or ‘futsumushi’), and sometimes the tea is more deeply steamed for a longer period of 1 to 2 minutes (called ‘fukamushi’). Deeper steaming gives the leaves a darker green colour and a more intense flavor.

The stalks that are separated from the leaves that make ‘sencha’ become ‘kukicha’ – ‘kuki’ means twig or stalk. Kukicha is sometimes also called ‘bocha’ (stick tea).

The difference between Kukicha and Karigane

The higher grade tea called ‘gyokuro’ is also made from tea shoots picked in the spring, but the difference between ‘sencha’ and ‘gyokuro’ is that the bushes used to make gyokuro are shaded for 21 days before the tea is plucked by hand.

A wooden frame is erected around and over the bushes and this then supports a special fabric that covers the bushes and cuts out 90% of the sunlight (in the past, rice straw was used instead of fabric). This shading increases the level of chlorophyll in the leaves so that they become a much darker blue-green in colour; it is also thought that more caffeine is produced in the buds and younger leaves; and fewer of the sweet L-theanine amino acids in the leaves are converted to bitter polyophenols – because of the lack of sunlight- so the tea is much sweeter and more umami in taste.

After the ‘gyokuro’ leaves have been sorted from the stalks and stems, the stalk tea is called ‘karigane’ and this is usually sweeter than ‘kukicha’ because the bushes have been shaded. ‘Karigane’ means “wild goose” and the name is from the fact that the dry stalks of tea look like the logs in the sea that migrating geese sometimes settle on to rest. Some ‘sencha’ teas are also shaded before they are picked (and are called ‘sencha kabusecha’) and both the tea and the stalks of these teas taste sweeter and more umami that unshaded teas.

Japanese teas are somewhat different from teas grown in other parts of the world. In China, different villages and provinces specialize in particular types of tea; in India, the teas from different regions have very distinct characteristics; but in Japan, producers in all the growing regions of the country make the same sorts of tea. So we can buy ‘sencha’, ‘kukicha’, ‘gyokuro’ or ‘karigane’ teas that have been made in many different parts of the country. The teas we buy usually a blend of teas made by a number of different farmers in different regions and mixed by the wholesalers who sell the teas to the retailer.

The post Kukicha – Japanese Twig Tea first appeared on Blog Royal Tips.

Earl Grey Tea Legends

There are many different stories about the origin of the blend but it is doubtful that any of them are true. Some say that Earl Grey himself travelled to China where he was presented with a recipe for black tea scented with bergamot by an important Chinese official; or perhaps by a Chinese tea master.

Other versions of the legend say it was a group of British diplomats who travelled to China and were given the recipe for the Earl after one of the diplomats had rescued an important official from drowning, or perhaps it was the official’s son.

Whether these tales have any truth in them is something we shall almost certainly never know, but it is commonly believed that the tea was named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, who served as British Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834 and is said to have been given, at some point, a blend of black China tea flavoured with bergamot, a citrus fruit that is thought to be a hybrid of sweet lime and bitter orange.

Bergamot is today cultivated in southern Calabria in Italy, in South America, Morocca, Tunisia and Turkey, and came originally from such countries as Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia in South East Asia, but not from China. So it is unlikely that a Chinese tea master would have used it in a tea blend or that any recipe coming out of China would have included it.

Directors of the East India Company, a modern retail business that uses the old name of the famous British trading company from the 17th, 18th and 19th century, claim that their Earl Grey follows the original recipe. They claim that the tea was first written about in the 19th century by George Staunton a botanist who worked for the East India Company and claimed to have seen tea being scented with neroli (bitter orange blossom).

Back in Britain, neroli was not available at that time, and so the East India Company claim that bergamot was used instead to replicate the aromatic notes of the orange blossom. The Staunton Earl Grey (names after George Staunton) sold by the East India Company today, includes both neroli and bergamot in the recipe.

The first evidence of sales of a bergamot-scented black tea blend in Britain dates back to 1824, six years before Earl Grey became Prime Minister. In 1836, Jacksons of Piccadilly, who claim to have the original recipe, introduced it “to meet the wishes of a former Earl Grey”, so perhaps Charles wasn’t involved at all and it was his father’s name that was used.

In the 1850s, a ‘Grey’s Tea’ was advertised by Charlton & Sons of St James’s London. The Grey family, Charles Grey’s descendants, have more recently suggested that black tea was blended with citrus bergamot to suit the very hard water at Howick Hall in Northumberland, the family’s ancestral home, and the water in London, where Charles Grey obviously spent a lot of time since he was involved in national politics. The rationale behind the use of bergamot would have been based on the fact that a few drops of juice from a citrus fruit stops hard water (containing high levels of limescale) from becoming cloudy, and also prevents a scum from developing on the surface of the tea.

Varieties and Ingredients

Since the days of those early recipes, Earl Grey blends created by different companies today use Ceylon, South Indian or China black teas as the base, and even sometimes choose green, white or oolong teas. The flavouring ingredients always include natural or artificial bergamot oil, and sometimes also add other citrus fruits such as orange, lemon, clementine, mandarin or lime, and other visually attractive ingredients such as cornflower blossoms, sunflower petals, or pieces of dried citrus peel.

Different companies will continue to invent new recipes for this famous tea but two elements will no doubt remain constant. Bergamot will always be included in the list of ingredients and tea drinkers will continue to discuss the origins and history of the blend.

The post The Story of Earl Grey, Bergamot Flavoured Tea first appeared on Blog Royal Tips.

Often referred to as “The Pearl of the Indian Ocean”, the island of Sri Lanka (former Ceylon) has been growing tea for more than 150 years. Lying close to the equator, the country’s benign climate allows the tea plants to push out their new leaf shoots all year long.

In the southern mountains, the contours of the hillsides are covered in every direction with undulating fields of tea, punctuated by tumbling waterfalls and plunging rivers, rugged outcrops of rock, elegant palm trees, bamboo stands and dense thickets of forest pines.

From the steamy south-western coastal plains, the tea gardens scramble up to altitudes of 1800 metres (6000 feet), ), where temperatures are cooler and misty clouds swirl gently around the highest peaks, protecting the tea from the glaring sunlight and bringing essential moisture to the plants.

Ceylon teas are categorized by three different altitudes:

• Low-grown teas (from sea level up to 2000 feet)
• Medium-grown teas (between 2000 and 4000 feet)
• High-grown teas (above 4000 feet)

There are currently seven tea growing regions in Sri Lanka:

Ruhuna, Sabaragamuwa, Kandy, Dimbula, Uva, Uda Pussellawa y Nuwara Eliya.

Each region produces teas with unique tastes and distinctive aromas.

Low-grown teas – Ruhuna and Sabaragamuwa

The climate in the low-growing regions of Ruhuna and Sabaragamuwa is hot and humid with plentiful rainfall throughout the year, and the bushes confidently produce a regular crop of new leaf buds. The majority of the teas grown here on the lower slopes are processed as Orange Pekoes (OP) and Flowery Orange Pekoes (FOP).

Their beautiful leaves are wiry, neatly-twisted, jet-black, and often mingled with silver or golden buds.

They brew to give rich red liquors that are full-bodied, powerful, juicy and strong, with hints of honey and chocolate.

Medium-grown teas – Kandy

The ancient town of Kandy, once the island’s capital before Colombo took over that role, nestles in a valley on the western side of the Central Highlands. A beautiful and privileged place blessed with a generous nature.

A world heritage site declared by UNESCO in 1988, it was in this region that the first Ceylon tea gardens were established.

A Scot named James Taylor was working at Loolecondera Coffee Plantation in the 1850s when his employers encouraged him to diversify and try growing tea as well.

When his first tea plants thrived, he planted out a further 20 acres and, with little knowledge and no processing machinery, he started making black tea by hand on the verandah of his house and gradually developed his own machinery.

In 1873, he sent 23 lbs of black tea to London, where it was sold to great acclaim in the London tea auctions.

When Ceylon’s coffee crop was devastated by a virus in the early 1870s the coffee planters around Kandy were encouraged by Taylor’s success and started growing tea instead.

By 1890, Ceylon had become a very important tea producing country.

Large-leafed Kandy teas are strong and full-bodied, sometimes malty, while the smaller grades are more delicate and subtle.

 

High-grown teas – Dimbula, Uva, Uda Pussellawa and Nuwara Eliya

Sri Lanka has four high-growing regions (Dimbula, Uva, Uda Pussellawa and Nuwara Eliya), and the tea plants grow amongst mountain peaks that soar upwards to an altitude of more than 2500 metres (8281 feet).

Dimbula

Dimbula’s tea gardens sweep across the western slopes of the mountain range and clamber upwards though steep craggy hills and mountain passes towards the high Nuwara Eliya plateau.

Heavy monsoon rain gushes into the area from June to September and during those misty, warm months, the teas are full of flavour and aroma.

When the weather is cooler and dryer at other times of the year, the peak quality teas are lively, bright and fresh, with hints of oak, cypress, spice, citrus fruits, roses and jasmine. The higher the estate, the fresher and brighter the teas.

Uva and Uda Pussellawa

On the eastern side of the mountain range lie Uva and Uda Pussellawa, where the weather alternates between a period of heavy rain and high temperatures from October to June and a cooler season from July to September, when a powerful drying wind blows through the region.

The dessicating wind upsets the plants’ normal photosynthesis, and the contrast between cool nights and warm days causes a chemical change in the tea bushes.

The two factors together give the tea liquors a unique ‘wintergreen’ character.

During this period, the manufacturers change their style of processing (rolling the leaves more heavily and making smaller grades) to capture this prized medicinal taste and aroma.

Nuwara Eliya

The highest of all Sri Lanka’s teas grow in Nuwara Eliya, established as an important tea growing region in the 1870s.

The high altitude and the cool, sometimes frosty, air produce fine teas that are delicate, aromatic, subtle and complex.

The new leaf buds develop slowly and distill some of the aromas carried by the mountain breezes (eucalyptus, cypress and wild mint).

The golden sparkling liquors suggest ripe plums, spices and citrus fruits.

La elegancia y la delicadeza de té de Nuwara Eliya lo convierten en el favorito para beber todos los días.

The post A Guide to Ceylon Tea Tastes and Growing Regions first appeared on Blog Royal Tips.

In 2002, 20 grams of Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) tea was sold for 180,000 yuan – equivalent to almost US $28,000. That works out at $1400 for 1 gram of the loose leaves and more than US$10,000 to brew a pot, and it makes this beautiful oolong the most expensive in the world.

Oolong translates as ‘black dragon’ and the large, twisted, brownish-black dry leaves often resemble dragons or serpents.

What is Da Hong Pao and where does it come from?

This world famous tea is produced in the Wuyi Mountains in the north west of Fujian province, an area that has a very long tea history and which in 1992, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. The soil in this volcanic mountain range is very rocky and the plants have to wind their roots around the rocks to find the nutrients and water that they need to thrive.

The teas made from their leaves are known as ‘rock oolongs’ or ‘yan cha’ and often have a mineral, almost flinty, wet stone character that is described as ‘petrichor’, a word devised in 1964 to mean the smell of wet earth or stone after rain has fallen (from Greek ‘petra’ meaning stone’ and ‘ichor’, meaning the fluid that flows through the veins of the gods in Greek mythology.

The bushes from which that very expensive Da Hong Pao was made sit high up on a rocky ledge in a narrow gorge surrounded by tall pillars of rock, and no-one, except a small number of designated tea masters, is allowed to approach anywhere near.

The group of four bushes (some people count 6 to include two bushes that sit slightly below the other four) have been growing here since the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 AD).

They became famous when the mother of a Ming Emperor was cured of an enduring illness by tea made from their leaves and the emperor sent his ‘Big Red Robe’ to cover and protect the precious bushes. Each year, only around 400g of oolong tea is made from those original bushes and it is either presented by the Chinese government to very important visiting dignitaries or it is sold at very high prices.

But not all Da Hong Pao teas cost so much and that’s because, over the centuries, cuttings have been taken from the original mother bushes and cultivated in the surrounding area. But the taste and aroma of tea made from those younger bushes vary according to the specific location where they grow. The soil, weather patterns, temperatures, amount of sun and rain, etc. can affect the way in which the bushes grow and the eventual flavour of the tea in the cup.

Production of Da Hong Pao oolong tea

This chinese tea is made by the usual dark oolong method.

1. Shoots of 3 or 4 open leaves (no buds) are gathered in the late spring and autumn and withered in shady sunlight for about two hours.
2. Then they are taken indoors, spread on bamboo baskets, and from time to time shaken, and tumbled inside a bamboo drum to gently bruise the leaves in order to provoke around 30%-40% oxidation.
3. When the desired level of oxidation has been achieved, the leaves are panned to stop any further changes in the leaves, lightly rolled to develop the flavour, and then dried.
4. When the leaf comes out of the drying process, the colour of the shoots is a mixture of green and brown and the leaves are still attached to the stems. All the stems and stalks are then removed by hand (the reason why only single twisted leaves are visible in the dry leaf of Da Hong Pao).
5. Finally, the tea is roasted over charcoal to further dry the leaves and to develop the wonderful characteristic layers of sweet fruity flavours in the top notes and dark roasted hints of dark chocolate, molasses, dates, cocoa nibs and dried fruits.

The post Da Hong Pao, The Most Expensive Tea in the World first appeared on Blog Royal Tips.

Jasmine flowers, with their pretty white petals and wonderful aroma, are popular throughout the world. Their beautiful appearance and calming fragrance mean that they have come to be associated with love and purity. As such, they are often used in religious ceremonies; to add a touch of elegance to bridal bouquets; and in floral arrangements for Mother’s Day. Jasmine flowers are particularly important in Eastern countries, and are amongst the national flowers of the Philippines, Pakistan, and Indonesia.

It is therefore not surprising that this aromatic plant has many practical applications too: it is grown ornamentally in gardens and homes, used extensively in the cosmetics industry to produce exquisite perfumes and bath oils, employed in herbal medicines and, of course, has long been popular as a light and calming flavouring for tea. In the following post, we look into the history of jasmine teas, from their origins to their production processes and health benefits. Read on to discover all you need to know about this wonderful scented tea and why it’s worth taking the time to relax with a cup of jasmine tea.

The post A Guide to Jasmine Tea – Types, Production and Benefits first appeared on Blog Royal Tips.

The post Tea Ingredients and Why They are Good for your Health first appeared on Blog Royal Tips.

1. Anji Bai Cha (Anji White Tea)

Although the name of this exquisite tea means ‘white tea’, it is in fact a green tea. It is called white because the varietal of the tea plant used to make it produces very little chlorophyll and so the leaves are very pale. As new buds form in the early spring, they look almost white or translucent in the morning sun. The particular varietal was discovered in 1982 in Anji county, Zhejiang province, and to make the tea, young shoots of one bud and one or two leaves are picked right at the beginning of the growing season, then de-enzymed in a hot wok, rolled by hand or in a panning machine, then dried. The long, elegant, pointed dry leaves look like pine needles. The tea contains high levels of amino acids so is sweet and smooth.

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2. Longjing (Dragon Well)

Long Jing is also made in the West lake region of Zhejiang province and is processed by hand using a heated wok to carry out the three important processing steps required to make green tea – panning to stop oxidation, pressing to develop flavor, drying to remove all but 2-3% of water in the leaves. Tea makers use their flat hands to move the little bud sets around the pan and, when they have finished, each tea bud is flat and shiny and yellow-green. The brew is sweet and smooth, with hints of young green vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus and pea-pods. The legend of Long Jing says that the Emperor visited the Hu Gong Temple in West Lake one day and was presented with a bowl of the tea. He was so impressed by the delicious taste and aroma that he gave ‘imperial status’ to the 18 tea bushes growing in front of the temple.

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3. Jasmine Pearls

Loose Jasmine teas and Jasmine Pearls are made in Fujian province. To make loose green tea, the freshly picked tea shoots are withered for a couple of hours, then panned to stop oxidation, lightly rolled, and then dried. To make the little pearls, little shoots of one bud and 2 tiny leaves are withered briefly, panned and lightly rolled. Then two or three small shoots are gathered together and rolled by hand into neat little balls. Each pearl is then wrapped in tissue paper to hold the shape while the tea is dried. The best teas are made in the early spring and then are very carefully stored. The jasmine flowers bloom in July and August and sprigs of flowers are cut during the day, taken into the factory and, in the evening when the flowers open, all the blossoms are taken off the branches. The tea is then brought out of storage and the jasmine flowers are layered with the tea. The heaped tea and flowers can become quite hot so, during the night, so the layers of tea and flowers must be spread out to allow them to cool and then they are re-heaped. The best jasmine teas are flavoured 8 or 9 times over 8 or 9 nights, each time with a new batch of fresh jasmine blossoms.

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4. Mao Jian (Jade Tips)

Mao Jian comes from Henan province and is a very tippy tea with a lovely sweet taste. The word ‘mao’ refers to the downy covering on the little buds and baby leaves; ‘jian’ refers to the shape of the leaves which are pointed and sharp. It is made in the spring and autumn but the best are those picked in early April, before the rains come, when the growth is still slow. When the weather is cool and there is very little rain, the new buds develop very slowly and so concentrate sweetness and subtle flavor in the new flush. It takes approximately 50,000 little bud shoots to make 50 grams of tea.

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5. Huang Shan Mao Feng (Yellow Mountain Fur Peak)

This famous tea comes from Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain) in Anhui province where Keemun black tea is produced. The same varietal of the tea plant is used to make both black Keemun Mao Feng and green Mao Feng. The word ‘mao’ comes from the little white furry hairs on the outside of the tiny buds, and ‘feng’ means peak, referring to the pointed tip of the bud which looks like the peak of a mountain. The best quality teas are harvested in late March, early April, before the Qing Ming Festival of Pure Light (also called the Tomb Sweeping Festival) which falls on 4th or 5th April each year.

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6. Taiping Hou Qui (Taiping Monkey King)

The story behind this rare and famous tea (only recently available in the West), tells how monkeys in the mountain area where the teas are made were very mischievous and used to damage the farmers’ crops. One day a young monkey went missing and the father monkey looked everywhere for his son, but could not find him and collapsed, tired out, in the mountains. Mr Wang Loa’r, one of the local farmers, found the exhausted father monkey and took him to his home to treat him with herbal cures. When he recovered, the father monkey was so grateful that he promised to make sure that in the future his fellow monkeys helped the farmers to pick their tea. So Mr Wang named his tea Taiping Monkey King. The tea is made from a tea varietal with very long bud and leaves and so the dried tea is almost like long green spears. The process involves panning the tea and then pressing the shoots between fine wire mesh stretched across a wooden frame. Some manufacturers use a muslin cloth to protect the leaves and, after drying, the leaves bear the criss-cross pattern of the wire mesh or muslin cloth. The tea needs to be brewed in a tall glass or large teapot because the leaves are so long.

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7. Bi Luo Chun (Green Snail Spring)

The tiny spirals of downy buds of this delicate tea are produced in the Dongting mountains of Jiangsu province. It takes between 14,000 and 15,000 baby shoots to make one kilo of Bi Luo Chun green tea and the names comes from the fact that the little curls of spring-picked buds look like tiny snail shells. The best teas are processed by hand and the tea masters who make them pan them in hot woks, then as the tea gently dries, they shape the leaves into small twisted curls by rolling them carefully between the palms of their hands. The silver-green leaves have a floral aroma and brew a liquor that is slightly nutty, fruity, sweet and smooth.

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8. Liu An Gua Pian (Little Melon Seed)

Made in Anhui province, this tea has a long history dating back to the 8th century AD. During the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912) it was a tribute tea presented to the Emperor and his family. The name has become confused over time. At first called ‘sunflower seed slice’ because of the shape of the curled green leaves, the name was shortened to Guan Pian which means ‘water melon slice’. The pluckers harvest only mature open leaves approximately 4cm long, with no stems or buds. The leaves are then withered for a couple of hours, then panned and dried in wok, and as they dry they are stirred round and round with bamboo brushes which give the leaves a slightly curled shape. The tea is given a final drying in bamboo baskets that are placed repeatedly for just a few seconds each time over smouldering charcoal. The taste is quite strong, sweet and very round in the mouth, with a little astringency. The charcoal roasting gives the tea a unique depth and complexity unusual in green teas.

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9. Zhu Ye Qing (Bamboo Green Tea)

This rare green tea is grown at altitudes of around 3000 metres on misty Emei Shan (Emei Mountain) in Sichuan province and is said to have first been made at a temple there. When a Chinese army general visited the temple in 1964, he was asked to give the tea a name and he chose the name Green Bamboo because he thought the little buds and leaves had the appearance of young bamboo leaves. The little glossy buds really look just like tiny pea pods. Plucking starts in late March and goes on until the end of April and the pickers gather little shoots of one tiny bud with a small leaf attached. The tea liquor is greeny-gold and the flavour is clean, elegant, lightly astringent and with hints of bamboo shoots, young asparagus and chestnuts.

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10. Tian Mu Yun Wu (Clouds and Mist from Tian Mu Mountain)

The deep green, curly leaves of Tian Mu Yun Wu are produced in Tian Mu Mountain in Zhejiang province. Little shoots of one bud and one leaf are harvested in early April and it takes about 62,000 baby shoots to make one kilo of tea. The clouds and mist that swirl around the mountain all the time cut out a lot of the sunlight and this means that fewer of the sweet amino acids in the tea leaves are converted to bitter polyphenols, so the tea is always sweet, mild and smooth, with a pleasant lingering aftertaste. Brew the little buds in a tall glass to see them slowly absorb water and then drift elegantly down to the bottom of the glass, their pointed tips uppermost, and then rest there, waving like tiny sea anemones.

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