Asha Tea House

darn good tea

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015, China - Qimen (祁門)

We’re finally at our last report about our Spring 2015 sourcing trip to China! Prior to leaving Huangshan (黃山), Yellow Mountain, and visiting Qimen (祁門), we made an attempt to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site to explore the beautiful granite peaks. 

However, when we saw the 2+-hour long wait to get into the park itself (at 8am!), we knew there would be no way we’d have time to properly explore the park.

So we made our way to Qimen, which was about 2.5 hours southwest of Huangshan City. Qimen Black Tea (祁門紅茶), another one of China’s 10 Famous Teas, is produced exclusively in Qimen County. 

Qimen Black Tea is also known as Keemun Black Tea. It was first produced by a man named Yu Gan Chen, who learned of black tea processing in the Fujian Province. Previously, the region had only produced green tea--in fact, Qimen Black Tea uses the same cultivar as Huangshan Mao Feng Green Tea. Qimen Black Tea is one of the few black teas that is harvested early in the Spring, since it uses only the top bud and the top two or three leaves.

Since we had never sourced any teas from Anhui, we had no growers or processors to call upon during our visit. So, as with Mr. Wang at Huangshan, we learned about Mr. Lee through the Internet!

Since it was still early in the season for Black Tea, Mr. Lee didn’t have much tea to process. Typically, these brick containers would be filled with tea leaves. Firewood would be placed beneath the containers to produce and circulate heat to wither the leaves. This also gives the tea a smoky aroma.

After the leaves have been dried and softened through withering, they are rolled using mechanical rollers such as the ones below, in order to break down cellular structure of the leaves to release enzymes. This "damage” to the leaves also triggers oxidation.

The tea would then be covered with a wet cloth, and allowed to oxidize for up to 12 hours. After oxidation, the tea leaves would be transferred to giant heated conveyor belts for drying. During the actual production season, this room would be filled with machines, and processed tea leaves would be covering the floor.

The final step of the process is sorting, where workers hand-pick out the branches, bad tea leaves and other undesirable inclusions).

Mr. Lee’s tea factory is considered a mid-sized factory. Along the road were a few large factories, including the one we visited below. This factory is one of the largest in the area, and it was clear to us why.

The fermentation tanks were enormous!

The factory also wok-fried its tea using electric woks. They even had the tiniest rollers!

Since no one was available to speak with us at this company, we moved on to another large company in the area. This was the cleanest, most tidy factory we visited during our entire Sourcing Trip.

Look at those tiny chairs!

After a tour of the plant (unfortunately, they were not yet processing any black tea), we sat down for a round of tastings of the most exquisite Qimen Black Teas from last year’s harvest with the company’s top executives.

Qimen Black Tea is most recognized for being a main catalyst behind the development of British tea drinking culture. The robust and full flavor pairs perfectly with cream and sugar--it’s no wonder that black tea from Qimen quickly became one of the key ingredients in English breakfast tea blends. When sipped straight, in the traditional Chinese manner, Qimen Black Tea is both bold yet subtly smoky and sweet. 

The Qimen Mao Feng (祁門毛峰), which is made from two leaves and a bud from the earliest Spring or Summer harvest, is the highest-quality version of Qimen Black Tea, followed by the Qimen Hao Ya (祁 毫芽). There are also two versions of the tea that is specifically processed for those who prefer the Gong Fu style of enjoying tea, the Gong Fu version and the Qimen Xin Ya (祁門新芽).

Unfortunately, since it was the end of the day, and the weather wasn’t cooperating (it had been raining all day!), we were not able to visit the company’s tea farms. The factory also hadn’t started harvesting tea yet, so we agreed to visit them again when we return to China for another sourcing trip.

We are considering carrying Qimen Black Tea at Asha, so be sure to check in often to see if we decided to add this exquisite tea to our collection!

This concludes our final post about our Spring 2015 Sourcing Trip in China. We hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventures in sourcing tea, and about the tea industry in China and the origins of the teas we serve at Asha. In case you missed any of our posts, you can find them at our website: http://www.ashateahouse.com/pages/origins. 

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015, China - Huangshan (黃山)

The last stop of our Sourcing Trip was the Anhui Province, home of two famous tea-growing regions: Huangshan (黄山) and Qimen (祁門).

Huangshan, or Yellow Mountain, is one of the most famous UNESCO World Heritage Sites in all of China. It is also the birthplace of one of the 10 Famous Chinese Teas--Huangshan Mao Feng (黄山毛峰) Green Tea. According to legend, there was once a man and woman whose love became forbidden after a lord took the woman to be his concubine. When the woman managed to run away, she learned that the lord had her lover killed. She wept so much over his dead body that her tears petrified his body into a tea tree. If the quality of the tea itself weren’t enough to make it famous, this story certainly helps with its appeal!

Our first stop upon landing in Huangshan was its “Tea Center,” a neighborhood of streets and alleys consisting of numerous tea businesses.

Some business owners were farmers themselves, whereas others were simply merchants.

At almost every shop was a handful of workers picking through the tea to remove stems, flowers and other undesirable inclusions.

There were so many merchants to explore!

Since we arrived in Huangshan before the Qing Ming Festival, all of the Mao Feng Green Tea being processed was considered to be very high-quality and highly-desired. The tea consists of a combination of buds and a leaf, and the leaves have a beautiful down coating.

Mao Feng Green Tea is remarkably balanced, and has a lighter taste than Dragonwell Green Tea. Its vegetal flavors are subtle and inviting, with a long-lasting sweet aftertaste. 

We also came across some merchants that were trying to sell imitation Mao Feng Green Tea. Much like brand name handbags, famous teas are heavily counterfeited in China. In the case of Mao Feng tea, tea leaves from lesser known growing regions to the South and West (where the climate is more temperate) is shipped to Huangshan to be processed into Mao Feng tea. It takes a very discerning eye, nose and palate to be able to identify the counterfeits.

After browsing the Tea Center, we visited the outskirts of town, where an even larger Tea Market was located. This was where independent farmers came every day to sell their tea to brokers, who then distributed the tea to faraway places. It was quite startling to witness tea processed in such large quantities.

After a hearty dinner, we met up with a local Mao Feng tea grower to learn more about the process. We came across Mr. Wang’s online shop while browsing the web for Mao Feng growers. When we got to Mr. Wang’s tea processing factory, we were stunned by what we saw.

Tea was littered all over the factory floor for withering.

It was then scooped up into a trough, where it was tumbled into a heated mechanical shaker.

The shaker was heated by coal, and every time they put more coal into the fire, a plume of smoke filled the air.

The tea piled out of the shaker into a pile, where a small fan awaited to cool it down. Notice how much darker the tea is now that it’s been through several rounds of heating and drying.

To further remove the water content of the leaves, the tea was transferred onto trays and baked in another scorching hot oven.

This process required quite a bit of attention from the worker! We ran out of space to post a video, so please click here to watch the worker processing the trays. After a few minutes in the oven, the tea was removed and dumped back onto the floor.

Our visit to Mr. Wang’s tea factory not only allowed us to see the processing of Mao Feng tea first-hand, but it also reinforced our belief in the importance of knowing the origins of our teas. 

Mr. Wang’s tea tasted like many of the teas we tried at the Tea Center and Tea Market. We could easily have purchased his Mao Feng tea from the Tea Center or Tea Market mentioned at the beginning of this post, but without having seen first-hand how the tea was processed, we would never have seen the unsanitary conditions of his factory! It made us queasy to think that thousands of people would be drinking the tea that we saw strewn about the dirty factory floor. 

We ended up leaving Huangshan empty-handed. Although we learned a lot about the local tea industry from speaking with merchants and growers at the Tea Center and Tea Market, we didn’t have luck finding a Mao Feng tea that was produced with high standards, and of great quality and character. 

Our next and final post will be about our visit to the nearby growing region of Qimen, the birthplace of another one of China’s 10 Famous Teas--Qimen Black Tea (also known as Keemun Black Tea).

Stay tuned!

[ashateahouse]

San Francisco Construction Phase #8: Millwork

Millwork is one of our favorite phases because this is when all the wood comes into the space and warms it up!

Using the same wood species is critical since our space is so small. Our millwork was done by Benchmarc Woodworking. Here’s a shot of the guys bringing most of the wood into our space!

The wood slats would be used to fill out the space all the way in the back of our tea house. The “tea bar” is where we will be brewing our artisan whole leaf tea. Here’s how the back of the space looked before all the tiles went in:

And here are the guys putting up the “sleepers” that the slats will eventually attach to.

And here are the slats going up!

Nail guns are awesome, but loud.

We went back to the site a few days later, and the guys were making good progress with the slats!

They even put up some of the lights! We picked out the lights because they matched the slat design, and also because they reminded us of matcha whisks.

The guys also started putting in the wood on the counter facades.

It’s amazing how differently the space feels with some wood in it! Here’s a shot of Marc from Benchmarc putting in our retail shelves. You can’t see in the photos, but he’s actually rocking some flip flops.

The final product looked pretty amazing.

With all the wood up, the guys got to sanding and sealing.

There’s still a bit of the millwork phase left, but we will cover this in the next phase, since this work will coincide with the other finishing touches for the space.

We are almost there–check back soon for one of our final updates!

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015, China - Wuyi Mountain (武夷山) - Part 2

This post is a continuation of our Sourcing Report about Wuyi Mountain, home of the famous Big Red Robe Oolong Tea.

We had plans to make a trip outside of the park to Tong Mu Guan (桐木关), or Tong Mu Village, the birthplace of Lapsang Souchong Black Tea and Jin Jun Mei (金骏眉 ), the most expensive black tea in China. 

Before we left the park, we took the famous “bamboo raft” ride down the Nine Bends Stream. It was a very foggy morning, but some mountain peaks were visible far off in the distance.

It was also a very cold morning, but many tourists (including us!) were lined up for the ride.

The entire raft, including the seats, was made of bamboo.

And the view was incredible!

Each bend was marked with carvings on the rock cliffs. Here we are passing Bend #5:

And at the same location where our three-wheeled taxi driver took us to the first night we got to Wuyi Mountain. With a view this amazing, it’s no wonder that the Chinese believe that tea grown on these cliffs have special healing powers!

After the ride, we took one last look at the beautiful tea bushes in the park, and headed off to Tong Mu Guan.

Unlike the tea bushes within the park, which were still the deep green color of old leaves, the tea bushes were blooming with fresh, tender leaves in the areas we drove through on the way to Tong Mu Guan.

Tong Mu Guan sits at an altitude of over 1,000 meters, and is located northwest of the Wuyi Mountain Scenic Area. Unlike in most growing areas, tea grown in Tong Mu Guan grows in a semi-wild environment--you would be hard-pressed to find such beautifully-manicured fields as the ones above in Tong Mu Guan.

We passed countless breathtakingly scenic sites on our way up the mountain.

Because of its beauty and biodiversity, Tong Mu Guan and its surrounding areas was made into a UNESCO protected site in 1979. Today, visitors to the village are only permitted to enter when invited by a resident of Tong Mu Guan. 

In our case, it was Mr. Zhang, whose family was allocated their plots of land within the village by the local government many generations ago. 

Included in this allocation were centuries-old wild tea trees that grow deep in the mountains. The tender buds from these trees are used to produce Jin Jun Mei, one of the most exclusive and expensive black teas in China. Only the most skilled tea pickers can carefully pick the buds from these trees, and they must trek at least 2 hours into the mountain to do so!

Lapsang Souchong, also known as Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong (正山小種), on the other hand, has been a part of Chinese history for centuries. There are many stories about the origin of Lapsang Souchong, including processing blunders by novice green tea growers that resulted in a "redder” tea, to a decision by a resourceful grower to recover and sell crop that was ruined by passing soldiers. (More about those stories here and here.) Whatever the origin, this smoky black tea was well-received by the foreign market, and the rest is history.

The photos below show a tea garden at Tong Mu Guan, as well as a path that leads deep into the mountains where old tea trees grew in the wild. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for the 4-hour trek!

After a tour of the garden, Mr. Zhang took us to the very original wooden shed where smoked Lapsang Souchong was first created.

The name Lapsang Souchong is derived from a combination of the local Fuzhou dialect words for pine (“la”) and wood (“sang”), and the word “souchong,” which was used to distinguish large-leaf teas from this region. Technically, the name Lapsang Souchong itself does not refer to the smoked version of the tea--the Chinese would add the word “Yan,” or “smoked,” before the name Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong to represent the smoked version of the tea.

The sheds used to create the smoked Lapsang Souchong typically consist of at least three levels, and are constructed almost entirely out of wood, from the doors to the floors.

It’s a shame that we were too early for black tea production. Walking along these hallways while the tea was processing would have been amazing!

On our way out of the village, we visited the Jun De Tea Factory. Liang Jun De, who is shown sitting at the end of the table in the photo below, is credited with inventing his namesake Jin Jun Mei Black Tea back in 2005. His idea of using only buds to produce black tea created one of the most prized teas in all of China, and Tong Mu Village has recently seen great wealth and fame because of it.

We were incredibly fortunate to have met Mr. Liang and tried his top grade Jin Jun Mei, which typically sells for over $1,500 per pound. 

After Tong Mu Guan, we ventured back into the “Ban Yan,” or half rock area that surrounds the protected scenic area. Tea production is significantly higher in this region because land is plentiful. Most Wuyi Mountain teas actually come from this area, as the demand for Wuyi Mountain teas far exceeds the output from within the Wuyi Mountain Scenic Area and Tong Mu Guan.

To better appreciate the nuances between the taste of Banyan teas produced outside of the prized scenic areas, and the taste of the prized teas that we tried while on Wuyi Mountain and in Tong Mu Guan, we visited our driver’s cousin, Mr. Zhou, whose newly-built factory had only been in operation for one season.

According to Mr. Zhou, there are two methods of roasting Wuyi Mountain oolong tea. The modern way is to use a large electric machine, which results in a more balanced, sweeter tea. The older, more traditional method is to use charcoal, which imparts a more intensely smoky flavor. Since many Chinese smoke heavily and have much less sensitive taste buds, this traditional method is still very popular. 

We also learned from Mr. Zhou that carefully-produced Banyan tea can rival the famed mineral taste of Zhengyan tea. This is because some Zhengyan farmers opted to compromise the quality of their teas for higher yield or lower costs because people will still pay a high premium for Zhengyan tea simply because it’s grown around/on the cliffs of Wuyi Mountain. 

Since night was falling fast, and the roads back to Wuyi Mountain were heart-poundingly windy, we thanked Mr. Zhou for his time and made our way back to Wuyi Mountain.

We have just a few more reports to go from our Spring 2015 sourcing trip to China. Next up on our trip was Huangshan (黃山), or Yellow Mountain, another UNESCO World Heritage Site nestled within another famous tea-producing region, Anhui (安徽). Check back soon for another post!

[ashateahouse]

San Francisco Construction Phase #7: Flooring

Unlike for Asha Berkeley, where we had to grind down the floor for the ADA ramp, the Flooring phase for San Francisco was very simple.

Here’s a photo showing the original floor and empty space.

The guys came in to do a light polish of the floor to remove stains (like that huge black patch in the lower right corner!) and to take out any inconsistencies. The polishing phase was super dusty so we unfortunately couldn’t take many photos.

The floor looks a lot cleaner now!

Another component of the flooring phase was to add a layer of resin to the “back of house” areas where we’ll be making the tea/drinks.

Here’s how the space looked before the resin-ing.

And after!

We hope you’ve enjoyed these construction updates so far. The next phase is the most exciting--Millwork!

[ashateahouse]

San Francisco Construction Phase #6: Tiling

Tiling is one of our favorite phases of the construction process because they give a lot of character to the space.

Marites @ Abueg Morris spotted this beautiful geometric encaustic tile design from The Cement Tile Shop, and we agreed that it would be an eye-catching yet subtle accent for the space.

When the tiles came in, we were surprised by how heavy duty they were. Wouldn’t want to drop any of these on our feet!

Here are a few photos of Gabriel putting up the cement tiles. We were so happy to see how this addition immediately livened up the space!

Look at him go!

We opted for a rotated pattern so that geometric shape on the tiles really popped.

When we came back the next day, Gabriel had already finished tiling both counters!

For the drink station backsplash, we frequented the Heath Ceramics Seconds Store to find a mishmash of neutral-toned tiles to match the cement tiles. After a few trips, some sleuthing and heavy lifting, we were able to put together a nice collection of tiles. (We unfortunately don’t have any photos of us at Heath--we are always too excited about tile hunting to snap photos!)

As for Berkeley, Diana drew up a "random” tile pattern to make use of the seconds/overstock tiles.

And Antonio and Juan did a great job matching the pattern!

Diana even pitched in to help Antonio with finishing up one side of the wall!

And here he is putting the final touches for the little inset.

The column between the walls was the final section that needed tiling. Having so much experience with the two walls, this was a breeze for Antonio and Juan!

The tiles around the column were the last to go in.

We can’t wait to see how the tiles look with all the equipment and woodwork installed! 

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015, China - Wuyi Mountain (武夷山) - Part 1

The next stop on our list was Wuyi Mountain (武夷山), a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the origin of the famous Da Hong Pao (大紅袍), or Big Red Robe, Oolong Tea. Legend has it that of all the medicine in China, it was this soothing tea that revived an emperor’s bed-ridden daughter.

Tea grown within the park boundaries is known as Zhengyan (正岩), whereas tea grown on the mountain, but outside of the park boundaries, is categorized as Banyan (半岩). Zhengyan tea gardens are located within the national scenic park and are impeccably well-maintained despite the enormous daily influx of tourists. The cliffs of Wuyi Mountain give the soil a mineral rich quality, which is reflected in the taste of the tea. The locals call this Yan Yun (岩韻), or “rock aftertaste.”

We got to Wuyi Mountain just before sunset. Our hotel happened to be right around the corner from a bridge that crossed into the park, so we got to capture some photos of the famous cliffs before it got dark.

We also hailed a sanlunche (三輪車), or “three-wheeled taxi,” to take us into a scenic area of the park. The scenery was breath-taking!

Our taxi driver, upon hearing that we were at Wuyi Mountain in search of a potential new source for Big Red Robe, excitedly exclaimed, “My family grows tea! I must take you to them,” and offered to take us to his family home to try some tea. In China, taxi drivers get commission for bringing tourists to businesses, so we knew that our driver was not in any way related to that family, but we entertained the possibility of making a new connection.

First, he took us to a tea garden within the park so that we could where Zhengyan Big Red Robe is grown. It was starting to get dark, so we couldn’t take many more photos.

Then he dropped us off at his “relative’s” house. Because of the millions of tourists that visit Wuyi Mountain each year, selling the famous Big Red Robe tea is big business--so big, in fact, that some merchants purchase tea from other growing regions and process them to look and taste like Big Red Robe while claiming authentic origins. 

We had no way of confirming the authenticity of this family’s tea, but we knew that it would be best to avoid businesses that targeted tourists, so we had a cup of tea and excused ourselves to explore the town.

The downtown area was filled with artisan tea ware and tea shops (most of which unfortunately did not allow us to take photos inside).

There were so many quaint shops!

After a very local dinner, we met up with a friend that we had met on the bus from Zhenghe (政和) to Wuyi Mountain. He was from Wuyi Mountain, and had a few friends in the tea business. When we asked his friends if they had followed in his parents’ footsteps, the young 25-year-old business owner responded that in Wuyi Mountain, tea is what we do!

The next day, we woke up bright and early to take a stroll around the park. Signage wasn’t very good in the park, so we boarded a bus at random and got off at the first stop. 

Which happened to be the Tian You (天游峰) “Heavenly” Peak! Just 828 stone steps to the top!

Even though the tea harvesting season was still about a month away, the park was already extremely crowded. And even though signs clearly indicated that the path up was one way, there many tourists trying to make their way down the steep stone steps.

The view along the way was incredible.

According to the UNESCO website, Wuyi Mountain is possibly the largest and best-preserved areas of humid sub-tropical forest in the world. Staring at the lush vegetation surrounding the Nine-Bend Stream (九曲溪) and the famous cliffs below, we could not agree more!

And the many photographers with portable printers at the top were ready to snap photos of tourists that felt the same way.

But, we had our own camera!

At the base of the mountain was a small tea farm with the best view in the park!

Our next stop in the park was the Big Red Robe scenic area, where the very first Big Red Robe trees originated. Only three of the original tea trees were still standing (picture to come).

Here are some tea bushes growing at the case of the cliffs.

And ones growing up on the cliffs themselves!

The steps were pretty steep and especially slippery in the rain, but we tried to get up high in the mountain for a good view.

There were also much smaller steps in the middle of the terraces for the tea pickers to navigate up and down in the middle of the terraces.

Back down at ground-level, we could see that the buds and leaves on the bushes were just starting to peak out, providing a vivid green contrast against the older, deeper green leaves.

The park is a must-visit for anyone visiting this Big Red Robe tea-growing region!

Tea seems to grow everywhere in the park, and yet there doesn’t seem to be enough to satisfy the demand from tea lovers!

As the day drew to a close, we made our way to one last site, the Water Curtain Cave. But it was completely dry, even though it had been raining all day. Looks like it’s not only California that has a drought!

After a day of sight-seeing at the UNESCO World Heritage site, and getting to see all of the tea bushes and the very original Big Red Robe tea tree, we headed back to our hotel for a warm meal.

We still had 1 more day in Wuyi Mountain, and would be spending that day exploring new sources for Big Red Robe! Check back soon for Part 2 of our Wuyi Mountain Sourcing Report!

[ashateahouse]

San Francisco Construction Phase #5: Painting

This phase is especially exciting for us since the space started out as a blank white canvas. Somehow, despite the countless indiscernible shades of white that Benjamin Moore offers, we were able to pick some colors for the space.

Diana and Marties from Abueg Morris based the colors off the tiles that will soon be installed onto the site (more on tiles later!).

We settled on Dune White for the interior, Cloud White for the restroom and storage room, and Iron Mountain for the exterior.

The guys got the paint going on in no time!

Hard to tell the difference when you paint a white space another shade of white... but at least the back space looked noticeably different!

The color of the back space isn’t quite as critical since it will eventually be covered by a decorative wood element, so we used Iron Mountain there as well.

They had to get up high to paint the top of the box!

And do a little touch-up in the storage room.

This is how our exterior looked when we first found this space:

And here’s how it looks with the Iron Mountain makeover! Stands out much more and looks less warehouse-y now.

With the rough painting done, the guys moved on to the flooring and tiling phases. Stay tuned for that update--it’s one of our favorite phases! :)

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015, China - Zhenghe (政和)

Did you know that we have been traveling internationally to source tea for Asha since Spring of 2011? Direct sourcing allows us to pay our respects to and to learn from the growers themselves, because it’s how we gain insight into the nuances of the business/agricultural environment of the tea industry, and because it’s the only way that we can see for ourselves that our partners uphold the same standards about high-quality, honest and sustainable agriculture.

But direct sourcing, especially in China, is really, really hard. In India, tea is grown in large, well-established estates. In Japan, the tea industry is as sophisticated as any other industry in the nation. And in Taiwan, the small size of the country and our familiarity with the island make sourcing less daunting. But in China, the tea industry is as inaccessible as it is prolific (China produces more than 1.5 tons of tea annually).

Until now, our Sourcing Reports have reflected the success we’ve had in seeking out and partnering with responsible and respectable growers. This one will be about how we almost weren’t so lucky in Zhenghe (政和).

Zhenghe is a 3-hour bus ride from Ningde (寧德), where we met up with Mr. Fu. We started the day with high hopes about discovering new teas for Asha.

The ride between Ningde and Zhenghe seemed promising enough--the sides of the highway were literally lined with tea farms. It seemed like growers were growing tea anywhere they could fit a bush!

Then we arrived in the city itself. And could not find a single tea store/shop (except for one store that sold a medicinal herbal tea supplement). We could not understand how a city that was surrounded by tea farms had no establishments that sold tea!

In fact, it felt like the city was stuck in a rut compared with other cities caught up in China’s economic boom. It felt like the city and its citizens were content with going about their daily lives as they’ve always known how, with minimal concern for developing and keeping pace with the rest of the nation.

Even when we found Mr. Yeh, who owns a black tea factory, we were surprised by how little he had to say about the tea industry in Zhenghe.

Mr. Yeh then took us deep into the countryside to tour his factory, which had been dormant since the last harvest season.

Here’s a shot of the racks used to wither tea leaves to remove moisture.

And the rolling machines that are used to give black tea its characteristic twisted shape.

Mr. Yeh’s factory solely processes tea--he does not grow any of the tea himself. Despite being a vast growing region, the growers in Zhenghe do not process their own teas, but instead sell them to processing companies like Mr. Yeh, or brokers that transport these teas hundreds of miles away from their origin (more on this later, when we report on our trip to Wuyi Mountain).

When we asked Mr. Yeh to take us to a farm that he buys tea from, he gestured to some fields across the way, but did not offer to take us there. We’ve met many tea business owners and growers during our travels, and this was our first time encountering someone that wasn’t at all enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge and experiences. Mr. Yeh’s lack of motivation mirrored the impression that we had of Zhenghe. The city should be thriving because of its tea output, and Mr. Yeh should be striving to improve his business by expanding its reach--but neither seemed to want to grow.

But what if our impression of Zhenghe was wrong, and our slightly demotivating experience with Mr. Yeh was an anomaly? Still hanging on to the hope of discovering the “real” Zhenghe tea industry, we started the next day with a renewed sense of purpose.

Our first stop was a bamboo wares company with a manufacturing site just outside of the city center that we noticed on the way to Mr. Yeh’s factory. If there's one thing that seemed as prolific as tea in Zhenghe, it was bamboo!

We made a few notes of tea boxes and tea trays we wanted to buy for Asha, then asked the receptionist if she knew where we could find tea. 

Again, to our surprise, she hadn't the faintest idea about where to find tea, even though the city was surrounded by tea fields. After consulting with a few coworkers, she directed us to a nearby city that they THINK grew tea. "There is a bus that you can board across the street. It will take you there."

Since we had no other leads, we boarded the first bus that came along, and hoped we would not be stranded in the middle of nowhere. We don't have any photos from inside the bus since it was dark and cramped, but the 15-min bus ride wasn’t too scary. The bus picked up anyone that waved them down, and the fee collector miraculously remembered who was going where and when to tell them to get off.

However, as we feared, we were let off in the middle of nowhere.

But we could spot tea growing on the hillside at the end of the road, so we headed up the hill. After some wandering, we spotted some tea pickers!

When one of them took a break, we tried to flag her down to ask about where to find a tea company, but she walked briskly away before we could elaborate.

After wandering for another 1/2 hour and ready to cut our losses, we miraculously stumbled upon a tea company! All of the buildings were unoccupied, but we found one with tea withering inside.

Then, serendipitously, the President of the company drove in as we were heading out the gates. So we sat down for a cup of black tea with Mr. Yang. Unlike Mr. Yeh, Mr. Yang’s family did actually own their own tea farms.

Mr. Yang purposely grows his tea deep within the mountains because of the better air and soil quality. Because his tea is grown in higher-elevation mountains, there is no need for fertilizers and pesticides, which must be used in farms like those along the highway that are more exposed.

On our way to one of Mr. Yang’s farms, he stopped to show us why the soil in this area of the mountain was uniquely advantageous for tea. Clay soil is desirable for growing tea because it is able to hold more moisture, and offers plants a stronger foundation to survive harsher weather conditions. His tea farms were blanketed in snow just a few months before our visit.

The area around Mr. Yang’s tea farm was so serene!

And their garden was breath-taking.

Because of the remote location and high-elevation, the tea plants did not need extra fertilization or pesticides. A layer of moss served as an additional protective barrier.

The following photos do not do the scenic tea fields any justice.

While looking out into Mr. Yang’s tea fields, we felt very thankful to have literally stumbled upon Mr. Yang’s company in the small town outside of Zhenghe. Our experience with Mr. Yeh the day before had left us feeling demotivated about finding new teas from Zhenghe, but meeting Mr. Yang today and seeing his business up-close was rejuvenating. We were happy to find that there was at least one family trying to grow Zhenghe’s tea industry--to not only be content with growing or processing teas, but to tackle on the challenge of seeing the process through from start (growing) to finish (selling).

Buds and leaves were just starting to peak out.

After a tour of the farm, we drove to the site of Mr. Yang’s new factory. Some equipment was already set up, but the site was definitely a long ways away from producing tea.

At this point we checked our phones and realized that we needed to leave immediately to catch our bus to Wuyi Mountain (武夷山). Traveling in this large country is no easy feat so we said our goodbyes and headed out! 

Earlier, we had cupped some intriguing teas with Mr. Yang, including a Zheng He Silver Needle White Tea (slightly more robust in flavor than our current Silver Needle) and a few Zheng He black teas. Although we had a very educational experience with Mr. Yang, the jury is still out on whether we will carry his teas at Asha.

Thank you for reading this long post. Stay tuned for our next post about Wuyi Mountain (武夷山), home of the famous Big Red Robe (大紅袍) Oolong Tea!

[ashateahouse]

San Francisco Construction Phase #4: Drywall

Drywalling, or sheetrocking, is another messy but necessary phase of the construction process. This is when they put up the “walls” of the space. Because our space started out very blank and plain, it didn’t look very different after drywalling, but as you know from our blogs up until now, a lot has happened!

Remember how the back space looked with all the plywood?

Here’s how it looks after the drywall! (Not quite an apples to apples comparison, but you get the point.)

And here’s the rest of the space!

Now we just need to close up some of the holes in the roof...

And patch up the drywall seams to get the walls ready for painting!

The counter walls also got some drywall treatment. Those things have a lot of equipment to hold up and will get pretty beat up over time, so they have to be solid.

For Asha Berkeley, the next phase was flooring. But for SF, the next phase is painting. Stay tuned for more construction updates!

[ashateahouse]

San Francisco Construction Phase #3: Rough-ins

The Rough-ins phase is one of the longest and least-glamorous phases of construction, because almost everything is getting put in behind the walls. But it’s also the most important since it sets up everything that we need to get our space working–electrical, plumbing and structural.

To put in all the electrical conduits, Juan had to tear apart the ceiling. Can you spot the conduit snaking up from the ground to the ceiling?

Here’s another shot of the conduits running through the ceiling. These are for the pendant lamps and spotlights that are needed to light the space. You can’t tell from this photo, but Carlos is WAY up there on that scaffolding.

Power has to be routed to the space itself as well.

And all of that gets routed to this electrical panel!

Which looked much better a few days later.

Meanwhile, in the basement, the guys were setting up the pipes that will route water to our sinks and machines. Can you spot the copper pipes?

Here’s how they look above ground, built into the die wall that will soon be transformed into our drink station area.

And here are some pipes running along the back wall. Lots of water needed to make tea!

Here’s a shot of David inspecting the pipes to make sure the water is routed correctly.

And this is what we mean by rough-ins being not-so-glamorous. Weeks of electrical and plumbing work and not much seems to have changed to the space.

The structural rough-ins really made a difference though. Here’s a video we took of the space a few days later. Putting up the plywood takes a lot of time, so it’s a good thing these guys had some catchy tunes to listen to!

The plywood walls for the back area started coming together shortly afterwards.

Before each board was installed, Carlos had to measure out the specific locations for each electrical J-box. Their measuring process didn’t seem particularly precise, but the boards fit perfectly!

Special props to this guy for being able to hold up each board (over 80lbs!) using his neck…!

Now that the stuff behind the walls were all done, and the plywood walls were up, it was time to fill in the rest of the gaps with drywall/sheetrock. Stay tuned for an update on Phase #4!

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015, China - Ningde (寧德)

After visiting our friend Chris in Fuzhou, we made our way to a small town close within the Ningde (寧德) prefecture. This is where th Fu Family grows and produces Asha’s Silver Needle White Tea and House Jasmine Green Tea. 

We headed out bright and early, but due to construction along the highway connecting Ningde and Fuzhou, what was supposed to be a 1.5-hour drive turned into a 4-hour detour through the countryside...

Since we had no idea how long the detour would take, and since Mr. Fu was waiting for us in Ningde, we couldn’t stop to take photos of the picturesque countryside. But, here is a video of us speeding (law-abidingly) by some low-elevation tea farms. We recommend putting the volume on mute since the wind noise is VERY loud...

We finally made it to Mr. Fu’s farm in the late afternoon! Mrs. Fu greeted our travel-weary group with a hot cup of freshly harvested and processed green tea. A few tea bushes sprouted much earlier than the others, so the Fu’s plucked the leaves and made a small batch of first flush tea to preview what this Spring’s harvest will bring.

Watching the tea leaves expand and dance around the cup is always a nice treat!

Mrs. Fu then took us on a quick walk up to their farm, which, at a modest elevation of roughly 800 meters, overlooks their small town.

Looks like the tea leaves are almost ready to be picked!

Mrs. Fu plucked a few for us to look at up close.

These tea leaves are used to make Jin Guan Yin (金觀音), or Golden Goddess, a sister tea to the famous Tie Guan Yin (鐵觀音), or Iron Goddess, oolong tea. Can you see the little white hairs on the back of the leaves? 

The Fu Family has been in the business since the 1850′s, and own one of the largest plots of land in the area--over 1,500 acres!

Back at the factory, we sat down for a chat and another cup of hot tea with Mr. Fu. He explained his family’s long history with this town, and how their tea farm came to be so large. In China, there is a strong focus on long-term businesses, so business owners always look to expand their business as much as possible before passing on what they’ve built to the next generation. Now Mr. Fu’s son helps run their tea retail outlet in the nearby city of Ningde.

Since there wasn’t any tea processing going on yet, we made plans to receive samples of this years’ upcoming harvest, then left to explore the town. The Fu’s factory is at the edge of town, and easily recognizable by the wall of stored wood in the back.

Since it was close to dinner time, the town was bustling with activity!

As night fell, we made our way to the main city of Ningde. Next on our list was a visit to the city of Zhenghe (政和), where we hoped to find some new teas for Asha!

[ashateahouse]

San Francisco Construction Phase #2: Framing

Next up is framing! During this phase, the guys put up metal studs to support the structures that have been designed for the space.

Here’s a shot of the space before the studs went up. That’s David and Paul in the corner, going over the plans!

Look at all that metal! It’s kind of incredible how much stuff goes behind the walls.

We let the guys do their thing, and when we came back a few days later, we were stunned by how quickly they had already framed up the back half of the store!

Here’s a photo of us looking up at the framing.

And a photo of us with our Asha swag :)

But we were getting in the way of them building the die walls for the front counter so we left them to their work.

And here’s how that die wall looked a few days later!

The guys will finish up framing in the next few days, and then move on to Phase #3, Rough-ins. This is when they start putting in the electrical and plumbing connections--the life lines for our equipment!

We will report back once the rough-ins are complete!

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015, China - Fuzhou, Fujian (福州, 福建)

After Hangzhou, we made our way down to Fujian (福建) to meet up with an old friend and to learn more about the teas that the region had to offer. We already serve quite a few teas from this region at Asha--Lapsang Souchong (正山小种) Black Tea, Big Red Robe (大红袍) Oolong Tea and Silver Needle (白毫銀針) White Tea, to name a few—but have yet to find sources for many others, like White Peony, or Bai Mudan (白牡丹).

Our first stop was the city of Fuzhou (福州), a central gateway to the tea growing regions of Fujian. To the north is Fuding (福鼎), a coastal town famous for Silver Needle. To the west is Wuyi Mountain (武夷山), renowned for smoky dark roasted oolongs like the coveted Big Red Robe. Finally, in the south is the fabled region of Anxi (安息), where Iron Goodess, also known as Tie Guan Yin (鐵觀音) Oolong Tea, originated.

After spending the past couple of days in the countryside, we felt a little odd walking around such a vibrant, bustling city.

We were in town to visit our friend Chris, a London native who founded Min River Tea in 2011 (shortly before we met him) after spending many years developing his Chinese language skills and learning about all the teas that the Fujian region had to offer. He has since moved on to being the caretaker for his two incredibly adorable sons, but still made time to show us around. After a delicious local lunch, we meandered through downtown Fuzhou towards Three Lanes and Seven Alleys (三坊七巷), a well-preserved neighborhood of ancient residential dwellings.

The Southern Street served as the main artery from which various lanes and alleys branched out.

When we stepped off into one of the alleys, it felt like we were being transported back in time to the days of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Except when we came across some less-well-preserved homes!

As the rain shifted from a slight drizzle to a fierce downpour, we stumbled upon a beautiful tea house, which coincidentally shares a Chinese character with Asha’s Taiwanese name!

Having just spent a few days learning about Yixing clay pots from the artists themselves, we could not help but admire the massive collection at Ben She (本舍). Each teapot was hand-picked by the owner himself!

The teas were also unique and of high quality, and the servers were remarkably knowledgeable about tea, given their young age! Not only does the owner teach them about the teas (which he sources himself), but they also take classes about tea. Exquisite interior design, curated tea collection, highly trained staff--it was apparent that the owner put a lot of thought and care into his business. If only we had the chance to meet him!

After our chat with Chris about the state of the local tea industry, we made plans to visit the neighboring towns of Fuan (福安) and Zhenghe (正和). Even though we were too early to witness the Silver Needle harvest, we wanted to pay a visit to our supplier Mr. Fu in Ningde (宁德), and were excited about the possibility of discovering a new and unique black tea in Zhenghe.

We will post more about those trips later, so stay tuned!

[ashateahouse]

San Francisco Construction Phase #1: Demolition

Demolition is definitely one of the more exciting but also nerve-wracking parts of the construction process. It’s exciting because it means that we are on our way to building out our dream space, but also scary because you never know what to expect when you start tearing things apart.

In case you missed our “We’re opening in SF!” post, here is a photo of what the space looked like at the very beginning, minus a few holes we cut out to see what’s behind the wall.

The guys from Greentree got right to work as soon as we got the job permit from the City of San Francisco.

The existing walls looked really nice and pristine... but we discovered that there was about a foot of usable space on each side of the walls, and wanted to gain as much square footage as possible... so we had to tear it all down!

It didn’t take too much time for the walls to come down.

It got pretty dusty with all of the sheetrock coming down, so we didn’t take many photos during the process.

But the space cleaned up pretty nicely!

Our next post will cover Phase #2: Framing--stay tuned!

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015 - China - Hangzhou (杭州)

Visiting the Chen’s was the main reason we headed towards the Dragonwell tea-growing region, but because we had a little time to spare after our visit, we made our way to Hangzhou (杭州) to visit the famous West Lake (西湖) Scenic Area where Dragonwell originated.

Located in the southwest section of Hangzhou city proper, the city’s tea-growing area is both expansive and impressive. The most famous region is Lion’s Peak, of Shi Feng Mountain (獅峰山). We wound our way up to Long Jing (龍井) Village, nestled deep within the mountain, to admire the scenery.

We made a few stops along the way up. First, we came across a large group of ladies picking leaves from small bushes close by the village of Meijiawu (梅家坞). They were all very friendly, and even approached us to have their photos taken.

The sun was quickly setting but they were all still very hard at work. Made from the first buds and leaves of the season, Pre-Qing Ming Dragonwell tea is high in demand both nationally and internationally.

Can you imagine how much dexterity is required to pick those tiny buds and leaves from among all the other tea bush leaves?

The tea pickers, lovingly referred to as “ayi” (阿姨), empty their baskets often to prevent the leaves from being crushed by their own weight. 

The scenery grew more and more beautiful as we drove farther up the mountain. Since Hangzhou is a known tourist destination because of its tea production, all of the tea bushes were impeccably maintained. The sun was setting quickly, so we did not get a chance to climb up into the hills, but the view from the bottom was breath-taking enough!

We saw some tea pickers leaving, and knew that we needed to hurry off as well.

As we pulled into Longjing Village, we understood immediately what we had heard about the negative impact of Dragonwell’s fame and fortunate on the village. Immediately after we stepped out of our car, a local lady scurried up to us and quipped, “Do you want to buy Long Jing tea? My family grows our own tea. Come with me and I will show you this years new tea!” 

We knew that prices in the village were so inflated that only tourists and the Chinese elite are willing to pay this premium--prices start at thousands of RMB--so we politely declined, saying that we were only here for the view. (In fact, we were so flustered by her aggressiveness that we completely forgot to take a photo of the actual village itself when we got there!)

There was a tea garden in the center of the village, and we hurried up the steps to try to catch a glimpse of the view before the light faded. The lady followed, saying, “I’m just here to make sure you are okay, don’t worry about me!” She eventually stopped tailing us as we climbed higher and higher.

It was incredible what a difference a few hundred steps made! 

Since the sun had already set by this point, we took one last look at the trail up the mountain ahead, and made our way back down. With a view this picturesque, it’s no wonder why so many tourists flock to Hangzhou every day!

Down below, the village streets filled with a sea of tea pickers that were finishing up their shifts and stepping out for an evening stroll. Lights flickered on as people poured in and out of open doors of stores that doubled as restaurants and homes, and families sat around enjoying a home-cooked meal, some tea and a smoke.

We took a different path down the mountain, but when we re-appeared onto the village streets, a familiar voice shouted out, “How was the view? Want to try some tea?” Talk about persistent!

Although we really wanted to try Dragonwell while we were in its namesake village, we knew that we would be hard-pressed to find an honest tea grower/merchant. In addition to the inflated price of Dragonwell from this village, another thing to be wary about is whether or not the tea is even authentic! Just as luxury purses are counterfeited, famous teas like Dragonwell are also often copied. Many producers, even ones in the Longjing Village itself, will purchase tea leaves from other parts of China, process them into Dragonwell, and brand them as the renowned local product. 

Since we already have a trusted source for our Dragonwell, we took one last stroll around the village, and headed off to dinner.

[ashateahouse]

Sourcing Report - Spring 2015, China - Zhuji (諸暨) - Part 2

We are back in the US, now serving this year’s freshly picked and fried Dragonwell Supreme Green Tea!

In our previous post, we discussed the art of hand-frying Dragonwell. In today’s post, we discuss an alternative method for processing this delicious green tea.

Machine-frying takes place in two steps: first, a mechanical flattener flattens the leaves using a spinning cylindrical arm that reminded us of childhood carnival rides.

The first machine is completely automated. Mr. Chen pours a batch of tea into the hopper, and the machine automatically pre-portions the amount of tea to be processed, then drops it into the bin. After the specified flattening time has passed, the machine then releases the tea automatically into the tray.

Below is a photo of tea in the hopper, waiting to be portioned.

And here is some portioned tea! (Note: The variation in color of the tea leaves is due to lighting & shadows within the room)

The video below shows the automatic feeding in action. Watch the video closely or you may miss it!

Watching the arm circle around was oddly hypnotizing.

After the tumbler, a heated shaker is used to further remove the water content of the leaves. This second machine requires some manual adjustments since Mr. Chen needs to closely monitor the temperature of the leaves and adjust the shaking speed to ensure that the leaves do not overheat.

We seem to have hit the video limit for this post, so click HERE to see the shaking up close in action!

As Mr. Chen diligently ran the machines (it takes roughly an hour per batch), we wandered back uphill to watch Mrs. Chen sort the green teas.

It never ceases to amaze us how much manual effort goes into processing these green teas. Not only are the leaves picked by hand, but each batch is weeded through by hand to sort out the bad leaves and other undesirable inclusions.

Again, we were in awe of the bright green color of the leaves, and could not help but take copious amounts of photos.

As with the pan-frying process, it was incredibly peaceful watching Mrs. Chen and their worker sort the leaves. All we could hear was their soft-spoken dialogue in their local dialect, and the sound of wind passing through the tea bushes and chestnut trees. It’s such a stark contrast to the buzzing hum of city life.

After sorting, the leaves are put onto a rack to air wither overnight. Two baskets in this rack show the leaves in various stages of withering. The photo below shows leaves that were picked one day ago. It’s amazing how much of their vibrant green color is already lost after just one day!

The leaves in the bottom tray had only been withering since earlier that morning, and were visibly more green. What a difference a few hours makes!

In the next room, Mr. Chen was finishing up the frying. After removing the teas from the shaker, Mr. Chen went outside to shake out the bits/crumbs that formed during the tumbling and shaking.

Here is a photo of the finished product!

There is definitely much less color variation among the machine-fried leaves. Here is a close-up of the hand-fried leaves for comparison.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of hand-fried (left) vs. machine-fried (right) Dragonwell. Can you tell the difference?

By this time, we had spent almost the entire morning and afternoon with the Chen’s. Our visit gave us a deeper understanding of the Dragonwell harvesting and frying processes, as well as a greater appreciation for this tea. It’s amazing how much manual effort and craftsmanship is dedicated to creating even just the little bit of tea that we made during our visit.

We are very honored to serve the Chen’s tea at Asha, and hope that you have enjoyed learning about where our Dragonwell (Long Jing) Green Tea comes from, and about the family that has made it their life’s work.

Before we left the Chen’s, we visited another one of their tea fields. This one was just as remote as the tea field behind their home--it was one of the first times we actually saw blue skies in China! 

We took one last view at the small tea buds and leaves, and bid Mr. Chen’s son goodbye.

Come by Asha soon to try this wonderful tea!