2000 Haiwan Gu Hwa Cha and Thoughts.

Welcome back. I think that it's worth mentioning the change in format of my 'reviews' henceforth. My previous thoughts on tea were organized much like how I keep my lab notebook - EVERYTHING gets written down. If I'm in the lab, I'm recording volumes, masses, spectral data, and every single step of every single experiment I am carrying out. Hell, I'm even required to record the manufacturer and lot number of every chemical, and even which balance I used that particular day. It's quite unfortunate that I can see this overzealous analytical attitude carrying over into my enjoyment of tea. Considering pu-erh in particular, I was under the impression that I needed to record exactly how the tea was consumed on a particular day so that I would have a solid amount of information to compare the tea against as it ages - how much tea I used, the volume of the brewing vessel, the temperature of the water, the taste and smell of every infusion. My God, that was a pain. Perhaps one of the reasons I neglected to post for so long was the sheer amount of effort it required to post a single entry (not to mention 'archiving' this information for future reference).

Tea is supposed to be a release from my daily activities, not an extension of them.

Hence, I will be reviewing teas a bit differently now, perhaps following in the footsteps of many others who have realized the same thing. Boring archival photos (which I was disgusted to even post) will now be a bit more aesthetically pleasing. Step-by-step descriptions of the infusions will now be a general, encompassing reflection on the tea as a whole. While it may be more challenging to actually describe the tea without simply posting the 'data' of the session, I feel that this approach will lend itself to being immensely more enjoyable in the short term and just as useful down the road.

Unfortunately, I had several entries worth of photos destroyed when I was forced to reformat my hard drive recently, so bear with me until I can get some replacement photos in line. Nonetheless, here are some thoughts on the 2000 Haiwan Gu Hwa Cha, sans-photos.

The first thing worth mentioning was just how one-dimensional the tea was. It isn't one of those lacking-any-substantial-flavors kind of teas, but one that had flavors that subsisted from one infusion to the next, none more impressive than the last. One of the primary reasons I find pu-erh so intriguing is the largely variable nature of the tea - the tastes vary from infusion to infusion, and even year to year. I'm praying that this one will change in a year's time - its much too dull to enjoy now. This isn't saying that it was a bad tea, just a boring tea; one where I find my attention drifting elsewhere rather than staying focused on the cups in front of me.

The tea itself is from a fall harvest and has what seems to be mid-grade leaves that appear aged while dry, but still show remnants of youth when wet. Likewise, the smell still reflects more youth than age, as expected. Grainy or bread-like tastes dominated with some hints of spiciness lingering from its youth noticeable as well leaving the mouth very dry. I'm guessing (fingers-crossed) that it is just in an awkward stage where the youthful tanginess is gone but the sweeter, more subtle aged flavors have yet to develop - what's left is the awkwardly grainy flavor that remained essentially the same throughout the session. It reminds me of a cold, rainy-day for whatever that's worth; dull, gloomy, and overall relatively disheartening. I really wish there was more to say about this guy, but anything more would be a stretch. Perhaps one day...

tb.

(Not) Lost and Gone forever...

I've had several kind emails curious about the status of my blog - and my own personal well-being :) - and I apologize for the utter void of posts for the last six months. Schooling and other interests are responsible for the lack of news. However! Things will become chipper around here once again, so if ANYONE still happens to check this page, expect to see regular content once again.

tb.

2001 Mengsa and 1999 Yiwu 'Dragon and Horse' of Chen Guang-he Tang:

...It's been a while - my apologies. I'm in the process of moving in to a new apartment closer to school and things have been a bit hectic. It's nearly finished now, so hopefully things will become more consistent. On a better note, I have plenty of reviews lined up that will get posted as quick as I can crank them out on the keyboard.

First up is the Chen Guang-he Tang tasting set that Guang offers. He just so conveniently listed this on his website the same day I was ordering an oolong, so of course it got added on. Please check out the Hou De blog for some background info.

2001 Mengsa of Chen Guang-he Tang:
Guang likens this to the '99 XZH Mengsa and seems to rejoice in their similarity. I've never tasted the '99 XZH Mengsa (or any XZH to be honest - too pricey for my tastes) so I can't comment in that regard, but I did find this to be generally enjoyable. Nothing to jump for joy about, but it was decent enough - when factoring in the (probably) exorbitant price, it quickly loses its allure in my opinion. I was surprised by the lack of color in the liquor (see photos below) from a 2001 vintage tea - most others I have tried from that year have been much darker and have a more pronounced red tone to them. Guang notes that this has been aging in a climate-controlled warehouse, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. Here are the 2nd, 5th, and 9th infusions:




Compare that to the nice red-orange on Guang's blog... Something went weird. Either I was just brewing it wrong (a good possibility) or Guang used A LOT more leaf than I did. Either way, this tea was merely decent in my opinion. It was consistent, non-intrusive, and well-rounded, but there was no WOW factor that jumped out at me. Don't get me wrong, consistent, well-rounded teas are good, but I suppose I was just expecting something more from such a renowned name. Here are the notes I jotted down while tasting - these are particularly brief:

(Parameters: 5g dry leaf in 100mL gaiwan; filtered tap water; 15s rinse, 20s, 10s, 15s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 45s, 60s)

(1): Smooth with a dry fruitiness. Mild but full.
(2): Smoother, full in the mouth. Mildly fruity but with notes of grain or barley. Coats the mouth.
(3): Very unoffensive, mild, and smooth. Tangier. No one characteristic outstanding.
(4): Thicker in the mouth. Very 'wet.' Still smooth and non-intrusive. Some youth still noticeable. Tangy.
(5): Hints of camphor developing. Crisp but smooth.
(6): Tangier. Hints of mushroom underneath.
(7): More youth coming out. Mushroom-y. Tangy.
(8): Sweetness now apparent. Still crisp. Very fruity.
(9): Sugar-like sweetness. Mushroom-y. Fruity.

As I said - good, but nothing outstanding. May need more leaf with longer infusion times, but I'm still rather unimpressed coming from such a large name. 6/10.


1999 Yiwu 'Dragon & Horse' of Chen Guang-he Tang:
For its age, this one seems (in my opinion) to have faired a bit better - the woody, mushroom-like aroma was the immediate clue. Guang seems to almost down-play this one on his blog, saying its made from a combination of leftover '98 and then current '99 maocha and stored in a run-of-the-mill warehouse in Taipei. Sounds good to me...

This one felt like it had more character than the Mengsa. I'm sure the 2 extra years helps, but this one was just more enjoyable in all aspects. There was a pronounced apricot-fruitiness to it that was present in nearly all of the infusions. This combined with the sweetness that developed in the middle infusions provided a very nice indeed.
It was still mouth drying (particularly lip drying - i need chap stick afterwards) which, in my mind, hints that it still has quite a bit of harshness to lose, even if it isn't readily apparent. The liquor shows the good amount of aging it has undergone (2, 5, and 9):
The color was consistent, but the flavor was thin and died surprisingly quickly. I had to make a jump from a 15s 5th infusion to a 30s 6th infusion just to try and salvage the flavor. Here are the brief tasting notes:

(Parameters: 5g dry leaf in 100mL gaiwan; filtered tap water; 10s rinse, 10s, 5s, 5s, 10s, 15s, 30s, 45s, 60s, 75s)

(1): Light and sweet. Smooth down the throat. Sugary.
(2): Grainy but sweet. Thin but smooth. Mushroom notes.
(3): Fruity - Apricot? Very smooth with light sweetness.
(4): More apricot sweetness. Thin but pleasant. Still some drying grain-like hints.
(5): Thin. Light sweetness. Slight camphor effect.
(6): Apricot still hinting in back. Very similar to (3). More refreshing sweetness.
(7): Slightly cloudy liquor. Camphor and sugary-sweetness strongly present. Grain still hanging around.
(8): Liquor clear again. Camphor dominant. Woody and mouth-drying. Grainy. Very slight fruit hints.
(9): Camphor and light sweetness dominant. Apricot notes reappearing. Woody.

This was my preferred tea of the two in the set. It had more character and was generally more interesting despite its watery nature. The weakness of the middle infusions is the only reservation (apart from price) I would have about buying this one. 7.5/10

tb.

**I haven't had time to correct theses photos yet, so please pardon the poor light and color. I'll fix them in due time.

2005 6FTM Banzhang Zhengshan:

Chemistry is great, but I can only write so much about it (I'm sure it's likewise for those reading). I created this blog a means of documenting my tea adventures (with chemistry thrown in every now and then) rather than to explore the intricacies of the correspondent chemical mechanisms - tea tends to be an escape from the such with some specific exceptions. With that said, I'm sure we've all had our fill of science for a while so here's another (surely welcome) simple tea review. Please pardon the ugly archival photos - they're not pretty, but will certainly help me see the aging progression over time.

My experience with 6FTM has been either hit or miss. I grabbed this guy because he was cheap (for Banzhang) and I was interested to try something that was supposedly strictly Banzhang. Cheap and "pure" don't always coincide, but it's worth a shot.

The first thing that struck me was the obscenely thin and delicate wrapping paper - you can see how transparent it is in the photograph. What began as a small tear from shipping has gradually become a nice chunk out of the paper from my handling and re-wrapping. So be it. Under it's flimsy packaging, it is a very pretty beeng however. Large, full leaves that are compressed just tight enough to hold them together - separating leaves for tasting was a very simple task. Surprisingly, it really is one of the prettiest beengs that I've seen in person.

The dry leaves have a very light young-but-sweet smell to them. Not exactly something that I expected from Banzhang. I've had some blended Banzhang maocha before and I remember the leaves to be much more pungent - they just smelled strong. Not so much with this one.

The liquor was quite simply puzzling. Instead of tasting an in-your-face, astringent, young sheng, the liquor was very tame. Tame as in... Yiwu from the same year. It was smooth but noticeable. Bitter but not astringent. Mouth-coating but not oily. No sour off-tastes to speak of whatsoever. There was a haunting, watery sweetness present throughout all of the infusions that never really made a more prominent appearance. The liquor began smooth and bitter (but still mild) and gradually mellowed out even more in later infusions. It became slightly watery around 4 (really early, especially with my infusions times), but it still somehow coated the whole mouth without feeling a bit oily. I gave up on 8 after it refused to reveal any significant changes after 6. Here are photos of 2,5, and 8 - the color was very consistent:

So far it sounds like this guy is a dud... a little bitter, a little sweet, smooth, and a little watery. Nothing fruity, tangy, grainy, or anything else I typically associate with young sheng. Here's the weird part - right in the middle, just when it was getting a little watery, it hit me. I've never felt "drunk" from a tea. I've never sweat because of a tea. Maybe I'm just inexperienced in that regard, but around infusion 4 I felt warm, dizzy, and began to sweat ever so slightly. I don't want to make it out to be that my head was spinning or anything, but I was a little dizzy indeed. I don't think it was anything psychological either (by expecting the "power" associated with Banzhang) because up to that point I was less than impressed by what I was experiencing. Again, maybe it's just my inexperience showing, but I've never associated such effects with such a, I don't want to say weak, because it has character, but tame tea.

Here are my rather unremarkable tasting notes from the session:

(Parameters: 5g dry leaf in 100mL gaiwan; filtered tap water; 15s rinse, 20s, 15s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 60s, 90s)

(1): Smooth, yet bitter. Slightly watery. Coats the whole mouth yet not oily. Surprisingly mellow.
(2): Elusive bitterness still present. No tanginess/sourness at all. Only a hint of youthful spiciness. Some sort of smooth not-quite-but-almost sweetness present.
(3): More bitterness, yet mild and even smoother. Sweetness is elusive in background.
(4): Sweetness becoming more apparent. Bitterness disappearing. Slightly watery, but full and "creamy" in the mouth. Making me dizzy. Mild sweetness left in the mouth.
(5): Hints of youth making an appearance. Smooth, watery sweetness still present. Still something I still can't pinpoint. Still coats the mouth without feeling oily.
(6): Liquor tastes the same as (5), but coats the mouth much more. Odd, almost licorice-like sweetness present in aftertaste.
(7): More of the same.
(8): More of the same.
(9+ wouldn't be any different. Probably has several more infusions but quickly becoming watery.)

Here are a couple of shots of the wet leaves for analysis - nothing too spectacular, look like plantation leaves (click for BIG images):













Like I said earlier, this tea threw me for a loop. It was mild and smooth, but gave me a head jolt in the middle. It wasn't a bad tea, it was actually very enjoyable to drink - it just so happens that this also tends to mean that it (supposedly) won't age very well. I suppose it could be in an awkward phase, but being only 2 years old it's probably wishful thinking. Perhaps I'll try it again with more leaf (7g?) to see if it shows me anything else. Easy to drink now, but I'm wary of how such a light tea will age. 4.5/10.

tb.

The cream of the crop - interactions of black tea and dairy:

This entry comes as a result of a lengthy discussion that took place here - scroll down to the comments, if you are so inclined. My apologies to Alex - I promised this article several weeks ago and am finally getting around to it. I also felt that the antioxidant series was first necessary to help with the clarification of some of this material. Nonetheless, here it is!

Alex had asked if the addition of milk (or cream) to black/red tea would negate any antioxidant properties that it possesses. The short answer: No, but it does significantly decrease the amount of available antioxidants - somewhere in the neighborhood of 80% of the original black tea without dairy. If this is all the information you need, stop here, otherwise I'll go into some details that some may find interesting. I'll keep it fairly simple as always, providing information that I feel is important but not too specific... On to the science!

Every wonder why black (or more appropriately, red) tea is, well, red? The answers lies in the oxidation of catechins (remember here?). During the black tea manufacturing process catechins, ever present in green tea, become oxidized via PPO, an enzyme naturally present in the plant's cells. This is why all the rolling, withering, etc is necessary to produce black tea - when the cell walls are broken down enzymes are free to interact with polyphenols without obstruction, oxidizing them into new compounds. Two of these newly formed compounds are particularly important to black tea - theaflavin and thearubigin. It's important to note that these new compounds still retain antioxidant properties - black tea is still good for you! Theaflavins are bright golden yellow to yellow-brown in color while thearubigins are brown to red-brown. Together these two compounds account for the majority of the color in black tea to varying degrees (the difference between say, an Assam and a Darjeeling depend on the relative concentrations of each). If you look at the structure of theaflavin, you can see how similar it is to the catechins that it may have been oxidized from - it looks like one was inverted and stuck on top of another (generally speaking). All you really need to know is that these are the two key players in black tea.

Perhaps the most apparent change that happens when milk/cream (I'll just say milk from here on out for simplicity, but any dairy product would do) is added to black tea is the color change. I brewed up a nice hearty Assam in my mug and took pictures of the liquor (poured into tasting cups to emphasize the color) before and after the addition of milk. Notice the orange-red color of the liquor before milk - this is the result of both theaflavin and thearubigin floating around. However, after milk is added, the color turns brown with only a hint of yellow. I corrected the photo as best as I could, but the incandescent light still made the tea with milk look more yellow than it really was. This color change isn't only because we added white milk to the tea (although the less brilliant red color is) - it's also the result of a chemical reaction. Theaflavin has somehow lost the ability to impart its golden-yellow color onto the liquor. The result is the dull, brownish color seen on the right.

Although it may not seem like the answer to Alex's question at first glance, this is exactly what we are after. It turns out that the theaflavins in solution have become "entangled" with the milk proteins, particularily one known as casein. I put "entangled" in quotes because in all honesty, I don't know exactly how theaflavin reacts with casein. Proteins are huge, tangled, conformational messes of molecules and I don't know if anyone has researched into the intricacies involved in this interaction. My guess would be that the protein has a receptor site for a molecule that is similar enough to theaflavin that it can bind in as if it were the intended molecule. But again, that's just a guess. The real point is that research has shown that theaflavin binds with casein, effectively removing it for solution. This casein-theaflavin complex (I'll just call it the CT complex from now on) is stable - more stable than if the two molecules were floating around on their own, or else the reaction would have never have happened in the first place! Since theaflavin now exists as a CT complex, it loses the antioxidant properties it once posesses. It's essentially "part" of the protein now - if there was some way for it to "unhook" itself from the protein, chances are that its conformation (3D-orientation) and/or it's chemical structure will have changed, and both are important to how it acts as an antioxidant. Basically, once the CT complex is formed, theaflavin is no longer going to act as an antioxidant.

But what about thearubigin? We discussed how the liquor takes on the color of (primarily) thearubigin and we now know that this is because theaflavin forms a complex with casein. So why doesn't thearubigin? Rather than forming a protein complex, thearubigin molecules instead polymerize with each other. Polymerization implies the formation of a polymer, which is a long chain of repeating segments - plastics are the best example. In our case, each segment is a molecule of thearubigin - they bind to each other and form long chains which are then unable to react with the proteins of milk. These long chains alter the properties of thearubigin so that they are not as effective of antioxidants as they would be on their own. In reality, it's essentially impossible to have single thearubigin molecules floating around (and even more actual, almost no molecules float around as themselves - nearly everything forms a complex, but we won't go there) because the second they enter water, they begin to polymerize.

When it's all said and done, the antioxidant potential of the tea after milk has been added is roughly 80% of it's original. I pulled this statistic from here (I think). The studies I looked at varied from noticing no change at all to masking the AOX potential by ~50%. Here is a list of some of the better studies that I consulted:

Interactions between Flavanoids and Proteins: Effect on the total antioxidant activity (same link as above).
Content of potentially anticarcinogenic Flavanoids of Tea Infusions, Wines, and Fruit Juices (PDF).
A single dose of tea with or without milk increases plasma antioxidant activity in humans (This article actually argues that milk does not effect antioxidant activity. I included this link because it's important to realize that there will always be two sides of the story, especially in matters like these. Nonetheless, I presented material that seems to be the general consensus of a number of studies.).
Comparative study of antioxidant potential of tea with and without additives (You may need to have a subscription to view this, but it's worth a shot.

Here again (in the comments) is the discussion Alex and I had - there are some more specific questions that some may find helpful (and also some speculative information from before I looked into this - consider this article to be more correct than the comments).

I hope I hit on everything without making it too overwhelming. Also, if I left anything out, please call me out on it. I don't like to be too verbose but I don't want to be neglecting necessary information at the same time.

EDIT: a rather 'ahem' large misreading took place on my part - total AOX activity is decreased by 20%, not decreased to 20%. My apologies for the bad info.

tb.