Near the end of March I had the honor of attending the Urasenke-Foundation hosted Founder’s Day Tea Ceremony at Shoseian (“Arbor of the Murmuring Pines”), inside of the Seattle Japanese Garden. The following month I attended the lecture/demonstration of Chanoyu at Seattle Art Museum, again sponsored by the Urasenke Foundation.

Details on these two experiences can be found in the article I wrote for the May issue of Tea Muse.

The photograph above shows offerings of tea and sweets at the celebration honoring Sen no Rikyu, founder of the Urasenke School.

But there are also tea mascots that I think are excessively silly and gimmicky, like the little exhibitionist big-headed young boys made out of red clay that pee when water or tea is poured over or into them. Even if their complete lack of elegance and the concept of anything or anyone peeing onto the tea table weren’t bad enough, in my opinion they’re just not in any way appealing or cute.

Last week, emerging from the Seattle Art Museum after attending a very well-done demonstration of Chado, the Japanese powdered tea ceremony – on entirely the other end of the spectrum of dignity as far as tea culture is concerned – I crossed the street and encountered not just one, but an entire windowsill-full of these peeing tea boys. The store was closed at the time, and the effect of the long row of them was very amusing, especially the way they appear to stare through the window, all poised and ready, pointed toward the outside world, but without the ability to pee on anything.

I can only imagine what the two in this next photo did that got them into so much trouble the workers in the shop had to drown them in a glass of water after-hours.

Vital Leaf Teas, the location of this army of clay boys, also has some curiously enormous blocks of pu’er, like these two installed into the back of a bench or table.

Normally, I would not brew pu’er tea in a glass teapot, but I wanted to see what this particular tea would look like as it broke apart and brewed. I couldn’t see any coffee-bean like thing in the pre-brewed cake on either side. But I also didn’t know whether or not a coffee bean would completely dissolve while surrounded by aging pu’er tea.

As the tea brewed it didn’t exhibit any unusual characteristics. The coffee bean did not jump out, or rise to the top, or become visible in any other way, so I figured it had absorbed into the tea. It also didn’t jump out at me as a flavor in the taste of the brewed tea, which tasted kind of a like a camel’s breath pu’er or another “forest floor” type pu’er. Those teas sometimes look like coffee, and they can have a flavor sort of like cheap diner coffee, which has a certain charm under the right circumstances. But there wasn’t anything that really struck me as coffee-like in this brew. And after thinking about how many coffee beans it takes to produce one strong cup of coffee, I realized that one lonely coffee bean wouldn’t stand much of a chance against the overpowering volume and flavor of the pu’er tea engulfing it.

I would hazard a guess that if you brewed some of this tea and then brought it to three non-specialized primarily coffee drinkers and three non-specialized primarily tea drinkers and had each of them taste it without telling them what it was, you’d probably get six different answers, scattered between tea and coffee.

The tea is interesting, but more so as a novelty than a tea one would want to drink a lot of. If you’re looking for a more traditional pu’er, try these 2003 Fang Cha Mini Cakes, also available from Teahouse Kuan Yin. They’re quite wonderful in taste and form. The coffee bean fang cha cakes themselves are available in the store, but not on the website. They are worth a try because they’re interesting and they are quite a novel product. I recommend drinking the tea in front of evangelical tea drinkers while they’re in the midst of a coffee abolitionist tirade, and telling them that what you like best about the tea is that it’s almost just like coffee (which it isn’t). Then run, or just hope they don’t have a heavy edition of the Cha Jing to chuck at your head.

While looking for more information about this coffee bean pu’er tea, I found another post about the very same tea on the Coffee Hero blog.

The coffee bean fang cha is made, or at least distributed, by this company, but I can’t read enough Chinese to figure out where the actual product page is for it.

Cafe Sua is made with a special stainless steel brewing container with tiny holes in the bottom that is placed over the top of a glass and then packed with very finely ground coffee, which is sometimes supplemented with chicory. Boiling water is then poured into the container to drip very slowly through the grounds into a 1/2 inch-or-so layer of sweetened condensed milk in the bottom of the glass. The coffee is generally stirred completely after it is finished brewing, and in hotter weather it is typically served iced and called Cafe Sua Da (Cà phê sữa đá).

As most of you know, or could at least infer by the country’s location, tea is also important in Vietnam. Typical teas range from the distinctive pungency of lotus-scented green tea to Tra Atiso, an infusion of artichoke leaves and petals. Most of the teas and non-tea infusions from Vietnam have a certain overall flavor profile, sort of green and sometimes bitter.

Interestingly, the traditional way that Cafe Sua is served in a Vietnamese-style cafe is alongside a cup or glass of tea. The tea is provided as a complimentary accompaniment to the coffee, and is continually refilled for as long as the patron is in the place, or until the coffee is done, which sometimes means the same thing. The experience of the two drinks together is quite pleasant. The tea has a sort of calming effect on the coffee, which is very strongly flavored, and strongly caffeinated. The tea also prevents the drying thirst that sometimes results from drinking strong coffee.

From what I’ve been able to determine through reading and through personal experience – not in Vietnam, but in what, from all appearances seems to be a transplanted typical Vietnamese style cafe in White Center, Washington, a tad south of Seattle – the tea served with the coffee is Vietnamese green tea. The last time I experienced this I paid particular attention to the tea. This was during the summer, so both the coffee and the tea were served iced. There were a couple of tea pitchers that were used to continually top up the customer’s glasses. The pitchers were kept full by adding concentrated tea from a metal pot and then adding water from a large cistern. Ice was added every so often also. The tea was lotus-scented green tea, and was made somewhat weakly.

The establishment I went to is one that I do not think non-Vietnamese speakers venture into very often. All of the other patrons were quite at home, smoking, playing video games and watching sports or the Vietnamese music television show on the widescreen LCD near the back as they sipped on their sweet, syrupy coffee and lightly refreshing tea. The place is quite dark, and quite unassuming from the outside. Stepping into it, I sensed that it was one of those rarely encountered reproductions of a slice of distant home culture. Research on Vietnamese cafe culture later confirmed this. Naturally, while out of my element in a place where little English is spoken, I was careful to be respectful and not act like a tourist. As a result, my photographic documentation was covert, although I would have loved to get a couple shots of the great neon above the bar and the way the slick stone bar glistened below it.

Read more about Cafe Sua Da and more about Vietnamese Cafe culture.

Despite the name, The Teacup‘s Snow Leopard Blend is not camellia sinensis flavored with snow leopards. It is not even picked or drunk by snow leopards. Part of it does come from growing regions that overlap with the big cat’s range, however. The blend is made up of Yunnan black tea, Assam black tea, and Nepalese first flush high mountain tea. It has quite an interesting pre-brewed scent, kind of sour, kind of sweet. The tea liquor is very unlike the types of teas that I usually drink, but I have been enjoying drinking it.

The tea’s relationship to the beautiful endangered big cats of the Himalayas is that 10% of each sale goes to The Snow Leopard Trust, an organization that promotes conservation of snow leopards and their habitats. This great idea germinated through the friendship of The Teacup’s owner with some of the members of the organization, which is locally connected to Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. The snow leopards are indisputably in need of the clearly envisioned and implemented assistance provided by the trust. From the Snow Leopard Trust’s site:

The Snow Leopard Trust strives to follow these principles in all its community-based conservation efforts and throughout this website you will read about the different projects that we are implementing with our community partners. While the projects differ in response to the local needs and conditions, the underlying principles of each of the programs remain the same. We constantly endeavor to improve our conservation projects to better meet the needs of cats and humans, and we are seeing wonderful results at our project sites where the livelihoods of families and communities have improved greatly and snow leopards are being protected.

Snow Leopard Blend is not on The Teacup’s website, but if you are local you can go to their store in Queen Anne to buy it. Or perhaps they might be willing to sell and send you some if you give them a call or email them. You’ll enjoy the tea, and you’ll be helping to save a group of very magnificent cats.

Photo credit: Helen Freeman, courtesy of Snow Leopard Trust. Photo location: Woodland Park Zoo; Seattle, WA USA

The two gaiwans pictured are uncoated yixing (zisha clay). They are ideal for pu-er and darker oolong varieties. Greener (lightly oxidized) oolongs or Chinese green teas are much better suited to porcelain-lined, solid porcelain or glass gaiwans. Brewing in zisha vessels will imbue green oolongs and green teas with a very unpleasant undertone.

The nice thing about this method is that it is very portable. It can be used without a great deal of extra equipment or fuss just about anywhere.

Nobody could drink all of that tea fast enough to make this method work. And why would anyone want to? The quantity of tea is perfect for two people, distributed between them gradually over the course of the meal. But as the meal progresses the tea just keeps tasting worse and worse. How could anyone expect delicate tea leaves to hold up under 10 and then 15 and then even more long, grueling minutes of steeping? When it comes to long steeping times Jasmine is more forgiving than a lot of other varieties of tea. I shudder to think what unpleasantness the two black teas offered on the menu transform into while sitting at the customer’s table, slowly worsening. Or a very oversteeped sencha? It would be unpalatable. I drank every last drop of the tea, but only for the perverse determination of exactly how bad it would get.

The restaurant has put such care into every other detail of the food service, drink service, decor and service. I find it quite startling that they can justify serving tea to such a tragic end. I also find it hard to believe that they would not get frequent complaints about the tea or that they would not remedy the situation if made aware of it. Yes, table surface space is at a premium, but it would not be that difficult to serve the tea with an infuser in the pot and a place to put it after it has been removed.

Tucked away in Post Alley next to Kells Restaurant, the Perennial Tea Room is one of the better tea shops in Seattle. In addition to their fairly extensive offerings of teas from all of the major growing regions in the world, they also host themed tea tastings. I attended last week’s tasting, which was an introduction to oolongs. The ironically named Michael J. Coffey, who operates under the name Tea Geek, is host and instructor at Perennial’s tastings.

For this tasting four very different oolongs were chosen from a wide range along the oxidation spectrum. Oolongs, as semi-oxidized teas range dramatically, from the barely ozidized greens to highly oxidized and roasted preparations. The four in the tasting were, in order:

• A fall Baozhong from Taiwan (Note: this was not the Winter Competition Baozhong that is currently available in the store.)
• Bai Hao, a tea known by a million names, including “Oriental Beauty” and “Boasting Tea,” also from Taiwan
• A semi-oxidized Ti Kuanyin, from the Fujian Province of China
• Golden Lily, a roasted oolong from Taiwan

The tasting was a good introduction to the exquisite diversity of the world of oolong teas. Since I tend to be drawn toward the really rich green semi-oxidized oolongs like the Ti Kuanyin, the tasting was a good opportunity for me to round out recent experience with a roasted oolong, which I would have been unlikely to try under other circumstances.

Like the Indian Tea tasting I attended there last month, this event was quite informative and a worthwhile way to spend a summer evening down by Pike Place Market. The tastings are limited to a small number of attendees so the atmosphere is comfortable and interactive, with plenty of allowance for questions and discussion. Perennial Tea Room offers a 10% discount on all purchases made in the store the night of the tastings, which is a nice added incentive. If you are interested in receiving notices of upcoming tasting events, sign up for the email newsletter for either Perennial Tea Room or Tea Geek – or both.

• Do not combine Chinese and Japanese elements.
• Do not mix caffeinated beverages with alcoholic beverages.
• Do not drink tea cold.

Despite all of the above, I tried – and enjoyed! – shochu oolong (Oolong Hai) this past weekend. One of the staples on nearly every Izakaya (居酒屋) (Japanese pub) menu, it is a combination of oolong tea with shochu, served over ice in a highball glass. Shochu (焼酎) is a traditional Japanese distilled alcohol made from grains, usually barley or wheat, and/or sweet potatoes. Its character is completely unlike sake and its alcohol content is considerably higher.

Kaname Izakaya and Shochu Bar in the International District in Seattle where I tried this drink, feels like a bar designed more for Issei (一世) and Nisei (二世), than for locals who approach the International District like tourists. You will not be able to get one of those absurd and trendy “saketinis” there, but you will be presented with interesting and more traditionally Japanese adventures in food and drink. I admit to being tempted by the shochu maccha, although my motivation would have been pure curiosity, not anticipation that it would actually be a pleasing experience to drink. The waiter admitted that he had never tried it himself, and my impression was that he had no desire to. Unlike the shochu oolong, the shochu maccha is served hot, I assume in a traditional ceramic shochu cup.

The particular drink that I tried was made with Takara Jun, a distillation of Corn, Barly and Sugarcane and the resulting beverage was quite smooth and refreshing. The oolong tea provided a mild, dark flavor counterpoint to the shochu, also serving to tone down the high alcohol content. I do not know the specifics of the oolong tea used, but it tasted like most medium-grade oolongs, without a tremendous amount of distinctive flavor or scent. And really, when a tea is going head-to-head with grain alcohol, there’s little need for it to be of subtle or refined flavor. Of course the Japanese do not limit themselves to drinking only Japanese grown and processed teas, but oolongs are very distinctly Chinese and therefore the shochu oolong, while a distinctly Japanese drink, is a curious combination of Japanese and Chinese elements. In this case it works quite well and is a drink that I would choose again, presented with the opportunity.

I chose a pot of Emperor’s Gold, which exceeded my expectations, resulting in a lot of gushing after each sip. Jin Cha or gold tea is one of the fabulous and deservedly famous teas from Yunnan province. Containing only the gold-tipped leaves, Tao of Tea’s offering of this varietal is truly exquisite.

Only certain tea plant varietals can produce the golden colored tipped leaves. The golden color emerges during processing and after accurate ‘withering’, moisture drying of the leaves. Few areas in Yunnan contain these type of plants. Other areas known to have golden tipped varietals Hunan and Fujian in China and Assam in India.

- from Tao of Tea’s description

Having enjoyed Adagio’s Yunnan Gold I knew that this would be a good selection at the teahouse and as I smelled the rich aroma emerging from the large rounded yixing pot I knew I had chosen wisely. The caramel-like sweetness and smooth character of this tea elevate it above so many other less elegant black teas, and it is quickly becoming one of my all-time favorites. A four-ounce tin of this tea, purchased at Tao of Tea’s retail store two doors down from the teahouse, accompanied us back to Seattle.