Chemistea.

2000 Haiwan Gu Hwa Cha and Thoughts.

2008-03-31T00:42:00.000-04:00

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...

2008-02-17T15:34:00.002-05:00

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:

2007-07-24T12:37:00.003-04:00

...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:

2007-06-23T12:07:00.000-04:00

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:

2007-06-20T19:29:00.000-04:00

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.

Tea, polyphenols, and you - PART II: POLYPHENOL PARTICULARS:

2007-06-14T17:06:00.000-04:00

In part 1 I explained what antioxidants are and why we need them. Here, I'll elaborate on the particular antioxidants present in our beloved C. Sinensis bush, why roughly 30% of their dry weight are polyphenols, and how polyphenols (and any antioxidant for that matter) keep us alive and kickin'.

First, I know a lot of people get tripped up by the naming involved in all of this. Believe me, chemical nomenclature is nothing to shake a stick at. Nonetheless, here's a little disambiguation than may help. A lot of the chemical terms that get thrown around relating to tea really mean the same thing, but at different levels of specificity - think of the biological naming system (kingdom, phylum, etc.) and you get the right idea. Following the same model, here's a list of terms from broadest to most specific that may help clear things up:

Antioxidants -> Polyphenols -> flavanoids -> chatechins -> (most of the specific "good" molecules).

A flavanoid doesn't necessarily have to be a polyphenol, but if it is, it's most certainly an antioxidant. Here is a big scary image that may (or may not) help my point:
This image shows the relation of the 3 major antioxidants (AOX, hereafter) present in green tea. As you can see, all are based on a flavanoid backbone molecule (actually called flavone) and differ only slightly from one another. These three catechins account for roughly 25-30% of the dry weight of tea leaves (that's a lot!). These are all technically flavan-3-ols (one of 3 types of flavanoids), but no one really cares about that. The only thing interesting enough to note is that anthocyanidins (remember from the purple-leaf post?) are similar enough to be in the same 'group' of flavanoids.

So why do tea bushes need so much protection from oxidation? Well, as a partial answer, they are exposed to light for roughly 12 hours per day, spend much of their time at high altitudes where the atmosphere is thinner, and enjoy the company of many small insects who munch away at their leaves. In part 1 we learned that free radicals are formed by UV radiation. If you are a tea plant sitting atop a mountain basking in light that as been only ever so slightly obscured by the atmosphere, you better bet that there are some free radicals being formed. Thus, the tea plant will produce a significant amount of AOX to help combat this damage. This is exactly why high-altitude teas tend to be more bitter if overbrewed compared to their base-of-the-mountain counterparts (in my experience at least) - there are a higher percentage of polyphenols present, which also happen to be extremely bitter. A tea plant will also produce more AOX in response to environmental stress. - Oriental Beauty oolongs are a prime example. Whether it is only as a precaution or do directly combat whatever damage has been caused to the leaf, I do not know. I also don't know the reason why tea plants have a higher proportion of AOX in their leaves than say, a tree or shrub at the same altitude. Maybe they don't... I don't know. If anyone has any input I'd love to hear it.

So the tea plants produce polyphenols - particularily catechins (EC, EGC, EGCG) - to help prevent oxidative damage to their cells, but how does it work? This image shows how your body uses vitamin E to neutralize the radical of hydrogen peroxide. This is one of the most important reactions in your body and just about any radical can be substituted for H peroxide. Also, any polyphenol will follow the same pattern almost exactly.

The reaction begins when a free radical comes across a molecule of vitamin E. We learned that free radicals will react with just about anything, but it just so happens that they will preferentially react with an AOX (hence how they prevent the continued oxidation). The peroxide radical will yank off a hydrogen from the AOX, effectively 'donating' (this isn't really what happens, but it works for simplicity's sake) its single radical electron to the AOX (vitamin E). The peroxide radical then becomes hydrogen peroxide which is stable enough to behave on its own. The antioxidant is also stable enough to not react further - the radical just kind of hangs around until ANOTHER peroxide radical finds it. Then, the AOX radical will react with the other radical, tacking on a peroxide group to one of its rings. The AOX is then inert and in most cases will simply be expelled from the body or broken down in the liver.

In effect, one molecule of Vitamin E will remove two free radical molecules - some AOX can remove even more. Pretty cool huh? Keep out the radicals and you can... keep out the... cancer? I'll leave that up to those in advertising.

Again, this is certainly more information than you would ever need. I've tried to hit on the basics and keep it fairly tame, but if there's anything that just sounds too out there, please don't hesitate to let me know.

tb.

Tea, polyphenols, and you - PART I: THE ANTIOXIDANT HYPE:

2007-06-09T11:31:00.000-04:00

I don't know about elsewhere, but here in America the health market has a new marketing power word: antioxidants. I go to the grocery and I see jucies, teas, fruits, nuts, and so many other foodstuffs proudly displaying their antioxidant content on their bags and containers. I knew there was a new fixation when my 15 year old brother said he should be eating more antioxidants to keep him healthy...

If you're reading this, then you surely have a slight (probably borderline obsessive) interest in tea. With that said, I'm also fairly confident that you have run across the terms antioxidant, polyphenol, and maybe even free radical. If you're familiar with what these terms mean, great! You're more informed than most employees that sell the products. If not, don't fret, I'll keep things (fairly) simple and hopefully clear up some of the mystery behind why tea (and anything containing a significant amount of antioxidants for that matter) is so good for your body.

So what the heck is an antioxidant anyhow? Well, one could surmise that it is something that prevents oxidation, but that isn't necessarily helpful. Perhaps an explanation of oxidation is first in order: oxidation describes a chemical reaction in which an atom in question loses some number of electrons to another atom (conversely, the atom that gains electrons is said to undergo reduction). So it now seems that an antioxidant is something that would prevent the loss of electrons, either in itself or of other atoms/compounds. More helpful, but what's so bad about losing electrons that we should be seeking out these antioxidants anyway? For that, we move on to some little annoying things known as free radicals.

Free radicals are single, unpaired electrons that are extremely reactive. Electrons like to move in pairs. If there is an unpaired electron orbiting an atom an extreme instability occurs: the atom will essentially react with just about anything to gain another electron to stabilize itself. It would be all fine and dandy if the reaction stopped there - one reactive atom neutralizing itself never hurt anyone. But it doesn't. If the free radical strips an electron from a happy, stable atom with perfectly paired electrons then the stable atom now has an unpaired electron instead - it will go on to react with another, which will react with another, which will react with another. Every time the radical stabilizes itself, another is formed. If this happens on a strand of DNA, mutations can occur, new unwanted genes can be expressed, babies cry, anarchy ensues, the whole nine yards. There are numerous articles outlining the correlation between radical DNA damage and cancer. Now you can see the problem! This process will go on indefinitely until the free radical reacts with another free radical by sheer chance and neutralize themselves, or until the radical pulls an electron from a compound that somehow has a way of stabilizing it's new unpaired electron. Remember how antioxidants prevent the loss of electrons? Here is where they shine - antioxidants will absorb the free radical without much fuss thereby preventing the oxidation of other molecules. Or, as the marketing geniuses prefer to put it, PREVENTING CANCER! I'm skeptical that it's that simple but antioxidants are pretty beneficial when it's all said and done. The reaction to the left shows the typical steps involved in a radical reaction: first the radical is formed (initialized here by light), then the radical reacts with a stable molecule (ethane in this example), and finally the radical is propagated, or recreated via either a bromine radical (not shown) or the ethane radical (shown). The last step would be termination of the radical (not shown) by 2 radicals, of either molecule, reacting with each other to stop the propogation. In a controlled solution, this termination would naturally occur until all the radicals are eliminated. However, when a non-intentional radical reaction occurs in your body, chances are that the radicals formed won't simply cancel each other out. Hence the need for antioxidants (specific proteins and enzymes help to control this also).

Before we all go out and start a witch hunt for free radicals, it should be pointed out that not all are bad. Radicals play important roles in normal cell function - without some we would have never evolved past yeast. It's only when radicals are created when they aren't supposed to that the problems start. 'Bad' radicals are formed from UV exposure (wear your sunblock!), gamma ray exposure (cosmic radiation that you can't exactly help), and the spontaneous decomposition of volatile compounds in the body (hydrogen peroxide is a prime example).

More information than you would ever need? Yes. Interesting? Hopefully (I find it so). Now that we know what antioxidants are and why we need them, I suppose the next logical step would be to explain why tea leaves contain such a high concentration of them, what they do for the plant, and how they work inside of us. Stay tuned for part II.

MarshalN's '1' (aka 2003 Quanji Bulang) reloaded and news:

2007-06-05T02:40:00.000-04:00

I brewed up MarshalN's sample '1' again tonight to see if I could get it to come out a bit better than my previous attempt. In my first session, I shot down the tea as first unremarkable and later metallic and unpleasant (I don't exactly sugar-coat things, do I?). It seemed as if everyone else involved in the tasting found the tea very enjoyable or, at the very least, decent. So, in all fairness, I feel like this tea deserves another chance.

Tonight was a more informal session - I used 5g of leaf in my 100mL gaiwan as always, but didn't keep track of the brewing times as closely as I usually tend to. The times followed my general trend of a 15s rinse, 25s, 20s, 20s, 30s, 45s, etc, give or take a few seconds on each.

The tea began roughly the same as the last session - decent, but nothing noteworthy in my opinion. The youth was very present, but certainly toned down - astringent, but I could tell that it has mellowed a bit. The mid infusions mellowed even more and gave a smooth, wet (if that can be considered a reasonable adjective here) liquor. There were some hints of the metallic taste that I experienced previously, but nothing nearly as overpowering. Late infusions were watery but smooth - not bad. Overall, it was certainly more enjoyable than last time. I honestly have no idea why it turned out better this time - the parameters were essentially the same. After a second tasting I wouldn't say that this is a great tea, but it's good. I could see it being something that I would purchase at the right price. Then again, I'm still just a newbie...

In other news, here's what's in the works (literally - I just need to get my butt in gear):

-A brief explanation of antioxidants (particularly polyphenols), their role in the tea plant, and why they make you live to be a bajillion years old (generally speaking).

-A discussion on the effects of adding milk/cream to black tea. This comes as a result of a recent question/discussion (or rather just another monologue by yours truely) here.

-A review of a 2006 Menghai 7432 beeng - sounds boring but it was surprisingly enjoyable.

Hopefully (keep your fingers crossed!) these will all be posted by the end of the week.

tb.

MarshalN's '1' and 'A' samples

2007-05-26T17:12:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of the generous and ever-informative MarshalN, I took part in the tasting of two mystery raw pu-erh samples - aptly labeled '1' and 'A' to completely avoid being influenced to try one before the other. No photos at the moment, but they may pop up soon.

Parameters for both tastings included 5g of dry leaf in a 100mL gaiwan. Steeping times as follows: 15s rinse, 20s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 45s, 60s, 90s, 120s, 240s.

'1'

I started with sample '1' for no particular reason (maybe I'm just drawn to numbers more naturally?). The leaves of this sample were a variety of sizes/grades with nearly all of them intact. When brewed, they still appear very young and the color of the liquor agrees - it was a uniform light yellow throughout all infusions. The tasting notes:

(1): Light and flowery. Very young, but lacking bitterness.
(2): Even lighter, more floral qualities.
(3): Flowery, light, smooth down the throat. Something buttery?
(4): Slight astringency but still smooth. Flower/honey notes in aftertaste. Odd butter taste still present.
(5): Elusive sweetness behind flowers - more body present.
(6): Menthol in aftertaste, more astringency in body. Honey in aftertaste. Sharp body, smooth aftertaste.
(7): Sharp with strong cooling effect on mouth. Coats the mouth, particularly the front.
(8): Still astringent but with an odd butter-like taste. Mineral-like taste also present. Menthol remains, but not as overwhelming. Smoother. Mouth-drying.
(9): Weird, buttery sweetness present following initial sharp astringency (for only a split second). Sweetness lingers - still very mouth drying. Sour with an almost metallic-like aftertaste.
(10): Sharp metallic, mineral-like taste. Unpleasant.

I found this tea to be pretty unremarkable for the first several infusions. It reminded me of something menghai-area and very young (~2 years?). Somewhere in the 6-7-8 infusions the tea developed a distinct metallic aroma and taste that I found noticeably unpleasant. About this time it also became very mouth-drying, almost to the point of needing a supplemental glass of water to finish the 10 infusions. There were also some odd tastes present, one of which reminded me of something buttery (the taste, not the mouth-feel). Overall I didn't care for this tea much at all - it began as a run-of-the-mill young sheng until it developed the overpowering metallic taste and left me with a dry mouth...

'A'

After the uncomfortable ending of sample '1', I approached this tea with a bit more caution on the following day. This sample had a variety of leave grades as well however some of them were broken this time. The aroma of the wet leaves was sweet with very noticeable lemon-citrus notes. The liquor showed that it was still young, but it had a bit more color than the previous sample, perhaps showing a little bit more/better aging. Again, the tasting notes:

(1): Smooth, no bitterness, thick. Hint of citrus with a lingering light sweetness.
(2): Still smooth and without bitterness. Almost as if it's trying to be astringent but can't quite muster the strength. Lemon-like and very refreshing.
(3): Tastes as if lemon-juice is present in the liquor. Refreshing, tangy, and smooth.
(4): More lemon, thick and juicy liquor. Slight sweetness in aftertaste.
(5): Very juicy. Same lemon taste - very thirst quenching/saliva generating. Strong floral aroma/taste present in mouth afterwards.
(6): Sweetness becoming more apparent. Lighter. More floral qualities present. Very slight cooling of the mouth afterwards.
(7): Lighter, sweeter. Slight sugar-like sweetness on the back of the tongue. More of the same floral qualities.
(8): Same as 7. Lighter.
(9): More sweetness. Still smooth and thirst quenching. Borderline watery.
(10): Slight hint of youth - menthol in mouth afterwards. Sweet and citric.

Overall this sample was much more enjoyable. I could tell that it was still young (~4 years?), but it showed signs of having more/better aging than sample '1'. From the beginning it was VERY citrus-y and almost exclusively lemon-y at that. My girlfriend's mother often makes sweet tea with lemon juice (I'm a southern boy at heart, I suppose) that has a rather distinct subtle flavor - this tea reminded me of that lemon hint almost exactly. It was very 'juicy' for lack of a better word and was very thirst quenching (a welcomed change from sample '1'). A very pleasant experience indeed.

More opinions on these two samples can be found here for '1' and here for 'A'. Thanks again to MarshalN for sending these samples clear across the planet just to hear my humble opinions. If I find out/gain clearance, I plan on posting the real identities of these teas here as well.

Update: the identities!
1: 2003 Quanji Bulang
A: 2001/2002 CNNP Yiwu (supposedly?)

tb.

2001 Menghai Yiwu Zhengshan:

2007-05-16T21:32:00.000-04:00

Today (albeit early - if 1am can really be considered today) I brewed up the sample of Menghai Yiwu that Phyll Sheng kindly sent me. Thanks again to Phyll for the opportunity to taste a tea that would have otherwise been out of my budget - the generosity is greatly appreciated.

Here's the deal - I think I liked this tea, but I'm planning on brewing it up again in the near future to be sure. I thought that this tea was good, but probably not good enough to command the price that it does. Granted that prices are high across the board right now, I would be hesitant to shell out the money on this one ($100++).

In my opinion this tea was a little weak. It was complex, but I felt like I really had to look for the subtle flavors that were present. I know that Yiwu is characteristically light and sweet, but this seemed a little too much so for my tastes. In all fairness, this was my first 'mountain proper' Yiwu (strictly Yiwu maocha), but I have sampled some blended Yiwu maocha that had more body and was, in my opinion, more enjoyable. To each his own, I suppose.

Apart from the taste, the tea seemed to be a little light on the mouth as well. Until the last few infusions, I wasn't noticing anything lingering in or coating my mouth or throat. I don't want to say watery, but the tea was lacking body if nothing else. Perhaps that will improve with age.

Speaking of age, I could certainly tell that it has aged quite a bit in 6 years. The brew began light, worked up to a nice amber color in the middle, and then finished just as it started - light and airy. The youth came out in the middle infusions with faint hints of citrus and mineral, but it was pleasant and nowhere near overpowering. Infusions 2, 7, 12 below:

Some tasting notes - I used my standard 10 infusion test on this tea, but after realizing that it would quickly become too strong in the middle infusions, I toned down the times and came out with 12 before I gave up:

(Parameters: 5g dry leaf in 100mL gaiwan; filtered tap water; 15s rinse, 20s, 15s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 60s, 90s, 120s, 180s, 240s, 360s)

(1): Very light sweetness present that lingers on the tongue for only a split second. Reminiscent of a sweet, light white tea. Fruity/flowery undertones? Leaves have a sweet smell with a hint of the youngness still present.
(2): Smooth sweetness still present but with more body underneath. Very light - lacks the oily feeling in some teas. Slight mineral taste.
(3): More body, slight grainy hints in aftertaste. Light flowery/herbal notes present.
(4): Slight hint of youngness present - citric perhaps. Still smooth, light sweetness not as apparent, but still present. Fruit notes mixing with mineral/grain in aftertaste. Not much coating the mouth of throat.
(5): Similar to (4) in complexity. Floral notes more apparent. Mild but pleasant.
(6): More mineral, slightly astringent with sweet notes. Grainy.
(7): Mineral, sweet hints, smoother that (6). Pleasant.
(8): Light astringency, floral hints, very light sweetness present - slightly lingers on the back of tongue now.
(9): Light sweetness now a key player again with mineral in the background. Hints of floral mixing with astringency in background. Taste lingers in mouth longer than earlier infusions.
(10): Sweet, smooth, and mouth coating. Taste is similar to first several infusions but with more body. Elusive aftertaste of a somewhat honey-like sweetness - can't quite pick it out.
(11): Light sweetness, mineral. Tea oil now coats the mouth. Pleasant. Elusive sweet aftertaste still present.
(12): Mineral and sweet notes present. Lingers on tongue and throat. Simple and pleasant.
(13+ possible but with diminishing results. Interesting that the light sweetness from (1) persisted and was consistently the same throughout the infusions)

As you can see, the key word for this tea was light. Everything about it was light and airy - nothing really popping out at one point or another. This was pleasant, but left me desiring more - not more tea, but more from the tea. I think I need to try this one again, but it may just be that I prefer teas with more body behind them. A tentative 6.5/10.

2005 Luxi Dehong Zhuancha and the Purple-leaf varietal:

2007-05-11T23:03:00.000-04:00

With exams finally over, I have a life again and can hopefully post several times a week from here on out. Anyway, here's a zhuancha that I received back in December as the result of several recommendations. After some discussion concerning its loss of flavor on RFDT, I felt it necessary to try it again for myself. To be completely honest, I hardly remember the first time... my mind was probably elsewhere. Hence this was a nice time to catch up on what I had originally neglected.

But first, some background information:

This Zhuancha is of the somewhat rare purple-leaf varietal (for lack of a better word) and consists of medium to large grade leaves, some of them broken/chopped (which may have been the result of my prying into the tightly compressed brick). Some photos of the leaves:

(WARNING: CHEMISTRY CONTENT!)
The purple tinge in the leaves is the result of a class of compounds known as anthocyanidins. Anthocyanidins are polyphenols which are important antioxidants found in tea and many other foods (We all hear antioxidant thrown around everywhere nowadays, but if anyone is interested in what it actually means/how they work, let me know and I'll include it in another post). While anthocyanidins are only one class within the huge designation of polyphenol, somewhere around 300 of them have been discovered/cataloged to the best of my knowledge. The variances between these 300 are due to differences in the 'R' groups designated in the structure below. For a compound to be considered a polyphenol, two phenyl groups (a 6-carbon ring with 3 double bonds - i.e. the top right ring on the picture) must each have at least one hydroxyl (-OH) group bonded to it and but be joined to one another. On anthocyanidins, the majority of 'R' groups turn out to be hydroxyls, with variances of only one or two other 'R's between them, but I digress.

The reason anthocyanidins are produced in plants has to do with the amount of sunlight it receives. Consider it analogous to you skin becoming tan - the more sunlight the leaves receive, the more anthocyanidins are produced to shield it from the intense rays. While cholophyll absorb every wavelength of light except green (hence how we see it as green - it is the only color reflected off it) anthocyanidins absorb only blue-green light (and are therefore seen as purple-red) and are produced in young leaves before a sufficient amount of chlorophyll are produced - they're basically a band-aid until the chlorophyll can take over absorbing light. Also, because the compounds are polyphenolic antioxidants, the radicals (unpaired electrons that cause chain reactions forming more unpaired electrons and disrupt cell activity) formed from UV exposure get absorbed and eliminated - a two-fold win for the plant. Again, if there's any interest I can write a short disambiguation about polyphenols, why they're good, and how they work... Or not.

Scott at YSLLC explains that this happens in tea plants when the rainy season washes away dust in the air that would otherwise diffuse UV light. To protect themselves, the young tea plants produce more anthocyanidins (to the best of my knowledge the exact anthocyanidins in C. Sinensis have yet to be established) and take on the characteristic purple-red tinge. This tends to happen fore frequently at lower altitudes as the leaves are not accustomed to the high levels of UV radiation that reaches the high-elevation plants. As an aside, I find it interesting that the degree of purple and red color observed has to do with the pH of the soil that the plant is growing in - acidic conditions tend toward red and basic toward purple-blue. Apparently, only 1-2% of all tea plants have these purple leaves, which makes sense because the plant will cease production of anthocyanidins once enough chlorophyll have been produced to protect the plant from the UV radiation.

Now, on to the tea :-)

If you've made it this far, you must really want to know what I think about this tea. Well, I think I liked it. The tea started off very smooth for such a young tea. Just as Scott at YSLLC described, there was almost no bitterness present - it was pretty enjoyable. The dry leaves had a slight dirt-like aroma that wasn't all that pleasant, but when infused both the liquor and leaves lacked the off smell. The wet leaves actually gave off a very strong aroma of menthol which took me off guard. The liquor had a slight menthol effect in the first several infusions, but dropped off suddenly around the 4th - as did the liquor in general. I used my standard infusion times for the tasting, but the leaves clearly needed longer steeping times beginning with the 4th. The middle steepings were sweet, watery, and pretty boring. Then, somehow, the tea decided to explode in the cup on the 8th infusion - the liquor was thick, juicy, and very thirst quenching. This lasted only 2 infusions until I gave up at 10 when it returned to its watery sweetness of 4-7. Here are pictures of infusions 2, 6, and 10, respectively - note that 8 was right in line for the progression of color; nothing abnormal:

Some tasting notes:

(Parameters: 5g dry leaf in 100mL gaiwan; filtered tap water; 15s rinse, 20s, 15s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 60s, 105s, 180s, 270s, 360s)

(1): No bitterness present at all. Spicy/tangy sweetness noticeable. Very smooth, slight menthol present. Coats the throat completely. Leaves give off strong menthol aroma.
(2): Slight bitterness present but sweetness still noticeable. A hint of smokiness present, but overall the liquor is still very smooth. A very slight odd, dirt-like hint in background - not enough to be unpleasant.
(3): Very strong menthol aroma from leaves. Smooth sweetness and light astringency mixing very well. Grain notes present.
(4): Light sweetness present. Watery - leaves need longer steeping. Wet and smooth down the throat.
(5): Still smooth, menthol noticed in throat and mouth. Light sugary sweetness detected alongside light spicy/smokiness. Slightly too weak.
(6): Light menthol-sweetness still present. Very light but still manages to coat the throat.
(7): Smoky-menthol still emanating from leaves. Wet and juicy but watery at the same time. Liquor still manages to hold its light sweetness despite the wateriness.
(8): Thick, sweet, and juicy - very pleasant and thirst quenching. Sweetness lingers strongly on the back of the tongue. Menthol now strongly present also. Aftertaste reminiscent of a plum. Wonderful.
(9): Sweetness/menthol strongly present - similar to camphor notes but not the same. Noticeable fruit (plum?) aftertaste. Very smooth despite the previous wateriness.
(10): Mild sweetness dominating. Menthol still present, but not nearly as noticeable. Watery.
(11+ would not yield too much - leaves are spent)

I'm not really sure how I feel about this tea. On the one hand, it was very weak and didn't have much to offer in the middle infusions after a pleasant but not outstanding beginning. On the other, the finish was spectacular - the juiciness of the liquor sums it up best - and left me forgetting about its previous mediocrity. Overall, I think that this is a good tea to drink now with an average (~5g) of leaf and long infusion times. Although I don't expect much in terms of aging, I'm content with the 2 bricks I purchased. 5.5/10

tb.

2005 Nan Jian Imperial Wu Liang Tuo:

2007-05-03T00:39:00.000-04:00

With all the hubub of Nan Jian tuos that I've been hearing recently, I decided to crack into one of the Imperial tuos that I've had sitting around for a few months. Granted this is supposedly a "higher grade" blend than the standard issue tuos, some of the leaves are sufficiently large with some small/fine grade intermixed. My apologies for the bland, functional photos; they were originally intended for my archival purposes only. Subsequent photos should be more aesthetically appealing... On to the tea:

The first several infusions were surprisingly enjoyable. The liquor was slightly floral and left a sour/bitter aftertaste that wasn't too unpleasant for some reason. The sourness quickly turned into citrus, which was somehow thirst quenching yet dry at the same time. The bitterness slowly turned into a mellow honey-like sweetness which, when paired with the citrus, provided a great finish. The leaves went strong until the 8th infusion, but were pretty dead at 10. Below are infusions 2, 6, and 10 respectively:

Here are my amateur tasting notes... They'll improve, I promise:

(Parameters: 4g dry leaf in 100mL gaiwan; filtered tap water; 15s rinse, 20s, 15s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 60s, 105s, 180s, 270s, 360s)

(1): Slightly bitter yet smooth. Floral hints. Slightly sour. Entire tongue coated with flavor long after liquor is gone. Drinkable.
(2): Sour/tartness primarily present. Floral hints underneath. Spicy and bold.
(3): More bitterness, overpowering the sour. More spicy/smoky characters. Floral/citrus still in background. Citrus hinting strongly. Still bold.
(4): Less bitter, citrus becoming more apparent. Faint, lingering sweetness present in back of throat. Smoothness reappearing from (1).
(5): More citrus with floral hints reappearing. Much smoother. Bitterness in background, tartness still present.
(6): Sweetness more apparent but still overpowered by citrus. Slight honey taste, still tart.
(7): (overbrewed by 10s) Honey/citrus-lemon taste dominating. Smooth sweetness in background. Still tart with slight bitterness.
(8): More honey/citrus. Tart. Drier than earlier infusions. Something grainy but sweet hinting in background -- can't quite put my finger on it.
(9): Honey/citrus overtones, smooth sweetness underneath. Bitterness almost completely gone. Weaker.
(10): Mellow sweetness taking over. Citrus still noticeable but less present. Watery.
(11+ would continue with sweet wateriness - leaves are done).

Overall, I really liked this one. It isn't the strongest sheng I've had - probably because of the fairly small leaves - but it had a kick. The honey and citrus-lemon characters were very refreshing and enjoyable. Good to drink now, but I bet it'll get better - 7/10.

tb.

About me:

2007-04-30T17:45:00.000-04:00

I'm just another kid studying chemistry (organic synthesis and analysis in particular) and mathematics. I know nothing about web page or graphic design, so this page will be kept short and sweet. I do know a little about photography, classical music, and tea (however slight the last may be). Hence, I'll talk about what I know, and no more.

For those who delight in the fanciful stories of how one was introduced to the world of C. Sinensis, I first stumbled upon loose tea roughly 2 years ago our of sheer curiosity. I began by choosing random blacks and greens, noting which I liked, and continuing to explore. Before I realized what had happened, I had a cupboard full of tea canisters and a crate of pu-erh in transit from China (which has become the current infatuation). With no lack of information available on the internet, the only thing holding me back from driving the postman to exhaustion is my extravagant(ly small) student's budget. Nonetheless, when tea comes my way, I'll share my thoughts about it here.

Nothing fancy, nothing flashy - just an honest view of how I experience tea.

tb.

Index:

2007-04-30T15:49:00.001-04:00

Sheng Puerh
1999 Yiwu 'Dragon & Horse' of Chen Guang-he Tang
2001 Mengsa of Chen Guang-he Tang
2001 Menghai Yiwu Zhengshan
2001/02 CNNP Yiwu
2003 Quanji Bulang (and a second tasting here)
2005 Nan Jian Imperial Wu Liang Tuo
2005 Luxi Dehong Zhuancha
2005 6 Famous Tea Mountain Banzhang Zhengshan

To begin:

2007-04-30T14:40:00.000-04:00

I create this blog as a means to document my quest for tea (and perhaps other odd ends) from beginning to end. As a student of chemistry, I will attempt to maintain my sanity amongst the scientific community through tea, tradition, and art - all on a university student's budget.

With that said, here's to the beginning of a journey that will perhaps enlighten and entertain a rare few who stumble across my humble blog.

tb.