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More Conversations with The Tea Man
April 1999
Tea has been labeled ‘the beverage of the nineties.’ I’m sure all of you have heard this expression in one form or another. It's a slogan thought up by some un-named public relations firm hired by a major tea packaging company, no doubt. Perhaps I can expand on that slogan by coining one of my own: ‘Tea, the beverage of the ages.’
The Chinese reputedly invented tea and were drinking it in a very civilized manner some 4,500 years ago (there are no extant records to verify this; none to refute it either) or about the same time as the Egyptians were building the great pyramid of Cheops and drinking a very harsh beer. The Japanese have been enjoying the beverage for some 1,400 years (bear in mind that positive records of dates are sketchy). Some European countries have been drinking tea approximately 350 years. Americans, because of an unacceptable tax levied on the country a long time ago, have just re-discovered tea. Now we, the Americans, the new-comers to the pleasures of tea, have come up with ‘Tea, the beverage of the nineties.’
What we Americans should be doing, as a society of relative new-comers to the pleasures of tea drinking, is learning about tea. We should study tea, not in depth, but in such a way as to make ourselves better consumers of this marvelous beverage. Learn the subtle distinctions between the different plucks or flushes of Darjeeling’s. Learn from which area(s) of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) the best of the seasonal plucks come from or, even better, which estates produce the magnificent teas which are sought after around the world. Learn which Assams (either regions or estates) produce the malty flavors for which Assam teas are famous. Learn how important lot numbers are, what they mean and how can they guide you in your buying patterns. Learn which provinces of China have been known for a thousand years as the home of some of the most exquisite green, semi-black or (more recently) black teas.
I invite you, the reader, to search out, within this web site, the answers to the above questions or others which you may have. If you cannot find the answers to your questions, contact us through the email link at the bottom of each page and in the blink of a cursor ;-) I will have an answer up and published for you.
As I have been writing this ‘conversation’ I have been sipping a China black tea called Lapsang-Souchong. A smoky flavored fully oxidized black tea. Into this 6 cup pot of Lapsang-Souchong I have stirred a tablespoon of honey; not just any honey but a honey from Tasmania called ‘Leather Tree Honey.’ An experiment on my part and one which has had a stunning result. The flavor center in my brain has never been so pleased. It will be on my regular daily menu of teas, I can assure you of that.
By the way: Lapsang-Souchong is from the Lapsang District, Fujian Province, and is a Souchong leaf grade. The smoky flavor comes from a special pine wood which is lighted on fire, made to smolder, and the tea is exposed to the white smoke thus absorbing the ‘smoky’ flavor. On infusion, the flavor is released into the tea liquor.
May your teapot hold the most fragrant and sweetest of leaves.
The Tea Man
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