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I am sorry I haven’t respond to this earlier. Yes forcing through heat is a way to use a “big fan” to hurry drying. As a matter of fact it is part of the design of most modern auto green tea drying setup, where external heat is applied. The leaves actually dance vigorously in the drying chamber. The factor in concern is time here. Where in an auto production line with external heat, the total processing time is shortened to a few hours where drying is 15~20 minutes, drying by way of sunning takes much longer. A lengthy process gives time to enzymic reactions before things get too dry or cooked for any chemical actions. If you manage to draw the air flow without rattling the leaves, I guess the fan is still a great thing to use.
Serious tea production in Yunnan after dynastic China happened only since WWII, when they homogeneously planted a couple of Assamica cultivars throughout tea plantations for the need to produce black tea for export to support the Resistance. Green tea tradition is shallow in that region, regardless of what myths and propagandas you might have read. Adding to that difficulty in developing better quality is the control of green collection price by a few major tea companies. They control distribution. This is very different from regions with strong green tea tradition where farms large and small all compete in an open market.
That is why Yunnan greens are still quite behind the rest of China in real quality output.As for blacks, seems that you have gotten some lesser quality ones. Having said that, Yunnan blacks are not amongst the better blacks in China, regardless of price.I forgot: in a farm setting, the big fan would be useful to create the current for a drying room. Not exactly right for a few kilos of leaves.
@Kevin, I am keeping my promise.
There are a few things I need to clarify before the technical part:- Sun drying or big fan would not give you sencha, as Hokusai said.
- The chemistry of your “flush” determines the optimal variables for any process that determines the taste. The micro environment, the cultivar, the age and the flushing condition determines a leaf’s chemistry.
- The ultimate product employing a natural process such as sunning is dependent on the environment factors during and throughout the process. These factors include ambient temperature, humidity, temperature change, intensity and duration of the sun etc
- Changing of variables greatly affect the outcome, and therefore it may take a lot of experiment for the particular conditions to be optimized
- Lastly but most importantly in the concept: Success don’t come easy; but it’s the challenge that’s the fun
OK, the process:Decide when to pluck: do you want the flush to spread a bit more or do you want it to be shooty? The chemistry is also dependent on the growth state. Normally for Japanese cultivars, the leaves are less bitter when a bit spread out. However, micro-environment and bush age make a lot of difference.Decide to pluck when there is a lot of sun, or before the sun gets really hot. This determines the stiffness of the leaves, ie the water content that you will have to work with. Normally for a longer process, you want more water to sustain the rigidity of the leaf structure to last through it, for a shorter process you want less.Decide where to pluck. One shoot and one leaf is typical of high end green. One and two is almost universal. Some, however, pluck only the first and second leaves and don’t touch the shoot. This is typical of larger leaf tea. Again, this results in the overall chemistry of your harvest. One thing is important: maintaining a rather uniform leaf sizeFirst wither. Don’t let the plucks stay in the basket for too long. They start to oxidize the moment they got plucked. People in Yunnan when doing genuine sunned tea spread the greens immediately under the sun. The first turnover would have to take place in 30 min, if the sun is intense. Some people do a shaded resting for 1 hr after 1 hr sunning. Some don’t. Either way the leaves has to be turned at least once an hour.When the sun’s gone cool the leaves as quickly as possible. Your fan would be useful, but I dont trust it unless you have design a way to create the airflow without rattling the leaves. Rattling breaks the leaf cells and causes enzymic oxidation.Otherwise, it is ok to let the leaves cool in the open before putting them in the racks in indoor. Jamming them in a tight spot before they are cool down is bad. Leaves piling on top of others is bad. Your biology common sense applies hereWhen the sun is fierce enough the next day. Start your process again.This goes on until the leaves are almost brittle. At this point, you may decide whether to further oven dry them or continue the sunning, which may take a few more days during which the chemistry and taste would further change. If you oven it, use a low temperature, 80°C max.The resultant tea, though traditionally categorised as green, is actually a lightly oxidized tea, rather like a white. Send me a sample when you have made it. 😉Clever joke. Someone could find it offensive though, especially in cultures where the special kind of duck has romantic or auspicious meanings. It is an endangered species that is protected in most countries in East Asia.
The term “Mandarin Duck” when not referred to the special variety of duck, is often used in Cantonese, especially in local Hong Kong culture, to refer to something that is comprised of opposing, or very different natures. That is why the name is used to referred to the white tea that has black tea character.The maturing of tea to me is a subject that still needs much study. For a start, the term “maturing” may mean very differently for a pu’er than for a white tea, or for a black tea such as Panxi Curly, in terms of what actually takes place bio-chemically in the tealeaves during the process.
Some teas do not mature and others do. Some peak later and others not. Some peak longer and others short.These are some of the teas that mature:Real white teas, pu’ers and other post-fermented teas, and some of the oolongs and black teas.Even green teas are not included in this group, some green teas do need to be stored away for a bit of time before they are at their best. Some others the fresher the better.From my experience, storage condition affects tremendously how the same batch of tea peaks and matures. For example, in the case of Panxi Curly, while it does improve on aroma in the small pack two years after it’s packed, I found the taste profile a lot more outstanding when stored in an average of 27°C in larger packs for 2 years. Will it be even better after 4 years or 8? I don’t know, I have not conducted enough systematic experiment for this tea.I am hoping to do more extensive studies on this topic. Those who have, please share.I don’t have data at hand but there definitely is an excess of lead in tea produced in certain localities in China and some other countries. @Longjing 43, you are correct in that Longjing is a problem when it is produced in some of the fields closer to the urban areas in Hangzhou, although the local government tries very hard to hide the fact. As you have pointed out, air pollution is the main reason for the metal to get into the tealeaves. It is also one of the major pollutions that a rapidly developing country as China has much to do about. I don’t think they can solve the problem any time soon. Meanwhile, I stay clear of all farms close to any urban areas for supplies. That is one thing you have to ask your supplier about: where exactly is that tea coming from?
Another gatekeeper is the EU standard (the strictest in the world) Maximum Residue Levels test (MRL). For over a decade now lead has been included in the list of items to be examined against for. There are over 280 items in that list. Ask your supplier whether they regularly take their tea to such a test.Lastly I have to mention that excessive metals and other pollutants in tea is NOT a China problem. Lead is found in tea from other countries too. Harmful substances are constantly found in various produces from various countries. It just so happen that whoever dominates the local media and information ecology dominates the perception of the average consumer. That is why people in North Korea could believe their lives are better than those in America. Or those in Mainland China would think there are riots in Paris almost everyday, or people shoot each other everywhere in the US.As a smart consumer, we just have to know what to watch out for and how, in order to better protect ourselves, and not to over worry because of some media trying to make an issue out of singular incidents.Another name for Champagne oolong is Dongfang Meiren. The real production name is Pengfeng cha (pengfeng, a Taiwan dialect for big tale). By nature it is basically not an oolong, but rather a semi-black. Various tea tree cultivars are employed dependent on the producer. That’s why some selections are smaller leaves and others are slightly larger. Even when a wulong cultivar is used, the leaves are plucked much earlier than would for real oolong production.
There is also a saying about the leaves have to be eaten by some local aphis before plucking to be a genuine Pengfeng cha. Well, that’s really pengfeng.You can read more about semi-black here: https://www.teaguardian.com/what-is-tea/semi-fermented-tea-vs-oolong-1.html#.Ujpv9ihmn5g@Al, Thank you for asking. The potent substance in ginseng, ginsenosides, reacts with the gallic acids in tea in the intestine when the two are ingested together. They become various particles that are not absorbable. This way both the tea and the ginseng are wasted. It is not understood yet whether these particles are harmful or not.
I have never liked or recommended those so-called ginseng oolong products. I actually have always told people to avoid them.@Betty, I love a hot cup of sweet milk before bed from time to time but I have always wanted to avoid white sugar. That led me to study the nature of real raw sugar and found that it is an entirely different thing from white sugar! It has become one of my favourite sweetener since.
