O5 Tea School

MIND-BOGGLING FACT: You need 100kg of fresh tea leaves to get 10kg of competition-grade matcha. We consider it an honour and privilege to be able to drink and share this tea with you! 

Thank you to Tsuji San for most of the images featured in this blog post. Not only does he create stunning tea; he is also very generous with his knowledge. 

AN ODD TIME OF YEAR 
It is fairly early in the year to be releasing matcha. [This post was written in May 2021]. Typically tea leaves for high-quality matcha are harvested in May and processed as soon as possible into tencha (碾茶) (more on that below); since the tea is still considered 'too strong' in energy, it is traditionally stored for a few months and then micro-milled into matcha (抹茶) sometime in fall.

TENCHA (碾茶)
The character 碾 means ‘grind’; tencha is better described as tea flakes destined to be milled into matcha. This is an over-simplification of the process:

• Fresh leaves are hand-picked, steamed and baked to produce what we call aracha, or rough tea.
• This aracha is refined by removing the stems and veins of the tea leaves, leaving only beautiful crispy tea flakes of fairly homogenous size.
• This refined tea is stored in a cooler for a few months and is later inspected and tasted by the Shokunin (master artisan), until it is considered ready for milling.

SHIZEN SHITATE (自然仕立て)
This describes ‘free growing’ tea fields, strictly destined for hand-picking, where the tea bushes are allowed to grow in any shape or form that they desire. 
 
HONZU (本簀)
This is the most traditional way to shade the tea trees destined strictly for competition-grade matcha and gyokuro; the canopy is built with reeds and rice straw, and it is both costly and labour intensive. This is an image from Tsuji San’s fields in Uji Shirakawa.

KANREISHA (寒冷紗).
This is a more modern system to shade tea trees (using black nets made of synthetic fiber); it can also yield some pretty good results.

TASTING EXPERIENCE
A juicy, full bodied dried fruit with a toasty finish, reminiscent of hojicha.

THE HANDCRAFTING PROCESS
Kobayashi San harvests tea leaves in the hot and humid days of summer; the tea bushes have a mishmash of larger leaves (half the size of your hand) that have been growing since early spring, and some younger ones that sprouted more recently. Kobayashi San harvest both leaves and small branches, all of which will impart a distinct flavour to the tea.
 
These leaves are boiled in cauldrons over a wood fire; the water used for boiling is carefully collected. Smelling these tea leaves as they boil is on the bucket list.

• Not rolled 
• Not steamed or pan-fired (but air-dried, with or without sunshine)

Leaves for White Moonlight tea, in Jingu, Yunnan (2012) 

 Picking standards are the more controversial topic: 

• Many people accept only tea buds (as in 'silver needles'), one bud and one leaf (some 'bai mudan'), or buds and young leaves.
• We also know some folks in Taiwan who produce 'white tea' with larger, sun-dried leaves; some of our tea friends in China flinch at such idea... but the tea is actually very tasty. 

Freshly picked tea buds and finished tea in Jingu, Yunnan. This tea is called Silver Needles, or sometimes White Moonlight Buds. 

A noteable commonality among most white teas is the use of cultivars that have a significant amount of 'down' on the buds (and therefore, on the backside of young leaves). This is quite important. 
The down protects young buds from oxidizing (hence they look white). As the young leaves dry slowly, the inner part will oxidize (taking on a dark brown colour) and the outer part, covered with down, will remain white. 

We encountered an exception in eastern Kyushu Island: 
Miyazaki Akira is an exceptional, organic farmer who specializes in kamairi (pan-fired) tea. He also produces a small amount of 白茶 (called 'haku cha', locally), using local, non-fuzzy tea cultivars. 

These old trees near Chiang Rai (Thailand) are used to craft a tea that is very similar to White Moonlight, with some characteristics highly reminiscent of raw Pu Er; we call it 'Thai Moonlight'.

ORIGINS OF WHITE TEA
Perhaps the most celebrated (and ancient) origin for white tea is Fuding, in Fujian Province. 
Taiwanese people have historical links to Fujianese, and also have a rich tradition of handcrafting white tea. More recently, the style has become popular in far-away lands, including Darjeeling and the Kanchenjunga region in Nepal, where local cultivars and terroir add an interesting spiciness to many of the teas we've tried. 

In the latter part of the 20th century, white tea began to be produced in Yunnan Province, the 'cradle of tea'. It is extremely interesting to experience these minimally processed teas crafted with leaves from assamica trees that can be several hundred years old!  

This is Gao Feng in Ba Da Shan, very close to the Old Tree White Moonlight tea trees. Fun fact... that massive tea beside him is a tea tree! 

IS YOUNG OR OLD BETTER? 
We only started hearing about aged white tea about 10 years ago. 
In the early 200s, in China, most of our friends suggested that fresh white tea, just like green tea, is much better. The same was true of our Western 'tea expert' friends. 
These days, however, aged white tea is trending all over China. 
 

 

To prepare 1 litre of White Tea Kombucha (or any kombucha, for that matter), you will need:
- 8g tea
- 80g sugar 
- SCOBY
- Coffee filter / paper towel / fine mesh cloth

Step 1: Brew your tea
Steep your tea according to recommended brewing guidelines. 
This comes down to personal preference, but I personally will steep my tea just slightly longer so that the flavour is strong enough to really shine. It is important that you don't over-steep your tea to the point that it becomes bitter, though, because this will impact your final product!

Step 2: Add your sugar
While your tea is still hot, add in your sugar and stir until completely dissolved. 
If you know you want a final product that is very dry, you can go as low as 60g per litre, but don't use any less than that or your kombucha may not ferment properly. 

IMPORTANT: Before proceeding to step 3, it is important that you let your tea cool completely to room temperature. 

Step 3: Add your SCOBY! 
Surely this is the aspect of brewing kombucha that freaks most people out -- handling the SCOBY. Depending on how comfortable you are, you can transfer your SCOBY into your brewing jar using your bare hands, tongs, chopsticks -- whatever you prefer. But whatever you choose, make sure it's clean!

Once your SCOBY is in, cover your brew with a coffee filter and secure firmly with a rubber band. Fruit flies think kombucha is delicious too, so if you leave it uncovered, it will very likely become infested with those guys. 

Step 4: Wait patiently
As soon as you've introduced your SCOBY, the bacteria and yeast will start eating away at the sugar in your tea and in turn will produce acetic acid (among other things). 
The longer you ferment your brew, the less sweet and more acidic it will become. 

So, how do you know when it's ready? 
Determining when your kombucha is done comes down to personal preference. If you like your kombucha on the sweeter side, give it a taste after 3-4 days. If you like it semi-sweet, try 6-7 days. If you like a dry kombucha, you might be looking at something like 8-10 days. 

PRO TIP: When taste-testing your kombucha for readiness, don't taste it right off the top! Typically your SCOBY will float at the top, and this is where the highest concentration of acetic acid will be. Gently stir your kombucha first, then taste. 

If it's still a little sweeter than you'd like, leave to ferment for another day or two and try again. 

Step 5: Carbonating
This step is totally optional, but if you like a fizzy kombucha, you'll need a 1L vessel with a twist-top. 
Fill the bottle with your finished kombucha (your SCOBY is no longer in the liquid), and seal. Leave the bottle on the counter for 2-3 days. 
How it works: The bacteria and yeast present in your kombucha will produce gases which, when trapped in the bottle, are forced back down into the liquid thereby carbonating it.

Whether or not you choose to carbonate your kombucha, store the finished product in the fridge and consume within 2 weeks for optimal flavour. 

We are exploring all there is to know about Ujicha (green tea from Uji, Japan). We have tea from two growers of the region: Tsuji and Yosida. Learn some cool stuff about tea with us!