Tea & Health January/February 16 issue

Tea&Health Magazine

Issue January/February 2016

Tea of Month Lapsang Souchong Tea and Health How to brew Chinese tea?

Dragonwell Noodles

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Contents: 5 Editor's Letter 7 What temperature of water is proper to brew Chinese tea?

10 Tieguanyin or Iron Buddha tea – the legend of the name by Vitalii Lishchyna 12 NEW! Dragonwell Noodles Recipe 13 Taiping Houkui Tea 16 Tea of a Month : Lapsang Souchong tea

Tieguanyin or Iron Buddha tea P10

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How to brew great tea? Page 7

Dragon Noodles P 15

Editor's Letter

I

nspiration for our new section – Recipe made with teas, comes from the ancient Chinese and Japanese traditions to enhance flavour of foods, making a meal truly memorable. This month we offer Dragonwell noodles with Xi Hu Long Jing (Dragonwell) tea.

Xi Long Jing is famous worldwide for its “four wonders” – emerald green colour, aromatic flavour, sweet taste and beautiful appearance. We hope you enjoy the recipe, write to us and share your experience. Dragonwell tea can be purchased from www.tea­ store.co.uk.

Maria Editor Tea&Health p 5 Tea & Health

What temperature of water is proper to brew Chinese tea?

Many people are interested in the question: what should be the water temperature for brewing Chinese tea?

Empirically, it has been found that certain water temperature allows one to drink tastier and more aromatic tea. But still, there are many different opinions and nuances in the question of the correct water temperature.

Someone may say that you need to use 70 degrees water to brew perfect tea, others advise to use 80 degrees. Someone will say about 90 degrees, but others insist on boiling water.

Those, who only start researching the tea culture, can quickly understand that it is not as easy as they have thought

p 7 Tea & Health

So what water temperature will be proper?

Perhaps you will be a bit surprised, but the concept such as “absolutely proper” does not exist in Tea Art. Even Chinese tea masters could brew tea differently, and various tea experts sometimes have different points of view. But we will try to help you with resolving this issue.

During the time when I studied Chinese culture and Tea Art while traveling in different regions of China, I had conversations with many tea specialists. So here is the generalized analysis of the answers I received.

"During the time when I studied Chinese culture and Tea Art while travelling in different regions of China" White tea is brewed with water of 80 degrees. If you use water of more then 80 degrees, you will surely kill gentle and soft aroma of white teas.

Keep the kettle staying for about five minutes with the lid open, and only then carefully start pouring water along the wall of the cup.

Green tea is brewed with water of 80­90 degrees. You also should remember that green teas could be different. Teas, which are made of the buds such as Zhuyeqing, should be brewed with water of 80 degrees. For green teas with large leaves such as Taiping Houkui, you should use water of 90 degrees.

Never use boiling water!

Oolong (dark and light) is brewed with water from 90 to 100 degrees. In China, you can often see how these teas are brewed with boiling water.

Puer tea is also brewed with boiling water.

Red tea is brewed in the same way as green tea. Expensive and delicate “Jin Jun Mei (Golden Eyebrow)”, which is made of buds only, is brewed with water of 80 degrees. Lapsang Souchong and Dianhong are brewed with water of 90 degrees.

Remember that the results stated are observations, based on the conversations with many Chinese tea masters over years of travelling.

Of course, you may prefer to brew your tea in your special way. But, in general, these results are generalized and can be stated as objective.

Here are tea temperatures to brew different teas: White – 80.

Green – 80­90.

Yellow – 80.

Oolong – 90 ­100.

Red – 80 – 90.

Black – 100.

Puer – 100.

p 9 Tea & Health

Tieguanyin or Iron Buddha tea – the legend of the name by Vitalii Lishchyna

D

ear readers and tea lovers!

You have probably heard about and tried Tieguanyin tea; but have you ever thought where has this kind of tea got the name “Tieguanyin” from and what does it mean? After a short search in Internet, you can see that a lot of sources translate the name of Tieguanyin as “Iron Buddha”. However, in fact, it is not that correct. Let’s look at the name in more detail. Guanyin is a deity but not Buddha, she is a Bodhisattva, and this title is a bit lower than Buddha. Guanyin is a very famous and important deity in Daoism and Buddhism. She is the Bodhisattva of Compassion.

Therefore, the correct translation should be “Iron Bodhisattva of Compassion”.

Some time ago, I read a question on Facebook, where one woman asked, “Why is this deity iron? If she is iron, then how come she has got compassion, and which type of compassion can she have?” Indeed, why is this kind of tea called “Iron Bodhisattva of Compassion”? In ancient times in Anxi, a city in Fujian County, there lived a farmer who was a Buddhist. His name was Wei Qin and he lived near a temple, where there was an iron statue of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion.

Temple was in a bad condition and Wei Qin worried about it and wanted to do something to help, but because he was very poor, he couldn’t do anything significant.

He maintained cleanliness in the temple and burned incenses.

Every morning and evening he prayed and did offerings, he put three cups of green tea in front of the statue of Guanyin.

One night, Guanyin appeared to him in his dream and told that there is a cave behind the temple where he can find a treasure. He woke up and immediately went to search for the treasure. When he found a cave, he saw an amazing tea tree, which had an unusual aroma.

He took a stalk of the tea tree and planted it in a large iron pan at home. After a few years, the tea tree had grown and Wei Qin gathered the leaves, brewed them and treated his friends.

All were delighted with the extraordinary aroma and taste of this tea. Having tasted the tea, an abbot of the monastery asked Wei Qin, “What kind is this amazing tea is of? ” As the name to this kind of tea had not yet been given, the farmer respectfully asked the abbot to give it the name. The abbot said, ” You have found out about this tea tree from Guanyin in your dream, you grew it in an iron pan, so it could be named “Iron Guanyin”.

Wei Qin and his friends started producing this kind of tea and selling it.

With time, they started to prosper and were able to repair the temple and make it one of the most beautiful ones in their district

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Tea Recipe Dragonwell Noodles Prep Time: 25 minutes Serving Size: 2 Ingredients 1 Cup Chicken Broth 2 Cups water 2 Tablespoons Dragonwell tea leaf 1/4 Cup rice vinegar 1/2 Cup rice noodles 3.5 Ounces sliced Shitake Mushrooms 2 Tablespoons cooking oil 2 Tablespoons Miso paste 2 Teaspoons chopped garlic 1 Teaspoon chopped ginger 1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes

How to : Saute Shitake mushrooms, over medium heat, in cooking oil until slightly golden. Boil water in medium saucepan. Once boiling, add Dragonwell tea leaf in tea strainers. Add rice noodles and chicken broth. Let boil for 3 minutes. Add red pepper flakes, rice vinegar, and Miso paste and stir. Let simmer for two minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes and stir slowly for three minutes. Remove tea strainers from soup and serve hot.

Monkey king tea or where the name of Taiping Houkui comes from?

According to one of the legends, in ancient times, there lived a monkey king. Having lost ones son, the monkey king fell sick and shortly died suffering from his loss.

A farmer, who came across this sad incident, felt sorry for the monkey and buried his body where he found it. The year after, tea trees started to grow at the place where the monkey king was buried. It is believed that those tea trees were transformed from the monkey king as a token of appreciation for the farmers kind deed. The farmer took a great care about the trees, harvested the leaves and started to produce a tea in memory of the event.

It is believed that the tea started to be produced in times of the Qing Dynasty (1644 — 1912) at Anhui Province. Taiping County (太平 ) was one of the most productive areas in Anhui, and that’s where the name Taiping is derived from. At the Taiping County, there was a tea center where people sent their tea products for commercial trade.

p 13 Tea & Health

Interestingly, the name of Taiping Houkui has roots going to both – the legend as well as the history of its production.

A farmer named Wang Kui Cheng (王魁成) started to produce this tea in approximately 1900. He used fresh leaves, which contained one bud with 1­2 leaves rather than selecting a dry leaf after the process.

It was very successful, and the tea produced was highly praised and sought after. As his tea had the best quality among the other green tea produced, Chinese called it Kui Shou (魁⾸), which literally means “chief”, “first”, “best”. As the farmer’s name was Kui Cheng (魁成), and the tea was called Kui Shou (魁⾸), produced at Hou Keng (猴坑) area of the Taiping County (太平 ), it was logically given the name of Taiping Houkui. At the same time, the name Houkui (猴魁) can indeed be translated as the “Monkey King.”

Unique flavour and taste of this tea is contributed by the specific conditions in which it is grown.

Thus, the production area of the real Monkey king tea is limited to three villages only, namely: Hou Keng (猴坑) , Hou Cun (猴村) and Yan Jia ( 家). These villages are located in the Anhui Province (安徽省).

The tea gardens are scattered around the mountainous area. The present forest is rich in decomposed soil and consistently supplies minerals to ensure exuberant growth of tea plants naturally. If grown in other areas, it would probably become very different from the Taipin Houkui favoured by many fans.

Tea of month Lapsang Souchong tea Chinese name: 正⼭⼩種 Other names: zhengshan xiaozhong Origin Place: Wuyi Mountain, Fujian, China Harvest time: May A delicate, sweet and fragrant tea Low caffeine (less than 10% of a cup of coffee) Lapsang Souchong is one of the most outstanding representatives of Chinese red teas. The aroma of this tea is made by the notes of prunes, dried fruits, nuts, pepper, and cinnamon. This rich and fragrant tea is great to drink in the evening. Quietly, slowly and thoughtfully; when you want to stretch the time and savor every minute

How to brew Milk Oolong: Boil water and cool it to 90°C. Put 3­5 grams of tea into a cup, and add hot water. Infuse tea leaves for 1­2 minutes depending on taste preference. You can vary the quantity of tea depending on your tastes. Each portion of tea can be infused 3­5 additional times

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