Reading the Tea Leaves

This is a follow-up to an earlier post about teas to accompany a dim sum meal.  Here is a tea menu from a dim sum restaurant in (of course) San Francisco.   I say this because growing up in the Bay Area, I remember the earliest place to go for authentic dim sum was Yank Sing, then at its Broadway location in Chinatown.  (The restaurant continues to offer not only good dim sum but higher quality teas than you’d find in most restaurants.)  I have seen more tea menus in the SF-Peninsula-Bay Area than other metropolitan regions where dim sum is popular, but I have not been in Vancouver or Toronto in recent years.

This particular tea menu is interesting for its three tiered pricing.  Most menus I’ve seen (and there haven’t been that many) usually just list the teas, organized by tea categories rather than by prices.

Here is the list:

House Teas ($1/person)

Jasmine

Oolong

Sau Mei

Puerh

Chrysanthemum

Emperor Teas ($2/person)

American Ginseng

Ti Kuan Yin

White Jasmine

Silver Tip Jasmine

Superior Emperor Teas ($3/person)

Superior Green Tea

Spring Green Tea

Anxi Ti Kuan Yin

Fujian Dragon Pearls

Dragonwell

Some observations and comments:

Shou Mei White tea, Special Grade

The Sau Mei (first group, $1/person) is a Shou Mei (Longevity Eyebrow), which is the White tea most frequently served in dim sum restaurants.  (Sau Mei is a Cantonese rendering of Shou Mei.)  The other tea that sounds like a White tea, the “White Jasmine,” is actually a Bai Mutan (Peony White), a varietal that is a bit costlier than Shou Mei.  I can attest to this because the Chinese names appears by the teas.

Peony White tea (Bai Mutan), Special Grade

A 5th Grade Jasmine, higher quality than standard restaurant grade.

As to the Silver Tip Jasmine, the Chinese name given is White Sprouting Needles, so it is not a Yin Hao (Silver Sprout) Jasmine, a top grade, but it is no doubt a higher grade than the standard restaurant Jasmine.  At double the price for the House Jasmine, it’s worth a look.  After all, the Jasmine bouquet will come through nicely in both teas; the price difference really rests on the quality of the leaves and it would be a nice touch, service-wise, if one could see the tea before deciding.

Example of a tippy Jasmine; this one is a Chun Hao (Spring Sprouting)

It’s been a while since I’ve been to this restaurant; a friend passed along the menu to me.  Therefore, I don’t know what type of Green tea “Superior Green Tea” is.  The Chinese name is King of Green Teas, so that doesn’t help.

PiLoChun/Green Snail Spring (this sample here is from a top grade)

The prosaically named “Spring Green Tea” turns out to be Pi Lo Chun (Green Snail Spring), usually a very pricey Green from Jiangsu province.  Again, $3/person is not an exorbitant price but being able to view a sample of the dry tea could put to rest any doubts about the worthiness of the tea.  The tiny, downy, curled up leaves of a genuine Pi Lo Chun are easy to recognize.

Fujian Dragon Pearls sometimes go by the name Phoenix Dragon Pearls; this does not tell you if the tea has been scented with Jasmine.  I do not find the unscented tea very flavorful.  Since the work involved in rolling the pearls is the same, regardless of whether the tea has been scented or not, the price of the Green is not much lower than the scented Jasmine version.  Even though there were a handful of customers who bought the unscented pearls, I thought the money would have been better spent on the tastier Jasmine pearls.  So if you see this item on a menu, it’s prudent to ask.

If I were to have an Oolong, I would go with the $3/person Anxi Ti Kuan Yin.  The House Oolong is apt to be of the sort one is served at most Chinese restaurants – not bad considering its modest service fee.  The Anxi Ti Kuan Yin should have leaves that resemble spherical little clumps; the leaves should have been rolled quite tightly.  I am guessing that the $2/person Ti Kuan Yin has more open, darker and uneven leaves that were not worked as carefully during processing.

A Restaurant grade Oolong, a Shui Hsien

This Oolong that I bought was labeled TiKuanYin; quality is low to middling. Note the leaf form.

An Anxi TiKuanYin

The $3/person Anxi Ti Kuan Yin is likely to have staying power throughout the brunch or lunch, unlike the Green teas, the flavor of which will fade noticeably afater the second refill of hot water.  Note: if it’s possible to see the Dragonwell Green ($3/person), check how uniform the leaves are.

I note that there is only one Puerh offered.  No doubt many repeat customers ask for a blend of the Puerh and chrysanthemum.  Perhaps a higher grade of Puerh would mean too big a price increment.

Once the diner is presented with these choices in this format, it seems obvious that each person at the table could have his or her individual tea, and that all can sample other teas over the course of the meal.  As I’ve noted elsewhere, even where no tea menu is presented, there’s no harm in asking for two teas at the table rather than just accepting the one brought to the table as a matter of course.  After all, to ask someone to join you for dim sum is phrased as going to “yum cha,” or to drink tea.