With specialty teas available at a broad range of prices, why should you spend $23 or $24 on an ounce and a half of Red & Green’s teas? (Before it begins to sound like caviar, remember that tea weighs slightly more than feathers; an ounce goes a long way, and the leaves can be infused several times.) Are you paying for the authentic bamboo or shimmering-aluminum tube in which the teas are packaged, when a cardboard box would do?

Perhaps a wee bit goes to packaging, but this is exceptional-quality tea. You only use one teaspoon of leaves per cup, so think of fine tea as you’d think of fine wine: you get what you pay for. In fact, the canister of tea will last far longer than a bottle of wine. And, by the way, a cardboard box won’t do: airtight packaging is required to safeguard those precious leaves.

Challenging Choices

Perhaps the most daunting task for a tea-lover is deciding what to select from Red & Green’s current roster of 31 teas. When faced with a large number of choices, a normal reaction is to hunker down with the familiar rather than to set sail on a voyage of discovery. Adding to the challenge is that in person, each tea is better looking and more fragrant than the next.

Ti Kwan Yin is the Buddhist Iron Goddess of Compassion; these fine leaves come from 300-year-old tea trees in the Wuyi Mountain, an area known as the goddess’s home. A 76-year-old tea master, famous for his mastery of the processing of oolong, has conserved this tea over twelve years, using a carefully controlled aging and heating process to achieve a startling complex blend of herbs and tobacco leaf, plus some honey on the nose. The palate is more sweetly earthy and leaves, than it is smoky like a Lapsang Souchong or a Russian Caravan. The finish is very long. Every two years the tea is slow roasted for a brief period. At the end of 12 years, it will have been roasted for a total of 80 hours (a regular oolong  is roasted for two hours at the time of plucking and then released to market). To prepare this rare tea, infuse with spring water at a temperature near boiling, and steep for one to two minutes for a light red infusion.

Most oolong teas are roasted for an
hour or so and released immediately
to market. This rare, aged tea is
smoked for a total of 80 hours, bit by
bit, over 12 years!

Aged Ti Kwan Yin has the highest of
cleansing properties of these teas.

It is excellent with a heavy meal; but
like great wines, it can demand
attention on its own, without the
distraction of food.

All tea-leaf photos by Melody Lan.

This fine tea hails from the ancient tea trail area of Xi Song Banga Na, near the border of China and Viet Nam. It bears an “imperial” designation because it was used as a tribute in the Qing Court of the 19th century. Instead of being processed and released to market like most teas, the young harvested leaves are fermented and stored in dry storage for 15 years. This fully fermented tea has a taste with a rich body, vegetal mellowness and an earthy flavor (see detailed tasting notes in the box under the photo). These leaves are not glamorous—they look like the tea leaves most people are familiar with. But the flavor is anything but what most Westerners are acquainted with. To prepare, steep with boiled spring water for two minutes: it will create a familiar bright, cinnamon-red liquor. If you continue to steep, it becomes or dark red-brown, like most black teas.

Pu-er is also sold in the medicine shops
of China, and is highly regarded for its medicinal qualities as a digestive and nerve stimulant. It is considered a
health drink as well as a delicious tea.

The fermentation shows itself as a faint peat aroma but the nose also contains a complex bouquet of dried and fresh herb notes—a nice layering of contrasts that repeats on the palate. There’s a flavor reminiscent of spirulina that will, indeed, remind you of a health drink.

Truly the finest of all white teas, Silver Needle uses only the youngest, tenderest buds, picked in early spring and then processed into an elegant, long needle shape. The silvery-green color is representative of white teas: the young leaves and buds are covered in white down and are baby-soft to the touch. The scent is subtly aromatic, and the flavor is mild, sweet and fresh. The taste of white teas is delicate yet pronounced, with a long, balanced sweetness. They are very refreshing, naturally low in caffeine, and have the highest level of antioxidants of all teas. Infuse for four to five minutes in water that is well below boiling (boil the water and let it cool for a few minutes before pouring it over the tea leaves).

Of the five teas featured here, Silver Needle is the only variety we had tried before. This is an especially fine-quality Silver Needle.

Enjoy any delicate white tea with light foods or by itself.

White tea is a restful and contemplative tea: perfect for after yoga or meditation.

From China’s Yellow Mountain area in An Huei province, this rare and beautiful tea is made from a large, flat leaf almost two inches long and reminiscent of a rare vegetable that would be served at a palace of haute cuisine. After the tea is picked, it is wrapped in gauze, which leaves a beautiful pattern on the leaves. Tai Ping Hou Kwei is the middle quality level between Monkey Ditch and Monkey Hill, two of the world’s rarest teas. Monkey Ditch, which has a red vein in the leaf (Tai Ping Hou Kwei has a red coloration, as you can see in the photo at the right), sold for $20,000 per 100 grams (3.5 ounces) in the October 2005 tea auction in Shanghai. It has an exceedingly fresh, sweet hay aroma and a grassy, green taste: the Sancerre of teas.

Drink Tai Ping Hou Kwei with meals,
like a fine wine.

It may be grassy like a Sancerre, but judging from the auction price, you can equate its costlier sibling, to a rare Burgundy—a case of Romanée Conti,
will cost $20,000 as well.

Wild Ti Kwan Yin tea grows on rocky hillsides at elevations of 4,500 feet and higher, around the subtropical village of Xi Ping in Fujian province. The hilltops are shrouded in mist year-round, and the tea is only picked once a year (most teas are picked in the spring and the fall). This tea is not cultivated commercially but is picked in the wild during the spring. The leaf delivers a peerless intensity of aroma: a green and floral nose, fruitiness, notes of honey, great body, depth of flavor and a long finish. Steep in boiling spring water for one minute. When the leaves are fully unfurled, they looks as if they were plucked right off the tree: just gorgeous!

The exciting aromas and flavors of
this tea demand attention. A golden infusion the color of champagne: drink
it for refreshment and for connoisseur’s
enjoyment.

Tea Notes

• Fine white and green teas should be used within six months. Buy only what you will drink in that time period. Keep the tea stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator.
• To brew loose teas, add one rounded teaspoon per 6-ounce cup. If you like strong tea, you can add more.
• Most teas should not be brewed with boiling water (212°F). Delicate, downy-leafed white teas, and green teas made from young leaves, taste best when brewed at temperatures around 185°F. Black, oolong and pu-er teas are best brewed at temperatures around 203° to 208°F.
• Length of steeping is a matter of individual taste. Tea steeped for 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 minutes has a lighter color and more subtle flavor nuances. Longer steeping (three to five minutes) results in a deeper color and a more pronounced flavor. With the fresh, fine teas above, shorter steeping is recommended. For all teas, over-steeping will result in bitterness from the tannins.
• For more tea tips, click here for articles in THE NIBBLE’s online magazine, and consider purchasing one of the top books like The New Tea Companion (at right), the latest definitive guide to teas throughout the world. We’ve made other book recommendations below.

RED & GREEN COMPANY

Fine Chinese Teas

• Aged Ti Kwan Yin (Oolong)
  1.75 Ounces, Bamboo Cylinder
  $12.00
• Imperial Pu-Er (Pu-Er)
  1.5 Ounces, Bamboo Cylinder
  $12.00
• Silver Needle (White)
  1.5 Ounces, Silver Cylinder
  $14.00
• Tai Ping Hou Kwei (Green)
  1.5 Ounces, Silver Cylinder
  $10.00
• Wild Ti Kwan Yin (Oolong)
  1.5 Ounces, Bamboo Cylinder
  $14.00

Purchase online* at SpringBuds.com
or telephone 1.415.626.1375 during standard business hours, Pacific Time.

*Prices and product availability are verified at publication but are subject to change. Shipping is additional. THE NIBBLE does not sell products; these items are offered by a third party with whom we have no financial or other relationship. This link to purchase is provided as a reader convenience.

Learn more about tea in the Tea Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine...

...and check out the books about tea and the Japanese teapots below.

A bowl of Aged Ti Kwan Yin. Photo by Melody Lan. Below, aluminum canister that holds Silver Needle and Tai Ping Hou Kwei teas (shown with another of Red & Green's 31 teas).