With a history spanning nearly 5,000 years, tea has touched every culture in a unique way. We’ve already explored the teaware and tea rituals of China and Japan, East Frisia (Germany), and Russia, and now we’re moving on to Mongolia and Tibet. These two regions have very unique takes on the classic that are, for many, hard to swallow.
Mongolia
When the Mongol Empire invaded China in the 13th century, they strongly rejected China’s unique tea culture. Why? They’d long favored their suutei tsai, a strong, milky tea made with pressed black or green tea, milk, water, and two interesting ingredients — salt and, sometimes, fried millet.
Milk was sourced from cows, yaks, goats, mares, sheep, or camels and was boiled together with the salt, tea, and water. In fact, Mongols rarely drank water plain because it was scarce. They also believed that bodies of water were gods, and, at one time, polluting any flowing body of water was punishable by death.
To make the tea liquor, tea is broken off the pressed block and infused in boiling water. Milk and salt (and sometimes millet) are then added in and the concoction is mixed with a large ladle. The milky tea is scooped into the ladle, and poured back in from a height over and over again, creating quite the visual display. The tea is presented in a large metal drum-like bowl with a ladle and is served in large metal bowls.
To this day, suutei tsai (which actually means “milk tea”) is still a potent part of Mongolian society and culture, and you can find suutei tsai in instant packets, too. It’s usually enjoyed alone served in small bowls, but is sometimes served with boortsog, a fried biscuit, or dumplings. One blogger likened the smell of suutei tsai to Ovaltine and experienced the tea served with cheese and lamb jerky in addition to the fried millet.
It’s a tough taste for Westerners (mostly because of the salt), but if you’re feeling adventurous, try this recipe that likens suutei tsai to a popular Game of Thrones Dothraki milk-based beverage.
Tibet
In the 13th century, the Chinese began trading tea for Tibetan horses, making famous the Tea Horse Road. These caravan trails and dangerous mountain passes linked the Chinese province of Sichuan in the southwest to Tibet.
Although Tibet doesn’t have the perfect terroir for growing tea, the Pemagul region has a small crop of growers that harvest and process bricks of black tea for Tibet’s famous yak butter tea, or po cha.
Here is the typical preparation for this unique take on tea:
A large quantity of crushed black brick tea is boiled in hot water for at least half a day to create a dark, concentrated tea liquor.The liquor concentrate, yak’s milk, butter, and salt are poured into a long wooden churn known as a dogma.The mixture is churned and beaten until it becomes creamy and light purplish in color.The po cha is decanted into a metal or ceramic teapot and then into large wooden or earthenware cups for serving and enjoying.
Yak butter tea, like suutei tsai in Mongolia, can be an acquired taste, but for Tibetans the drink holds powerful caloric benefits in a region with a harsh climate and high elevations.
The traditional way to enjoy po cha is to leisurely sip the drink while the host fills up the cup after each sip so your bowl is never empty. Considering the fact that Tibetan nomads are said to drink up to 40 cups a day, we’re guessing they don’t sip so much as inhale their po cha.
Although typically served alone, po cha is sometimes used to make or serve with tsampa, a grain porridge, especially by nomadic tribes.
Want to try your hand at po cha? Try this recipe.
Cover image: Roy Tsu
Originally published at teforia.com.
Modern tea blends are peppered with what are known as proprietary or signature tea blends. According to tea historian and expert James Norwood Pratt, beyond signature teas named after and for the British Royals, “Many clubs, hotels and restaurants … have long maintained private blends of tea.”
In many cases, tea dealers would keep a file of their regulars, what they requested, and in what proportion. According to Norwood Pratt, anyone could go to the tea dealer for the blend, but not the recipe. From this practice arose many popular teas, including Earl Grey or Dowager Tea. At one time, proprietary blends like Invalid Tea and Nursery Tea launched the ubiquitous Ty-Phoo tea company in Queen Victoria’s day.
There is Brodies, which began as Brodie, Melrose, Drysdale & Co Ltd in 1867, who is often credited with being the first tea manufacturer in the UK to produce a breakfast blend tea. The story is that Queen Victoria stayed at Balmoral and enjoyed the tea blend so much that she returned to England with the tea where it became known as “English Breakfast Tea.” In 1928, the company created a unique proprietary blend called “Famous Edinburgh,” whose recipe is a closely guarded secret.
Boston Harbour Tea comprises Darjeeling and Ceylon black teas blended by a British firm in an ironic twist of fate. On December 16, 1773, Colonial patriots boarded three English ships in Boston Harbor and dumped the tea onboard into the water to protest the tea taxes imposed by the government of King George III. Then, on March 7, 1774, at a second Boston Tea Party, 16 chests of tea belonging to Davison Newman & Co Ltd. of London were also dumped into the Boston Harbor. This British firm is credited as being the oldest tea merchant still in operation today (tracing its origins to 1650), and developed the Boston Harbour Tea blend, which is still available today.
Another famous proprietary blend was Lady Londonderry Blend, named for Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart, the Marchioness of Londonderry, who was one of London’s most famous hostesses between World War I and World War II. Supposedly, Lady Londonderry ordered a specific blend of Ceylon, India, and Formosa teas from Jacksons of Piccadilly, and its popularity spread like wildfire across London. Unfortunately, Jacksons discontinued the famous blend sometime in the late 1990s and imitations are more a play on the Marchioness of Londonderry’s name than a copycat of her famous blend.
In the United States, another famous tea blender arose in the form of Simpson & Vail. The company was originally founded as a green coffee company in 1904, but when it was sold to tea taster Lester Vail and an accountant colleague in 1924, the company turned its attention to tea. One of its most famous original tea blends is known as Morgan Blend Tea™:
Correspondence at the Morgan Library in New York City shows the association between J.P. Morgan and Mr. Vail. Back in the early years of the company, these esteemed gentlemen created a most distinctive tea blend. The original formula of Mr. Vail and J.P. Morgan is still used today in creating their unique blend of our Earl Grey, Lapsang Souchong and other hugger-mugger teas. The mellow smokiness of this Morgan Blend is definitely an acquired taste but, if you enjoy smoky teas, there’s nothing better than a cup of this on a cold dreary day to pick up your spirits!
Harney & Sons has countless blends that fit the bill here, including Brigitte’s Blend, which is named after Mike Harney’s wife and the mother of three of the Harney grandchildren. It’s a mixture of silvery Ceylon and golden Assam, which, “Like Brigitte … is perfect in many situations.” The company also developed the signature blend for The Palm Court at the Plaza in New York, which has been an Afternoon Tea destination for more than 100 years. Simply called Palm Court, this lush tea is a proprietary blend of Keemun, Assam, Ceylon, and Formosa Oolong.
Today, a trend has arisen allowing just about anyone to create signature blends (led by brands like Adagio Teas) based on pop culture icons and television shows. Some excellent examples include the collection of custom blends based on Downton Abbey’s most popular characters and those based on Doctor Who. Other companies, like Celestial Seasonings, have also started selling DIY loose leaf blending kits so you can create your own signature blend from the comfort of your own home.
For more on the unique history of tea blending — especially in the United States — read Tea Blending 101.
Originally published at teforia.com on July 5, 2016.
Throughout the world, there are countless ceremonies and practices that celebrate one of the world’s oldest and most beloved beverages. From the time-honored Japanese tea ceremony and its unique ceremonial tools to the more modern British afternoon tea with its elegant cups and saucers, the utensils create unique narratives.
One object — the tea pet — has been growing in popularity with tea drinkers, but some believe it has held sway in the Chinese tea ceremony dating to the 1200s. Unfortunately, there isn’t much literature on the origins of the tea pet, and much of what we know today is anecdotal.
The tea pet, called cha chong in Chinese, is a clay figurine, often in the shape of a Chinese zodiac animal or mythical creature, that is placed on the traditional tea tray. The one consistently shared story is both economical and practical: Legend says that tea pets came about because, after crafting a tea pot, the potter would use the scraps to make little clay animals that would then be sold alongside the pot.
Tea pets are traditionally made out of a clay called zisha, which refers to the purple hue of the abundant iron-rich clay found in Yixing in the Jiangsu province. It is the same clay that is used to craft the beloved Yixing pots, and many Chinese actually call these pots zisha pots. Clay deposits in this region can actually be green, turquoise, or even yellow, and some craftsmen will use mineral pigments to color the clay to achieve a black, red, or blue color. When fired, the purple clay zisha tea pet ends up with a brick red or dark brown coloring that changes over time.
During the tea ceremony, the tea pet is “fed” when leftover hot tea is poured atop it. Over the years and after many tea ceremonies, the tea pet’s coloring and appearance will transform and change, much like a Yixing pot does. Some tea pets have special features, like a pig who bubbles at the mouth with the tea you’ve poured over it or a dragon with a spinning ball that rotates as the hot liquid hits it.
For some, the tea pet represents good luck, while for others the tea pet is merely a clever and fun addition to the tea ceremony. There are others even still who hope that the animal’s mythological power will be transferred to them.
Today, the tea pet business is booming, with simple tea pets making way for large, ornate works of art. In China, entire stores have popped up offering a boundless variety of tea pets, from simple frogs and pigs to more intricately designed Buddhas and mini statues of well-known individuals like Lu Yu, who wrote The Classic of Tea.
Do you use a tea pet?
Originally published at teforia.com on June 28, 2016.
During the British rule of the Indian subcontinent from 1858 and 1947, the English revolutionized on an ages-old tea system, from the development of a complex system of hierarchical tea grading to the creation of machines that altered tea production as we know it.
The History
As tea took hold by force in 19th century England, the British sought both a way to produce a tea that could handle the addition of milk and sugar while also cutting down on the costs they were paying China for mass quantities of tea. After establishing numerous tea plantations in the new colony of India, the British began innovating on the traditional Chinese methods of tea making as well.
With the Industrial Revolution at hand, the British began combining or removing steps in the tea making process, developing machinery to hasten what had — for centuries — been done by hand. Among their innovations was the heated withering table, which sped up the evaporation needed to soften leaves for rolling. They also invented the first rolling machines, which are in use to this day in many an Indian tea garden.
In the process of these industrial innovations, however, an entirely new tea was created. With mechanical rollers, whole-leaf tea gave way to tea leaf particles, which brewed differently and created an entirely new tea experience. However, because of these new variations, a classification system was developed to grade the resultant teas.
The System
With their lengthy acronyms, the hierarchical classifications can look to the average tea drinker like industry jargon, but they are an important part of the history of the modern tea industry as well as the English/Indian tea narrative.
The benchmark in this system is “orange pekoe” (OP), a term believed to have been popularized by 19th-century British tea giant Sir Thomas Lipton. Anything below OP is considered lower-quality tea and anything above OP is considered higher-quality tea. Here is what the common hierarchy looks like:
SFTGFOP — 1: Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe — Grade 1SFTGFOP: Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange PekoeFTGFOP: Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange PekoeTGFOP: Tippy Golden Flowery Orange PekoeGFOP: Golden Flowery Orange PekoeFOP: Flowery Orange PekoeOP: Orange PekoeBOP: Broken Orange PekoeFBOP: Flowery Broken Orange PekoeTGBOP: Tippy Golden Broken Orange PekoeBOPF: Broken Orange Pekoe FanningsBOPD: Broken Orange Pekoe Dust
Interestingly, the “orange pekoe” grading benchmark likely originally referred to tea that was suitable for the monarchs, with orange referencing the Dutch House of Orange. This is because it was the Dutch East India Company that brought tea to Europe. “Pekoe” is believed to be a mispronunciation of the transliterated Chinese dialectical word bai hao (白毫), meaning something akin to “white tippy.”
Although the original meaning of the term “pekoe” is lost to us, the benchmark more formally came to refer to a black tea comprising whole tea leaves with no “tippiness.” The “tip” is literally the tip of the youngest leaves, which is a sign of good picking and tippy refers to there being generous amounts of white or golden tips. Golden or silvery tips on the dried leaves usually means the leaves will be more fragrant and more flavorful.
In the highest-graded teas, the “S” can also mean “special” and the initial “F” can mean “fancy.” According to Michael Harney in The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea, tea blender and buyer for Harney & Sons Tea, the two words to focus on are “Flowery” and “Broken.”
“Flowery meant tippy in the era when British tea makers thought that the buds came from the flowers of the tea bush, before they realized the buds were incipient leaves. Today, Flowery mostly means a tea made up of the largest available particles. Broken means the tea consists of smaller, broken pieces (p. 125).”
More broadly, teas that are categorized as “Flowery” are known as “Orthodox” teas in contrast to the CTC (crush, tear, curl) teas. The latter was another result of British innovation when, in 1931, Sir William McKercher invented a machine that would crush, tear, and curl teas in one swift action. CTC teas are easier and cheaper to produce, and they revolutionized the tea industry.
Today, even though British influence on tea production waned after the British Raj ended in 1947, their stamp on tea production is evident, with CTC teas comprising around 95 percent of the global tea market. The grading system that was developed during this period is also still active and used by many as a means of continuing to rank and categorize high-quality teas.
Note: Although the British/Indian system is perhaps the most well-known, there are many different grading systems used in different countries. For example, China tends to use a numerical system, while Japan grades its tea based not only on looks, but also on flavor.
Originally published at teforia.com on June 7, 2016.
Britain’s love affair with tea is viewed, by many, to have begun with the marriage of tea lovers Catherine of Braganza and King Charles II in the 17th century. The beverage was not beloved in the UK until the late 1650s when a few brave merchants began selling the exorbitantly priced tea in London newspapers. But it took until the Portuguese princess’s arrival in 1662 with a small casket of tea for tea to truly take hold among the UK’s most affluent.
Since then, the Royal Family and tea have become synonymous, and merchants spent years going out of their way to capitalize on that association by using the likenesses and names of the royals. Then, at the dawn of the 20th century, the British empire began extolling the virtues of imperialism through its “Buy Empire Every Day” campaign. Later, a “Buy British Tea” campaign appeared in force in the 1930s.
However, the process to receive the Royal Family’s official endorsement is a lengthy one, so any branding and messaging that uses the Royal Family’s names or likeness comes with great commitment. According to James Norwood Pratt in The Tea Lover’s Companion, the current protocol, which was explained to him by a Jacksons of Piccadilly director, is:
The rules are now very much stricter than they were at one time. If, for instance, we wanted to call a tea Princess of Wales blend, we would have to ask her permission through her secretary. I am told that nowadays this would not be granted … The Royal Family is very careful indeed not to link their names to commercial products and even if they ask for a particular blend, it is almost certain they would not allow their names to be linked to it except through a Royal Warrant.
A Royal Warrant can be applied for after a company supplies the Royal Household with a specific product for a minimum of five out of seven years. Having the Royal Family’s “seal of approval” is a tradition that goes back to the medieval period, with the Royal Warrant of Appointment having been formalized for tradespeople in the 15th century.
One of the classic stories of a Royal blend comes from a story about King George V.
[King George V’s butler] had a number of teas in his pantry on a tray which got knocked off the table, and the teas were spilt on the floor. Being a lazy man, he swept them up and put them into a single box, and shortly afterward made tea for the King. He said it was the best tea he ever drank, and told the butler he never wanted any other. He went off to a tea blender and asked them to make up a matching blend and that company still supplies the Royal Household to this day. But they do not use the name of the butler — or the King — as a brand name (The Tea Lover’s Companion, 46).
There have been many teas and tea blends over the years that the Royal Family has requested, and some that were simply blended and gifted to the household. In 1876, Queen Victoria sought a tea blend for her own personal use, and the House of Ridgway stepped up in 1886 with a Royal Warrant and developed Ridgways H.M.B (Her Majesty’s Blend). There is also Melrose Queen’s Tea, a 19th-century tea blend of Darjeeling and Ceylon, Lapsang Souchong, and sweet Jasmine prepared for Queen Victoria by the Canadian firm Murchie’s. The tea was delivered to Queen Victoria when she was in residence at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and it is still sold today. In 1907, the Royal Warrant-holding Fortnum & Mason developed Queen Anne Tea, a strong, smooth blend of Ceylon and Assam black teas.
One of the most recent examples of a tea that celebrates the Royal Family — Twinings’ 90th Birthday Tea — commemorates Queen Elizabeth II’s milestone birthday in 2016. Twinings has held a Royal Warrant since 1837, and this blend celebrates the three Commonwealth countries from which the UK has sourced much of its black tea: India, Kenya, and Sri Lanka.
For more on the British and their tea, explore the classic and beloved British Afternoon Tea ceremony in this post.
Originally published at teforia.com on May 24, 2016.