Delivering a tea seminar to OWO

I was invited to deliver a tea seminar to the Ohio Women Organization. The topic I gave was:

On the Aesthetics of Tea Arrangement 茶席的美學

(details forthcoming...)

Pawpaw Sandwich

September is the month of a feast on autumn wildness tastes! Persimmons, Eastern Black Walnuts, and yes, the Pawpaws are some of the mother nature's gifts I'm gratefully accepting. Well, certainly you have to "search" for them, as they will not show up in the market. The discipline is, however: Don't take too many. You won't have time to process (and digest) them all at once if you come to be too greedy.


This morning, I made pawpaw sandwich, another way to enjoy this locally grown but exotic in taste fruit. I call it Vegan Butter!



This fall, I found a six-fruits-in-one - They are multiple fruits produced from a single flower! This really looks beautiful and interesting. It is said that "pawpaw fruits often occur as clusters of up to nine individual fruits." (source)

It's hard to describe the taste of pawpaws... To me, it's mango but no acid; banana but more fragrant; persimmon but not that sweet; pear but with custarda... A serious reader might want to consult the web sources and below are a few pages to begin with. However, if you are really serious about pawpaw, you should consider attend the Ohio Annual Pawpaw Festival!

• Pawpaw Fruit Facts
• There's one flaw in the pawpaw
• Ripe pawpaw fruit video

......

Morning glory

I love morning glories! and I'm particularly in favor of those purple or blue ones. They just add a wonderful refreshment in the morning, really. These are a light blue variety I found at roadside, Beijing, when I was traveling to there last month. The color is just so touching!



One thing about morning glories is that they are so modest in nature, and they thrive everywhere there's decent light and moisture. The trumpets of beauty sing the glory of the sun.

This dark purple one is in my patio. I took this picture a day after coming back from Beijing -- it's still in the season of morning glories!

Siddhasana problems

The importance of Siddhasana (Siddhāsana) does not need to be repeated here. One benefit in practising this asana is openning the hip joins, which is a prerequisite for Padmasana and other lotus postures (such as Ardha Baddha Padmottanasan). Some say that this seating posture is easier than Padmasana for in Siddhasana, you don't have to put the feet higher on top of the opposite thighs as required in Padmasana. In fact, it only looks easy but not so especially for beginner like me. Specifically, I find the following difficult points in siddhasana practice.

• What is the right position of the inner or lower foot? Should it be placed right below the perineum, the groin of the opposite leg, or touching the pubic bone of the same leg side?
• What exactly is achieved in terms of hip joint opening in this posture? In other words, what range of motion is improved?
• The relation of the (male) genitals to the two feet, and related concerns?

Reference

• Siddhasana Perfect Pose or Accomplished Pose
• Importance of Asanas
• Advanced Siddhasana

Lecture on Chinese Tea Culture

I gave a lecture (with demonstration) on Chinese Tea Culture which is in the series of "China in a Global Context" hosted by the Institute for Chinese Studies, the Ohio State University.

The Way of Tea to be presented on 2010 Ohio Chinese Festival

I have accepted, with honor, an invitation to perform "The Way of Tea" (茶道 or "Tea Ceremony") at the 2010 Ohio Chinese Festival. Not only I'm going to demonstrate the traditional way of tea, but also I intend to introduce some easy but proper ways of enjoying tea on a daily base (in other words, occassions such as when you are working at your office, or on the way to go).

Session I. Tea in the Way of Tradition (Modified Kongfu Cha style)
Here you will see how teas are prepared and shared with friends in a more traditional manner. Such an event is called a Tea Gathering (茶會/茶席). Aesthetics is revealed through the communication with tea, tea wares, and with people. Calm down and awaken your mind in the dialog with tea! We are demonstrating something called "modified kongfu cha" style. As the name applies, we will use tools adopted in the 功夫茶 kongfu cha traditions, but with add-ons and changes.

Session II. Tea the Easy Way
Tea is not only for leisure. Tea is first a healthy beverage. But the point is how to drink tea in a healthy way! We will bring some modern tea utensils designed for convenient tea making. These utensils are widely available at the market. Using these tools, we can enjoy a cup of tea any where any time, and receive the health benefits of tea with ease and with grace! Improper manners of tea making and some heath concerns in tea drinking will also be discussed.

A Green in the Name of White

It's been a while I have not reviewed any teas seriously... but this doesn't mean that I'm out of teas. In fact, I keep getting new teas, many of which are gifts from friends, like this one I'm trying today.



This a tea named Fuwei Bai Cha (富伟白茶) or Fuwei White Tea. The word "bai" means white. But, a look on the dry leaves revealed to me the truth that it is actually a type of green tea. And to be specific, it is a type of green tea in the category of chao qing (炒青) or "roasted green" so to speak. You may get confused for why a green tea is named white tea? To decode the "white" part in the name, we have to take a look on what it really means by "white" in the terminology of current industry as well as its historical meaning.

The terminology white used in "white tea" is ambiguous. It refers to two different entities: (1) The color of the tea leaf which is "white" or pale green, or is ivory colored (when the leaf is young) -- this is probably the original meaning; and (2) The "simplicity" in the process of the tea leaves, which means merely letting the leaves wither and then dry and pack them up.

In today's tea industry in China, among the five types of tea named by colors [1], it is in the second sense mentioned above that the White Tea is definied. An example of White Tea in this system is Bai Mu Dan (白牡丹) or White Peony.

In the ancient time (especially in Tang and Song Dynasties), White Tea is definied differently from that of the modern tea industry. It is more straight forward referring to the color of the leaves, and has nothing to do with the processing method. A tree that grow "white" colored leaves is considered a specialty. The taste of the tea made out of the white tea tree is said to be supreme [2]. In the ancient time, the procedures in tea manufactury is way more complicated than today's.

Back to today's tea. I did a small online research and found out that this tea is in one of the series of new products developed in the last couple of years, noticeably all from the west region of Lake Tai (太湖). Tea growers there claimed that they have re-discovered the ancient "White Tea", because they found a type of tea tree growing in mountains there which sprouts unique ivory colored leaves, similar to that described in ancient tea classics. And therefore, they call it "White Tea." Obviously, this naming has a great marketing purpose!

However, the tea is processed in the method of green tea. Therefore, by definition of modern tea industry, this type of tea is still a green tea. One of the most polular products in this series which has made a big marketing success is Anji White Tea (安吉白茶).

A search for the manufacturing location of this particular product I'm reviewing today results in a neiborhood of the Anji White!



In conculsion, we have been dealing with three types of "white tea" so far

1. White Tea in the ancient sense: a special type of tea tree that grows white leaves. In Song Dynasty, teas are manufactured into tea cakes, and grinding the cake into tea powder is required before it can be consumed.


2. White Tea in modern Chinese tea industry: tea leaves are picked and let withered simply by itself (without shaking or twisting as that in the process of Yellow or Oolong teas) and dried (under the sun or by heating); light fermantation occurs during the process of withering.


3. A type of green tea called "white" in name only! Picked from a special type of tea tree that grows white leaves, processed in the manner of green tea, which means zero fermantation!

Now comes the actual review part....

The tea is well processed, the package looks nice, too. The dry leaves are flat in shape -- could be a major difference from Anji White which are not flat. The color is also more greenish in comparison of Anji's dull green. I made four infusions, the first one is done in the manner of throwing leave onto hot water (上投), which means you first pour boiling hot water into the gaiwan, and then throw the leave onto the water and let them slowly infused into the water. This is the way often employed for green teas of tender leaves. I used 4g of dry leaves to suit my 120cc gaiwan.




The taste is pretty decent as for a good green tea. It presented a little astringency which you will not experience with Anji White. Usually, astringency indicates the tea possesses less amino acid but more poly phenols. To me this is a good news, because more poly phenols means more EGCGs or the antioxidant element.

The spent leaves demonstrate the tea's specialty for which it is named: the pale greenish with a tone of ivory!


Notes

[1] The five types of tea are: Green Tea, White Tea, Yellow Tea, Oolong Tea (or Greenish Black), Black Tea.
[2] The supreme quality of White Tea is described in a Song Dynasty Tea Classic 《大觀茶論》.

Bibliography of Extended Readings

On 易經 Yi-jing (I-ching), The Classic of Change

• 易學今昔/余敦康 广西师范大学，2005
  -- 分析中國儒道思想天人合一, 自然主義與人文主義的中道

訪自在雅集-Animitta sabda gandha

Literature review on tea culture and tradition

明代几种茶书成书年代再补 / 安徽农业大学中华茶文化研究所 丁以寿

Materials for research on the tea mthods reflected on 2 scroll paintings

傳為初唐閻立本的《蕭翼賺蘭亭圖》今存世的有兩卷, 一藏於遼寧博物館, 另一藏於台灣故宮博物院. 據學者考證[資料?]此二均宋代的摹本, 其中遼寧博物館所藏的是北宋摹本, 台灣故宮博物院所藏是南宋摹本.


遼寧博物館所藏


台灣故宮博物院所藏

Literature review

李豔婷 遼博本《蕭翼賺蘭亭圖》作者考辨(天津美术学院学报 2007年第3期)

浩更 《蕭翼賺蘭亭圖》重現唐代煮茶風情(文化交流 2008年第5期；又转载于拙风文化网) -- 論點可質疑處頗多

Pine needle motif on Japanese tea wares

The first time this motif caught my eyes was when I bought a tetsubin with kanji 松風(wind through pine trees) on one side and some "strange" design on the other. At that time, I wasn't sure that the needle like leaves are pine needles and the fruit like thing is a pine cone. Later on I learned that this motif is called 松葉絵 matsu-e(drawing of pine needles). Sometimes, pine cones, called 松ぼっくり(松毬), are also accompanied.

Two things we can learn from this motif. First, as the pine leaves are depicted not on branch but as separate pairs of needles, this motif indicates the season to be late autumn, when the pines shed some leaves on the ground. The falling leaves, just as the falling of sakura flower in Spring, give a sense of the transient beauty. Second, as the needles are paired, or in fascicles of two, we can tell that the dominant pines trees in Japan are probably those similar to Red Pines or Scots Pines in Europe. Or, at least these are the pines that caught the artists' eyes...

The following are a few more examples of the pine needles motif on Japanese tea wares. Note the first one, a tea caddy, has both needles and pine cone, similar to the tetsubin. The second one, a red tea caddy, has bamboo leaves and plum flowers -- thus it makes another popular motif Sho-chiku-bai (松竹梅 pine-bamboo-plum), or Saikan Sanyuu (歳寒三友), literally, "the Three Friends of Winter."





This is a 松葉絵銘々皿 (matsuba-e-meimeizara; "meimeizara" are small plates for individual helpings of food) and it has a more realistic depiction of the pine needles --

CCTV program features "drinkable antique" - old fine Puerh tea

CCTV now has a "Myths of sky-price" series, and one of them is the "Drinkable Antique (能喝的古董) - myths in old fine Puerh teas":

-- I'm trying to embed the video here, but it only ended up with a link! -- anyone can help me?? (Before I figure it out, you have to copy & paste this link to the address bar to watch the show. Sorry!)

标题:[走近科学]天价之谜（二）能喝的古董(2009.02.24)
URL：http://space.tv.cctv.com/video/VIDE1235490488700888

Bibliography and Reference

Source - scriptures

• 茶道古典全集 / 淡交社


• 中國歷代茶書匯編校注本 / (香港)鄭培凱、(浙江農大)朱自振

Works - individual studies (texts in Chinese)

• 宋代茶法硏究資料 Sōdai chahō kenkyū shiryō / 佐伯富編 Saeki Tomi hen


• 宋代茶文化 / 沈冬梅 學海出版社, 1999 (Minguo 88)


• 茶与宋代社会生活 / 沈冬梅 [in 中国社会科学博士论文文库] 中国社会科学出版社, 2007


• 中国贡茶 / 巩志浙江摄影出版社, 2003


• 明代茶文化藝術 / 廖建智 Taibei, 秀威資訊科技股份有限公司, 2007 [9789866909399]


• 明代茶酒文化之研究 / 廖建智 Taibei, 萬卷樓圖書, 2005 [9789577395283]


• 明代茶业经济硏究 / 刘淼 汕头大学出版社, 1997 [9787810362078]


• 诗化的品茗艺术: 从唐代茶诗看唐代茶艺 / 李新玲 农业出版社, 2008 [9787109128835]


• 茶与现代养生 / 范晓清 主编 人民军医出版社, 2007 [9787509109335]

(texts in English/bilingual)

• Tea, wine and poetry : Qing dynasty literati and their drinking vessels = 詩酒茶情 : 清代製壼名家遺珍 / 宋緖康 [et. al] Hong Kong : University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, 2006 [9789628038381]

Journals

• 福建茶叶[季刊](OCLC51674101)


• 农业考古/江西省社科院(OCLC62606234)

宋明雅士文化Intellect's life of Song and Ming Dynasties

• 《遵生八笺》


• 《考槃余事》

關於香

• 《香乘》

Playing the Song Dynasty Partaking Tea Method

Step 1


Step 2


Step 3

Freshman Seminar Course Proposed

A proposal for teaching a Freshman Seminar course in 2009 Autumn Quarter titled

"Introduction to Chinese Tea Culture"

has been submitted. If accepted, this blog will be developed to integrate class content, readings, online reference, and discussion topics.

高麗青瓷茶碗 Korai Seiji Chawan

This is a tea bowl of Kourai Seiji (高麗青磁 Korean Celadon) made in around 130 years ago. It has a small but rather tall foot, which makes it a cute looking. The tall foot, called koudai (高台 tall-stand), is a feature of tea bowl intended to provide a comfortable hold of the bowl when hot tea is made inside. The crackle glaze (ao hibi 皸) is attractive, and almost invisible raised decorative lines can be found around the lower body, on both inside and out.

My first bowl of whisked tea in a new raku-yaki

A kuro raku-yaki (黑樂燒) tea bowl is usually used for koicha (濃茶) or "thick tea" in Japanese tea ceremony. However, I'm experimenting the Sung Dynasty style of whisked tea with a deep appreciation of the wabi (侘) teawares developed in Japan. With that in mind, the first tea execution with Ai-oi was in usucha (薄茶) style, or as I would call it: dian-cha (點茶)!




It was nighttime, and rainy and chilly outside. I held the bowl this way so I could see both the pale green froth inside and the red glaze flowing on the out-wall of the bowl...


then I drank the tea to the bottom! The special design at the inside bottom allows remaining liquid to be collected there, thus it projects another fascinating scene!

One thing that I was missing is a ceramic ewer for pouring hot water...

Ai-oi - A Raku Tea Bowl by Ko-raku

I just acquired a Rakuyaki (楽焼) tea bowl. The artist is Koraku (光樂).



It caught my eyes the first second I saw it, and I believed I was looking at a great master piece of a Raku ware, specifically, a Kuro Rakuyaki or 黒楽焼. The seller revealed that this bowl is made 40 years ago. A famous monk named Gensei Miyanishi, the superintendent priest of a Rinzai (臨済) temple, signed the wooden container box and gave the name Ai oi (相生) to this bowl. The meaning of the word Ai oi is rather ambiguous - as it is always for an Eastern mind! One way to render it could be "(the two) living in harmony." However, the Japanese seller gives "wooden root is divided into two truncks"! and therefore, suggests that this teaware is best to be used in Spring season.

Myōan Eisai (明菴栄西), the founder of the Rinzai School of Zen in Japan during 12th century wrote the famous 喫茶養生記 Kissa Yojoki, Treatise on Tea Drinking for Health. That was the oldest tea specialty book in Japan.

A similiar item by the same artist can be found being bid currently on Yahoo Japan (for 15,000円).

(茶道具　黒楽茶碗　光樂造　銘　庵の友　箱書　表　桐共箱)

5 Oolong Teas (2): Dahongpao

As Bill mentioned in his comment on my last post, there was a confusion whether the container marked by him as "1980's Dahongpao" is indeed a Dahongpao, or not?! "When I had placed the tea in the container, I was abrubtly taken away to attend to another matter. As a consquence, I forgot what I had given you!" Uh uh...

But, is this a problem? Not for me. My strategy is to test this tea with a benchmark, a real Dahongpao that I bought at Malian-dao, the biggest Tea shopping center in Beijing, last summer!

COMPARING THE DRY LEAVES


(1980's dry leaves)


(2007's dry leaves)

Smelling
Yes, it is very important to smell the dry leaves -- this will reveal a lot of information: How the tea is processed and stored; where it came from; and together with the shape of the leaves it often tells what the tea IS! My Dahongpao releases a rather strong tosted and pleasant aroma; Bill's is much lighter, which made me think that it must have gone through a long period of dry storage; but my nose still tells me that this is not a Dancong or a Oolong from any other region. It is of Wuyi. The leaves of these two tea also bear quite a lot of similiarities.

STEEPING & SLURPING

(1980's infusions 1 to 5)


(2007's infusions 1 to 5)

The 1980'S
There is a saying "天下茶喝膩了還有武夷巖茶" or "if one is sated with teas he can still resort to Wuyi Rock Tea"! The beginning of the 1980's infusion was pleasant, though I could sense a slight oxidization taste in the liquor. It is a kind of stopping-ness on the tongue, especially on the upper part and two sides. Also, the color of the liquor went out gradually but noticeable. Upto the 5th infusion, the color became much lighter than the first three infusions. [Comments] A good and aged Wuyi Rock Tea. It won't last many infusions, before the drinker is getting satiated with his tea!

The 2007's
I wasn't as much paying attention to the tea as in the test of the 1980's. At the 3rd round, I was distracted by something else and when I returned, the liquor already became quite dark! And as a consequence, I guess, the 2007's got exhausted quickly after that as well... The tea tasted no sign of oxidization, just its spent leaves could tell below. [Comments] A good beginner's Wuyi Rock Tea.

COMPARING THE SPENT LEAVES

(The spent leaves of the 1980's from Bill)


(The spent leaves of my 2007 Dahong Pao)

Many leaves are still greenish in the 2007's; in contrast with the 1980's complety aged look ---