2017 – Page 2 – Discovering Tea

Moving towards mechanical harvesting

20 October 2017

Plucking tea leaves by hand is labour-intensive, but manual harvesting is a mark of quality. Some research centres, like here in northern India, are working to optimise mechanisation. The bushes are pruned in a different way, and they are working to identify which type of mechanical cutting will result in the most abundant crops. I don’t have to tell you that I fear this future mechanisation, although uniquely in the case of Japan, it has already been the practice for a long time, and doesn’t affect the quality of the tea due to the great care taken by the farmers in that country.

(Photo : Laurence Jouanno)

Important moments in-store

13 October 2017

It’s true that I spend a lot of time in the tea fields, but sometimes I visit the Palais des Thés stores and the teams. I tell them about my adventures, answer their questions, and we taste teas together. These are very important moments for me. The staff are always horrified when I tell them about the leeches that attach themselves to your skin during humid walks; about the whole hornets served fried, spiced and seasoned with ginger and garlic, near Xishuangbanna; about the local alcohol downed neat when you wake up, as is traditional among people living in the mountains of northern Vietnam. I also tell them about the nights I spend listening to the sounds of the jungle. My fear of tigers. I always remember one or two anecdotes, such as the monkey who stole a tourist’s bag and, while we looked on, dumbfounded, took out a passport and tore out every page, one by one. Here, I’m in Toulouse, with Océane, Marc, Léa and Florence, manager of the Toulouse and Blagnac stores, who spent a few days with me in India, on the tea plantations.

Fine teas in the foothills of the Dhauladhar Mountains

6 October 2017

The current tension in Darjeeling, although it seems finally to be easing, has guided my path toward new vistas this month. In the foothills of the Dhauladhar Mountains, a stone’s throw from Kashmir, a few tea plantations are well worth the detour—not only for their majestic view of the Himalayas, but also for the hard work of several local producers, which is unquestionably paying off. For decades, the region produced a relatively ordinary green tea for local consumption, but more recently, if you look hard enough, you can find a wide variety of more artisanal teas to delight the palate. All while gazing at the Dhauladhars, naturally.

Cooked Pu Erhs: an autumnal palette

29 September 2017

What possible connection could there be between these tattered old cloths and tea? Simple: these thick cloths are used to cover piles of tea leaves, keeping the oxygen out. In the damp, dark environment, the tea will ferment. This is a crucial step in processing cooked pu erh teas. Every day, someone will check the temperature of the leaves, letting in a bit of air if they get too warm. They will also dampen the leaves several times over the forty days or so of ripening, covering them again immediately each time. In the cup, cooked pu erh teas develop notes of wood, undergrowth, caves, damp earth, straw, humus, leather, and liquorice, and it makes me smile to think that these cloths with their shades of brown express the same sense of autumn as the scent bouquet of the teas they cover.

Head in the clouds

22 September 2017

The mountains covered with tea plants rise so high and the clouds sometimes fall so low that there is no room left for the sky. The clouds cover the green blanket of tea plants with mist, envelop them in a layer of cotton wool, caress them, and then disappear. I could stay for hours, in each tea field I walk through, contemplating the beauty of the landscape. And the more I climb, the greater the reward. Tea doesn’t grow above 2,000 to 2,200 metres, but at those altitudes the views are breathtaking. If the mist lets you see them.

Make tea not war

15 September 2017

I got to know Xuan Dong Wu this summer. I met him in the Ming De factory he manages and where, that day, he was overseeing the withering of the tea leaves with the greatest attention. Xuan Dong Wu loves his job. He has not always been in the tea business. He started out in the army, and fought in the Sino-Vietnamese War in the early 1980s. He then returned to the village where he was born, and where tea provides the majority of work. He makes white teas, pu erhs, and black teas that are considered the best in Yunnan. He likes to introduce new ideas, and is responsible for several of our Mao Chas, the intermediate teas used to made Pu Erh. Xuan Dong Wu is a shy man, and didn’t say much when I asked him what he wanted me to write about him here. He simply told me about his life, and what he likes. He said he likes making tea with his heart and with his efforts, he said he wanted to do his best and make the best teas possible. And then he plunged his hands back into the withering leaves, and didn’t take his eyes off them.

Rolling Mao Cha

8 September 2017

Mao Cha – the raw tea from which Pu Erh is made – increasingly undergoes a rolling stage. Right after the leaves have been withered then heated in a wok, they are placed in a machine that shakes them from side to side, rapidly and regularly. The leaves hit the vertical sides and gradually their shape changes – they curl up gently lengthwise. Rolling takes place with most teas, it shapes the leaves. With green teas, for example, it breaks down the cells and releases the aroma compounds that oxidise or ferment.

Tea and style

1 September 2017

It’s true that preparing tea consists simply of placing tea leaves in contact with water, an encounter that produces a delicate, fragrant drink. The process can be more or less straightforward, more or less delicate. In China, in the space of barely 20 years, preparing tea using the gong fu method, which must be done slowly and with self-control, has become incredibly popular. It is often young women who perform the task. They are always elegant, and every movement is precise. You watch in admiration as their agile fingers trace beautiful flowing arcs in the air before depositing a few drops of the precious nectar in your tiny cup.

Les 4 étapes du mao cha

25 August 2017

La fabrication d’un mao cha se fait en 4 étapes. Rappelons tout d’abord que l’on nomme mao cha le thé qui va servir à fabriquer un pu erh, que celui-ci soit cru ou bien cuit. Précisons également que la façon de faire le mao cha a évolué avec le temps. Un simple flétrissage suivi d’un séchage au soleil est devenu plus complexe au gré des modes et de l’engouement incroyable des Chinois pour leurs thés sombres. Aujourd’hui, voilà comment cela se passe. Après avoir récolté les feuilles, on les laisse se flétrir durant environ 2 heures. Puis on fixe les feuilles au wok (photo) à 200 degrés durant environ 30 minutes. Ensuite, on va rouler les feuilles durant 10 minutes avant de les laisser sécher toute la journée au soleil. En théorie, le mao cha est destiné à être compressé, mais il n’est pas interdit de le déguster tel quel et de savourer ses notes minérales, fruitées, végétales et animales.

The situation is dangerous in Darjeeling

18 August 2017

The situation in Darjeeling has become dangerous. All the shops have shut, the hotels have closed, the roads are blocked. Work has ground to a halt on the tea plantations. It has been like this for 70 days. We are facing a major shortage. Worse, clashes with the army have left some dead. I don’t know if a political solution will be reached between the central government, the leaders of West Bengal and the separatists. I don’t know if demands to create a new state, Gorkhaland, within the Union of India, will lead to anything. What I do know is that the plantations are under threat and that it will take several weeks to get back to a situation where they can start producing tea again. It will require a massive effort in terms of clearing the ground and pruning before the bushes can grow in the right way for harvesting. The summer crop is already spoilt. The autumn harvest could be saved if the conflict ends quickly. Otherwise, we will have to stop tasting Darjeelings for a while, and instead send positive thoughts to everyone living in those mountains; the people I know well and am so fond of, who do not deserve to live through such difficult times.