Tea event at UCLA

I am honored to be invited as a guest speaker to talk about Chinese Tea at UCLA on Wednesday May 27th at 8 pm.

The event is hosted by the NCAM group of UCLA. NCAM is a health awareness group interested in learning and sharing natural living experience.

Location: Covel Commons - Westcoast Room, UCLA
Address: 200 DE NEVE DRIVE, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Building Map
UCLA Campus Map:
Time: 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Agenda:
Tea and health related games and prizes
World of Chinese tea speech
Formal Gong Fu Tea presentation
Tea tasting

World of Chinese tea speech:
History of Tea - discovery and evolution
Types of teas
Process of teas
How to brew different types of teas accordingly
Kung Fu Tea - equipment and method

Any one interested in the subject is welcome to attend the event. Although reservation is not required, but there is limited seating. Please email me in advance if you would like to attend.
tea at teahabitat dot com

Horsies

Today is sunny and warm, lots horses outting on the street. PV is one of the few spots in LA where nature is well preserved.

Results of first tasting

Past Sunday was perfect for tea tasting, small group and lots tea! We had 11 teas, 9 of 2009, 1 of 2008 and the 70's Liu Bao.

Here are my personal favorites after the first tasting. I may change my mind later with few teas to have at the same time.
You Hua - Pomelo Flower <---- like it alot Lao Cong Zhi Lan - Old bush Cattleya Orchid <--- love it
Lao Cong Dan Cong - Old Bush Dan Cong (no specific aroma) <----- very good
She Men - She's Entrance <----- very good (She is the oldest tribe living on the hills of Phoenix Mountain. This tea is one of the very old and original before all the new mutated varietals we know nowadays)
Zu Ye -Bamboo Leaf <---- like it alot
Updates: After drinking this tea for 3 or so times, I can say a couple more things about it than "like it alot". :P
This tea is rather delicate, a classic Dan Cong that's floral of the Zhi Lan Xiang type, clear light yellow liquid is a sweet fragrant nectar, refreshing as a young girl, creamy as an educated young mind. Sweet and delicate!
Looking at this thin pointy shaped leaf, you know why it's named Bamboo Leaf.


Ju Duo Jai - Almond aroma <------- Like it
Ya Shi - Duck Shit (Yup!) <----- Love it
Gong Xiang - Tribune Aroma <------Love it
Huo La Cha - Fire Spicy Tea <------ Like it
Mo Li - Jasmine Aroma <----- like it alot (Very limited production of this particular aroma of DC on the hills, even smaller than Ginger Flowers. Most of the time, you can only hear of its existence without ever lay eyes on the tea. NOT the same as Jasmine tea!)
The Mo Li-Jasmine DC leaves are particularly beautiful, even size, nicely rolled with a sheen of shine, very tender leaves of even redness-sign of even fermentation. The aroma is beautiful as well. It's a master piece.

Tea and Horse

Tea horse trade road is well known to many tea drinkers, especially the Pu-erh tea drinkers. It's known as a trade route for tea and silk carried by horses. Well, it's partially true.

The true meaning is trading horses with tea, rather than silvers or copper coins. Tea was the designated currency when buying horses in the market. The early trade of horses with tea began in Tang Dynasty - 600's AD. At the time, it was not strictly regulated. By early Song Dynasty - 960's AD, horses trade between China and bordering countries/tribes were paid with copper coins which were later made into weapons. This act seriously threaten the security of the southwest and northwest borders, also the integrity of the Chinese currency. The Song central rulers soon banded the trade using coins. Textile, tea and herbal medicine were used for horse trading. New department for Tea Horse trade - Cha Ma Si were established along the borders, controlling trades and taxation of teas. According to document of such department duty, all horse trade among 4 bordering tribes, pay with tea only. 凡市马于四夷，率以茶易之.

Liao, Jin, Yuan Dynasties - 916-1368, Main land China was ruled by outsiders, hence horses were plentiful, therefore tea trades during the time were paid by silver/coins and local products. Beginning of Ming Dynasty - 1370, horse trading with tea was once again enforced by the central government. Such regulated practice continued through mid Qing Dynasty - turn of 1800's.

Busy weekend

The past weekend was a busy one. Aside of running the store, it was mother's day weekend. I was invited to watch a cycling competition on Saturday at the Home Depot Center. Saturday was so nice, inspired by the natural beauty of spring, I took a drive on the PV Drive West which is a nice scenic route along the ocean over looking the cliffs.
Cyclists on the Velodrome track, part of the LAVRA Cup.

Palos Verdes is a secluded part of LA. The peninsula is quite and rural, locals don't like noise and outside traffic. A hide away location close to the great big city LA. The cities on the peninsula do not advertise its beauty to keep tourists away, so it's unknown to the rest of the world. Home values are one of the highest neighborhoods in LA/OC, the cities here collect plenty of taxes from homes, therefore, not much commercial developments on the hill. The locals like it this way as well. There are almost everything you want here, horse trails (part of the trails are on major streets), hiking trails, beaches, cliffs, golf course, peacocks, and of course a great tea shop. :P One day, I'll sneak a few pictures of the local homes. Many of them are hidden from streets. I heard Keanu Reeves has a home here.
On top of the cliff, over looking Pacific Ocean. Homes hang below the edges. PV faces north, west and south from one end to the other.
Left is the ocean, right is the rural hill top, with scattered homes. This is a busy biking trail. It is breath taking riding along this road.
Quiet drive on a sunny day. Some man brought wild peacocks on to the peninsula back in the 70's, they are now residing among heavy bushes and trees in the area, like in this picture. It's a whopping $1000 fine if you kill one, even accidentally.

After living in LA for almost 10 years, I have discovered many quaint neighborhoods, none of which are tourist spots. Small wonders with lovely architectural uniqueness, places where there are not much chain store influences. I am inspired to take pictures of each areas, share it with others. Well, I might get kicked out for revealing the hidden secrets.

My favorite ones so far are: Naple's Island, canals in Venice, Palos Verdes, parts of Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Malibu, San Marino, parts of old Pasadena, Laguna Beach.

Little pinky

Now this is a perfect tea pinky! My 3 months old little niece.

How to use Chao Zhou Stove Set

Prepare the kettle/pot:
Soak the clay kettle/pot in room temperature water 20 minutes prior to burning for each use, else it can crack easily. I fill the pot with room temperature water to the top each time I finish using it, so that I won't forget and spend 20 minutes to soak the pot the next time. Make sure there's water in the pot when you put it on fire at any time, avoid cold water in an empty hot pot, or hot water in an empty cool pot. Do not refill water while pot is on the fire. The clay is very porous, expansion and contraction due to water temperature change will crack the pot easily. I have done that!

For first time use:

Scrub stove under tap water to get rid of any tape residues before using.

Discard the first pot of boiled water.

To light fire:

Hardwood charcoal is the best choice next to Olive Pit Charcoal, do not use any BBQ briquettes, especially ones smell and smoke a lot. I use Whole Foods Market’s 365 brand hardwood charcoal. For choice of charcoals please check the following website: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm
Place small pieces of hardwood charcoal on stove stop to burn for a few minutes till they are red on the side, then transfer to clay stove. Add more charcoals if necessary during the session. See picture. Fan from the bottom opening of the clay stove will speed up the fire.

To put out fire:

1. To put out fire completely, cover lid with the knob on, and cover the bottom opening. You may stop the fire at any time this way without waiting for the fire to burn out or put water over it and make a mess.

2. If you want to stop making tea for a little while, but want the fire going for later, cover lid with the knob off, cover the bottom opening but leave a small gap on one side to keep the air flowing inside the stove chamber. This way the charcoal will keep on going at low temperature, when you are ready to boil water again, open up the cover and lid, add new charcoal to catch on fire. You can adjust the bottom cover to control fire temperature as well. Bigger the gap, more oxygen, higher the fire temperature, faster the water will boil.

To boil water:

The lid will make clinging noise once the water is boiling. You can take the kettle off the stove and place it on a trivet (wood is the best choice) or take off the lid. Do not place hot kettle/pot over any water. It will crack the pot also. When boiling water, line the pot handle above one of the 3 elevated landings of the stove, this will prevent the fire from heating the handle, hence prevents your hand getting burnt.

Enjoy!

Wild Peacock

A boy peacock wandering around the neighborhood. Peacocks are quite aggressive and screams like crying babies in high pitch. While it's cute to have them strolling around your front lawn, it's another thing having to listen to mating calls 3 o'clock in the morning. It's not sexy! Perks usually come with a price.

I want to SCREAM!

Today came with 2 surprises, good and BAD. My mailman dropped off 2 large packages. My heart started to pound at a rapid rate. They must be the Chao Zhou stove sets, arriving early! The joy of relieve invaded my entire brain for a brief seconds. I then noticed one of the box is leaking dust particles. This is not a good sign I said to myself. Trembling hands with razor sharp scissors cut through the outer box, revealing 3 mid size boxes. I pulled each box out with a gentle shake, the sound of broken pieces was not music to my ears! In side of each box, there are 6 small boxes containing the stoves. I knew the casualty must be high this time. After inspecting each and every one, the survival rate is 7 out 20!!!!!!!!! 7 with minor cracks but functional with no major cosmetic flaws. 6 are totaled, unsalvageble! I don't understand!!!!! After explaining many times on how to wrap the items for breakage prevention, some people just don't listen, or do they just forget, or it's a different person who did the packing!!!

I just want to scream..... in silence....

Water containers

Today is play day! I bought this large (sorta giant) Zisha clay container a long while back, intended to store water. It's a commercial size tea canister as its original usage. Zisha - purple clay can do numbers to tea, be it dried leaves, water or tea.

I had a smaller size container and my friend took it. It was for both presentation and water refinement purpose. The size was perfect for home/personal use, contains 1.5 gallon of water. However it was sold out, so I had to think BIG. Container in the picture holds up to 5 gallons of water, big enough to have a tea party for five. It's been sitting in the store for almost a year, not sure when I'll use it with this much capacity. Today is the first time it ever made it out of the box. I might use it this Sunday if any of you LATA people wants to come by. I just have to remember to look for the bamboo scoop some where in the garage. Love tea toys!
I am using this small Yixing jar for personal use. A bit small for my daily consumption of about 1 gallon of tea (during work hours only). It holds about 0.75 gallon of water. So I'll have most of my tea in better water.

See the size difference! :D

1986 Honey Orchid Dan Cong Oolong

A smooth cup this 86 Dan Cong is. Like an old lover that's well lubricated, frictionless, trouble free, with a steady supply of nurture. This tea leaves me speechless. Just soak it in...

2004 Wu Dong Cha Tou

A 5 years old Dan Cong oolong, has a nourishing honey like flavor, comforting to every flesh where it passes through. It has a creamy and nutty taste and texture, reminds me of Cashew and Macadamia Butter on banana. I had a hard time relating Wild Hong Yin to any of the aromatic Dan Cong oolongs previously, one is earthy and strong, the laters are fragrant and subtly euphoric. These older leaves bridge the 2 together, where it connects its ancestry to the off springs. The first couple infusions are obvious Dan Congs, the later infusions unveil the wildness of its ancestors. It's a wild ride!

3 teas for the day

It's been a long time since I have done a tea evaluation tasting with pictures and notes. When you get swamped by many teas at one time, it's overwhelming to conduct such in dept tasting while entertaining clients.

Three teas on the menu today:
1) 1994 Green Tea
2) 2005 Wu Dong Dan Cong Cha Tou
3) 1986 Honey Orchid Dan Cong

1994 Green Tea:
A classic sample of well roasted tea using charcoal as a heating source. If you are not quite sure what charcoal can do to a tea, this is a profiling tea to have. In order to store and age tea-any tea, the bottom line is low moisture content. If you got that down, any tea can be stored for years. The oldest I have heard and still drinkable (no one died from drinking it) is about 800 years old, buried under the ocean floor for 99.9% of its life time. Believe it or not, it's a powdered green tea brick wrapped in sealed wax paper.

The flavor of this aged green tea comes from transformation of substance via roasting and aging. The color is a glowing clear light amber hue. Sweet with black tea like texture, a sweet dates like flavor which present in charcoal roasted teas. You can not detect any green tea shadow in this tea until everything goes down. After taste clearly unveil the crisp unfermented mouth feel of green teas.

Since this is green tea, using green tea brewing parameters is essential, although slightly higher temperature (95 c) water can bring out the charcoal flavor more than cooler temperature (87 C). Boiling water is not recommended. Some how the sweetness and flavor are trapped inside of the leaves when using boiling water.

Energy

Energy comes from many sources, the tangibles and the intangible sources.

Food, a tangible source of energy. Tea is also a tangible source.

Intangible sources sometimes provide a great deal of energy, more than we realize, yet we live in this pool of energy daily. A simple encouragement can lead to the beginning of great accomplishment, or destruction. A few tender words has the ability to create the most beautiful castle, or destroy a nation more than once. A smile of a lover can get you through a tough day. A giggle from a baby melts the toughest man's heart.

We shall gather as much positive energy as we can, soak your mind and soul with all that you can. It's no less important than food, water and air. The key is identifying the positive energy. I find tea to be my tangible source of positive energy. It could be coffee to an other person. I find my nieces and nephew are source of positive energy. Kids could be a burden to others. I find family to be a source of positive energy although there are ups and downs in life. Others can't wait to leave the nest.

Recently books I have been reading are Chinese medicine related. It used to intimidate me, fearful of the depth and broad horizon it entails. Chinese medicine is 4 dimensional, covering the tangibles and the intangibles, the physical and the spiritual, organs, limps, mind and philosophy. Symptoms are sickness in eyes of western medicine. Symptoms are ways our body communicates with our mind in Chinese medicine, a warning from mild to irreversible if ignored. We ignore or mistreat them because we do not understand. A liver's way of communication is blurry eyes, hot temper, or aching gums and others. If ignored, it can be fatal. If we can identify the signals, we can treat those symptoms. However what causes live to behave this way? That's the root of the health issue. A 70 years old man has all the above symptoms plus much more. The cause of this, his wife had a major illness 6 years ago, fear of his 40+ years companion will leave him soon caused his psychological depression, in turn caused obstruction of energy flow, led to his liver function digressed for years. It's not a Hollywood romantic story. It's a couple of old Chinese man and woman's everyday life, providing vital energy for one and other.

Learn how to brew tea - Saturday April 4th

Visit www.teahabitat.com for details or make reservations online.

Charcoal

Since the Beijing Olympic games of 2008, I have not been able to import any Olive Pitt Charcoal from China. I was in dire need of that second best alternative. Through the long 6 months of searching, I have yet to find the second best charcoal, but have good results in what I should look for.

Hardwood charcoal is widely available at an affordable price compared to Olive Pitt Charcoal. There are many types of wood, and each type has its own aroma, density, ash production and maximum temperature, on top of these variables, the maker is also an important factor. How much carbonation is done to the wood, parts of the tree, miscellaneous contents (stones, whacky stuff that aren't wood), percentage of dust and fannings are also factors one should consider when choosing a bag of charcoal for under $10. Sounds like a bit too picky for something so insignificant in terms of financial value eh? Well, if you use charcoal on a daily basis like I do, you'll find out the benefit of good charcoal.

Good hardwood should be heavy and dense:
Bad stuff: tree barks and harden liquid stuff means low carbonation, there are still lots organic materials left in the wood which can cause LOTS smoke and unpleasant odor that could stink up your house, clothes, hair and skin for hours.

Fluffy looking charcoal:
Same piece on left, does not burn well:All that just for a cup of good tea!

Want to know more about charcoal? http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

Handful of sunset

Today is gorgeous with full sun in warm temperature, a perfect day at the beach for a nice long walk. Since I can't leave the shop during business hours, an urge to reach the beach built up during the day finally became uncontrollable. Thanks to Daylight Saving Time, it's bright enough to go after work. Just the right time to catch a handful of sunset.

Pelicans flying into the sun...

Ah, the light house at Point Vincent.

Looks like a farm eh? Well, you could drive all the way into the ocean.

Roasting 04 Hong Cha Tou

One of the new items I current stock is 2004 Hong Cha Tou - a wild Hong Yin Phoenix Oolong. This batch was belonged to and stored in the warehouse of Guang Dong Province Tea Import Export Company- Chao Zhou Branch for the last few years. It's now released to the market and I got a hold of the entire batch.

When I first tasted it, the first infusion had a sea breeze smell, not the most enjoyable, yet does not put me off type of thing. Once that's gone, the following infusions taste creamy and full of flavor. The creaminess reminds me of the nurishing stomach comforting chicken soup. No, not interms of flavor, just the feeling of it.

After a couple nights of contemplating, I remember younger Phoenix Dan Cong can use a dose of roasting every couple of years. So I did, tested with a small batch, the seabreeze was gone completely, went all the way out to the pacific ocean. The finished tea is even sweeter and smoother. With this encouraging result, I have been busy roasting the rest of the batch, all 8 kg of it. My roaster can handle 3 lbs at a time. It take 6 long hours each time.

Fill bamboo container up to rim, dig a hole in the middle of tea leaves to allow hot air travel up. Cover with clean paper, NO lid.


Set roaster to 80 C to preheat leaves.

Wait an hour then turn up the dial to 100 C, wait 2 hours, turn down the dial to 80 C again, sit and sip tea for 3 to 4 hours. Done!

This tea is now my new fave. Can't get enough of the sweet dessert like creamy texture. Great value at an affordable price.

LATA 2nd Anniversary tasting at CalTech

We had our 2nd anniversary tea tasting a couple of weeks ago, I had yet to post any pictures. Jason has already covered the event with details on his blog. Look forward to our 3rd anniversary. I promise I'll join everyone for dinner next year!

Here I will post a few pictures I took.
Cal Tech campus:
Showing off my new found Photoshop skill:
The early gang:

Real or fake?

This article is an extension of a previous topic Tea Aroma. I talked about types of aroma and where they come from and how some are produced.

True aroma is one of the natural essences of the plant, nothing different than the smell from a rose. Added scent on the other hand isn't naturally an essence of the tea itself. Popular Jasmine tea is traditionally scented with natural flowers, nowadays some producers add scented oil to simulate the aroma. Although both are not naturally part of the tea, the former is some what more natural then the later. How can one identify the difference? Aside of experienced nose to detect the chemical content of the scented oil, a simple step can help you separate the two.

Use separate cups for each tea, add hot boiling water to each cup, then place a thin scent free tissue over each cup covering the top for 5 minutes. If you can smell a scent on the tissue after it's dried, the tea in the respective cup is scented with oil.

This method is primarily to determine the authenticity of tea aroma, however does not apply to blended tea or teas that are flavored as part of a recipe.