I’m so excited for the first day of my Tea Master/Sommelier training. I brought my ONO to-go tumbler ( I never leave home without it), my bag of Awakened Buddha and I was ready to start my training. Training is from 9-5 so I will not go into full detail about everything in this blog. I will include links to other blogs soon.

I met Tea Master Chas and we were ready for an intense tea session.  I was so pleased to find out that he and I had the same vision for the tea industry. He also believes that through tea education, we will be able to reduce the incidence of harmful, life-threatening diseases, increase people’s energy, and enhance their lifestyle. He gave me an overview of the history and production of tea then we began to taste some awesome teas. I will go into more detail on the history and production of tea in a later blog.

Tea is a big part of many cultures around the world, some with elaborate ceremonies and rituals.

Blessing the teapot

For untold centuries, Asian cultures have had ceremonial tea rooms where the art of drinking tea became an absolute way of life.  How to conduct a tea ceremony is not difficult, however, the steps to assure the finest tasting tea is very exacting, and if done properly you can extract the finest flavor a tea has to offer. In my training, we used the Chinese Gongfu Method to brew our teas. Japanese Tea Ceremonies can be several hours long and requires a kimono, beautifully arranged flowers, incense, ceramics.  The Chinese Gongfu method can last up to 2 hours, but there are mini-versions that made it possible for us to do several tastings per day. I learned the traditional Gongfu method and actually performed a ceremony. The coolest part for me was blessing the teapot and learning about the laughing teapot.  I will go into more detail on tea ceremonies in a later blog.

Lets get started! We can’t taste great tea without having the proper brewing device. For the tastings we used Yixing teapots. The Yixing pots (made from iron, quartz and mica) absorbs the delicate flavors of the tea and the teapot becomes more seasoned with each use. Therefore, we had to have one for white and green teas and a separate one for oolong and black teas. Since I hate washing more utensils than I need, I prefer the ONO pyrex teapots because I can brew a green and then a black tea and vice versa without worrying about the flavors being absorbed. Plus, ONO teaware is heat resistant, microwave, dishwasher, and stove safe!  Another thing I love about ONO teaware is the the fact that it comes with a filter to infuse the tea. You will have to buy a separate filter for the Yixing pot or not filter the leaves at all.

Lets get to the tastings! We tasted green teas from various parts of the world but the ones that stuck out were the Dragonwell and Sencha teas. It was really cool to find out that teas can be handpicked (the orthodox method) or machine picked (CTC – Crush Tear Curl Method).  Most tea connoisseurs are not very interested in CTC tea, since this process does not allow for the careful treatment that high-quality leaves merit. But CTC has an important and legitimate role in the tea industry. Because it is a mechanized process, it allows for the rapid processing of a high volume of leaves which otherwise would go to
waste. It is also good for producing a strong, robust flavor from leaves of middling quality; in fact, for many varieties of leaf CTC is the preferred processing method.

Another awesome green tea we tasted was matcha. Matcha has powerful antioxidant properties and is so interesting to make! In addition to providing trace minerals and vitamins (A, B-complex, C, E, and K), matcha is rich in catechin polyphenols – compounds with high antioxidant activity. Matcha contains, by volume, higher concentrations of catechins and vitamins because when you drink matcha you ingest the whole tea leaf. Traditionally, a tea master will measure the Matcha with a chashaku (bamboo spoon) and place it into a chawan (serving bowl). Hot water is added and the mixture is whisked with a chasen (bamboo whisk) until you see fine bubbles. Only the finest tea buds are hand picked. It takes one hour per mill to grind 30 grams of Matcha! Check out the recipe I created with Matcha tea. Read more about Matcha in another blog soon.

Next we tasted some great whites, oolong and pu-erh teas. White teas are always so refreshing to me and has little to no astrigency. Itasted a really great one from Kenya that I will carry in the upcoming ONO Puri-tea program.  I thought that was pretty cool that Africa is starting to produce some quality teas. Now onto oolongs and pu-erh teas.  Like regional variances in fine wines, soil, integrity, humidity levels, genus and asrtisanal skill all leave their imprint on tyhe delicate leaf. Formosa is one of the finest growing areas for oolongs, where the conditions are perfect. We tasted a toasty flavored, stemmy Formosa Oolong and an refreshingly floral hand rolled Oolong. Both teas had a silky-smooth texture, great balance, and a flavor that lingered in the mouth long after the tasting.

Pu-erh is definitely a unique tea with complexity, however, this tea is not for those who are new to tea. While most teas are best consumed soon after production to retain both their flavor and anti-oxidant value, Pu’erh can be aged and refined like wine. I will write a blog on the similarities of tea and wine soon. Pu-erh undergoes a fermentation process where microbes act on the tea leaves over time, causing the leaves to darken and the flavor to change, becoming smoother. I tried an Ancient Pu-erh that was aged 5 years deep in Yunnan’s mountain caves. It had an earthy taste, rich red color, and a light mustiness that is very consistent with pu-erh teas. To compare, I also tried a young pu-erh but didn’t really care for it.  It wasn’t as earthy as I liked and the flavor profile was too light.  I’ll explain more about Pu-erh tea in a later blog. There is so much to know about Pu-erh! Get ready for Day 2!

Tags: sommelier, tea, tea master, training