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This can be a simple question or a very deep one. Most people will tell you Shifeng (Lion Peak), Meijiawu (Mei Family’s Enclave), Wengjiashan (Weng Family’s Hill) etc etc, those traditional patches of land near West Lake in Hangzhou. They all boast to be the best and the most genuine and say almost the same character about their teas.In the old days, when production style, horticultural practices, use of cultivar and microclimates were distinct, there really were some differences between these origins. However, this is not the case now. Distinctiveness within the areas in West Lake is diminishing.The fact is most Longjing out there in Europe is exported through Zhejiang Tea Corporation, which collects tea from all over Zhejiang and beyond and “ganged” into a few different export grades. The characters of origin, cultivar etc are thereby quite homogenized. Key regions for export grade Longjing are Fuyang, Wuyi (in Zhejiang, not the same as that one Fujian), and Shaoxing. The vast majority of export grades are machine roasted.On the other hand, since the demand for finer quality is on the rise, many areas are producing Longjing. That include areas that are inherently BETTER green tea growing environment than the present day, much urbanized Hangzhou. And areas where farmers are too proud to sell their teas at low prices to collection agent from the “official” export company. There are many such regions, some examples include Chunan, Kaihua, and in counties in Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Sichuan etc, so you get an idea. Some productions from these regions give much fuller and smoother body and more delightful and complex aroma. They fit much better the descriptions by ancient poets and celebrities than very expensive ones in the West Lake area.As a merchant, I face a serious dilemma here whether to sell productions NOT from West Lake but risking customer’s scornful eyes, or sell those from West Lake at ridiculous price, because it is getting impossible to offer the genuine taste at reasonable price. The other option is to sell those from other areas and lie that they are from famous regions, which is a common practice by many but I still cannot do it.
I’ll leave the reason why Ceylon tea was in the beginning selected for HK milk tea. I hope some other people will discuss on that. Let me discuss what makes a good milk tea base.
The objective is simple, a strong enough tea with some aroma to with stand the addition of condensed or evaporated milk, and a lot of white sugar. For commercial side of the consideration, it has to be cheap enough and quick enough to infuse. And withstand poor storage in the conditions of the kitchen or bar in the diners or the food shacks where it is prepared.As a consumer, I’d push away the commercial perspective and think only about taste and quality. To me, whether the cost is 50 cents or 5 cents for the cup really is cheap enough, for commerce, it is 10 times the cost, especially when the customers are more cost conscious than quality-wise.In terms of taste, teabags won’t work. They are far too tasteless. Neither is cost. I don’t need that extra bags, which is very likely to be more expensive than the broken leaves inside.The fact is, a lot of varieties of tea infused to over strength can work for milk tea. Green, puer, oolong and of course, black. Choose teas that possess a lot of taste and aroma. The coarseness of the body due to over strength will be remedied by the dense milk and sugar later.However, if you want a black tea to the style of those in HK diners, but in better quality and taste, get a good grade thoroughly fermented black tea with good aroma, whether its the baked, sweet kind of aroma or floral, brighter kind. Length of taste is important. The “Ceylon” taste is most prominent in productions from Uva, Ceylon. You’ll find higher pitch in Nepal’s, more middle tones in Assam’s and Yunnan’s, and much rounder in Fujian’s and Sichuan’s, generally speaking and regarding only better ones.Once you liberate yourself from the confinement of broken grades, single origin better quality teas are good choice each with its unique, standalone character.The key in HK style milk tea, however, is not so much the tea choice, but the steeping method, which I have discussed in the related article.@ ICE, that’s exactly how I do the dish too, except perhaps I’d add a few drops of good soy sauce to marinate. Sometimes I’d roughly grind the tealeaves too, when you know your guest is really into eating tea.
I love cooking. The wonders of all these fish, meat, vegetable, grains, roots, beans, herbs, spices, fermented and processed produces fascinate me. Many years ago the new dean of the college I taught at invited some of us over for dinner. I don’t remember much of the rest of the dinner other than the main course that was lemon chicken and the salad. It was frozen chicken breast boiled in water and soaking wet lettuce taken out from a Zipbloc from the fridge. Fringes of the cut leaves were rotting. That dinner made me miss left over plain rice that I used to have when I was a kid. That sad woman had no respect for her nature dinner materials, let alone her guests.
Respecting the nature of things and making use of it make half the secrets in cooking. The other half is the understanding and respect of the “guests” — those people who are going to consume the food, including yourself — their taste requirements, their physical state, their emotional state.Same for tea. Each batch, each quality grade, each variety, each origin, each cultivar, each processing style produces dried leaves of a distinctive nature, some almost no different, some extremely different.That is why tea is infinitely engaging. So is food. And many other good things in life.That’s an A+. You’ve made me miss my old days as a teacher. I was doing lunch with a Taiwan producer today and one of them talked about how information is important in empowering the consumers. I agreed but added that it requires actually physically accessing the real thing for information to be really understood. Now at least you are half way there observing the photos of the (un)real things.
My opinion for room temperature infusion that’s taking long hours or the allegedly old time style of kombucha be used with care. Fungi and bacterias are dangerous when not in proper control.
@ Alex, this is such a great explanation made simple! Remember you asking me to write about taste in tea? I think it seems like you are a great candidate for it yourself!
@ mcharlap, you may need a green house if you need to plant tea there in Arizona, where I think the RH is below 50%. You need to run a micro environment above 70% on average plus regular misting. And yes, no strong wind.
@Betty please keep us update of your tea planting project.I have known this video for some years. Quite a style. The need for educating a broader public to make better tea was of great importance at times of war, particularly it was at that time that the whole England was under imminent stress of attacks from the continent. Tea has helped the country through warfare in WWI, and it seem obvious here that it was contributing to the spirit and health of both the people and the military through WWII.Would be nice if they had another actor for the role 😉
