Reading the Tea Leaves

At the end of the previous post (Part 2), I concluded that for almost $50/lb, one could have a really top grade Jasmine leaf tea instead of the $48.95/lb Jasmine Pearls tea that turned out to be a poor choice, value-wise and flavor-wise.  If it is Jasmine Pearls you’re after, seek out a better quality tea that really befits the name of this specialty tea.  (See earlier posts: “Shopping for Pearls”)  And lest even that $50/lb figure seem a little formidable, keep in mind that 4 oz will last quite a while, yielding about 36 cups.

The last post in my series on Jasmine teas covered Jasmine Silver Needles White tea, and recently I saw these prices for the unscented Silver Needles White: a 40 gram (1.41 oz) tin for $9.99, which comes to about $113.40/lb, and a Fujian standard in a silver tin that has not changed over many years that was marked at $15.95 for 100 g (3.5 oz), which works out to be about $72.90/lb.

(It is easy to imagine here how a shopper might pick  the $9.99 tin because a comparison based on price per pound would require a calculator or a lot of scribbling.  This is why in my introduction in Part 1 of this series suggests using one standard in assessing value, such as price per pound.)

Quite typically, the more expensive tea comes in a tin with copy written to persuade the shopper to make the purchase, while the Fujian tin is bereft of any product information.  There is little on the packaging describing the quality of the tea inside.  Indeed, one will not find the name “Silver Needles White” — which has become standard usage for these unopened buds of White tea ; instead, one reads “Flowery White Pekoe,” a name that does little to inspire.  First, there are no flowers in the tea, and second, most consumers probably associate the term “pekoe” with the old-school Lipton teabags that might have been in the family pantry.  Someone in the tea trade might recognize the item number on the box, which has also remained unchanged for this top, top grade for many years, but this number holds no meaning for the average consumer.

In that same Chinese market I bought yet another tea, intending it as a gift.  Again, I admit I was tempted by the low price.  Seriously, though, I wanted to see what a Tung Ting –usually priced at much higher levels — that cost $32.95/lb would taste like.  Tung Ting, sometimes rendered as Dong Ding or Frozen Summit, is a light to medium oxidized Oolong from Taiwan, although sometimes one will see teas bearing this name from China (which might be material for another post). The tea is delightfuland delicious, with flavors ranging from a subtle floral character to deeper tones with honeyed notes.  These teas usually start at around $80/lb.

The leaves in the Tung Ting I bought certainly had the right look: crinkly nuggets tinged with green; they were on the large side but I had no serious objection on that score.

After the first infusion, most of the leaves had opened fully, which told me that I would not be getting more flavorful infusions.  The wet leaves held little aroma.  If this were someone’s first encounter with Tung Ting, one might well wonder what all the fuss is about.  The brew was watery, and a little fishy with a raw edge to it.

This weak flavor cannot be attributed to the brevity of oxidation; there are other lightly oxidized Tung Ting teas much fuller in flavor, with wonderful floral notes that are fleeting but memorable.  Much better made Tung Tings may cost up to six times more than what I had paid; whether those are worth the price is for each consumer to decide, but some of the best Tung Tings exhibit deep, focused, intense pure flavors that should not be missed.

Better to skip these “bargains” — in addition to the $32.95/lb one I bought, there was another Tung Ting at $21.95/lb.  Don’t be tempted, or at most, buy one or two ounces to try.  Having said this, I realize I am assuming some knowledge  on the part of my imagined tea shopper — that s/he knows that Tung Ting is a premium tea.  It might well be the case where a shopper thinks any tea at $33/lb is a lot to pay.  Conversely, don’t be taken in by a tea with a $200/lb price tag; there is no assurance that such a number is a guarantee of commensurate quality.

A range of between $20/lb to $30/lb for everyday day teas seems reasonable, and here are three I found at $28/lb:  a Green from Fujian – not a province known for its Green teas although some are quite delectable; a “Formosa Oolong” (quotation marks to be explained below), and a China White.

The Fujian Green (that was the name on the bin) certainly looked nice: a good amount of silver among the robust leaves that are characteristic of Green teas from this coastal province.  The dry leaves were curled twists and looped in shape.

The wet leaves – and there were budsets – smelled fine but had to be brought up very close to the nose to detect the anticipated vegetal note.

The cup, however, was a dull gold when it should have been bright.

This sign of age was evident in the drinking: the tea tasted stale and insipid, on top of which there was a slightly off, metallic note, perhaps attributable to the many spices sold in the same shop.  The brew was not very flavorful, certainly not lively, and lacked the vegetal component of Green teas.  So in this case, the dry tea appearance – which would pique one’ s interest – was not much help in guiding the purchase.

Here is a better Fujian Green; it happens to be a Maofeng and unfortunately, was a sample I received, not a tea I purchased.

And the steeped leaves looked like this:

As for the Oolong, I placed quotation marks around Formosa because there was really no way to know if in fact the tea came from Taiwan.

Two store clerks were not very forthcoming.  “Formosa” in front of “Oolong” has acquired some cachet.  There are indeed very fine Oolongs from Taiwan but I think there is also a bias (some tea snobbery?) that leads some to overlook equally interesting and fine, albeit different, Oolongs from the mainland.  In any case, at this price of under $30/lb, perhaps it matters less whether the Oolong came from Taiwan or across the strait than how the tea tastes.

The appearance of the dry leaves lends support to my doubts about the tea’s origin.  Most Oolongs from Taiwan tend to be on the high end price-wise, but even for a tea from Taiwan, this nearly $30/lb tea gave very poor value.

Note how uneven the very dark leaves are; there are stalks and flaky bits, and most of the leaves are stout without being uniform.  The dark color is not problematic; it merely indicates longer oxidation and firing, but compare this tea with a Shui Hsien Oolong (from northern Fujian).

The aroma told of fire and roasting, and the dark amber brew gave the same very roasted quality, with a strong fire note.  Other, better Oolongs may yield equally dark brews, but the finish is smooth and round, without the lingering fired taste.

Keep in mind that for about the same price, one could have a modest TiKuanYin and enjoy a more complex cup displaying layers of flavor rather than this “Formosa Oolong” that was not appealing to the eye or the palate.

On to the China White tea:  again, at just under $30/lb,

I thought this a reasonable price for a White Peony (Bai Mudan or Pai Mutan), since online I have seen prices ranging from $65/lb to $150/lb.  That last figure is a little disturbing, since it is closer to what one might pay for an excellent quality Silver Needles White tea (not the Peony White) – with plump, lustrous, downy buds without dark strands mixed in.

As was true of the “Fujian Green,” I found little fault with the leaves in the White Peony, shown here in the photo.

Some budsets along with a sprinkling of silver buds among the green-tan flat leaves match the standard for this tea (although there are grades).  The cup, on the other hand, yielded barely any flavor.  It was just watery, lacking the pleasing, slightly nutty feature of what should be an easy, accessible cup.

It bears mentioning here that on one retailer’s site, I noticed eight (!) White teas, of which one was a blooming “flower” tea, five were flavored White teas, and the two unflavored teas were listed as “Fancy White Peony” (at $80/lb  if you bought 1.1 lb or about $90/lb if you bought a smaller quantity) and “Pai Mutan” (at $65/lb for a 1.1 lb unit).   I thought it curious that two grades of the same tea were rendered in two ways, English and the Chinese transliteration, when a marker signifying a grade difference would have sufficed.

For comparison, at a museum shop, a 2 oz tin of Pai Mudan was $12.  This tea is light in weight but the leaves take up much volume, and so the same tin that holds 4 oz of another tea only contains half the amount by weight when it’s a White Peony.   In any case, it was easy to see that this tea was $96/lb.

At a tea cafe, one of six (out of about twenty) unflavored teas was a White, at $3.75 for a 1 ounce pack ($60/lb).

As the photo shows, the leaves are much smaller and more broken than the White Peony shown above and had only a very few silver strands mingled in.

But the tea tasted better than the $30/lb tea, even though the leaves of the $30/lb tea were looked promising. The flavor held a nice balance between green tea notes and a nuttier, grain taste.

More interesting to me, however, was the description about White tea printed on the label — that it is a “rare tea produced from delicate tea buds withered prior to opening.”  This is accurate if we are talking about Silver Needles White tea, not so accurate when it comes to White Peony (Bai Mudan) teas, which was the tea in the package.  Photos of the dry leaves and the wet leaves show clearly that these were not from closed buds.

As a reminder, here is what a White Peony (Bai Mudan) ought to look like; the photo below is of a Special Grade (organic):

Given its minimal processing, most White teas are not assertive in flavor, and in the case of lower quality teas, the taste is sometimes subtle to the point of being just straightout bland.  So here is a case where people are drawn to the tea because of its minimal processing and at the same time seemt o buy plenty of the flavores tuff becasue they find the natural, “unenhanced” flavor too weak.  The very naturalness of the tea that attracts becomes undermined by the addition of something that is quite un-natural.

And it seems to follow that when the natural flavor of the tea is secondary, when the added flavor (be it peach or mango, etc.) is the primary consideration, then the quality of the tea material matters less.  But this does not mean that flavored White Peony teas are necessarily cheaper.

One ginger flavored White Peony (bestowed with the name “The Artist”) I came across was in a tin that held 2 ounces — again, the leaves of this tea take up a lot of room but are light in weight.  At $18.99 for the tin, it means the the tea is actually $151.92/lb.  You’d think that once this is recognized, most people would opt for the top grade Silver Needles White instead of a ginger flavored beverage; the allure here is obviously the White tea base, but the ginger taste could just as well been paired with a lower grade Green tea.  At another store, a ginger pomegranate White Peony was $68.50/lb.  Against these figures, it pays to remember that a good quality special grade or 1st grade White Peony can be found for less.

So I return to the point I made at the outset of this series about prices, namely, that it isn’t always easy to realize the true price of the tea product one is buying against a consistent standard of price per pound.  As I was standing in a long line to pay for smoked fish, I couldn’t help but notice an array of bagged loose-leaf teas on the shelves.  The package design was modern and clean-looking; all the teas were flavored (Earl Grey Green, Tropical Green, Lavender Black, Ginger Peach Black, etc.)

The price seemed easy on the pocketbook, $5.99 for the box.  The teas’ positioning where people wait in line to pay suggests that these may be impulse purchases.  When I saw the same brand of teas again in another store, one with a good selection of packaged teas, I noted the net weight information: 16 bags (leaf tea, not fannings) totaling 35.2 grams per box, so each bag contained 2.2 grams, a little short of the standard and more generous 3 grams per bag, but 2.2 g would yield a decent cup.  At home with calculator out, it was quick work to see that the tea in this $5.99 box came to $77.26/lb, less if you discount the convenience of the bags.  Quite a sum to lay out for a tea where the dominant flavor comes not from the tea plant but from another source entirely.

During a stop for coffee beans, I noticed another Ginger Peach Black in the store: this one at a gentler price of $4.75 for a quarter pound ($19/lb).  I suppose you would have to sacrifice the convenience of the sachet; still, $77/lb vs. $19/lb — this is a big difference, and can the quality of the added flavoring(s) really vary by $58 for each pound of the tea?  One might argue that the quality of the leaves is better in one, but to me this is of less consequence since the dominant flavor is the ginger/peach — this is the feature that will sell the product; the taste of the tea base matters less.

Think back here for a moment to prices I listed in Parts 1 & 2 for several other teas: a Yin Hao Jasmine at $9.95 for a 5.29 oz tin, or about $46/lb for a top grade tea; or the tin of Silver Needles White tea at $15.95 for a 3.5 oz tin, or about $73/lb for the top grade White.  For good value and good tasting, you can’t do much better than having these two in your pantry.

I find these numbers quite remarkable in an unsettling sort of way.  $5.99 for a box of tea  or even $18.99 for a tin that has fancy packaging and copy under a brand name that gets written up in the New York Times seems quite reasonable until you really give some thought to both the tea itself and what the true cost of the tea is, and if you have some context within which to assess what a $70/lb or $150/lb tea ought to offer, in terms of varietal, craftsmanship, and grade.