Tea Meet Up in Brooklyn

Photo by Brandon of Wrong Fu Cha

After a long hiatus from my tea life (family, cancer, death, grief, settling affairs, more grief and a recovery of sorts..), I sealed my recent return by hosting The New York City Tea Club at my home in Brooklyn this past Saturday. Guests included some well known tea luminaries like Toki of The Mandarin's Tea Room; Matt from MattCha's Blog; and Michael and Winnie. The wry and funny Brandon from the blog Wrong Fu Cha took photos and video. A number of members couldn't make it but my little tea table was still packed elbow to elbow.
Click here to see Brandon's photos of the event.
My friend Rob, had brought back some gorgeous shincha from his Japan trip for me. For those who don't know, shincha (new tea) is the first sencha harvest of the season. Just three weeks old, my mouth watered as soon as I opened the package and the aroma of fresh, green leaves spilled out. We started with that while more guests arrived. I was feeling rusty since it had been a while brewing gongfu style so I was grateful that Toki took over to brew a couple of puers he brought along. It was also one of those days where my clumsiness was in overdrive. I managed to chip the lid of my glass kettle and shatter a gongfu cup.

Photo by Brandon of Wrong Fu Cha

The time passed quickly and we moved through different teas, getting giddier with each sip. Some of the guests left for other engagements. Four hours after the first cup, the cookies I had picked up at the farmer's market weren't cutting it and we had to break for dinner. We wrapped up with some more shincha at Toki's request. Brandon took video of me brewing the tea. As I said, it's been a long while since I've made tea for anyone and the afternoon of drinking had me buzzed like a newbie. I was surprised by how low my tolerance had gotten and my hands felt jittery while I brewed. If you watch the video you can see it. I also didn't have a water cooler so I made do with a Ching Dynasty bowl once owned by Kingston. It doesn't pour well but it's beautiful. There's no style to speak of; it's fast and sloppy but it tasted great. Click here to watch.
After an excellent dinner and some shots of silky aged bourbon at Char No.4, we headed back to the tea table. Some of Michael's 1980's mushroom puer helped digest the rich meal. More guests took their leave, leaving only Brandon and Benito to share some suixian from the early 1900's. It was smoky and sweet. The chaqi helped relieve the fullness I was feeling from dinner. The last of our tea party finally headed out the door around 1:30 in the morning. I sat in my now quiet room surrounded by empty cups and tea filled gaiwans, feeling tired and content. It felt good to be back.

Visit Brandon's site, Wrong Fu Cha to see more tea events and his personal discoveries. His tea journal is always earnest and entertaining with great photos.

Brew Happy - Exhibition

The Tea Gallery has been invited to this Saturday's opening of a tea ware exhibition by one of our tea patrons, Andrew Fair. He and his friend Susan will be exhibiting their lovely work in Brooklyn, NY. We're very happy for them and excited to see the show. If you happen to be in Brooklyn this Saturday, check out the exhibit:

Brew Happy

An Exhibition of Tea ware and Other Work by Andrew Fair & Susan Lambert

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 3^rd, 6-9 pm

At: Choplet Pottery and Studio

238 Grand Street

Brooklyn, NY 11211

-Click on the image to see the full size flyer and map details-

From TungTing Mountain

We spent our morning on Tung Ting Mountain visiting the tea gardens. The sun finally broke through the early morning mist and the cool air was just starting to warm up. It was a peaceful walk through an emerald landscape dotted with palm trees. The air tasted sweet and crisp.

Winnie standing beside the stone walls that separate the tiers of tea bushes in a traditional Tung Ting tea garden. While we walked through the garden, the constant hum of bees drowned out most other noises as they flew from flower to pollen-stuffed flower.

We had a chance to examine the aftermath of the Winter Harvest. The tender, top leaves of the branches are clipped very cleanly by hand and the rest of the plant is left in pristine condition. They are left alone to grow alongside the various other flora of the mountain and tended by the diligent bees until next harvest. We were reluctant to leave the serenity of the tea gardens but it was finally time to taste some tea.

We were fortunate enough to have an audience with the famed Master Lin, whose tearoom has hosted the leaders of Taiwan for generations. We were greeted warmly by his family. Both Master Lin's son and grandson joined us for tea at the table.

Master Lin started with his recently roasted Winter Harvest Tung Ting.

Light, sweet and full of delicate orchid notes. The roast gave an appealing nuttiness and depth to the body of the tea. It was the perfect refreshment after our morning walk.

Master Lin spoke lovingly about his gardens. He cultivates both tea and bamboo.

He also spoke about his dedication to traditional roasting styles but was careful not to divulge the secrets of his family's techniques. He would only say that he used the wood of a particular fruit tree and Michael knew it was unwise to press for more information.
Even his grandson, who was asked to brew the next tea has been kept in the dark regarding the roasting process. He's still in college studying forestry and hasn't been allowed into the roasting room yet. Once he's graduated, he'll start training in this crucial part of his family's tea traditions.

We moved on to Master Lin's selection of aged oolongs. The teas he sets aside for aging get re-roasted once a year. He had his grandson prepare the 6 year aged Tung Ting. We had come across some aged oolongs during our trip but Master Lin's was the most captivating. Our biggest compliment to him was that the tea tasted older than was stated. It was a comment he was very familiar with. More layers of sweet flowers, roasted nuts, wood and bamboo kept revealing themselves. the chaqi was relaxing and I started to feel very warm despite the coolness of the room.

Master Lin took over the tea table again to brew his 20 year aged tea.
The color of the liquor was dark like a decades old puer. The quality of the leaf and his technique was apparent in the taste. Rich, deep, fruity with a hint of malted sweetness. Michael was intrigued by the results of Master Lin's roast, so different from the Hong Kong style he's most familiar with. The chaqi had me blissed out and suddenly craving the sweet pineapple shortcakes we had left in the car. Our tasting was almost at an end, and we had experienced stellar examples of high elevation, hand picked teas produced by a master and brewed by the same. Now it was just a question of how much could we take back with us?

With his tea in such great demand, it wasn't even our place to ask to purchase some.
We waited, hoping we had made a good enough impression (or at least not a terrible one) for him to offer us tea for purchase. Most of you know we are able to sell his Winter Harvest Tung Ting on our website but he also allowed us to take home some of his 6 year and 20 year aged oolong. Sadly, we could only take enough for ourselves and had to promise not to sell any of it. It would be for our own personal enjoyment.
I still have some and very soon I hope to share it with you.

An Update

Hello Tea Friends,
You may have noticed there haven't been any recent posts on this blog or updates to out website in the past few weeks. I took some time away from my work to deal with an illness in the family. Someone very close to me was diagnosed with lung cancer and it has reached the advanced stages requiring hospitalization. It has been a difficult ordeal that my family and I continue to struggle with. I float between heartbreak and hope while watching a loved one fight for his life.

Michael and Winnie have been amazing with their love and support. They've put my need to spend time with my family before their business and I am extremely grateful to them. My return to normal routines has been slow with many interruptions and I apologize for the delays in responding to your letters and posting new teas and articles. Please know that your patronage is very important to us and helps us do what we love most: sharing tea with others.
Thank you for your understanding.

Oriental Beauties

While the New York City streets are piled up with snow, it's a good excuse to stay indoors and finally have some of the tea we brought back from Taiwan. Things were so busy for me, I haven't even had a chance to open my tin of Oriental Beauty until now.

While I made myself a cup of this richly fragrant oolong, I looked over my photos of the trip:

We were lucky enough to have an audience with Master Shu, a tea master that specializes in Oriental Beauty in ShinChu Province. He had just completed his winter harvest and had a rare moment to sit down with us. When we got to his teashop, he was in the middle of roasting the last of his harvest and asked that we start our tasting at a table where several of his teas had been brewed competition style.

We were handed cups and ladled the tea into the our cups with a porcelain soup spoon. The tea was room temperature but the sweet perfume of the tea would cling to the spoon and the edge of our cups.

Michael and Winnie dove right in. At first I was concerned that tasting so many teas at once would make it difficult for me to remember which ones I liked and for what reason. While all were delicious a couple stood out above the rest and the choice was easier than I thought. There was also a unanimous agreement within our little group over the favorites.

This was one we all really liked.
Master Shu finally emerged from the roasting room and invited us to sit at his table. One got the impression of limitless energy barely contained in this genial man. We discussed the teas we sampled and he made some fresh pots for us to taste.

Michael sampling teas.
We must have tried over twenty varietials of Oriental Beauty. Because that much tea can really lower one's blood sugar, Master Shu served trays of peanuts he roasted himself.

We ate and drank, tasting the results of different elevations, parentage, and the age of the trees. We examined the wet leaves still steaming from the hot water and dissected the lingering aromas. Some were delicate and pale with high notes that evaporated at the back of the throat. Others were juicy and robust with candy-like perfumes.

As the hours went by, conversation drifted from teas to politics, we had arrived in the last week of election campaigns. (We also had a chance to visit the roasting room but I've been asked not to post photos.) Master Shu talked about his gardens, the changes he was witnessing in the climate and the smaller harvests he and his fellow tea growers were experiencing. They noted fewer leafhoppers, those insects that feed on the tea trees and are vital to the unique taste of Oriental Beauty. It was a somber note of uncertainty but he also focused on the pleasure his tea brings and generously brewed cup after cup of his harvests.

Winnie took copious notes on the ones that caught our interest. We settled on two for the Tea Gallery and purchased a little extra for ourselves. One came from some old trees that get cut back to preserve their longevity and is only harvested every other year (Oriental Beauty - Special Harvest). The other was harvested from a small garden that grows by a mountain stream (Oriental Beauty - Sweet Water). (Both are available as a sampler pack on our site).

Back in New York I have more than memories of that visit, I have the tea from Master Shu's gardens and now I have a little time to sit and enjoy this tasty find. Toki of The Mandarin's Tea reviewed our Special Harvest so I brewed some of the Oriental Beauty - Sweet Water.
A chance to examine the dried leaf closely:

Delicate, wiry stems hold twisted leaves with mahogany and copper hues with bluish tints. Feathery, silver buds are threaded throughout. The aroma is soft with a little apricot.

Once the leaves are rinsed, that famous fragrance pours out of my gaiwan and lingers above my tea table; a bouquet of tropical fruit and antique roses. The first cup is mouthwatering sweet and soft with a hint of grapes. The flavor of ripe fruit and orchid gets deeper and bolder with each steep. A malted sweetness sinks into the taste buds. Each cup delivers a round body with a fine texture that leaves a velvet coating in the mouth. By the 6th cup, the aroma and taste soften and become less complex. I pour some more water over the leaves and let it steep for a few minutes. The first sip of the last cup is bittersweet. Still delicious with a trace of exotic flora but there's an edge of finality and the end to my blissful reprieve from the world.

Brooklyn Treasures - Pt.2

Back in Brooklyn with Kingston, I was admiring his teapots and enjoying some puer. He keeps most of his collection in his tearoom but there's a more precious selection he stores in his home. When we had enough tea, we went usptairs to see the pieces he keeps closest to his heart. Here's a quick look at just some of the antiques he's collected over time. Sadly the photos can't convey the variety of textures and weight that are a part of appreciating these works of art.

An aged yellow clay (duan-ni) teapot can develop a rich hue and natural glow from years of use. Here's a great example of teapot with a traditional overhead handle.

A trio of small, well crafted gongfu teapots.

But Kingston had even smaller ones to show me:

I put my IPhone down for size reference. Kingston told me that the tiniest one is actually hand made and not from a mold. The cups are also exquisite miniatures but they lose a sense of proportion next to the pot.

An antique yixing clay double boiler for cooking ginseng. Nowadays, you can purchase modern, electric cookers lined with Yixing clay.

At first glance these teapots look like they're made from the yellow yixing clay but they are actually made from the rarer white clay. The one in the background is newer and had a slight greenish-yellow tint. Because of it's shape and hue it resembled a ripe honeydew.

Two lavishly glazed teapots with very different depictions of butterflies flitting among flowers.

A set of Song Dynasty wine cups. The only other cups I've seen of this size belong to Winnie. You can see them on an old post about Song Dynasty ceramics. Kingston explained how the rich, ebony color I was looking at was actually a very thick and translucent dark-mahogany glaze. He shined an intense light into the cup's interior to reveal its secret layers.

It looked like a glimmer of gold treasure shining from the depths of the darkest cavern.
I was getting a little overwhelmed with all the pretty things filling up my vision and Kingston's wealth of information but he still had more to share...

till next time!

Brooklyn Treasures - Pt.1

I recently spent the day with Kingston, a Tea Gallery friend and patron who's amassed a lovely collection of old and modern Yixing teapots and some beautiful vintage porcelains. Many of his pieces are on display in his Brooklyn basement turned tearoom. We drank aged puer sitting on antique furniture (from Michael) and I got to feast my eyes on some stunning pieces. He was happy to let me take photos and share a small fraction of what he has with my internet friends. Here's a quick glimpse of what I got to see:

An elaborately decorated, large gaiwan with a rare feature:

A different style of saucer that I wish we still saw today.

Unfortunately, I've already forgotten how old these antique cups are. There was so much to see it was a little overwhelming. Maybe Kingston can leave a note about them in the comments section. They're beautiful and perfectly intact.

A complete western style tea set with two different types of cups for export made with Yixing clay in a retro colored glaze.

Kingston has shelves and shelves of teapots. We made plans for a future get together to better document each of his teapots. He has a diverse selection, from the very simple to the richly detailed:

I expected the lotus seeds on top to move independently from the rest of the lid but I was surprised that the eyes of the frog were also separate moving pieces.

I could barely pay attention to the tea Kingston was serving. There was so much to distract me.

A pair of yellow (duan-ni) XuiPing teapots. It may be difficult to tell from the photos but the foreground teapot is a darker shade with a glossier sheen from years of use by Kingston. He left the other pristine to show the difference. More remarkable was how much smoother the skin of the used pot felt from it's untouched twin. That's something else we don't hear too much about. Many people know that teapots darken and develop a rich patina with use. But the texture can also be altered. A pot with a sandy textured surface like these duan-ni pots can feel smoother after some years of use.

This was just the first hour of my visit. Kingston laughed at my excitement over his collection. "This is nothing", he said, " I haven't even shown you the old stuff."

to be continued...