So I do see that there are some early spring greens coming out already in a couple of places (Yunnan Sourcing for one)...since I am unfamiliar with the rainy season in China, could someone tell me...are these teas considered pre-pre-qing ming? Or...how are they thought of? The time where there isn't any tea being made anywhere in India or China seems to be very short to me these days.
In relation to that, I am guessing the tea bushes go dormant for a few months, when they start to bud again is it the very first leaves they put out that are considered so wonderful? Is there such a thing as being too early of a green tea?
So...is this 1) a stupid question that no-one wants to bother with, 2) a heretical question, how dare I ask it, or 3) a question that no-one actually has an answer to? I thought it made sense, after all, if early greens are so much more desireable and expensive, it stands to reason that someone somewhere will try to make a spring green that might not be "all that" and try to foist it off because it's early rather than anything else.
I've heard it said that, due to the premium early green teas bring in China, tea agronomists have developed cultivars that leaf out very early but yield a mediocre cup. How true this is, I don't know.
Honestly I don't really concern myself with all the first flush stuff anymore, I just buy what is good - not new. I also only really keep track of a few of my personal favorite spring teas, and not the entire industry so India isn't even on my list and only two teas from China... Japan is more where I keep an eye for something fresh and special.
Rarity used to be a game I played, but I quickly realized that rare or "first" doesn't always amount to much but an empty wallet. Sometimes some new fresh green is worth it, but mostly it is just hype IMO. It's worth trying a few each year but I wouldn't stock my cupboard solely on FF/First Picked Spring's.
My retail company Nothing But Tea Ltd based in the UK sells around the world (34 countries to date) and our second biggest market is the USA from which I have noticed over the past five years increasing clamour for teas that are "earliest", "youngest", "first", "this season's". Many of the teas we sell are better for some aging - our hand made Georgian teas are an example, where given the choice of a range of age from our stock, I prefer drinking ones at least two years old - but impossible to sell a 2005 season Georgian into the US, already we are being asked for 2008 season samples - unobtainable until June.
Have you given thought to addressing this issue directly on your company's website? Your customers may already be buying aged oolongs, not to mention Pu'ers.
My retail company Nothing But Tea Ltd based in the UK sells around the world (34 countries to date) and our second biggest market is the USA from which I have noticed over the past five years increasing clamour for teas that are "earliest", "youngest", "first", "this season's". Many of the teas we sell are better for some aging - our hand made Georgian teas are an example, where given the choice of a range of age from our stock, I prefer drinking ones at least two years old - but impossible to sell a 2005 season Georgian into the US, already we are being asked for 2008 season samples - unobtainable until June.
Nigel at Teacraft
This also brings up another point for me... I've seen some places selling older (meaning last years or year before last's) red teas, and so I am torn between what I thought was "conventional wisdom" of the fresher the tea the better, or this "aging" issue. I know the oolongs are aged, the puerh is aged, I guess some of the reds are too. I don't think anyone could age a green sucessfully though, but who knows, I could be proved wrong some time. I do wonder what an aged Yinzhen would taste like, were one to be able to keep it unfaded...sort of an older honey taste I imagine.
Also there are those countries that may have no dormant period...Kenyan or African teas? Nigel, do some of the African tea bushes produce all year around?
I second Lew's suggestion. There is no tea product we Americans need more than education! And I think most all of us are very eager to learn. I know I have purchased a previous year Yunnan Gold because part of the description stated that it was best X years aged, a concept that was new to me.
Aged green teas? I very much doubt it. The received wisdom is that the delicate flavour of Korean green tea (at least) goes away after two years at most, and sometimes much earlier. There is also said to be a possibility of restoring it at least in part by gently heating the tea as in the last part of the drying process. But no one has ever indicated to my knowledge that green tea could get better with time. My favourite Korean maker is now producing a yellow tea that 'ages' in a big pot for several months after the initial drying, but I think that is to allow a gradual oxidation process to continue.
When it comes to aged oolongs, which have recently come to my notice (from Taiwan, 15 years old or perhaps more), could someone tell us if these are simply left lying around or if they are (as I suspect) re- heated regularly to maintain dryness. I assume that oolongs, like puerhs, would not age correctly if kept hermetically sealed?
When it comes to puerhs, is it not true that the total collapse of trust in the age claimed for them by merchants has encouraged many people to look for recently made puerhs that they plan to store and age for themselves?
Well as I understand it, green pu'erh is essentially green tea - the kill green process is the same, and it's not bruised or oxidized first.
I don't think that aged "green tea" (other than that) is very popular, but I don't think that means it couldn't be good. It definitely wouldn't have the same type of flavor as a younger tea, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't evolve into something interesting over time. There would probably be a period where it was simply stale, and would taste the same as when it was new, only flatter, less flavorful, and less interesting.
I have some wild Korean green tea that I've left sitting around for a couple of years - if it keeps on sitting around for a couple more, I'll try it out and see how it is.
I believe some people age teas with minimal or no re-roasting, but unless kept very dry and pretty airtight, the tea will probably sour this way. Generally, aged oolongs should be re-roasted every 2-6 years or so, to remove excess moisture.
Storage varies, and depends on your climate and type of tea / level of roasting, but I think you do want a pretty good seal. Especially with greener oolongs, I think people frequently use a sealed porcelain jar and then put candle wax over the top to keep moisture out. In Fu jian, some of the aged teas I saw were kept in large tightly sealed, double-lidded metal jars with a small lid - probably lead and / or tin.
But I've also seen pu'erh style cakes made with oolongs (especially wu yi yan cha, like shui xian), as well as a fruit (maybe a pomelo or something) stuffed with oolong tea. I believe I was told that the fruit is stuffed with tea and hung on a tree (where it gets some little bugs in it, IIRC). I don't know for sure, but I imagine these are aged in a manner closer to the way pu'erh is aged, and probably with more moisture. Probably originally kept more for medicinal purposes than for taste (as a lot of aged oolong originally was).
Not sure if a total seal is good for more heavily roasted teas (I believe some people use a full jar with a looser lid), but you do want a dryer and less breathable environment than with pu'erh, at least that's what I've read mostly. Like anything else, there's a lot of information out there, and much of it is contradictory. I think that's more a product of there being multiple ways to go about it than one person being wrong and another person being right.
Here in Los Angeles is not such a fantastic climate for aging pu'erh, because it's very dry, but I have heard several people say it's a good climate for aging oolongs. I've been kind of informally and unscientifically experimenting with aging teas in different types of containers.
Well I think most people (myself included) take merchants' assurances about the age of pu'erh with a grain (or three) of salt... in many cases, the tea has passed through many sets of hands, and with tea that's older than 10 or 15 years, it's hard to ever know for certain.
That said, it's hard for people who live somewhere that's not the greatest aging climate to buy too much tea for aging, and for green pu'erh to be really drinkable, it needs to have a lot more age (15-20+ years) than I want to wait to drink some tea. So I try to buy aged pu'erh from vendors I trust.
Of course it's hard to know the exact age of tea, but it's difficult to fake the taste beyond a certain point. And even if you have the wrong idea about a tea's age or pedigree, if it tastes good, it tastes good.
No, I think the kill-green process for green Pu'er is gentler or, to look at it differently, less complete. The enzymes in the tea leaf that contribute to (one kind of) fermentation/oxidation aren't completely destroyed. So the fermentation, given the right environment, will continue, but slowly. So-called black Pu'er starts with the same partially-kill-greened leaf, using heat and humidity to speed the fermentation.
Yes, "aged" green tea isn't going to really improve in any way I can see... at least none of the greens I drink. I can taste a notable drop off after about 3-4 months even with good storage and I really can't drink them much past a year or year and a half. I've had some jasmine pearls that held up to two years without too much trouble or loss. I have had some straggler packets of green tea lost to the sands of time (2, 3, 4+ years) but none were ever better for it.
Chinese greens are a different story and while I've explored a lot of them now I still couldn't speak for all of them. I'd imagine it safe to say that greens just go stale and really never bounce back to something desirable.
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.