“Bai Yai” camellia sinensis assamica tea tree at Doi Mae Salong, Thailand

Though north Thailand has only recently, after the import of selected Oolong tea cultivars from Taiwan in the 1990s, begun to earn itself a reputation for its tea production on the international stage, tea had already been harvested, produced and consumed in the country’s mountainous north with altitudes up to 2000m hundreds of years before that, even before the area became a part of the old Siam, the country nowadays called Thailand.

The Camellia Sinensis Assamica tea species has been growing wild in the form of trees in most south east Asian countries for centuries. Already at the time of the old Lanna kingdom, the various ethnicities settling in north Thailand, mostly mountain tribes people that have moved here from the north (e.g. Yunnan) used to collect the tea leaves from the trees that used to (and still) grow dispersed in loose bunches in various places across the northern Thai mountains, particularly in the nowadays provinces of Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son. However, though all of them collecting the same kind of tea leaves, the different tribes had different traditions of processing them, influenced by the traditions of each individual tribe, the places the different tribes had been coming from, and the individual experiences gained during generations of collecting and processing tea leaves.

Wild assamica tea trees near the Thai/Burma border in Mae Hong Son province

Though the production of green tea was the prevailing method in those times, the processing methods varied regarding drying and heating procedures, in particular the production of post-fermented tea produced in a way similar to Pu Errh tea can be tracked back for many decades, e.g. with the Shan ethnicity (see Shan Tea). This tea was drank by the extended tribal families after a hard day’s work on the fields or hunting in the forest, sitting around the fireplace with a big iron kettle on the same, in the middle of the central room of their traditional bamboo and wooden shacks. Actually, when visiting a more remote northern Thai mountain tribe village today, we can still see that same old scene today. In other places, though, the development of road networks, along with the ensuing arrival of electricity, television, and finally the internet, has changed not only the appearance of the shacks (having changed to what we would call houses), but also the old social habits, so altogether the appearance of an extended family sitting around that fireplace with that tea kettle in that bamboo or wooden shack might have become a rarer one today.

During the 1960s and 70s, the opium poppy held its victory march over the area known as the Golden Triangle, and for a while also dominated the agricultural activities in north Thailand’s main tea province, Chiang Rai, home to a range of settlements established in a most recent “migration” wave, namely that of the Chinese Kuomintang army and its baggage during the 1950s. However, when the cultivation of opium poppies and drug production and trade were outlawed and banished starting from the 1980s, and tea was suggested as a suitable cash crop alternative, especially the new Chinese settlers, who had been playing a key role in the outlawed trade, started getting back to those old assamica tea trees and took up a more commercial production of green, and now also Oolong tea from the leaves of those old trees native to north Thailand. In and around the Chinese KMT settlements, such as Doi Mae Salong, they no longer collected the tea leaves only from the wild growing trees, but also started cultivating the plant in tea gardens. It is common today to let the trees grow to a height of ca. 2m only, cutting them back on an annual basis, in order to maximize the formation of new branches and thereby leaves, leaf tops, and the yield altogether, and keep them easy to harvest.

“Bai Yai” assamica tea tree in a tea garden at Doi Mae Salong, north Thailand

Supported by the Thai Royal Development Project, they were enabled to bring their tea to the greater national and even parts of the international market. After the import and introduction of selected Taiwan Oolong cultivars in the beginning of the 1990s, however, the teas produced from the assamica trees more or less lost the center stage to the new teas yielded from those fine and internationally reputed Oolong tea cultivars. Due to the relatively large leaves of the assamica tea trees, compared to those of the Taiwanese cultivars, tea growers in north Thailand started referring to the native assamica species as “Bai Yai” (large leaf).

Indeed, there are times I am thinking ‘maybe theses teas are just too cheap to be bought’, and I need to admit that I have repeatedly been playing with the idea of significantly raising their price, only to see, whether that would help. But that might just not be the right approach. These teas, namely our ShanTea, our DMS Bai Yai leaves green tea, and our DMS Bai Yai leaves Oolong tea, are often referred to as “good everyday teas”, and that is surely something they are, however, just recently having re-discovered a fancy for those teas myself again, I find there’s definitely some more to them than just this benevolent, but nevertheless somewhat belittling “everyday tea” attribute.

Freshly harvested tea leaves from Bai Yai assamica tree, drying in the sun

There are many different approaches to judging a tea’s quality, but one that is quite omnipresent in relevant online and hard copy literature about tea is the potential for multiple infusions. O-tone is ‘the more infusions you get from a green or Oolong tea, the better quality the tea’. Now, judging to that standard, north Thailand’s assamica derivates actually even beat some of their Taiwanese cousins. If you prepare ShanTea the proper way, as you would prepare a Pu Errh tea, with very short infusion times, you will end up with virtually countless infusions! I once made it to ten, which was when I gave up, though not, because the tea leaves in the pot would not have produced another tea, but rather, because I just had drunk enough tea for the time being. Similar things can be said about the assamica “Bai Yai” green leaves tea from Doi Mae Salong: even if prepared in the Western way, with infusion times of 2 minutes and more, it will produce 3 – 4 full infusions, with none of them being any less worth it than the one before. The DMS “Bai Yai” Oolong tea, with 2-3 full flavor infusions is only very little behind that.

Then, ‘good taste – bad taste – better taste’? Taste, as we could say, without taking a risk, taste is always a question of taste. It is true, I do not think of the assamica “Bai Yai” teas from north Thailand as “fine” teas. Rather, I think of them as “honest” teas. They work much better than the mild Taiwan Pouchongs,  when it comes to drinking tea to get you through long work hours, or if you are up to giving your taste buds a simple, but unambiguous, and if you want so less subtle impression. When people start describing the taste of these teas, they will often use attributes like “earthy”, or “grassy”, all centered around the element “earth”,  once more hinting at that character of “honesty” that I can’t help relating to this tea in my mind. It might in fact be just this honesty of taste that has contributed to the image of a “good everyday tea” even more than the social roots of its consumption here in Thailand or its comparably low price.

So, really, these are GREAT teas, and sure, why not ‘everyday’? But if these teas used to be drunk by common folk such as tribes people, field workers, and people, who make a living as hunters and collectors in the forest, and if you can even today buy them from the petty cash, does that make them any less precious? In fact, sitting in my (arguably) middle class environment in Chiang Mai, and enjoying a few good pots of ShanTea, knowing that the filling will last all night, I indeed get a sense of tasting the life, the work and the sweat of these people, who used and use to drink this tea in north Thailand, in my own cup. This, I think, the ability to create or reproduce a whole world just out of aroma and taste, is indeed one of the greatest virtues (say: qualities) a tea can possibly have to offer.

A “Siam Summer Dream”

DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls/Roselle Hibiskus Tee mit Orchideen

I need to admit, since I am personally rather a fan of pure Camellia Sinensis tea and its numerous green, Oolong and black tea variations, I usually rather don’t pay much attention to efforts of “impurifying“ the same by adding herbs, fruit or spices to them in order to create hybrid infusion beverages. In fact, I even feel enticed at times to belittle the thousands of existing „tea“ blends with their notedly imaginative names with an attitude that might be not too far away from arrogance.

DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls /Rosella Hibiscus, drei Mischverhältnisse im Test

Not that I wouldn’t appreciate the involved herbs and ingredients themselves: one the one hand, herbs native to Thailand, such as Jiaogulan, Safflower, Mulberry leaves, Roselle Hibiscus or Chrysanthemums all have their surely justified place in traditional Chinese medicine, on the other many of them generally please the human palate, without anything being wrong with this.

Black Tea (DMS Black Pearls)/Roselle Hibiscus Tea Blend 3-Ratio-Experiment

When I recently, in the context of a project to add a range of new herbs (in their pure form) to our offer at Siam Tea Shop, engaged myself in the degustation of Rosella Hibiscus infusions, my first thought was “Summer Ice Tea”, and the second thought that came to me was “this would surely taste great mixed with black tea”. That second thought just kept lingering around, and so one day I found myself sitting in my garden, surrounded by some kilos of Hibiscus flowers, a 200g bag of DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls, a precision scale, a set of small (aroma) cups for parallel degustation, a mixing bowl, three large tea cups to prepare the different samples, and my beloved little glass tea pot, and eagerly took on the task of creating a blend of DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls and Roselle Hibiscus blossoms, not without being driven by a good measure of curiosity after all.

Black Tea/Rosella Hibiscus Tea Blend Experiment 3 Ratios – “Tea is Ready”!

Well, the individual steps of my base experiment can be reconstructed on the basis of this article’s picture illustrations without the need for many words. It may be mentioned that as my end result, a preparation of 5g Jin Xuan Black Pearls mixed with 2g of Roselle Hibiscus leaves on 250 ml of water after an infusion period of 5 minutes does not only produce my best result so far, but also an extremely delicious one that can optionally be enjoyed hot or as ice tea, with or without sugar.

Black Pearls/Rosella Hibiscus Dry Mix

In the mix, each of the two ingredients gives up a good part of ist individual identity in favor oft he new creation. Tart and bitter components of the black tea taste fall by the wayside. What is left of the Black Pearls is the wonderful „median”, sweet range of tastes that is typical with the enjoyment of this tea in its pure form, which combines and unites perfectly with the slightly sour taste of the Roselle Hibiscus, reminiscent of dog rose and lemon, in the blend, now named “Siam Summer Dream” because of my perceptional associations during the stages of experimenting and degustation. The resulting tea beverage is refreshing and invigorates the human senses, making it a perfect iced refreshment drink for hot summer days out in the garden, daily enjoyment from the home fridge, or as a pleasant hot tea beverage at any time of the day.

DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls/Roselle Hibiscus Tea Garden Impression

Admittedly, busying myself with tea in this new and so far unfamiliar way has really been fun, while at the same time providing me with valuable insights in the old, often underrated art of creating tea blends. And though, at the end of a long day of sampling numbers of different blend variations (mixing proportions, blend/water ratio, infusion period) of Jin Xuan Black Pearls with our Rosella Hibiscus, I do look forward to a good pot of regular pure Oolong tea, I am still convinced that I will not only get back to this new tea creation of mine at numerous occasions in the future myself, but that „Siam Summer Dream” tea will also find its good friends in the Siam Tea Shop customer and fan community.

Herbal/Black Tea Blend
DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls / Rosella Hibiscus petals
soon at

Siam Tea Shop

Four Seasons like Spring

What is actually the story behind the “4 Seasons”? A question that inevitable arises in every tea lover’s mind when first encountering  4-Seasons Oolong Tea, may this be in word and picture or in the cup, either in transient form, soon forgotten and arising anew only with the next encounter with this tea, or manifesting as a nagging knowledge gap that pushes for closure.

The Four Seasons Oolong cultivar, a still relatively young tea variety, is one of the best-known and most popular results of the Taiwan Oolong Tea Research and Development conducted in the second half of the 20th century.  The project, initiated by the Taiwanese government in 1926 in form of the Tea Research Institute of Taiwan, and transformed into practice in the 1970s in form of a series of development stations, focused on the optimization of certain properties of some of Taiwan’s several hundreds of years old Oolong tea varieties. The central idea with the development of the Four Seasons Oolong Tea cultivar was to unite the special taste and aromatic characteristics of rare Taiwanese highland Oolongs with other desirable features such as comparably high climate- and altitude-indifference, as well as a high resistance towards pests. The goal was to be able to make greater available areas utilizable for the cultivation of high quality teas, to increase the yield by enabling the plants to produce several harvests per year, to avoid the necessity of pesticide use, as well as a generally high and consistent tea quality.

And this is how the 4-Seasons-Oolong got its name: Si Ji Chun in English translates to “four seasons like spring”, and means that Four Seasons Oolong tea can be harvested 4 times a year on a quality level equal to that of the spring season, while the year’s first harvest is generally considered as the best one for the typical teas of this region, and subsequent harvests are usually characterized by a quality decline.

DMS Si Ji Chun 4-Seasons Oolong tea in Chinese Gong Fu Cha preparation

The basic idea is obvious: the higher yield will earn the grower / producer a higher return, cushion the impact of the factor “rareness” in the pricing for Taiwan’s top Oolong teas and thereby make the same affordable for a broader basis of tea lovers worldwide . Moreover, whether originally intended or not, Taiwan this way managed to make its tea cultivars an export product, an option that Thailand should make use of starting from the 1980s in the context of the Thai Royal Development Project, in a bid to identify suitable cash crops to replace the illegal opium poppy cultivation in the country’s mountainous north.

While some of the Oolong tea cultivars originally developed in Taiwan soon fell into oblivion again, others, among these the Si Ji Chung Four Seasons Oolong, managed to establish their names in the list of Taiwan’s top Oolong teas. No surprise: Si Ji Chun 4-Seasons Oolong tea is an absolutely unique tea! There is simply not other Oolong tea, whose taste is even somewhat close to that of the Si Ji Chung Four Seasons Oolong in terms of taste, while the potential of 4-Seasons Oolong tea, with up to 10 infusions and more (using the Chinese Gong Fu Cha method) further contributes to establishing this tea among the Taiwan’s, and thereby Thailand’s top Oolong teas.

In terms of taste, the Si Ji Chun Four Seasons Oolong, by standard processed to an only lightly fermented, rather still near green Oolong tea, is a rather hard to describe tea, because its unique aromatic profile, depending on dosage, water temperature, and infusion period / number of infusions, shows an extremely variable bandwidth. While with a rather moderate dosage and a water temperature around 80°C for the first three (tendentiously short: 1 ½; 1; 2 min) infusions, the 4-Seasons Oolong is characterized by dominantly floral, partially grass-/weed-like taste notes, which from the 4th infusion on are complemented by creamy-buttery taste components, the tea develops quickly a certain astringency with higher dosages and hotter water temperatures. When preparing Four Seasons Oolong, most passionate friends of this tea will be keen to allow this astringency to a certain point, and quasi “cultivate” it, because they particularly value the way these dominant floral aromas unwind, differentiate and intensify in it, and on the tongue combine with “earth” and a light bitter-sweetness to, what ultimately defines the difference to a green tea and highlights the typical character of lightly oxidized Formosa Oolong teas. The typical ethereal aftertaste, reminding on essential oils, is perceived as extremely pleasant and remains lingering for hours in both mouth and throat. However, our DMS Si Ji Chun 4-Seasons Oolong tea’s most astounding and somehow baffling characteristic is the taste and aroma potential it offers, and which often makes just one tea pot load to an evening-filling event with an arguably endless series of infusions, whose exact number from some point nobody cares counting anymore.

If you like to try Si Ji Chun Four Seasons Oolong tea yourself once, simply click on the link below:

Buy DMS Si Ji Chun Oolong tea in Siam Tea Shop

Know-how Export to Thailand

Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12 in a tea garden on Doi Tung, North Thailand

Taiwan looks back on a centuries old tradition of tea cultivation and processing and is known to tea lovers worldwide for its widely diversified portfolio at fine Oolong teas, ranging from only lightly fermented Pouchong Oolongs to the highly aromatic Ti Kuan Yin Oolong teas. While tea from two indigenous tea varietals had been enjoyed as a beverage in Taiwan already from the 17th century on, missionary monks by the end of the 18th century brought, along with the Chinese Oolong tea tradition, new tea plant varieties from the Wuji mountains in China’s Fujian province to Taiwan, where with time, and driven by both natural and human influences, they developed into a range of Oolong teas that today are considered as characteristic for Taiwan’s tea tradition. So, besides the above mentioned teas, Oolong teas such as the Dong Ding or Oriental Beauty Oolong enjoy a high reputation among tea connaisseurs.

Doi Tung Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17, open wet leaves

Recognizing the potential of the local tea industry, the Taiwanese government in the beginning of the 20th century decided to purposefully promote the development of Oolong tea varieties, and in 1926 established the Tea Research Institute of Taiwan. The institute’s work in the 1970s culminated in the setup and operation of a range of experimental stations, so-called “Taiwan Tea Experiment Stations” (TTES), where a series of Oolong tea cultivars were developed in a targeted manner on the basis of the institute’s scientific research results. Center of these efforts was the improvement of the tea plants’ characteristics in regard to taste, yield, pest resistance, as well as the adaption of each cultivars to an individual set of geological and climate conditions. The result was a range of cultivars, many of which have the number of the respective experimental station as a part of their name. While some of these cultivars seem to have passed into oblivion again, others made their way and managed to establish their names amongst the world’s finest Oolong teas.

Taiwan cultivar Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17 from Doi Tung, North Thailand

Now, what does all that have to to with us and our teas from North Thailand? Simply spoken, Thailand owes the rise of its tea industry and its arduously conquered entry on the world map of tea for a good part to the above described Taiwanese efforts of developing Oolong tea cultivars with defined characteristics and requirement profiles. When the Thai Royal Development Project in the 1980s identified tea as a possible cash crop to substitute the opium poppy cultivation by ethnic minorities (Chinese, different mountain tribes) in Northern Thailand, experts of the Tea Research Institute of Taiwan were brought in to determine, which of the Taiwanese cultivars would be best suitable for north Thailand’s geological and climate conditions. This way, a number of cultivars one after the other finally made it to North Thailand, where they have been successfully cultivated, and where they meanwhile have developed their own northern Thai profile. Typical representatives of these cultivars in north Thailand are Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12, Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17 and  4 Seasons Si Ji Chun Oolong tea.

Ruan Zhi No. 17 / Jin Xuan No. 12 / 4-Seasons Si Chi Chun Oolong teas

In regard to taste, theses typically firmly rolled teas cover quite a broad spectrum: while the Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17 impresses with its fine honey-like sweetness, earthy taste notes are dominating in Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12, and the  4-Seasons Si Ji Chun, whose name means as much as “four seasons like spring” and which can be harvested 4 times a year in spring-like quality, pleases the palate with a creamy, buttery aroma and a lightly tart grassy undertone. All three cultivars are typically processed to only lightly (10 – 20%) fermented Oolong teas, with the Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12 marking the upper limit, the Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17 being quite in the middle range, and the 4 Seasons Si Ji Chun Oolong being quite close to a green tea in terms of its oxidation level. All three cultivars are extremely pest-resistent, therby making the use of pesticides widely redundant, a basic requirement of the Thai Royal Development Project, taking strict orientation in the principles of an organic tea cultivation. Another criterion in selecting these three teas was the average altitude of North Thailand’s cultivation areas betwen 800 m and 1200 m, as well as their adaptiveness to the local climate, characterized by a hot and dry period, a hot and humid, and a cold season, when damp and cool fog lies over the mountains and tea gardens of North Thailand.

DMS 4-Seasons Si Ji Chun Oolong tea in Gong Fu Cha style preparation

While the Ruan Zhi No. 17  cultivar is also perfectly suited for being processed to green tea, the northern Thai tea industry today greatly benefits from a particularity of the Jin Xuan No. 12, namely its capacity for the processing to black tea: DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls, a tea resembling a mild and fine Darjeeling, while standing in the tradition of Chinese “red” teas (“red” tea in China = black tea according to western definition), since its introduction in 2011 has conquered a bestseller position amongst the top northern Thai teas, and, due to its great reputation running ahead of it and the unforgettable taste experience that is inevitably connected with an degustation, has already gained cult status now.

You will find more detailed information about these as well as other teas imported from Taiwan to north Thailand, such as our Dong Ding Oolong and our Beauty Oolong tea on our page dedicated to the individual teas

 Teas from Thailand

 You can buy and try these and more teas in our

 Siam Tea Shop

 where we offer you exclusively hand-picked top qualities, which we source directly on site from a few selected and controlled producers. Our relevant producer partners are smaller family operations in Doi Mae Salong and Doi Tung, to which we maintain longterm and good personal relationships, in order to be able the reserve the best for you that northern Thai tea cultivation and production have to offer.

How black is it, really?

Almost 2 years ago, in the beginning of 2011, when I first introduced the (just “invented”) black tea from North Thailand, the “tea world” initially responded with the same skepticism that I had not been able to completely suppress myself, when my producer partners in Doi Mae Salong proudly announced the news.

Now, said skepticism is typically being history in just that very moment, where our DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls first meet one’s taste buds, a rule that does not only apply to unprejudiced tea lovers, but equally to tea newbies as well as die-hard fans of classical black tea varieties such as Assam or Darjeeling. In the meantime, the Doi Mae Salong Shi Er Black Pearls have blossomed to one of the most popular bestsellers in the SiamTeas tea portfolio, which we do not only sell to our tea fan circle at Siam Tea Shop, but also successfully to dedicated tea retailers across the world (well, nearly), namely in the US, Australia, Sweden, Czech Republic, France, and the Netherlands.

In both professional and tea lover circles, a discussion has unfolded on whether our DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls really are a black tea now, or even a red one, or rather a very highly fermented/oxidized Oolong tea instead.

Dark color of the dry “pearls”, with visible green in it

Well, I will not be able to bring final clarification to that question either, if only for the reason that the delimitations of the terms “black tea”, “red tea” and “dark Oolong tea” are overlapping by nature and there are enormous spaces for interpretation, speculation and experiments in the no-man’s-land between the blurred  definition borders. Despite the pitfalls of the conceptual definitions, we can position the DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls quite exactly on the map of basic tea categories. Prerequisite for this, however, will be an initial clarification of the conceptual understanding our three-dimensional axes of coordinates is based on:

Black tea: Western term for “completely” (beyond 94%, as a rule) fermented / oxidized tea of the Camellia Sinensis species, applying regardless of cultivar and region of origin. “Black” means the increasingly dark color of the tea leaves with higher degrees of fermentation / oxidation.

Red tea: Traditional Chinese term for “completely” (beyond 85% or 90%) fermented tea of the Camellia Sinensis species, however only with respect to Chinese teas, simply because ancient China did not know Darjeelings or African black teas, once due to the non-existing globalization in that time, and second because these teas simply did not exist yet in the heyday of the more than 3000 years old Chinese tea culture. “Red” because of the clear red color of the tea’s liquor.

Dark Oolong tea: not a term defined by “science”, however, it is a winged word in tea lover circles, mostly used to describe a tendentiously rather high fermented / oxidized Oolong tea, whereas the rating “dark”, in comparison to green, yellow, or white tea, and/or to less high fermented /oxidized tea applies both to the color the processed tea leaves and that of the tea’s liquor. A binding or even common definition for the range of degree of fermentation applicable to the term does not exist.

Wet leaves with visible black and green color components

Hence, the concepts behind the terms “black” and “red” tea are widely identical. As I said, widely…. though, who today says “red tea” might usually mean a Chinese black tea, a certain set of taste and processing properties will be attributed to that red/Chinese black tea, which absolutely qualifies red tea as a special form of black tea or even as a class of its own. Here, however, I have to enter grounds of speculation: as it appears, mildness, a modest content in bitters with at the same time aromatic richness and a broad taste spectrum are to some extent typical for Chinese red teas, while the criterion “red” for the tea’s liquor will also be already fulfilled at a slightly lower degree of fermentation / oxidation (90%, or even 85%?), and hence, such tea will be called “red tea” in China, too, while in the west, many might call it a “dark Oolong” instead.

 DMS Jin Xuan  Black Pearls Facts

Our “Black Pearls”, which consequentially should actually more accurately be called “Red Pearls”, which we won’t do, because this would inevitably cause many people in the west to think of Pu Er tea (or even Rooibus), are produced on the basis of Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12 cultivar (Chin. “12″ = “shi er”), simply by processing it to a much higher degree of fermentation / oxidation as is common for the Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12.

clear red color of the tea’s liquor

Naturally, as a non-food-chemist, I cannot tell how high EXACTLY the degree of fermentation of the Black Pearls is, but I estimate it to be typically in the range between 85% and 90%, bringing it right in the middle of the no-man’s-land between black tea and dark Oolong tea on the one hand, but making it fulfill all requirements for a classification as “red tea” on the other.  

1. dark, almost black leave, however, with clearly recognizable tones of green notes (visible most clearly at the dry, rolled leave, but also at the wet, unfolded leave (see pics);
2. saturated, clear red color of the tea’s liquor after appropriate infusion period (with a dominant slightly reddish amber color before that);
3.  mild in taste, which will show hardly any bitter components even after an infusion period of  4-5 minutes;
4. rich aroma accompanied by a broad taste spectrum, reaching from a poignant, nearly dominating, wonderfully sweet cocoa note, via nutty components as they are typical for a whole range of high fermented Chinese teas (whether Oolong or red), up to the earthy, slightly grassy aromas characteristic for Thai Oolongs, the latter, however, with the Black Pearls rather as a faint backdrop.

red and amber color in a white tea cup

Preparation recommendations:

My preparation recommendations for the DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls are based on my experiences gathered in meanwhile many hundreds of infusions (yes, I LOVE this tea!).  Nevertheless, people’s tastes are individual (fortunately), so I don’t intend to set up a rule here that I would consider as mandatory for other tea lovers, too, in order to achieve their most favorable taste result. But precisely because the optimal preparation (for me) of this tea in some points significantly deviates from that of a black tea or even Oolong tea, as we know it, I would like to warmly recommend to at least try the Black Pearls once in accordance with my recommendations:

I infuse DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls in Chinese Gong Fu Cha style, in a clay pot, where the latter surely is not an absolute must. What this tea definitely benefits from is the pre-warming and moistening of the tea pot as well as the short “wash infusion” as is typical for the Chinese Gong Fu Cha tea ceremony. I dosage by rule of thumb, about 3 grams of DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls on 250 ml  boiling hot water, 90°C ok, but a little beyond will also be just fine. The pre-warming of the tea pot by pouring hot water over it from the outside, and the “wash infusion” from the inside help that the temperature will not drop below a level, where this tea’s taste will no longer optimally unfold, too soon. A high infusion temperature is even the more important considering that DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls will have to infuse relatively long, best 3 minutes at the least, whereas 4 minutes or even slightly longer will still be absolutely okay. The tea won’t get bitter from the comparably long infusion period, however, it will only this way fully unfold its aromatic wealth and intensity of taste.   

With a first steep in the described manner, this tea will still always be good for a second infusion, yes, it would even be a sad waste not to exhaust this option. The second steep needs water of the same temperature as the first, but may not infuse for an even longer period of well 5 minutes. With a proper timing of the first steep as described above, both infusions will be of nearly equal value.      

Well, I understand everybody, who says that he/she won’t care too much for the theoretic ” pea counting” of the professional world, that he/she won’t even really have to know, whether the DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls are a black, red, or dark Oolong tea now, but that ultimately, the subjectively perceived good taste is the only criterion that really matters for them. Nevertheless, I appreciate every piece of knowledge about the tea I am drinking, not only for the addition it will make to my knowledge basis, but I also fancy the idea that in  transcendental way, I will even be able to taste my knowledge about origin, processing and history of a tea. Don’t believe this? Those who have DMS Jin Xuan Black Pearls at home in their tea cabinets, and have tried it before reading this article, may now be asked to try this tea now, after reading this article, once again. Now, dare saying, you don’t feel the difference…

and cheers…

Got you curious? Of course, you can order Doi Mae Salong Jin Xuan Black Pearls in Siam Tea Shop:

Buy Doi Mae Salong Jin Xuan Black Pearls at Siam Tea Shop

On the tracks of the Royal Development Project

Back when we had started getting involved with teas from north Thailand, this had first led us right away to Doi Mae Salong, the regional “capital” of tea cultivation, established by Chinese immigrants in the 1950′s. However, in the context of our research of the development and the backgrounds of the local tea production and processing, we soon also learned that the actual roots of the tea cultivation in north Thailand are located on the Doi Tung mountain, more precisely in the middle of the 1990′s in the local offshoot of the Thai Royal Development Projects. For details to this, please refer to our article

Doi Tung 1: Poppy Fields to Tea Gardens – The Royal Development Projects

While the nowadays Doi Mae Salong proved to be an ideal procurement source for the entire spectrum of the north Thai tea portfolio, I was yet always curious about how the beginnings on the Doi Tung might have had developed. I knew that the cultivars Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12 and Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17 were cultivated there, and that these teas, thanks to the connections and the good name of the Royal Project, are also available in quite some well-assorted overseas tea shops. To this added the rumors telling that tea cultivation under the umbrella of the Royal Project takes place exclusively according to principles of organic farming.

Now finally, 2 years after the beginnings of the Thailand Tea Blog, my small business SiamTeas and the Siam Tea Shop, of which we had spent one in Germany, I was looking at an extended weekend, where I would be able to take the time for a journey to the Doi Tung, in order to follow the tracks of tea cultivation in north Thailand to their very beginnings. The plan was simple, and my homework made: there’s Doi Tung Lodge, a resort situated right in the heart of the Doi Tung Royal Development Project. There, I would lodge, in order to take on my investigations regarding the project itself as well as the development and the current appearance of the local tea production right at the historic events’ site. Further, I intended to to get some nice photographs of Doi Tung tea gardens and maybe identify a suitable producer of the “Doi Tung versions” of the said Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12 and Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17 teas, who would help to further differentiate and round off our offer of teas from north Thailand by adding these Doi Tung teas to our portfolio. As I said, a simple plan, with goals comfortably set at a not too high level. As things turned out, it shouldn’t be that simple, after all…

Day 1: The Journey

Early in the morning on Thursday, Sep 20, 2012, I board a bus at Chiang May’s Arcade bust station. In little more than 3 hours, this will get me to Chiang Rai, where I am renting a motorcycle for the remainder journey. It’s only a roughly 2 hours ride through the mountains to my destination Doi Tung, while the rich wealth of the panoramic beauties and serene views don’t allow for a dull moment along the way.

Now, at the end of the rainy season, the mountains are covered with luxurious green and crops, and the clear September weather enables views, of which I can even hardly guess how far they might really reach. What I do not see is tea gardens, a phenomenon that is due to accompany for quite a while on this journey.

In the afternoon, I reach the project center on the Doi Tung, and the Doi Tung Lodge, the only lodging in a vicinity of 20 km. I am welcomed in a friendy manner, and shown a room, which with $US50 per night is not forcibly north Thailand’s cheapest accommodation, but in size, taste, cleanliness and facilities lives well up to even rather “uptown tastes”. From the outside, though, both building and facilities rather seem a bit plain for a posh resort in the old Lanna, which enjoys a worldwide reputation for its traditional (teak wood) architecture.

After checking in, I decide to make use of the day’s remainder to have a look around and try and find out, where I will find the one or other photogenic tea garden the next day. I ask at the Lodge’s reception, but the girl there instead tells me the way to Doi Mae Salong, pointing out that there would be many tea gardens there, while there would be rather few on Doi Tung. On my question where these few might be located, she only answers that she doesn#t know. Not very encouraging… No tea gardens on the Doi Tung? I have lived in north Thailand for more than 20 years now, and I thought there wouldn’t be much here that would still surprise me, and I definitely wouldn’t have expected this! Nevertheless, I wouldn’t give up just that quickly.

The core area of the project center is formed by a range of tourist attractions, for which I plan a few hours to visit in the next morning:

1. the Royal villa, that local palace of the Thai royal family, which was visited quite frequently especially by the mother of King Bumibhol Adulyadej, who has been in office since 1946 and until present time. Her picture appears to be omnipresent in the shops and households all around the Doi Tung.
2. the Royal Flower Garden, planned and intensively promoted by the royal mother herself.
3. the so-called “Hall of Inspiration”, where artefacts, art works and modern photo/light and video montages around the Royal Development Project on Doi Tung as well as from the life the members of the royal family are on display.
4. a “Hilltribe Basar”, where member of the various mountain tribes living here sell their typical products.
5. an arboretum.

Besides these, there is a number of souvenir shops and stores, where products farmed and/or manufactured under the auspices of the Royal Project are sold, a “battery” of ATM machines, worth mentioning primarily due to their visual appearance, and the facility’s own restaurant, which besides typical Thai dishes offers also offers a small range of western standards. You will even get a good bottle of wine here, and the prices are surprisingly moderate, given the the restaurant factual monopoly position.

Meanwhile, nightfall is nearing. I would love to pay a visit to that Hilltribe Basar, but find it alreaedy closed, so I postpone this visit to the next day, too. Strolling around, I find a village of the Akha, one of the local mountain tribes. The people living here might be comparably poor and earn their living with their hands’ work, but they definitely enjoy one of the most astonishing panorama views you can possibly dream of right at their doorsteps.

I spend a nice and relaxed remainder evening, partly in the said restaurant, enjoying a Steak dinner and a glass of the said wine, and partly on my room’s balcony, where I am ending this day. There are zero alternatives to this on the Doi Tung, however, this has its positive side to it: the serene silence, and the peace surrounding me.

Day 2: The Tourist Attractions of Doi Tung

My first morning on the Doi Tung starts with an abundant breakfast in a Cafe belonging to the facility, where locally cultivated Doi Tung coffee, another blessing owed to the Royal Development Project, is served. The excellent coffee consoles me a little for the fact that also here, there is no tea, and I have not come even a millimeter closer to the fulfillment of this journey’s main mission yet, finding the tea gardens of the Doi Tung. Firmly decided to to continue to keep the goal in sight, as well as to have a good time anyway, I take on my sightseeing tour through the local attractions. The joint ticket, a collecting ticket for all attractions listed above, suggests to start with the Royal Villa.

The Royal Villa

The first thing that catches the eye after the 500 m long footpath to the Royal Villa is that this local residence of the Thai royal family isn’t even close to the idea we will usually have when thinking of a palace. “Villa” clearly is a better match, and, to be honest, from the ouside, the royal villa has a rather modes appearance even for such. Splendor ise actually radiated only by the gardens surrounding the villa, but by these even in a more luxurious fashion. It becomes obvious that the king’s mother, who has spent much of her time here, felt and maintained a deep passion for the skillful arrangement of flowers and green plants.

At the entrance, I am handed out some headphones and a player. Shoes are to be removed before entering the premises. I am asked for my nationality, and after I have outed myself as a German (“khon Jörman”) on request, my player is adjusted to speaking to me in German. Inside, taking photographs is strictly forbidden, cameras must be left outside during the tour of the house. My apologies to the surprised reader, pictures of the royal villa’s interior are therefor missing in this report, as are photos of the private rooms of the royal family. The latter, however, also remain hidden to physical visitors, for reasons of respect for the royal family and their private sphere. While the player, via the headphones, tells me excerpts of the Royal Development Project’s history and the life of the royal mother, I pass through an extensive entrance hall, then through an even more extensive reception hall, then I am allowed to catch a glimpse (over a barrier) of the really impressively extensive royal kitchen, and then the way intended for visitors to take already leads back out and into the royal mother’s private gardens. As if by command, the player has also reached the end of its explanations and is collected by diligent stuff members. I walk on through the villa’s gardens towards the exit, realizing the omnipresent respect and appreciation of the Thai people towards their royal family impresses me far more than any of the usual splendid palace buildings could possible have done. A kind of awe has taken possession of me, and shall accompany me on the further stages of my sightseeing tour of the royal creations on the Doi Tung. I only realize that I am not on “royal ground” anymore, when I discover that I am the only visitor who still holds his shoes in his hands.

Mae Fah Luang Flower Garden

My next stop is the Mae Fah Luang Flower Garden, inspired and developed by the royal mother, to which the garden of the royal villa was only a little foretaste.

The photo shows only the core park, around which a variety of plant artworks, biotopes and areas dedicted to particular plant species, are grouped. All plants are grown from seeds and offsets in an extensive dedicated in-house nursery and then either used in the flower garden or sold in the project’s plant shop (see picture above).

The sculptures, created from green plants and flowers supported by wooden structures suggest that a small army of garden architects must be employed here, and that at least some of them are true artists.

Unfortunately, my pictures can convey only a whiff of the impression this total work of art leaves on me, and surely evoke no more than a tinge of the astonishment every visitor to the site must inevitably feel.

These sculptures alone, living and thereby ever-changing pieces of art, are already worth the tour of the garden. But other objects, too, reminiscences to north Thailand’s old Lanna culture and the philosophy of the royal development project seamlessly fit into the green, deserve the visitor’s attention.

To me, especially the enormous collection of orchids sticks out as one of the garden’s greatest highlights. Of course, also this rich treasure of the most varied types of this multiform species of plants has been arranged here to specific aesthetic criteria and by way of art.

Secretly I had hoped to also find a little tea garden or at least a few living exemplars of the species Camellia Sinensis here among this rich variety of exotic green plants and flowers that otherwise doesn’t leave much to wish for, but again nothing: not a single little tea tree, tea bush or even tea leave adorns the royal flower garden. Should “Doi Tung tea” prove to be yet only another legend in the end?

The Hall of Inspiration

I take on the third stage of my sightseeing tour, the Doi Tung “Hall of Inspiration”. This turns out to be a room-by-room display of artefacts, combined photo, video and light montages, as well as informative material around history and development of the royal development project, the project center on the Doi Tung and the Thai royal family. In consideration of the specific local social and economical backgrounds here on the Doi Tung, the main emphasis is given the theme fields purposeful cultivation of a variety of sustainable cash crops instead of single-crop farming and slash & burn agriculture, capacity-building, and substitution of opium cultivation, deemed as socially and economically harmfully, with alternative sources of income.

At this, the messages are not only conveyed in transcendental form via picture materials and artistic expression, but also very concretely in form of historic video documentations (shown among others: Adrian Cowells film “The Heroin Wars”) and in the form of text messages on dedicated message boards.

Another focus of the exhibition is the life and work of the royal mother, Princess Srinagarindra (civil name: Mom Sangwan), who has invested much heart and personal dedication especially in the development on the Doi Tung, and who is revered by the local population just like a saint.

My visit of these three testimonies of the royal family’s engagement here on the Doi Tung and everywhere in the country has left a deep impression on me, characterized by respect and awe. In addition, the insight into Thailand’s more recent history given here helps me to understand the adoration the Thai royal family enjoys within the Thai population throughout the country and across all walks of life.

However, even here, in the Hall of Inspiration, I haven’t found even the slightest hint to the alleged tea cultivation and processing initiated and organized by the royal development project, though, of course, I would definitely see a great potential for inspiration in the substitution of poppy fields with tea gardens.

The Doi Tung Hilltribe Bazar

The fourth part of my tour of the local tourist attractions, my visit of the Doi Tung Hilltribe Bazar, promises to become a rather casual leg of the program. Since I have seen the products that are typical for the mountain tribes settled in this region on many markets in north Thailand before, I do not really except this to offer anything new.

Well, at first sight, things are just as I had expected: besides their agricultural products, the tribes being represented here, mainly Lisor and Akha, offer their traditional silver jewelry works as well as the typical range of woven and other handicrafts. To this add local souvenirs, such as Doi Tung T-Shirts, Doi Tung key chains and similar items.

But right here, the big surprise that shall also bring me a good piece of the way closer to my journey’s actual mission, is waiting for me: an incarnate tea shop!

Only too readily I follow an invitation to try the local versions of the Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17 and the Jin Xuan Oolong No. 12 right here at the stall. The friendly young salesgirl explains to me that tea is cultivated on the Doi Tung under the auspices of the royal development project. At this, the project helps the farmers with the shift in crop and procedure not only with know-how, convenient loans and tea plants imported from Taiwan, but provides active support with the project’s own processing facilities and distribution network for tea. The latter takes place in such way that the project guarantees the farmers to purchase their tea at a minimum price and then uses its own channels to distribute it on the international market. However, a precondition for the purchase by the project is 100% organic farming, i.e. complete abdication of the use of artificial fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

My further inquiries yield that the girl herself is a daughter of a tea farmer on the Doi Tung, who sells her family’s tea products here on the project center’s hilltribe bazar as well as in a second tea shop near Amphoe Mae Fah Luang and the little village, where her family lives and farms their tea gardens . Of course, she will be able to connect me to her father, and of course, I will be able to purchase organic Doi Tung teas from there. And of course, she knows, where her father’s tea gardens and those of the other tea farmers of her village are located! On my request, she arranges that I will be picked up at the next morning by one of her brothers, who will then guide me to her village’s tea gardens. With this, today’s target has been achieved, and I spend the rest of the day as a simple tourist on the Doi Tung. Only much later, I realize that – in my sudden enthusiasm about finally having found some tea gardens – I completely forgot the arboretum. Well, this is not going to be my last visit to Doi Tung.

Day 3: The teas gardens of Doi Tung

The next morning, I am picked up as arranged, and after about 1 hour of (mainly offroad) motorcycle trekking, we reach the tea gardens of the small village of Ban Si Phan Rai, inhabitated by a mix of Shan, Chinese and mountain people.

On a dirt track that must be in catastrophic condition during the rainy season, we drive with our motorscooters from tea garden to tea garden, one more beautiful than the other.

We are lucky enough to be here just at the right time for the tea plants here to be in full bloom. This is the case only once a year, and only for a short period.

Those, who have ever tried to take pictures of tea slopes, will know the dilemma all too well: since it is mostly impossible to get good photos from the upper edge, great shots are inevitably related to lots of exhausting up-and-down climbing, always on the hunt for the perfect position. Fortunately, this activity comes with ever new panorama views and perspectives in rich abundance, compensating the dedicated tea slope photographer for the invested efforts.

What strikes me, are the various designs and forms of the tea gardens here. It is like each tea farmer has his very own idea of how his tea garden is supposed to look like.

Also, I encounter something here that I haven’t seen anywhere else so far: although dispersed trees might be an entirely common appearance on both tea slopes and horizontal tea gardens, there are even virtually “forested” tea gardens, where the tea plants grow in the (half) shade of a treetop cover, which is not too dense, but still well deserves to be called a forest already. I am convinced that the tea yielded this way must have very special taste characteristics, and I decide to get to the bottom of this at the next possible occasion.

After two or three hours of “tea garden hopping”, the young Doi Tung tea shop salesgirl’s and my tea garden guide’s father joins us. He’s been told that I am planning to buy tea from him, and now he insists on showing me his tea gardens in person. We continue for another while on the way we have come, then we’ve reached our destination. These 4 Rai (1 Rai = 40 x 40 m) are not his entire pride, he possesses two more, however somewhat smaller tea gardens.

The tea farmer explains to us that this tea garden is due for a harvesting run in the next days. Most branches of the teas plants have strong tips, whose two upper leaves still show a particularly intensive fresh green while the uppermost shoot already reveals that it would become a tea leave soon, if they would allow it to.

They won’t allow it to, it is these fresh tips they want to harvest, process and savor in particular. A proper hand picking of only and exclusively such tips yields the teas qualities that nowadays, given the flood of machine-harvested mass teas, are often referred to as “boutique tea”.

The tea plant needs 45 days, before it has produced a new tip of equal value and thereby becomes ready for another harvest run. During the local winter, the tea plant takes a 3 to 4 months long break. This is also the time of the tourist high season in north Thailand and on the Doi Tung, so that the farmer and his family are able to focus entirely on the sale of the tea yield. I am told that that people from Japan, China and Taiwan come here to buy tea. A strong reference.

I will spend this night in a nice little resort, the “Phutarn Resort”, located in a tiny market town not far from Ban Si Phan Rai and the Amphoe Mae Fah Luang. The resort, situated at a charming little river, features its own restaurant and river terrace as well as comfortable bamboo huts that look a bit warped from the outside, but whose interior offers everything you can wish for at a price of mere $US10.00 per night, from Satellite TV to a minibar and a fancy own bathroom.

In the afternoon, when the Hilltribe Bazar on Doi Tung closes its doors, our young tea shop operator girl drives her motorcycle to this little market town near her home village and the community head village Amphoe Mae Fah Luang to open her second tea shop, which she operates as a second leg of distribution for her daddy’s tea until late every day. There, I try a few pots of the family’s tea from their last harvest and place my order with “papa”, whereas we agree on the same to be taken from the upcoming harvest from just that tea garden we have visited together on this day and for which he had stated that a harvest would be due.

The next morning, equiped with a good package of the local Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17, to bridge the time until delivery, I embark on my journey back to Chiang Rai and from there home to Chiang Mai.

(and the Story of SiamTeas)

Rather known as somebody, who talks a lot whenever asked, and even sometimes, when not asked at all, it is a great experience, if somebody comes along and cuts your stuff down to what you really had to say (correcting and bettering my somewhat humble English in the process, too). Janis Badarau, a tea-dedicated author and columnist, only recently did just that in the English Tea Store Blog, this providing an excellent summary not only of the becoming of SiamTeas, but also of the backgrounds of tea cultivation in north Thailand:

“This is the story of how a German translator and former beer drinker came to know and love tea … and became the owner of Siam Tee, specializing in the teas of northern Thailand…” Read more

“Great things come from small beginnings.
A gentle ripple starts from just a single drop.
That wave ever expanding, with no end in sight,
Begins from one very small point, our own self.”

To understand how poppy fields turned tea gardens in North Thailand in relatively little time, and how the targeted cultivation, processing and marketing of tea (Camellia Sinensis) started at all, we will first have to gain some insight to the situation in North Thailand at the beginning of the 1950ss as well as to the origins and the character the Royal Thai Development Projects.
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Situation in North Thailand during the 1950s and 1960s

Hall of Inspiration exhibits, Royal Development Project, Doi Tung

At time of King Bhumbol Adulyadej’s (also Rama IX.) accession to the throne on June 9, 1946, a reign that should last for more than 6 decades and still ongoing, large parts of North Thailand and North East Thailand were widely isolated from Bangkok at the surrounding Central Thailand through geographic, infrastructural and cultural barriers. The inhabitants of north Thailand, the bordering region to Burma, consist of an ethnic variety of North Thais, Shan, Chinese and the members of a number of different mountain tribes that partially maintain their own distinct cultures and languages until today.

One of the consequences of the infrastructural isolation was a blatant “wealth gap” between Bangkok and Central Thailand on the one side, and North and East Thailand on the other. From the 1960s on, one way out of poverty was offered by the cultivation of the opium poppy and its processing to heroin, which then was brought via Bangkok to the Western, especially the US market. A second income alternative opened up for women: the way into prostitution.

In those times, especially the mountain tribes pursued a nomadic lifestyle, accompanied by the slash and burn agricultural style that is typical for this lifestyle. Their bamboo hut villages were quickly reestablished on any new site. What they left behind, were cleared, depleted, burnt landscapes. Where they went, the trees always were the first thing to give way.

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The Royal Thai Development Projects

“We will reign with righteousness for
the benefit and happiness of the Siamese poeple.

“King Bhumibol Adulyadej on his development journeys through the country

At the beginning of the 1950′s, king Bhumibol started an intensive program, in whose context he traveled the country tirelessly for decades to its remotest corners to assess the situation and problems of the people on site by himself, consider possible options for remedy and improvement, and then initiate and accompany the identified measures. The comprehensive series of projects resulting hereof are summarized under the umbrella term Royal Development Projects. The projects cover a wide range of economical and social infrastructure areas, namely agriculture, environment, public health, promotion of employment and small enterprise culture, water resources, communication, public welfare, and more.

What makes the Royal Development Projects in Thailand stand out from comparable public projects worldwide in a positive way, are

• the genuine character of the underlying motivation (instead of a mere social and economic policy alibi or development policy reputational function)
• the orientation at actual requirements, conditions and possibilities surveyed by king himself on site, and
• the humanist concept of the human being, seeing people as products, i.e. in the case of deficiency also as a victim of their environment, and not as the cause of the deficiency in terms of being the culprits. Accordingly, the credo of the idea is the positive change of the resources situation with regard to education, skill development, health, traffic and communication infrastructure, environment, ownership of land and production means, and public awareness in order to create the needed basis for a sound society and a flourishing economy.

Besides the projects initiated and accompanied by King Bhumibol himself, amongst these six development study centers distributed all over the country for conducting surveys, research and experiments for the creation of development guidelines and methods in adaption to the respective conditions and initial situation in each part of the country, the Royal Project also supports individual and public efforts deemed as valuable by the king.

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Poppy Cultivation and Opium Processing in North Thailand

Doi Tung Royal Development Project: Hall of Inspiration, Opium Exhibit

Until well into the 1960s, the cultivation of the opium poppy the use of the derived opium for medical purposes as well as a everyday means of leisure and recreation, were more or less an integral part of the daily life of many of the Northern Thai mountain people. In a way, one could say that though the cultivation and consumption of opium was an integral part of the culture of a large part of North Thailand’s mountain population in those times, it was also controlled and kept withing socially acceptable limits by exactly that culture. This fundamentally changed from the middle of the 1960′s.

The Golden Triangle

The Golden Triangle, in geographic terms the border triangle of Thailand, Burma and Laos, had begun earning a worldwide reputation as a production center and source for the heroin traded in the west, especially on the North American market. What had long been considered as a conspiracy theory, today is a widely accepted historic fact: against the backdrop of the Vietnam war, the American secret service CIA itself became one of the key players in the international drug trade. The complex and sensitive mesh of mutual and conflicting interests, and the resulting alliances and enemies in South East Asia, had to be maintained (and financed!). If we track the career of the region’s most notorious drug kingpin and warlord, Khun Sa, alias Chang Chi Fu, son of a Chinese father and a Shan mother, from a US ally to America’s Public Enemy Nr. 1, we will hardly miss the parallels to the more recent historical events around the character of Osama bin Laden.

During the 1950s, as a consequence of the victory of Mao Tse Tung’s “cultural revolution” in China, a large group of ethnic Chinese, former military opponents of Mao that had now become persecutees of the new communist regime, had migrated to North Thailand via Burma. These Chinese refugees had established a notable series of settlements in the Northern Thai mountains, the largest and best known of which is is Doi Mae Salong. Thanks to their connections and backgrounds, the Chinese soon seized a proactive role on the new market and became key players in the organization of opium cultivation, processing and trade not only limited to North Thai terrain, but also cross-border. Other mountain tribes of the region, many of them, such as the Hmong, with their origins in China, who had been living as hunters, collectors and farmers so far, were only too eager to jump on the train and secure their own slice of the cake of the new alleged prosperity.

Opium Poppies, Poppy Field, in Noth Thailand, Golden Triangle

This situation soon turned into a devastating one for the Northern Thai mountain population: Not only did the drug money ultimately hardly benefit the general population or region at all, but much rather was transfered offshore by the few major profiteers, the resulting mass addiction to opium and heroin in the uneducated and unknowledgeable population also left the picture of misery upon the villages and communities.

It were these conditions situation and this misery that the Thai King found on his journeys to the North, and despite the apparently overwhelming challenge, he was firmly determined to shun no effort to change this picture from the ground up. Now, of course, opium could be declared illegal, and the relevant law enforced by means of police and military forces, and even this was done, but ultimately, how sustainable will blindly and against the people’s will enforced changes be, and what was to fill the economic and social hole that the discontinuation of opium production, trade and consumption would inevitably bring about?

Today, as a consequence of the large scale Royal development projects in terms of economic sustainability, environmental soundness, social and economic balance as well as the establishment of a generally accessible education infrastructure, we see the traces of North Thailands historic role as a part of the infamous Golden Triangle practically only in museums. An example for the targeted, worldwide unprecedented efforts to bring about a fundamental change of the underlying economic and social structure in the direction of something much better, is the Royal Project at Doi Tung.

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The Doi Tung Development Project

Doi Tung Project Center: much to see and to learn!

Under the Patronage of the 1995 deceased Royal Mother, Princess Srinagarindra, herself an orphan from poor backgrounds, who had been admitted to the Royal Palace as a child, a Royal residence and a project center dedicated to the development of sustainable alternative livelihood options for the local population, were created on an area of altogether 150 square kilometers under a holistic and integrated approach on Doi Tung, right in the midst of the mountains of North Thailand.

The Royal Mother recognized that the prevalence of the opium cultivation and processing as well as the accompanying drug trade and consumption were primarily a symptom of the peoples’ poverty and lack of opportunities: “Development can only work, if the basic livelihood necessities are covered. Without appropriate income, the people have no other choice as to clear the forest and engage in other illegal activities such as the cultivation of opium and prostitution.”

Based on this insight, the project started with identifying income options in the areas of handicrafts and agriculture, the conveyance of relevant skills to the local population, and last, but not least, the active support of collective and individual livelihood efforts. Experts from Thailand and the entire world were consulted in order to, based on the local conditions and available skills, identify suitable handicraft products and agricultural cash crops, for whose marketing also a market would be accessible.
The Doi Tung development project maintains divisions in the fields of food, forestry, gardening and landscaping, tourism and artisan craftwork.

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Introduction and spread of tea cultivation in North Thailand

Panoramic tea garden, Doi Tung, Thailand

ONE thing, that was brought to North Thailand by the royal development projects, which of couse is of particular interest here for us due to our theme context tea from North Thailand, is the cultivation and processing of tea plants suitable to the local geographic and geological conditions. Thailand itself and the Thais have no tradition of a tea culture. Up to the Royal Development Project’s initiative, tea was a common beverage in North Thailand only with the Shan and some of the hill tribes originating from China. They harvested tea leaves from wild growing tea trees and processed them according to their own ancient traditions to different varieties of green tea and Pu Errh style tea (for more information about wild growing tea in North Thailand see also our article  “Pang Kham – Tea Village in No Man’s Land”). This situation was to fundamentally change now.

The Royal Development Projects flew experts in from Taiwan to determine, which cultivars would best the local conditions, and those experts initially recommended the Taiwanse Oolong tea cultivars Jin Xuan Nr. 12 and Ruan Zhi Nr. 17. The initiative landed on fertile ground especially with the Chinese immigrants, who had brought experience and knowledge about the cultivation and processing of tea from their home country, and for who tea was a traditional integral part of their culture. Thus, the cultivation of tea plants imported from Taiwan spread very quick in and around the above mentioned Chinese settlements, with the former opium stronghold Doi Mae Salong as the new tea capital of the north, whose sourrounding hills today appear to be mainly covered with tea gardens. (for more information about Doi Mae Salong, see also our feature articles „Doi Mae Salong – Center of Tea Cultivation in North Thailand“ and „Journey to Doi Mae Salong“. The Royal Project actively helped farmers willing to make the switch with land, training, convenient loans and tea plants managing the change-over from the opium cultivation to the cultivation of high quality teas.

Flower of the Doi Tung Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17

Much water has flown down the Mae Khong River since. Meanwhile, North Thailand has earned itself a name especially for its fine Oolong teas, but also green teas, and most recently, a rich and mild black tea from North Thailand have conquered many tea lovers’ hearts worldwide and established their place of origin on the world map of tea. Soon, other varieties imported from Taiwan, such 4 4 Seasons Oolong tea, Dong Ding Oolong tea and Beauty Oolong tea were to be added to the two initial cultivars. Besides these Taiwan-imported varieties, also the local representative of its species, the local tea that so far only grew wild in the mountains, was cultivated now in a more targeted manner in tea gardens now. The terms “Doi Tung Tea” and “Doi Mae Salong Tea” are about to become standards in the vocabulary tea professionals, and even tea produced by smaller producer communities such as Doi Wawee today find their way into export and thus to the world tea market. For tea connoisseurs and passionate fans of this type of teas, it has been and still is particularly interesting to witness, how the tea cultivars imported from Taiwan with time are developing their own unique character and virtually taste “like North Thailand” now.

Want to try Oolong N0.12 Jin Xuan and/or No.17 Ruan Zhi?

click here to buy from Siam Tea Shop now

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Tea Processing

Principally, three main categories of tea processing can be differentiated: the processing to

• Green tea (not fermented)
• Oolong tea (part-fermented)
• Black tea (fully fermented)

Dependent upon country and region of cultivation and the equipment available to a producer, however, there are various individual procedures and methods within each main category that can differ from region to region, from producer to producer, and from specialty to specialty. This makes a comprehensible representation of all possibilities a difficult task and leads to perceived contradictions and confusions in much of the available literature. Two more (sub-) categories can be added to the above-mentioned classification

• White tea (very light fermented)
• Pu Errh tea (post-fermented)

In the following representation, we take orientation on the conditions at our producer partners in Doi Mae Salong, North Thailand, as detailed in the above video for our Oolong No.12. The description therefore uses no further picture illustrations. However, vivid photographic illustrations of the tea processing procedures in North Thailand can be found in our articles

Journey to Doi Mae Salong

and

Pang Kham – Tea Village in No-Man’s-Land

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Tea Harvesting

The harvesting/plucking conditions are crucial factor for a tea’s quality! Respectively only the youngest shoots of the tea plant should be picked, in the best only 2 youngest leaves with their corresponding tip (bud). It is obvious that no machine in the world can do this accurately, so we can say that the best teas will always be handpicked. Then, the best location for the cultivation of tea are sunny, often steep hillsides, where the picking by hand might be arduous, but the access by machine even more difficult, where not impossible. Machine-picked teas from plain locations, will therefore mainly be mass teas. As such, these don’t have to be necessarily ‘bad’, but they won’t make it to the higher ranks.

Dependent on type of tea and plant species, tea plants can be harvested several times per year. In North Thailand, harvests take place from the middle of February until October, as is typical for the most cultivation areas. There’s no tea harvested during ‘winter’. The first harvests of the year are considered as best quality and particularly covetable.

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Withering of the Tea Leaves

After the harvesting, the tea leaves are first spread in the open to ‘wither’ in the sun. Just as in all following processing steps, the tea leaves will loose moisture and become more malleable in this process. No fermentation takes place at this stage yet. During this phase, the tea leaves are constantly flipped over and swirled. The producer/tea master continuously examines the leaves and decides, when the time is right for the next processing step.

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Fermentation / Oxidation

Fermentation is a form of oxidation. The juices in the tea leaf react with oxygen. This process sets in automatically at a certain stage of drying of the leaves and is facilitated by a breaking up of the leaf surfaces. Hence, the continuous flipping over and swirling of the tea leaves during the withering and fermenting does not only serve the consistency of processes for all leaves of a lot, but is done in a rough way on purpose, in order to break up the leaf surfaces. The cracks will still be recognizable on the final product’s tea leaf in form of brownish stains, whereas the color is a result of the oxidation of the exiting leaf juices. For green tea, the processing stage of controlled fermentation is omitted.

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Green Tea

For the manufacture of green tea the oxidation process is stopped after the withering of the tea leaves. For this purpose, the tea leaves are heated to a temperature, where the enzymes responsible for the fermentation deteriorate. After this, the tea leaves are optionally subjected to a shaping process (rolling to needles, curls or granules), before they enter the final drying (today mostly by hot air).

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White Tea

A peculiarity at the processing of white tea is the prolongation of the withering phase beyond the setting in of the oxidation process. The result is a very lightly fermented tea, which in a way is an ‘interim form’ between green tea and Oolong tea.

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Pu Errh Tea

Pu Errh teas are also heat-dried after the withering in the sun, but at a comparably low temperature, so the fermentation process will not be completely inhibited. Then, the tea leaves once again spread out in the sun and left there to dry completely. During this stage of sun-drying, a post-fermentation process sets in. The ready sun-dried tea leaves are referred to as Maocha. If the Maocha is left to the natural course of the post-fermentation process, which can extend over years, the end product is a ‘raw’ Pu Errh or sheng Pu Errh tea. To shorten this process for obvious commercial reasons, a special procedure was developed in China to promote and accelerate the ripening process. The end product of this procedure, resembling a composting process, is referred to as ‘ripened’ Pu Errh or shu Pu Errh tea.

Though the Pu Errh method and tradition has its origins in China’s Yunnan province, at the city of Pu Errh, it was introduced and adopted in Taiwan and other regions of mainland China and South East Asia at an early stage. Strictly speaking, only Pu Errh teas originating from Yunnan province should be referred to as such.

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Oolong Tea

The skilled processing of part-fermented tea is very much more complex and elaborate and requires the tea master’s constant supervision. After the first withering of the tea leaves in the sun, they are brought inside, where they are distributed evenly in a thin layer on large bamboo trays and stacked in such way that allows free air and manual access to each level. During this ‘inside withering’, the tea leaves are again repeatedly flipped over and swirled to ensure a consistent drying and fermentation. Das Drehen und Verwirbeln erfolgt mit absichtlicher Rohheit, um die Blattoberflächen aufzubrechen und so für einen gleichmäßigen und beschleunigten Fermentierungsprozess zu sorgen.

The tea master decides when the desired degree of fermentation for each processed tea is achieved. Once this point is reached, the tea leaves are heated to stop the enzymatic activity and thereby inhibit further fermentation. During the withering and heating procedures, moisture is continuously extracted from the tea leaves. They become more and more malleable, which facilitates the ensuing forming process.

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The Rolling

Of course, many teas are simply left in their natural leaf form. In ancient times, the rolling to granules, needles or curls was done manually during the drying (e.g. in the wok). Today, however, it will mainly be done by machines: The malleable tea leaves are wrapped and pressed in a cloth to a bale and this bale then churned with a special machine. At this, the leaf surfaces are further broken up and the tea leaves will assume the desired shape. For Oolong teas, the cycle of heating the tea leaves and churning the bales under pressure is repeated several times, dependent on the type of tea produced. Then the tea leaves are transferred to end drying.

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Black Tea

For the production of black tea, the fermentation process of the tea leaves is allowed to fully complete.

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End Sorting

High quality teas are subjected to an end sorting process, where especially off-colors and second choice leaves and leave parts are picked out.

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Green, Oolong and black teas from the production of our producer partner in North Thailand, a small family operation in Doi Mae Salong, as well as a Pu Errh style tea harvested from wild growth tea trees and produced by the Shan people local to North Thailand are available online in our

Siam Tea Shop (click here)

Her book “Asian Health Secrets”, outlining the millenium-old knowledge and wisdom of the Chinese culture has fundamentally changed the way we are looking at deseases and healing processes. The rich, yet comprehensible way she introduces us to the wealth of long-kept health secrets of the Chinese culture makes this invaluable treasure of knowledge accessible for everyone to come to a new understanding of our body. At the same time, “Asian Health Secrets”  provides a practical guide of how to use natural herbs such as tea or other herbal infusions for the treatment of a broad spectrum of conditions, ranging from our little everyday ailments to chronical and more severe diseases.

During her extensive travels of Asia, Letha once fell in love with the Northern Thai of Doi Mae Salong inhabited by an ethnic Chinese population. Doi Mae Salong, and its recent development as a hub for the cultivation and production of finest Oolong, Green, Black, Scented and Herbal Teas is pretty much the line of intersection, where SiamTeas and Letha Hadady at some point inevitably had to meet. She’s just one of these rare people that stick out of a million, and once you meet them you can never forget them and will always feel their imprint on your own life.

Letha has reflected on Teas from Northern Thailand, and honored Siam Teas, which I take as one of the largest compliments I ever received, in several of her articles and blog posts

“Siam Teas”

“Siam Teas: Oolong N# 17″

“The Heaven, where Siam Tea grows”

The tea ceremony has its origins in China, the country that is quite the cradle of all tea culture. While Japan developed its own, more strict and more hierarchical tea ceremony based on this, we’d like to put our emphasis on the rather highly individual Chinese tea ceremony, since it matches best with our Northern Thai Oolong, Green and Black Teas, all of which look back on roots stretching via Taiwan back into the old China. One could say, the Chinese tea ceremony is a mixture of ritual framework, situational cirumstances and individual arrangement/personal discretion.

The “2-pots-method” shown in the video, as it is common in China or Taiwan, or also for the ethnic Chinese groups in Northern Thailand, is neither the absolute only nor the absolute best form of the Chineses tea ceremony. If it comes to the ritual of preparation, different tea masters rather have their individudal preferences for each kind of tea, and in turn, these preferences are adjusted to the given circumstances, i.e. the tools and facilities available, the situational context and the actual predominating mood.

Purpose of the tea ceremony is to achieve the best possible taste of the tea, the realization of the highest possible degree of beauty in the ritual’s arrangement, and a social or individual situation of utmost harmony, in other words: the perfect moment in space and time. In order to develop an understanding for this form of perfection it is important to imagine the harmonious interplay of the five core elements in Chinese philosophy, wood, fire, earth, metal and water as water as in a permanent condition of free flow motion. While the representations of wood, earth, fire and water in the tea ceremony are rather obvious, the metaphoric presence of the element metal and its properties, at times metaphoric, also reveals itself at closer observation. A similarly suitable descriptive concept, from another perspective, would be that of the three Taoist elements sky-human-earth. Besides the Taoist ones, Confucian and Buddhist influences, references and analogies can be found in the Chinese tea ceremony.  Also the image of the “way” or “path” that has no beginning and no end, but nevertheless IS, as a metapher for the life or being in general, can easily be identified in the tea ceremony. All these approaches have the free flowing, perfect interplay of several basic elements that form a holistic oneness in common.

Tools of the Tea Ceremony

As can be seen in the video, the ritual preparation of tea does not only require much skill, practice and focusing, but also a quite extensive range of  “tools/facilities/accesssories”. In the following, we’d like to introduce these tools and illuminate their respective functions and roles. They are combined based on availability, tea specimen and individual preference, whereas apart from the basic action of pouring hot water on tea leaves and drinking the tea after some infusion time, the single steps of the ceremony as well as the choice of accessories used in it can be omitted, added or even changed in sequence.

The “Tea Boat” (Tea Table)

The tea boat is more than just a platform in the spatial center of the tea ceremony, on which the major part of the actions performed in the ritual’s context takes place, also represents the element wood and serves as a work of art, an ornament and a piece of furniture. It is the only static element in the middle of the (flow) motion that is characteristic for the tea ceremony and of which all other used items and materials are an integral part.

Tea boats are mostly made out of wood or bamboo and often include an integrated pull-out trough for collecting the water and the tea poured over teapots and teacups in the course of the ceremony in order to supply them with the warmth and fragrance of the tea to prepared. Apart from such functional requirements, the design of a tea boat is very much left to its makers creativity: There are rectangular tea boats, such with round shapes and mixes of both forms. There are boats in all sizes, such with predestined areas for cups, teapots and other accessories used in the ceremony and such without.

The Teapot

If to date you thought a teapot is a teapot, it is time now to part with that idea. The optimal teapot actually needs to fulfill a whole series of requirements, while a pot that does not fulfill a significant part of these requirements cannot be called a teapot in the narrower sense. Here only a few of these characteristics that can serve as a basis for the assessment of a teapot’s quality:

• Pouring Behavior: Does the pot pour drop-free, steadily, to the spot even from larger distance, not too slowly, but also not too fast?
• Outflow Path: Is the interior opening to the muzzle located close to the pot’s bottom (optimally), rather on median level (suboptimal) or even in the upper half of the teapot (not good)? Does the pot have a worked in inner sieve or not? If so, will this obstruct the outflow at pouring with congesting tea leaves or not, and: do tea leaves or leaf parts get into the beak, where there either get stuck and block the outflow or flow on right into your tea?
• Material Properties: While principally a variety of different materials is suitable for teapots (tone, ceramics, porcelain, glass), the exact consistence of the material influences the characteristics of the teapot and ultimately the taste of tea prepared in it. While for example too porous tone or  ceramics tea pots partially absorb the flavor of the tea, thereby depriving the consumer of it, a completely smooth and impenetrable inner surface omits the desirable effect of permeating the tea pot with the flavor and fragrance of the tea designated for it in the course of long term use. Tea lovers, who can afford it, often use a dedicated tea pot for each of their favorite teas. Even tea lovers, who might not be able to afford that or consider it as exaggerated will often use a special tea pot for a certain category of tea, such as Oolong teas. The durability of the pot is a question of the material quality as well: will the pot break from merely looking at it too hard or will it even survive the occasional accidental collision with another or a too firm placement of the tea pot back on the table/tea boat?
• Material: Especially for our Oolong teas, we recommend the use of tone or ceramics pots as are preferably used for such teas in Chinese and Taiwanese tea tradition. These can also be used for Green and Black Teas, however, which teapot to use for which tea is ultimately a question of individual preference. So, I personally tend to prepare Green Tea in a glass pot and I know of friends, who principally use a porcelain pot for Black Tea.
• Craftsmanship Also, the quality of craftsmanship of a teapot is not without significance for its qualification. Correctly intended, but inappropriately implemented functionality in the end leads to defects in single or several of the above-mentioned factors and thereby impairs the overall quality of the teapot. Indeed, tea pots should be crafted by tea drinkers, as only tea drinkers are aware of all requirement criteria and will try to appropriately accommodate them. The optimally crafted teapot is therefore naturally produced by a person, who is both a master of the craft and a tea lover and connaisseur.
• Aesthetics: This aspect is, of course, a highly individual one that of varies from person to person within a wide spectrum. Nevertheless, the proper preparation of tea, especially in its arrangement as a tea ceremony, mandates harmony as one of its uppermost principles. Therefore the used utensils should fit each other, i.e. harmonize aesthetically. The teapot is in the tea preparation/tea ceremony’s center and therefore represents a focal point in it that other accessories used are compared with. However, it needs to be emphasized that also in regard to achieving harmony the individual is the measure of all things, that is what counts is the harmony perceived by the actor and not the harmonious criteria of a third instance (such as the social mainstream, a claim of exclusiveness by a certain culture/institution, …).

The Teacup

First of all, all that was said about tea pots also applies to the teacup in the applicable extent (in regard to material, consistency, craftsmanship, aesthetics): it should be of good quality and craftsmanship, of a material appropriate for the tea that is prepared, and aesthecically fitting with the teapots and other utensils used in the ceremony. Naturally, there’s an indefinite variety of types and designs of teacups, with and without handle, white or nature or colored, with or without pattern/picture, Western or Asian, etc.  The choice is subject to personal preferences and should take orientation at harmonizing with the remaining utensils employed.

Aroma Tea Cup Sets

The tea ceremony usually does not simply aim at a mere drinking, but rather a savouring of tea, which regualarly involves the degustation of several infusions of a tea or sometimes even more than one tea. To this end, often little tea cups that are very small compared with Western standards are used instead of “fully grown” ones in the tea ceremony. For the first infusion of a tea (especially an Oolong tea), also called the “infusion of the good smell”, a scent cup or snifter cup cup goes along with the little drinking cup. The tea is initially into the scent cup and then from there into the drinking cup. The empty aroma cup is then lifted and held under one’s nose to take in the aromatic fragrance of the tea. To intensify the smell emitted by the snifter cup, it is often “pre-scented” by beeing poured over and filled with tea prior to the final fill that is transferred to the drinking cup. Drinking cup and scent cup are usually available as complementary aroma cup sets.

The Gaiwan Method

Source: Wikepedia

There’s another version of the Chinese tea preparation method / tea ceremony, where a so-called Gaiwan, a bowl with a saucer and a cover is used to prepare tea instead of teapot and aroma cup set. The Gaiwan combines some of the core characteristics and functions of teapot and teacup in a single “device”. The tea leaves are poured over with hot water directly in the Gaiwan, which is then, after infusion, used to drink the tea from as well. In China and Taiwan, a very common style is to always empty the Gaiwan only about half and then refill hot water.

The Gaiwan method promises uninterrupted tea enjoyment without waiting periods, but inevitably produces different taste results as the 2-pots method, where the tea is infused in one pot and then transfered to another tea pot that serves as a serving pot.  Also, the Gaiwan method omits several “processing” steps that are integral components of the 2-pots method This way, the Gaiwan on the one hand enables a simplified preparation that can be carried out relatively quick and comparably location-independent with little accessories, while on the other hand, there will be tea lovers, who will miss parts of the procedure that are crucial for them.

There are other “devices” that enable a quick and effortless preparation of tea at any given place or circumstances, as the tea mug with a lid and an insert depicted on the photo below shows. Also here, several steps of the tea preparation are united in a single instrument.

Though this device might have difficulties to conquer the hearts of those who embrace the complex ritual, it yet enables the preparation of a tea with little accessories in short time and at any place. Certainly this mug will be absolutely appropriate for the preparation of fruit teas or herbal teas.

The Tea Bowl

Source: Wikipedia

Meant isn’t a drinking bowl, which is also sometimes referred to as tea bowl, but a mostly wooden bowl that serves to arrange the dry tea leaves on the tea boat and/or on the table, where the tea ceremony will be performed. Of course, also this is not a must. Often, simply the tea package itself is placed instead. The decision in favor of or against the tea bowl or tea package is always mainly an aesthetical one or even a question of whether or not you want to show the tea package, which usually will bear information on the used tea and its supplier, for information purposes or simply out of pride to the attendees.

Utensils

Shown on the above photo are several typical instruments commonly used with the tea ceremony that will, at least partially, proof useful for less ritual or elaborate forms of tea preparation just as well: Tea scoop, tea tongs, tea needle and tea spatula as well as a tea sieve. The tea scoop is used to portion the tea leaves, often available in rolled form, from the arrangement bowl into the tea pot. If the tea is present in form of open leaves, the tea scoop is rather not suitable for the portioning and the tea spatula is used instead to push the the tea leaves from the bowl into the teapot. The tea tongs serve for grasping, lifting and moving of the small drinking and snifter cups and also the teapot’s cover, since these parts can heat up through the hot water in a way that doesn’t allow for touching with the bare fingers anymore. Using the tea tongs is not only a method that requires much skill and practice, its exercise will most probably at times produce shards… the tea needle is for clearing the teapot’s muzzle of possible stuck tea leaves. These utensils are often accommodated as a set in a utensil holder being placed near the tea boat/tea table.

The purpose of the tea sieve is obvious: although many tea lovers have no problem with small parts of tea leaves swimming in their tea cup or might even consider this an integral part, others will prefer their tea clear and free of leave residues. The sieve often integrated at the inner opening the the teapot’s beak is usually very coarse to prevent it from getting bocked by tea leaves too easy. However, there are pots that are equipped with a sieve insert, as is the case with many glass tea pots, thereby making the use of an additional sieve redundant. Sieve inserts are, however, often quite coarse, so using an additional external sieve will achieve an extra effect.

Not depicted here is another instrument that tea masters can use to remove drops of water/tea from the teapot. This way, lime residues as otherwise easily emerging especially with the use of hard water are prevented. To facilitate the filling of the pot with tea leaves, a tea funnel is often used to prevent the leaves to miss the opening.

Glass Pots

Many tea drinkers preferably use a glass pot as their serving pot, due to the benefit of the clear visibility of the tea liquor and its color. However, a glass pot doesn not only show the color of the tea clearly, it also represents an aesthetical enrichment of the ceremony. Moreover, glass pots offer the advantage of a simple and residue-free cleaning.

The glass pot/device shown to the right in the picture is once again an “idler” for the simplified tea preparation. While its glass pot component can be used as a normal glass pot in the 2-pots variant as well, the removeable insert makes the combination a real gadget: pushing one button opens the lid for filling in tea leaves and/or for taking out the wet leaves, while pushing another button causes the tea to run down into the pot through a “ball sleuce” at the bottom of the insert. Except for cases of time pressure or in absence of more suitable equipment, I wouldn’t use this device for preparing Green, Black or Oolong Teas. However it has proven a valuable tool with herbal or fruit teas such as Jiaogulan or Safflower tea in our household.

Most of the instruments and utensils shown in the above illustrations will shortly be available at Siam Tea Shop under www.siam-tee.de at very reasonable prices and in selected quality.

Let us now turn to the actual course and the practical aspects of the tea ceremony:

Preparation of the Tea Ceremony

Not depending on whether you simply prepare tea in an everyday setting tea or pursue the higher ambition of learning the tea ceremony, a good preparation is not only an essential prerequisite for the smooth flow of the preparation/ceremony, but rather already an integral component thereof. You not only prepare the place of the performance, (clean table/area, free of disturbing objects), place your tea boat and organize all needed items and instruments on and around the same, but during these procedures already adopt the appropriate attitude and by irradiating the same create the intended mood and harmony in your environment.

The Tea Water Temperature

Although there is guidelines for the individual main categories of tea (Green Tea: from 70°C, Oolong Teas around 80°C, Black Tea from 90° C), these can ultimately serve only as an orientation basis for the practical determination of the optimal infusion temperature of a tea. Most manufacturers provide relevant recommendations on their packages, but these are not to be mistaken as dogmas, but rather as a starting point for the exploration of one’s own preference.

The “Warming” of the Tea Vessels

Initially, the tea master moistens the vessels to be used in the tea preparation/ceremony with the correctly tempered hot water. To this end, he/she first pours over and fills the teapot, then he/she will pour the water from this over and into the serving pot and from this over and into the degustation and aroma tea cups. With the remainder, the closed teapot is poured over then once more. The obvious reason for this is to pre-warm the vessels, so the tea prepared in them will not lose its temperature too quick. Another, subtler aspect, especially with the use of porous materials such as tone or ceramics, is to let the vessel “breathe” the water, that is to create a flow or fluent transition between water and material.

Dosage of the Tea into the Teapot

Now the tea leaves are given into the teapot. This can be done by hand, but it will be more elegant to use the tea scoop or the tea funnel. A universally applicable or even mandatory “dosage guideline” does not exist: The sort of tea used as well as the situation and, based on this, the intended taste and effect result are factors that can influence the used quantity. Sometimes covering the bottom of the teapot is  mentioned as a rule of thumb, however, this method would result in significantly differing amounts for different teapot designs and different tea leave forms (e.g. rolled or open leaves). The dosage of a tea therefore will finally be done either according to the tea master’s experience with a tea, or intuitively in case of degustation of teas previously unknown to the tea master.

First infusions – the “Infusion for Washing the Tea”

Once this is done, the tea leaves are poured over with water for the first time. In China, this infusion is referred to as the “washing of the tea”, or sometimes as the “infusion for the enemy”. At this, the teapot is filled with water only partially (leaves well covered) and the infusion poured into the serving pot already after a few seconds. From this, one initially pours a little tea over the closed pot to “nurture” the teapot with the tea’s fragrance and aroma. The tea remaining in the serving pot is disposed.

First Infusions – the “Infusion of the Good Smell”

Now follows the first actual infusion, also named by the Chinese  as the “infusion of the good smell”. The infusion period depends on the tea used, the desired taste result and the number of infusions intended for the preparation/ceremony. While Chinese tea masters often begin with very short infusion times, starting from no longer than 15 seconds to max. a minute, tea lovers in everyday Western life rather tend to infusion times between 2 and 5 minutes, based on tea, individual preference and situational influx.

In the Chinese tea ceremony, this infusion is first filled into the aroma tea cups, after completely emptying the water stil present therein (mostly using the tea tongs).  Then, the drinking cups are put upside down over the scent cups and the newly established unity of scent and degustation cup served to the attendees. Using the tea tongs at this requires much skill and practice. It is an art that will reveal the practiced hand even to the untrained eye.

After every participant of the ceremony has been served, the combination is turned upside down with a courageous momentum so that the tea is now in the drinking cup. Now the snifter cup is guided to the nose and the tea’s scent initially taken in via the olfactory sense.

This is followed by the tea’s oral degustation from the drinking cup, in compliance with the Chinese tradition in 3 sips, one for the earth, one for the sky and one for the human.

Second Infusion – the “Infusion of the Good Taste”

In the Chinese tea ceremony, the second infusion is considered the “infusion of the good taste”. This is certainly true for this form of tea preparation, with the very short first infusion period. Rolled tea leaves will usually need some time for the granules or rolls to open in the hot water and will therefore release their flavor only limitedly to the first infusion. All of this naturally doesn’t apply to a domestic tea preparation according to western standards, where the first infusion, as described above, will usually be left to infuse for longer periods ín order to obtain a more intensive and less subtle taste experience. Nevertheless, also here the second infusion of a good tea will certainly taste just as good as the first one, even though a little different.

Further Infusions

The infusions following the infusion of the good smell are poured out only into the drinking cups, while the scent cups are omitted after that infusion. The tea lover referred to in above statement, who will leave his/her first infusion for 2 minutes or more, will naturally hardly obtain more than 3-5 infusions out of his/her Oolong tea, while the tea master will achieve more than 10 infusions with the same tea, each of which will have its very own characteristics.

Conclusion

As we have seen, not only the preparation of tea in everyday life, but also the Chinese Tea Ceremony can assume a broad variety of forms, each of which consisting of its own purposeful combination and sequence of different elements and instruments out of a rich treasure of available options. There is no rule for our selection of which one th chouse for ourselves, when, and for which tea. The variation of tea preparation or tea ceremony practiced by an individual is based on a is based on a fluent recombination of experience values, personal preferences and situational facts. What all ‘correct’ types of tea preparation have in common is that achieving the goal, namely the preparation of an  optimal, delicious tea, the flow harmony of the whole procedure and finally the creation of the perfect moment, is in the focus of the actor’s attention.

The description presented here will naturally be an imprecise, incomplete and finally kind of “wooden” representation of the Tea Ceremony that will provide you with hardly more than a starting point or basic orientation for your own practice. Additional pertinent reading material, lots of practice and the attainment of the correct attitude will help with “walking the tea way” and to get a little bit closer every day in life to the perfect tea ceremony, the perfect moment, and the insight that the journey is the destination indeed. Here’s a beautiful quotation by a tea lover known to me that will serve well for concluding this article: “True competence comes from consistent practice and the ignorance of success.”

May 27 – 29, 2011

The Journey

Doi Wawee is a very remote village in the mountains of Northern Thailand, located about 45 km west of Doi Mae Salong at an altitude of about 1500m above sea level. I had repeatedly received hints from private and Internet sources that maintained that, just like Doi Mae Salong, the resident community of the Chinese Kuomintang village of Doi Wawee grows tea on a larger scale, and therefore I had been planning a visit to the remote mountain enclave for some time. Well, I finally made it happen. Once again with my 6-year-old son Alex, who had accompanied me on all my tea journeys so far, our plan was to travel by bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, where we would rent a motorbike for the rest of the journey, since there’s no public transport to Doi Wawee available (yet).

The motorbike ride from Chiang Rai to Doi Wawee takes us little more than 2 hours. The road is an up and down serpentine trail, but the constantly alternating mountain panoramas and views of picturesque valleys ensure there’s no boredom coming up on the way.

We first drive back towards Chiang Mai, turn right off the superhighway after about 15km to follow a still very reasonable road leading direction Mae Suay. From this road, a definitely less reasonable, though still more or less paved trail turns left shortly before reaching Mae Suay. We follow it and begin the 50km long climb, not a continuous one, but in form of a series of alternating mountains and valleys that will ultimately take us further up from each single peak to the next.

Unfortunately, the day had already progressed to late afternoon by then. The idea of being still on that road after dark and in the worst case in potential rain, caused me to pursue a rather fast-paced style of driving. The peaks of the mountains above us, and then below us as well, are partially draped in clouds.

Arrival in Doi Wawee

We are lucky and not only manage to make it just in time, but even dry. However, it is just about nightfall, when we arrive at Doi Wawee. The town’s only accommodation option is the Laolee Hill Resort, run by a Chinese family that, as we learn later, does not only own most of the surrounding tea plantations, but also played a crucial role in the idea and realization of importing tea plants from Taiwan, and the subsequent years of development of Doi Wawee’s tea cultivation and distribution.

We are happy to have arrived and, after moving in to our bungalow, which turns out to be excellent considering the more than reasonable price of only 600THB per night, we make ourselves comfortable at the resort’s restaurant.

We are the only guests in this time of year, a luxury that comes with a privileged service. The menu lists only Chinese dishes, which Alex has a problem with, while I don’t. The conversation soon turns to tea, and we hear a brief history of the tea cultivation at Doi Wawee, where, amongst other things, we learn that Doi Mae Salong, Doi Wawee’s larger Chinese “sister city” in Northern Thailand, was initially inspired to the cultivation and processing of tea by the Doi Wawee community, which had started importing and nurturing tea plants from Taiwan in 1994, two years before Doi Mae Salong picked up on the idea. At both locations there was previously only that special Camellia Sinensis species occurring that grows wild and in the form of larger trees, as we had seen them in Pang Kham on the Thai border with Burma, to see and read in my article

Pang Kham: Tea Village in No-Man’s Land.

The older and recent history of Doi Mae Salong and the local tea production are detailed in my informative and well illustrated articles

Journey to Doi Mae Salong

and

Tea cultivation in Thailand.

As it was already dark at our arrival in the evening, we only have a highly theoretical idea of where we actually are. The next morning brings light:

Our room features not only 2 comfortable beds, a separate bathroom with hot shower and a TV, on which, thanks to satellite technology, for a change no Thai, but only Chinese programs are showing, but also a back balcony revealing that we are definitely in the right place for tea here.

Excursion to Thaton

After breakfast the next morning, when asking where I can find an ATM machine, I receive the answer that the closest one is located in the town of Thaton, about 20 km ride from Doi Wawee. Well, obviously, given my miserably planned cash assets, we have no choice other than postponing our visit to Doi Wawee’s tea plantations, which was, of course, our main point on this day’s agenda, for a few hours. In retrospect, we don’t regret the initially unplanned trip to Thaton in any way: Even the more or less continuous drizzle on that day isn’t able to spoil the stunning highland panoramas opening up during our ride…

Since Thaton is located in a river valley, we need to bring a difference in altitude of about 1,000 meters behind us. The panoramic view just before our final “descent” to the valley of Thaton, is breathtaking indeed.

After stocking up with some new cash in Thaton, we drive back to Doi Wawee, where we finally take on our visit to the tea plantations. From our resort, a large part of the cultivation areas are accessible by foot.

Visit of Doi Wawee’s tea plantations

For a while, we climb about the tea slopes, where photographic tea plantation motifs and perspectives open up in abundance. It becomes obvious that the cultivation areas had to be reclaimed from the wooded hills in a tedious effort.

Just as we just are about to make it back to the resort, we meet a son of the operator family of the same and these plantations, who we have already met on the previous evening, and he invites us on a tour of the nearby family-owned tea factory. Of course, we don’t let this opportunity slip.

Visit at the tea factory

In front of the factory, large amounts of tea leaves are spread out for drying in the sun. Further piles of tea leaves are just about being evenly distributed on the ground.

The factory building itself is impressingly large, which is, however, not surprising, given the scope of cultivation areas we have witnessed.

We see equipment and machinery just like that we already know from our visits to Doi Mae Salong and Pang Kham. While the equipment we’ve seen in the also rather remote Pang Kham appeared to be rather old and highly labor-intensive, the machinery here, as in Doi Mae Salong, is very modern and suitable for the processing of large amounts of tea leaves. We arrive just in time to track most of a processing cycle. A charge of tea leaves, after being heat-treated under rotation, is just discharged from an oversized heating drum.

The tea leaves are then further processed on the characteristic “centrifuges”. Of these, we see both the legacy version as we know it from Pang Kham, and rather contemporary designs, as we’ve seen in our supplier’s tea factory in Doi Mae Salong.

The transport of the processed tea leaves from the factory back to the open takes place by means of a rather “traditional” and quite labor-intensive method.

Teas from Doi Wawee

After our visit to the tea factory and back at the resort, we inspect the resort’s own tea shop, which seems to have a lot to offer at first glance.

Besides unique features of affinity with the Chinese culture, especially one thing catches the eye right away: a Pu’er Tea Monument, just over 1m high, enthroned on the counter of the tea-shop.

As it turns out, this sculpture is not just a decorative element of the shop, but actually represents a branch of the tea-processing in Doi Wawee, which is unique for Northern Thailand: the production of Pu’er tea. Pu’er tea is a Green Tea, post-fermented over a longer period, non-oxidized and usually pressed, made from a large-leaved Camellia Sinensis species. The post-fermentation takes place by means of microbial processes that are triggered by organisms growing in the tea. There are basically two types of Pu’er tea: Pu’er tea pressed in its raw condition Pu’er tea ripened prior to the pressing (“raw” and “ripened” Pu’er). Just like the founders of Doi Mae Salong and Doi Wawee, the tradition and art of the Pu’er production comes from the Chinese province of Yunnan.

A demonstration of the product by the resort owner makes clear that not only the Pu’er tea’s manufacturing and storing for maturity (here: 5 years!) were advanced to a higher art in Doi Wawee, but also its packaging.

Apart from Pu’er, Doi Wawee produces a nearly identical, though somewhat smaller range of teas as Doi Mae Salong, especially the fine and world-renowned Taiwanese Oolong tea species No.17 and No.12 Oolong, along with green tea, jasmine tea and the Jiaogulan tea collected from wild growth by local hill tribes.

Ban Doi Wawee (“Doi Wawee Town”)

By late afternoon, we pay a visit to the 4 km away Doi Wawee Town (“Ban Doi Wawee). The town is rather small, much smaller than Doi Mae Salong. Otherwise, the similarities between the two Chinese towns in the mountains of Northern Thailand are more than obvious.

The town’s “attractions” are pretty much limited to an Internet cafe, where I can’t read my emails, because Yahoo doesn’t work, and a number of small local restaurants serving Chinese rice and noodle soup dishes.

Apart from that, there’s another tea shop in Ban Doi Wawee that seems to serve as a sort of meeting place and focal point for the few tourists visiting during Northern Thailand’s tourist high season.

Where otherwise there are virtually no visible signs of tourism, the tea shop’s sign board in German and English language, although somehow seeming sort of misplaced, indicates that there must have been foreigners coming through here before, and that their presence is actually considered as something desirable.

Besides the town’s “center” itself, Doi Wawee has a number of branches extending up to about half the height of the surrounding hill slopes, but also these are not as extensive as those of Doi Mae Salong.

Once again, we make ourselves comfortable at our resort for the remains of the evening, chatting with our hosts for a while about the development and opportunities of the local tea cultivation.

Doi Wawee – Doi Chang

Since I had heard of a village located about 4 km from Ban Doi Chang, where supposedly a larger-scale organic cultivation and production of Green Teas and Oolong Teas is maintained by a group of wealthy philanthropists from Bangkok, our return path to Chiang Rai on the next day leads via Doi Chang.

Although we don’t reach said tea village that day anymore, because unfortunately we run out of time, the detour made in order to get to Doi Chang is, seen under the landscape aspect, offering some of our trip’s the most remarkable impressions, clearly worth the effort.

The scenery virtually changes with every vanquished hill, and the fact that I “need to” stop every few hundred meters in order to shoot photos is probably to blame for the circumstance that we have to re-schedule our planned visit to the tea village near Ban Doi Chang to the next possible opportunity.

Time and again on the way we see smaller settlements of the indigenous hill tribes being nestled in the idyllic slopes.

The closer we get to Doi Chang, the more spectacular scenery and views become.

We have reached just before Ban Doi Chang, when in a restaurant by the roadside, where we have a snack, we are told that the direct route to Ban Doi Chang presently wouldn’t be passable because of the rains. For us, this means that we must take the same way back that we came. We have a last regretful look at Ban Doi Chang lying before us and then set off on the way back.

I decide not to miss the opportunity to eventually collect the Pu’er tea for shipment to Germany at Doi Wawee in person, rather than having it sent to Chiang Mai as offered, and to use this occasion to still pay a visit to Ban Doi Chang and its nearby tea village, where we did not reach this time.

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Our Offer

Oolong Teas

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• Partly fermented teas of the “Camellia Sinensis” species, withered in the sun, dried and sold and consumed either in curled form or rolled to little granules
• Degree of fermentation varies between 8% and 85%, depending on species, cultivation and processing method
• Aroma varies between a sweet/fruity honey-like aroma and a green/fresh bouquet aroma, depending on species, cultivation and processing method
  Origin: China (Fujian Province, Wuji Mountains)
• Further diffusion to: Japan, Taiwan, Korea (Guandong) and in recent years Northern Thailand
• Name origins from Chinese: „O-liong“, also „Qingcha“
• Popular due to its low coffeine and health benefits: control of obesity, lowers the cholesterol levels, improves skin and bone structure as well as teeth, antioxidant (removes free radicals; cancer prevention), efficient in the treatment of chronical diseases like heart, skin and inflammatory disorders and diabetes.
• The tea plants for the cultivation in Thailand were originally brought in from Taiwan’s Alisha region, worldwide famous for its Formosa Oolong and Green Teas.

Click here to buy Oolong Teas from Northern Thailand

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Green Teas

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• Non-fermented teas of the ”Camellia Sinensis” species. A short heating up, roasting or steaming after the withering prevents the freshly harvested leaves to fermenting. Therefore, almost all of the substances contained in the fresh leave are being preserved.
• Traded and consumed either in curled form or rolled to granules.
• Flat geen leaves, jade-green leaves, aromatic scent, clear and yellow in the infusion
• Stimulating and refreshing effects (mainly due to its caffeine content)
• The regular consumption of Green Teas has preventive properties in regard to cancer and cardiovascular diseases, lowers the risk for caries and has a soothing effect on stomach and intestinal tract. These health benefits arise from the high levels of catechins, amino acids (esp. Theanin), the vitamins A, B and B2 and the micronutritients calcium, potassium, phosphoric acid, magnesium, copper , zinc, carotine and fluor.
• Origin: China
• Further diffusion to: Japan, Taiwan, Korea (Guangdong) and in recent years Northern Thailand
• Amongst others, Thailand produces the famous Chinese Lung Ching or „Longjing“ tea, in English “Dragonwell Tea”, or often simply “Dragon Tea”.
• The tea plants for the cultivation in Thailand were originally brought in from Taiwan’s Alisha region, worldwide famous for its Formosa Oolong and Green Teas.

Click here to buy Green Teas from Northern Thailand

Siam Teas offers Green Tea from Northern Thailand in 2 variations: a standard quality in form of loose leaves, and a premium selection in form of rolled leaves.

Naturally scented Oolong Teas and Green Teas

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Northern Thailand produces a range of naturally scented Oolong and Green Teas. The scent comes from mixing the tea leaves with natural scenting agents like Jasmin, Thai Jasmin Rice oder Ginseng roots, each with its own complex and sensitive procedure. At this, teas are procuced that bear the unique taste and scent of their aromatic agents and enjoy great popularity especially amongst tea newcomers.

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Black Tea – A Thailand Novelty

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While Green Teas and Oolong Teas from Thailand have been known for a whail, the Doi Mae Salong cultivation region has now responded to the international demand for Black Tea. Due to the millenium-old expertise the Chinese in tea cultivation and processing, the Chinese community of Doi Mae Salong has succeeded procubacing a black tea that easily lives up even to the highest expectations a passionate black tea drinker could possibly have.

Currently, there are 2 different kinds of Black Tea available, one in the form of loose leaves, based on a “standard” Oolong tea, the other one being the Premium Choice based on the precious “No.12” species, coming in form of classic tea bag at 3 gram of Black Tea each or as rolled leaves, by choice.

Safflower Tea

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General:

Safflower, also called false saffron, is a plant belonging to the Aster family. Its natural area of occurrence extends across the countries of Asia and Europe, as well as North America and Australia. Safflower is a fast growing, thistle-like, year-long herbaceous plant that grows to a height of between 60cm and 1.30m.

History:

In Egypt, safflower (English: Safflower) was already used to dye fabrics around 3500 BC. The oil gained from the seeds was used in the antiquity for the manufacturing of ointments. In the 13th century, the Romans brought the safflower to Central Europe, where the flowers were used for coloring foods, but also for medicinal purposes. About the beginning of the 20th century, the plant was almost completely replaced as a dye color donor by synthetic agents. Since the end of the 20th Century, the oil obtained from safflower enjoys increasing popularity as a cooking oil, due to its high content of polyunsaturated linoleic acid and vitamin E.

Modern non-medicinal use:

• The petals are, due to their colors (the red coloring agent carthamin and the yellow coloring agent carthamidin are often rererred to as “saffron-substitute”. While the visual effect can hardly be distinguished from that of genuine saffron, the safflower, in contrast to the aromatic saffron, as a food additive is nearly tasteless.
• The plant is used as an ornamental garden plant and as cut or dried flower.
• The flower-leaves yield a very tasty tea with a fruity-sweet flavor.

Medical use of safflower tea:

• Safflower is well known in the Asian, especially the Chinese traditional medicine, where the petals are infused as a tea. Clinical studies have shown effects on leukemia, hepatitis and migraines, besides other conditions.
• The safflower flowers have a stimulating effect on the heart and circulation. They also possess antipyretic and analgesic features, and they are said to have aphrodisiac properties. In Thailand, in this context, a tea called “Love Potion No. 1″ is offered, whose main component are the flowers of the safflower.
• In European folk medicine, safflower flowers are known as a treatment of menstrual and climacteric conditions, indigestion, jaundice and measles, wounds, inflammation and joint pain.
• Although safflower tea is generally regarded as a “soft medicine” without undesirable side effects, and for example administered in Russia to babies for flatulence, the consumption is not recommended during pregnancy.

Pu’er Tea (Doi Wawee)

General:

Pu’er, Pu’erh or Puer tea, is a tea resulting from a post-fermentation process, obtained through a processing method developed during China’s imperial age in the province of Yunnan. Today, Pu’er tea is also manufactured in other tea producing Asian countries, such as since recently in Northern Thailand. Post-fermentation in this case means a processing, at which the tea leaves, after being dried and rolled to streaks, undergo a microbiotic fermentation process. Because of the dark, reddish color of the leaves as well as the readily brewed tea drink, Pu’er tea is often referred to as “dark tea”.

Pu’erh is available in form of loose tea leaves or in compressed form (for example: bricks). Principally , two different kinds of Pu’er tea can be distincted: “raw” Pu’er Tea (sheng) and “ripened” Pu’er tea.

Processing:

The base material of all Pu’er tea variations is the so-called Maocha, a non-oxidized green tea that is obtained form a large-leaved Camellia Sinsensis species as can be found in southern Yunnan, Burma and northern Thailand. The “raw” (sheng) type of Maocha goes through a natural fermentation process due to environmental influences, while for the “ripened” (shou) type this process is accelerated by means of a specific processing method that was only introduced in the early 1970s.

• Maocha: The freshly picked tea leaves are first spread out to wither and dry in the sun. Then they roasted, traditionally in are in a large Chinese wok in order to stop the enzymatic fermentation process. The roasted tea leaves are finally rolled into streaks, which are once again dried in the sun.
• Raw Pu’er tea: The Maocha is subjected to a secondary oxidation and fermentation process, which may require several years, until the desired result is achieved.
• Ripened Pu’er tea: The fermentation process is accelerated by storing the tea leaves under controlled warm/humid conditions, while under constant re-piling, turning around and moistening, thereby promoting the formation and activity of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi), pretty much the same way as with the composting of biodegradable materials. This process usually takes between 6 months and one year.

Pressing:

The dried Maocha is portioned and the weighed portions lightly steamed in order to achieve a more cohesive consistency. In the old times, the resulting units were then pressed with a hand press, in ancient times a stone press, until the lever press prevailed soon after being introduced, and now increasingly with hydraulic presses, in various forms such as cakes or bricks, as is the case with our Pu ‘Er Tea from Doi Wawee. Often when pressing a motive is coined in, which can include the manufacturer’s logo and / or the date of pressing or the ripening period.

Doi Wawee, Northern Thailand, produces, as it is commonl for producers in Yunnan now as well, both forms of Pu’er teas, raw and mature Pu’er, the raw Pu’er is subjected to a natural maturation process manufacturer of 5 years .

Shan Tea

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What we call ShanTea is a tea harvested, processed and savoured since centuries on the area of nowadays Northern Thailand by various local ethnic groups like the Shan people or the different hill tribes migrated from China. It is a large-leaved subspecies of Camellia Sinensis that grows wild in form of trees in the area’s higher altitudes. The inhabitants of mountain villages once a year cut the trees back to a maximum height of about 2 meters to promote the development of tea leave sprouts and keep those within reach from the ground. After the harvesting and drying, the fermentation process of the tea leaves is disrupted and hence the tea left in green or slightly fermented condition. The mountain people themselves like their tea most after another processing step, the roasting of the tea leaves on a charcoal fire, giving the tea a smoky flavor.

For detailed information about our Shan Tea and our refugee aid project “Project Shan Tea” please visit our pages/articles

Project ShanTea

and

Pang Kham: Tea Village in No-Man’s Land

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click here to buy Shan Tea at Siam Tea Shop

Like so many good things, Project Shan Tea was born over a pot of tea, while chatting with an old friend I get to see about once a year, whenever he, in his capacity as an honorary volunteer of Help Without Frontiers, on his way to the Shan areas, lodges a night in Chiang Mai …

Help Without Frontiers is a German refugee aid organization that has dedicated its work and its commitment to alleviate the plight of ethnic Shan refugees and displaced persons from Burma. In this context, Help Without Frontiers conducts training and educational programs and initiatives to generate income, health, medical, nutritional and a number of other social projects, many of them in places, where otherwise no help ever reaches out to: In Burma’s border area with Thailand, where refugees and displaced people, in particular members of the Shan and Karen (Kariang) ethnic groups (Kariang), gather to seek a better life and fortune in escaping to Thailand…

Where they come from, arson, rape, robbery and killing through Burma’s military are the everyday agenda. For more info, photo and video material on the work of Help Without Frontiers can be found under

www.helpwithoutfrontiers.com

That evening, my friend told me about a tea-growing project in Loi Kaw Wan, in whose initiation and development he had been involved two years earlier. Due to my venture Siam Tea and my respective Website Blog, Siam Teas Blog, the subject tea from that border area had been in the focus of my attention for a while and I became keen-eared immediately. Tea from the Shan states just sounded like a great idea, possibly another good and even rare tea specialty for the Sia Teas portfolio…, and, ultimately, like a way to finally have a means to actively contribute to alleviating the plight of Shan refugees from Burma, whose daily witness I had been for many years, being a long time resident of Northern Thailand.

The talks were followed by deeds: We contacted the project leaders on the Shan-side, which were enthusiastic about the idea, but unfortunately had to stave us off to a however not so distant future. Loi Kaw Wan will see its first tea harvest only in another 2-3 years …

Nevertheless, they helped us along: They knew of Shan tea farmers on the Thai side of the border, refugees from Burma as well, who had been harvesting and processing tea from old tea trees growing wild in their area for several years.

The relevant contact was soon established and a tea sample delivered, whose tasting led me to place an initial order of several hundred kilograms of the local specialty right away: Shan Tea really is something special! It’s not like the Chinese / Taiwanese green or oolong teas otherwise dominating Northern Thailands tea cultivation, not like a black tea, and not like any other tea I had ever tried before, for that matter, but Shan tea is a dark, not fully fermented tea that tastes like the land and soil, on which it grows (and this really is the best description I can think of, if it comes to the taste of Shan Tea).

In cooperation with all stakeholders, we developed a scheme that would serve as a means for us to contribute to helping refugees from Burma even beyond the mere provision of a sales market for their tea. Siam Tea agreed to support the refugee aid work of Help Without Frontiers with 10% of Shan Tea sales, while channeling another 10% directly to the Shan Health Committee, a Shan main body for the coordination of refugee aid on the Burma side of the border. A friendly representative of the Shan Health Committee at my request did not hesitate volunteering to accompany me on a trip to the border village of Pang Kham, so I could get an idea of the local tea production there from first hand experience. Course and results of this journey (including 300 year old tea trees, 100% organic tea growing, professional tea-processing in accordance with ages-old traditional methods, all pretty much off civilization and the beaten track are well documented and illustrated in my article

Pang Kham: Teedorf im Niemandsland

So, if you’re willing to make a small contribution yourself to improving the situation of displaced persons and refugees from the Karen and Shan areas in Burma, there’s a way for this here and now, which, beyond the said aid contribution will bring a rare local specialty at an affordable price to your home and onto your table.

click here to buy Shan Tea at Siam Tea Shop

Siam Tea guarantees for the appropriated use of the funds raised this way.

Thomas Kasper, head of Siam Teas and Siam Teas Blog

Oolong Tea

Oolong teas are partially fermented teas of the “Camellia Sinensis” species, withered in the sun, partially fermented, and either in form of leaves or curled / rolled into small balls. The degree of fermentation varies between 8% and 85%. Oolong teas are characterized by a large aromatic variety, ranging from a sweet and fruity honey aroma to a green / fresh bouquet flavor, depending on the species, cultivation and processing method. The origin of Oolong teas is China (here: Fujian province, Wuji Mountains). From there, the cultivation of oolong teas spread further across South Asia: Japan, Taiwan, Korea (Guangdong), and more recently Northern Thailand. The name Oolong originates in Chinese language: “O-Liong”, or “Qingcha”. Oolong tea is particularly popular because of its low caffeine content and its health benefits: Control of obesity, cholesterol-lowering effects, strengthens skin and bone structure and teeth, antioxidant properties (eliminates free radicals, cancer prevention), effective in the treatment of chronic diseases such as heart, skin and inflammatory disorders and diabetes. The tea plants for cultivation in Thailand were originally imported from Taiwan’s Alishan region, world-wide famous for its Formosa Oolong and Green Teas.

click here to buy tea from Thailand at Siam Tea Shop

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Formosa Oolong Teas

Formosa Oolong tea is actually the name for oolong tea from Taiwan. The Portuguese colonialists gave Taiwan the name “Ilha Formosa” (“Beautiful Island”). The plants originally originate from the following years, and with the active promotional support of Queen Elizabet China’s Wuji Mountain region and were imported to Taiwan in the 1950s. Duringh II, Formosa Oolong tea such as the regional species Formosa Dong Ding Oolong and Formosa Oolong “Oriental Beauty” achieved worldwide recognition.In the 1970s, a range of experimental stations were set up for the development of distinctive Oolong tea hybrids. Oolong teas such as the No.12 (Jin Xuan Oolong) and the No.17 (Bailu Oolong) have since conquered the hearts of tea lovers worldwide.

Thai Oolongs

After the rigorous crackdown of the Thai government and military on the opium cultivation and trade in the Thai sector of the the infamous Golden Triangle in the course of the 1980′s, the ethnic Yunnanese population of mountain enclaves in Thailand’s border region with Burma started experimenting with local tea species that were local to the area for hundreds of years or more. Despite quite respectable results with local Green and Oolong tea, these initially didn’t manage to establish amongst popular world class teas, and moreover offered little potential for a diversification of the local tea portfolio.

Hence, from 1994, these producers started importing some fine and popular tea plant species from Taiwan. Initially, hybrids such as the Oolong No. 17, the Oolong No. 12, and the Four Seasons Oolong from Taiwans Alishan-Gebirge were moved and grown in regions like Doi Mae Salong or Doi Wawee. To these added shortly after the millenium change a typical tea from the Taiwanese Dong Ding region and an Oriental Beauty Oolong tea.

More detailed and vividly illustrated information about history and development of the tea cultivation in Doi Mae Salong, North Thailand, can be found in my articles

Journey to Doi Mae Salong

Doi Mae Salong – Center of Tea Cultivation in North Thailand

Tea Cultivation in North Thailand – History and Development

Today, particularly Oolong Teas from North Thailand enjoy the reputation of belonging to the best in the world, and since 2011, an exceptional and overly delicious Black Tea based on the No.12 plant has set out to conquer the hearts of the international tea lover community.

The imported tea plants find in the region around Doi Mase Salong, at altitudes between 1200 and 1800 meters and a 3-seasonal change between a rainy, a hot and dry, and a cool season in a 4-month cadence, optimal climate and geologic conditions, which are very similar to those in their region of origin.

In the nomenclature of these teas, DMS means the cultivation region Doi Mae Salong. Apart from this, the names contain hints at the original species as well as at the charcateristic features of each tea. In the following, I will introduce the typical representatives of the nowadays quite diversified cultivation area Doi Mae Salong in detail. The preparation recommendations provided therein are adjusted to Western standards. However, tea masters practicing the Gong Fu Cha (tea ceremony), the ritual, classic-traditional Chinese way of tea preparation, where very short infusion periods are used in order to exhibit every nuance of a tea’s aroma and taste, will infuse these Oolong teas up to seven times or more, depending on the respective type.

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DMS Bai Yai Oolong Tea

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Loose leaves Oolong tea, harvested and produced from the camellia sinensis assamicatea species local to North Thailand. In the mountain region of Doi Mae Salong, where this tea, in north Thailand also growing wild in the form of trees, is cultivated by the local Yunnan-origin population in tea gardens, the plant finds optimal conditions at heights between 1200 and 1600 meters and a climate characterized by a 3 seasons, a rainy period, a hot and dry period and a cold period, each of them lasting about 4 months a year. A daily standard in many Northern Thai mountain households, and a budget alternative for every demanding Western tea drinker.

The large-leaved tea, grown at altitudes between 1000 and 1400 meters and with a seasonal change between a rainy season, a hot and dry and a cold period in a 4-months cadence, unites a full and round, bold-flavored aroma, already  revealing in both the dry leave’s and the infusion’s scent, with the bloomy and earthy note characteristic for Northern Thai Oolong teas. The liquor shows a clear golden brown color.

Camellia Sinensis Assamica tea tree (“Bai Yai”) in Doi Mae Salong tea garden

In the nomenclature of this tea, DMS means the cultivation region Doi Mae Salong, while Bai Yai (Thai = “large leaf”) is the designation that has established among local tea producers for the assamica tea tree.

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DMS Oolong Nr. 17 Ruan Zhi Jade Pearls

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A queen amongst the Oolong teas of Northern Thailand, the No.17 hybrid genuinely originates from the Taiwanese Alishan Highlands, from where the tea plant was imported to North Thailand in 1994.

In the nomenclature of this Oolong tea, No.17 stands for the tea plant hybrid also called Ruan Zhi, Jade for the color of the liquor of this lightly fermented tea and its precious character, and Pearls for the rolled form, in which this tea is usually made available. The beautiful, carefully handpicked, rolled leaf will, infused in hot water, open to its full size within half a minute and give a clear jade-green to bright yellow cup, mild, yet rich in aroma, with a velvet-fruity touch of sweetness and a charming flowery note.

DMS Oolong No.17 Ruan Zhiu Jade Pearls unfold the depht and diversity of their rich spectrum of fine, subtle taste nuances best at a water temperature around 80°C and a recommended infusion period of about 3 minutes, though this tea will hardly develop any unpleasant bitterness even with somewhat longer infusion periods. The tea maintains its taste for well 3-4 infusions, each of which will exhibit its very own character.

The Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17 variety, along with the Jin Xuan Nr. 12 cultivar, dominates the tea cultivation in Thailand. The centers of cultivation are the region around Doi Mae Salong, a town established by Chinese settlers (KMT) in the 1950s, the Doi Tung, where tea is cultivated guided by the principles of organic cultivation under the umbrella and initiative of the Royal Development Project, and another Chinese settlement in the northern Thai mountains, Doi Wawee.

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DMS Oolong No. 12 Jin Xuan Blue Pearls

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Following our metaphor of calling No. 17 the Queen of the Northern Thai Oolong teas, the Oolong No. 12 might just as well deserve the throne of the king.

In fact, we can attribute some features, such as muscle power and straightforwardness, to the Oolong No. 12 that would usually rather be considered as male characteristics. The pleasant grassy-herbal aromatic scent of this Oolong tea with a medium degree of fermentation initially only hints at the sated, expressive, dry and earthy taste. A decent creamy-nutty note, gaining moment with longer infusion periods, additionally imparts the depth that is characteristic for Oolong teas. The beautiful, carefully handpicked, rolled leaf, which will open up to its full size after half a minute in the hot water, gives a clear, bright yellow color in the infusion, spontaneously arousing the association of gold and sunlight with the observer.

In the nomenclature of this tea No. 12 is the genuine hybrid designation also named Jin Xuan, Blue means ‘Blue Tea’ (Oolong tea) and Pearls means the rolled form the Oolong No.12 leaves are traded in.

DMS Oolong Nr. 12 Jin Xuan Blue Pearls unfold their bold, rich aroma best at an infusion temperature of 80°C and an infusion period of about 3 minutes, and maintain it for well 3-4 infusions.

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DMS Si Ji Chun Four Seasons Oolong

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Harvested from a special, relatively “modern” tea plant species that was developed in the 1980 in Taiwan’s Alishan mountain region and imported in North Thailand first in 1994, the Four Seasons hybrid is particularly characterized by two features: 1. The Four Seasons plant owes its name to the fact that produces virtually four “spring” harvests in a year, where other tea plants after the spring harvest, which is usually considered as the year’s best harvest, will show a gradual decline in quality. 2. The Four-Seasons plant is relatively altitude-indifferent, i.e. other than most tea plant species it produces the same high quality tea leaves in lower altitudes as it does in higher ones.

In the nomenclature of this tea, Si Ji Chun are the Chinese words for Four Seasons. Tastewise, this only very lightly fermented tea with a fermentation degree of 10% or below offers the best of two worlds: the fresh and tart taste of a beautiful Green Tea combined with typical earthy and nutty Oolong note. Intensive, rich scent in the first infusion, already telling quite a good bit of the taste experience to expect.

DMS Si Ji Chun Four Seasons Oolong Tea, a relatively low-cost alternativ in the top quality segment for tea lovers with highest demands, shows a wonderful light green and yellow color in the infusion. It should be infused at a water temperature of no more than 75°C, since it will release its bitters rather quickly with higher infusion temperatures. We recommend an infusion period of 2-3 minutes and at least 4 infusions to get to enjoy the full benefits of this tea.

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DMS Dong Ding Blue Pearls

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Though Dong Ding tea in the old times used to be identified with a particular Oolong tea cultivar that had once been brought from China to Taiwan’s Dong Ding mountain region, quite a number of different Oolong tea varieties are cultivated there today and mostly processed to Oolong teas of lower to medium degree of oxidation/fermentation. Meanwhile, it has become common pratice in Taiwan to call of these teas “Dong Ding Tea”, unless they are considered as Highland Oolong teas or Oriental Beauty Oolong teas. Likewise, also our Dong Ding Blue Pearls is actually based on the No. 17 cultivar, however, it undergoes a processing that deviates from that of our Ruan Zhi Oolong No. 17 and is rather characteristic for the Dong Ding region. Hence, the term “Dong Ding” here only refers to the corresponding method of processing.

Jin Xuan cultivar; bush, leaves and tops in late February

Apart from a slightly higher degree of oxidation/fermentation, the parallels of our DMS Dong Ding Blue Pearls to our Ruan Zhi No. 17 are quite obvious and clearly reveal in a taste comparison. Still, DMS Dong Ding Blue Pearls maintains a very individual character of its own: the mild sweetness of this somewhat less than medium fermented tea spontaneously evokes strong associations with milk sugar indeed, along with a touch of honey, while the tea’s scent only slightly hints at that sweetness. Other than with flavored ‘milky’ Oolongs, the milky aroma here is rather subtle and unobtrusive, and faints with declining freshness of the tea as well as beyond the second infusion. The tea’s honey sweetness, on the other hand, develops over an extended series of infusions and in a very intriguing way. Both taste components have a lingering resonance on the human palate. The pleasantly mild taste, rounded off by a light floral hint, guarantees for a perfect tea experience and makes this tea one of our most popular Oolong teas.

Jin Xuan cultivar, 2 leaves + tip, late February

In the nomenclature of this tea, DMS means the cultivation region Doi Mae Salong, Dong Ding hints at the processing method, Blue stands for Oolong tea, and Pearls is due to the rolled form given to the tea leaves in the processing. The beautiful, carefully handpicked, rolled leaf that opens up fully within half a minute in the hot water, gives a clear caramel and golden yellow color in the infusion.

DMS Dong Ding Blue Pearls achieve the best taste results with 3-5 grams of tea pearls on 300ml water at a temperature of 80-85°C, and an infusion period of 1 – 3 minutes. A second infusion shows no, a third one only little aromatic loss. However, tea masters, who in the context of a Gong Fu Cha (tea ceremony), the classic ritual Chinese way of tea preparation operate with very short infusion periods in order to expose every single aromatic nuance of a tea, will infuse this tea quite a few times more.

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DMS Cha Nang Ngam Cing Xin Beauty Oolong

also: Bai Hao Oolong, Oriental Beauty, (White) Silver Needle

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This special tea, also referred to as the “champaign” amongst the Oolong teas, is only harvested once a year (here: in April). The top leave (the “tip”) is then covered with tiny white hair, which has gotten the tea the designation “Silver Needle” or “White Silver Needle”. The cultivar was brought from Taiwan to north Thailand only about the middle of the 1990s. Besides the mentioned “silver tip”, another specific factor is responsible for the special taste of the Cha Nang Ngam Cing Xin Beauty Oolong tea, which is also characteristic for Taiwanese Oriental Beauty (Dong Fang Mei Ren): the leaves are bitten by a leafhopper species, whose proboscis leaves behind a secretion in the tea leaf, which mixes and reacts with the tea leafe juice remaining there. The insect’s interaction produces a small brown stain on the tea leaf. However, other than the most Taiwanese Bai Hao / Oriental Beauty teas, our Cha Nang Ngam Cing Xin Beauty Oolong in north Thailand is processed with a rather light degree of fermentation, thus still fitting the “Pouchong” Oolong tea category.

Young and promising DMS Cing Xin tops in late February 2013

In the nomenclature, DMS means the cultivation region Doi Mae Salong, ‘Cha Nang Ngam’ is Thai language for ‘beautiful female’, whith ‘beautiful’ in terms of diligent, demure, gracious, Cing Xin is the Chinese name of this old Taiwanese Oolong tea cultivar, while ‘Beauty’ is a shortening of the later common designation Oriental Beauty.

Early tea flower on Cing Xin tea plant in late February 2013

Our north Thailand version of Bai Hao / Oriental Beauty / Cing Xin Oolong Tea, enjoying a precious reputation in the tea cultures of both China and Taiwan,is vibrantly bright to sated yellow in the cup and reveals a pronounced floral note, though virtually without any of the bitter component that is often typical for such floral aromas. While the scent fo the dry tea leave only slightly hints at the tea’s taste, the infusion’s fragrance already promises a lot of the then unfolding diversity of a spring meadow.

Green Tea

Green teas are unfermented teas of the “Camellia Sinensis” species. A brief heating, roasting or steaming after the withering of the freshly picked leaves, prevents the fermentation process. This way, almost all active substances contained in the fresh leave remain preserved. The leaves are then traded and consumed either as loose leaves or curled / rolled into little granules. The plant has flat green leaves of jade-green color and aromatic fragrance, the tea is clear and bright green in the infusion.

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The stimulating effect of green tea is to attribute mainly to its caffeine content. The regular consumption of green tea can help prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease, reduces the risk of caries calms the stomach and intestine. The health benefits of green tea are due to its high content of catechins, amino acids (especially theanine), the vitamins A, B and B2, and the trace elements calcium, potassium, phosphoric acid, magnesium, copper, zinc, nickel, carotene, and fluorine. The tradition of Green Tea originates from China. Like the Oolong tea, Green tea from there spread to other South Asian countries, especially Japan, Taiwan, Korea (Guangdong), and more recently Thailand. North Thailand produces green teas both from tea species local to the area since hundreds of years or more and from tea plants imported in the nineties for cultivation in North Thailand from Taiwan, which is famous for its Formosa Oolong and green teas.

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DMS Bai Yai Green Tea

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Loose green leaves tea from the camellia sinensis assamicatea species local to North Thailand. In the mountain region of Doi Mae Salong, where this tea, in north Thailand also growing wild in the form of trees, is cultivated by the local Yunnan-origin population in tea gardens, the plant finds optimal conditions at heights between 1200 and 1600 meters and a climate characterized by a 3 seasons, a rainy period, a hot and dry period and a cold period, each of them lasting about 4 months a year.

In the nomenclature of this tea DMS means the region of cultivation, Doi Mae Salong, while Bai Yai (Thai = “large leaf”) is the designation that has established among local tea producers for the assamica tea tree.

Doi Mae Salong Cing Xin Green Pearls

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Cultivated and processed in Doi Mae Salong, North Thailand, from tea plants of the Cing Xin tea cultivar, which were imported from Taiwan during the 1990s for cultivation in the highlands of Northern Thailand, where they find optimal geological and climate conditions that are similar to their home region, at altitudes between 1200 and 1600 meters and a seasonal change between a rainy, a hot, and a cold period in a 4-month rhythm.

While the April harvest of the cultivar, due to the white hair on its tip (youngest top leave of a branch) also referred to as “Bai Hao” or “Silver Needle”, is reserved for the production of our DMS Cha Nang Ngam Beauty Oolong Pearls.

Young shoots of Cing Xin tea cultivar in late February

In the nomenclature of this tea, Doi Mae Salong stands for the cultivation region, Cing Xin for the Taiwanese tea plant cultivar this tea is yielded from, Green for Green Tea, and Pearls for the rolled form of this tea.

The carefully handpicked, rolled leaf opens up to its full size within half a minute in hot water and gives a clear, radiant bright yellow-green cup. The tea liquor bitters only slightly with appropriately tempered water (see below).

With green tea, other than with partly fermented and/or fully fermented black tea, the fermentation process is stopped through heating of the tea leaves right after a short period of withering. Apart from the charcteristical taste of green tea, this method ensures that nearly all active substances contained in the fresh tea leave are preserved.

Cing Xin cultivar in late February

DMS Cing Xin Green Pearls green tea combines the classical taste of traditional Chinese Green Tea in its purest form with the known health benefits of the same: high blood pressure, cholesterine and blood sugar regulation.

The best taste results are achieved with 3-5 grams of Doi Mae Salong Green Pearls, rolled, on 300ml of 75°C – 80°C hot water, and left to infuse for 2 – 4 minutes. The tea maintains its taste and aroma (in altering nuances) for about 3-4 infusions, depending on the duration of the individual infusion periods.

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Black Tea

Though North Thailand as a tea cultivation region initially became popular for its Oolong teas, growers in 2011 for the first time produced black tea on the basis of the Jin Xuan No.12 tea plant that already in its first year conquered the hearts of every tea lover, who had a chance trying this highly aromatic Northern Thai tea novelty (quite some, actually, thanks to Siam Tea Shop).

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Doi Mae Salong Jin Xuan Black Pearls

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In the nomenclature of this tea, DMS means the cultivation region, Doi Mae Salong, Jin Xuan is the Taiwanese name of the underlying tea cultivar, Black stands for Black Tea, and Pearls for the rolled form of this variant.

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Scented Teas

from North Thailand

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The result is teas that bear the distinctive smell and taste of their aroma donor, enjoying especially popularity with tea newcomers. Northern Thailand produces a range of naturally scented Oolong and Green teas, to which natural aroma donors such as jasmine, Thai jasmine rice, ginseng or osmanthus flowers are added by means of highly specific, complex and sensitive procedures respectively.

DMS Santikhiri Xianpian Jasmine Tea

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Based on local green leaves tea, scented and flavored by adding freshly plucked jasmine flowers in the processing according the traditional Chinese method. This procedure must be done at early nightfall, when the jasmine flowers open up their aroma pores and release their scent and aroma best to be absorbed by the green tea leaves.

In the nomenclature, DMS means the cultivation area Doi Mae Salong, Santhikhiri indicates the local character of the tea species, and Xianpian is the Chinese name for jasmine.

This tea unites the sweetness and bloomy notes of the jasmine flower in perfection with the leaves green tea aroma. It should be infused with 70-75°C hot water for around 3 minutes. The tea will give 2 – 3 infusions, with the jasmine flower aroma gradually vanishing after the first infusion.

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DMS Cha Khao Hoom Rice Tea

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This Northern Thai specialty, produced on tha basis of a green tea harvested from a tea plant species that has been local to the area for centuries, and flavored with Thai jasmine rice and a special local wild growth herb, giving the tea an intensive rice aroma, is unique to this region indeed. Expressively, this is not a genmaicha, as some might expect, and nothing similar to that either.

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DMS Gui Hua Osmanthus Green Pearls

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High grade handpicked green tea, harvested from a fine tea species imported from Taiwan’s Alishan mountain region in the midst 1990s, refined in heated condition with freshly plucked Osmanthus flowers. The natural aroma donor, after releasing its decent fragrance and taste notes, is carefully removed again from the traditionally handpicked tea leaves.

Jiaogulan – “Gynostemma pentaphyllum”

The Chinese “Immortality Herb”

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Gynostemma pentaphyllum, also called Jiaogulan, is an herbaceous climbing plant that has earned itself a worldwide reputation as traditional Chinese “miracle” herb. In China, as well as in Thailand, the leaves are not only drunk as a tea, but also consumed as a food like spinach or lettuce. The inhabitants of the Chinese province of Guizhou, who drink the tea on a daily basis, have given the plant the name “immortality herb”. They suggest that their province allegedly has a higher than average life expectancy. The adaptogenic and antioxidant properties of Jiaogulan have earned the herb the designation “Southern Ginseng”, although the two plants are actually not closely related. Proven health benefits include regulating blood pressure, lowering cholesterol levels and an increase of stamina and concentration capabilities.

In fact, has been found recently that the Jiaogulan plant grows well in European gardens, too, but with modified flavor and active properties (generally reduced), and that the imported plants lose their taste and health-benefiting properties already in the second generation.

In China, the first literary documentation of the medical use of the Jiaogulan herb dates back to the middle of the 19th century. Already in the 15th Century, it is described in Chinese sources as a “survival food”. The name “Immortality Herb” was given to the herb in the Chinese province of Guizhou, whose inhabitants have been consuming the leaves regularly since long and who are said to as a consequence show a higher than average life expectancy.

In Thailand, where the herb also grows naturally and is collected by the hill tribes living in the north of the country, Jiaogulan has been purposefully cultivated since the 1990s unter the umbrella intitiative of the Thai Royal Development Project, guided by the prinicipals of organic cultivation.

The scientific interest and research in Jiaogulan began in the 1970s in Japan and continues today, with more than amazing results. The following health benefits of Jiaogulan have so far been documented:

1. Control of cholesterol levels, altogether as well as in regard to the ratio between “good” cholesterol (HDL) and “bad” cholesterol (LDL).

2. Blood Pressure Control: Although it is not known exactly why this is so, Jiaogulan acts to regulate blood pressure, and, astonishingly, in a way that it increases a too low blood pressure, while having a lowering effect on high blood pressure.

3. Digestion: Jiaogulan does not only stimulate the digestion, but also actively supports the body in the utilization of nutrients, thus contributing to a reduced formation of deposits.

4. Strength and endurance: Jiaogulan has been shown to not only have a positive effect on physical strength and endurance of man, but also to increase focusing capacity and mental stamina.

5. Immune system: Jiaogulan stimulates the formation of lymphocytes, phagocytes and serum IGG in the human immune system and this way reinforces the latter in his defensive function against all types of pathogens.

6. Adaptogenic properties: Jiaogulan has a biphasic effect on brain functions, causing an energizing or calming of the system as required. Similarly, Jiaogulan has also a balancing effect on hormonal processes.

7. Antioxidant properties: There is now a broad basis of scientific evidence for the effectiveness of Jiaogulan against the formation of free radicals and thus its preventive properties against cancer.

8. Even a “wash out” effect in terms of weight loss and a detoxifying effect in the same context is mentioned in a variety of sources.

The above list is indeed impressive. Of course, it cannot be rightly claimed that Jiaogulan will cure cancer or even AIDS, but it has been shown to impede the formation of cancer cells and also evidently stimulates the human immune response.

Then there are the great taste properties of Jiaogulan tea. Relevant Internet sources contain extensive praise of “sweetness” of the Jiaogulan herb, and there are people, for which Jiaogulan is the ne plus ultra of positive taste experience.

For sources substantiating and even extend the above stated list of health properties of the Jiaogulan herb, I could attach an endless list of URLs here, but instead I recommend to simply google “Jiaogulan”. This way, you will find such an abandon wealth of publications on Jiaogulan, descriptions, praise, scientific and semi-scientific articles, Wikipedia articles, etc. The remarkable thing is that you will find no negative publications about Jiaogulan! Just give it a try! Simply google: Jiaogulan.

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Safflower Tea

Safflower / Fake Saffron

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General:

Safflower, also called false saffron, is a plant belonging to the Aster family. Its natural area of occurrence extends across the countries of Asia and Europe, as well as North America and Australia. Safflower is a fast growing, thistle-like, year-long herbaceous plant that grows to a height of between 60cm and 1.30m.

History:

In Egypt, safflower (English: Safflower) was already used to dye fabrics around 3500 BC. The oil gained from the seeds was used in the antiquity for the manufacturing of ointments. In the 13th century, the Romans brought the safflower to Central Europe, where the flowers were used for coloring foods, but also for medicinal purposes. About the beginning of the 20th century, the plant was almost completely replaced as a dye color donor by synthetic agents. Since the end of the 20th Century, the oil obtained from safflower enjoys increasing popularity as a cooking oil, due to its high content of polyunsaturated linoleic acid and vitamin E.

Modern non-medicinal use:

• The petals are, due to their colors (the red coloring agent carthamin and the yellow coloring agent Carthamidin) are often referred to as “saffron-substitute”. While the visual effect can hardly be distinguished from that of genuine saffron, the safflower, in contrast to the aromatic saffron, as a food additive is nearly tasteless.
• The plant is used as an ornamental garden plant and as cut or dried flower.
• The flower-leaves yield a very tasty tea with a fruity-sweet flavor.

Medical use of safflower tea:

• Safflower is well known in the Asian, especially the Chinese traditional medicine, where the petals are infused as a tea. Clinical studies have shown effects on leukemia, hepatitis and migraines, besides other conditions.
• The safflower flowers have a stimulating effect on the heart and circulation. They also possess antipyretic and analgesic features, and they are said to have aphrodisiac properties. In Thailand, in this context, a tea called “Love Potion No. 1″ is offered, whose main component are the flowers of the safflower.

• In European folk medicine, safflower flowers are known as a treatment of menstrual and climacteric conditions, indigestion, jaundice and measles, wounds, inflammation and joint pain.
• Although safflower tea is generally regarded as a “soft medicine” without undesirable side effects, and for example administered in Russia to babies for flatulence, the consumption is not recommended during pregnancy.

Green Mulberry Leaves Tea

(Cha Raksa Thai)

Since ancient times, Mulberry leaves have been playing an essential role in the silk production, since they serve the silk worm moth as a preferred nutrition. In this context, the Mulberry tree was also brought to Europe in the 19th century and made native in many European countries.

In Thailand and China, the leaves of the Mulberry tree look back on a long traditon of being used as a dietary supplement and medicinal herb. This is due to to their high content of specific minerals (e.g. calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, zinc..), vitamins (e.g. A, B1, B2, C) and tradce elements. Alleged health benefits include blood pressure control, Cholesterine level control, blood sugar control, and thereby preventive features in regard to heart heart attacks.

For us, however, as non-medical professionals and tea lovers, Mulberry leaves tea is first of all a delicious herbal infusion beverage that can be enjoyed either hot or cold as a refreshing ice tea. 100% green Mulberry leaves tea has a pleasantly decent taste, with a dominant grassy-veggie note, complemented by a subtle nutty aroma. Mulberry leaves tea has no caffeine and is therefore also perfectly suitable as an evening tea.

Pu’er Tea

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General: Pu’er, Pu’erh or Puer tea, is a tea resulting from a post-fermentation process, obtained through a processing method developed during China’s imperial age in the province of Yunnan. Today, Pu’er tea is also manufactured in other tea producing Asian countries, such as since recently in Northern Thailand. Post-fermentation in this case means a processing, at which the tea leaves, after being dried and rolled to streaks, undergo a microbiotic fermentation process. Because of the dark, reddish color of the leaves as well as the readily brewed tea drink, Pu’er tea is often referred to as “dark tea.”

Pu’erh is available in form of loose tea leaves or in compressed form (for example: bricks). Principally , two different kinds of Pu’er tea can be distincted: “raw” Pu’er Tea (sheng) and “ripened” Pu’er tea.

Processing: The base material of all Pu’er tea variations is the so-called Maocha, a non-oxidized green tea that is obtained form a large-leaved Camellia Sinsensis species as can be found in southern Yunnan, Burma and northern Thailand. The “raw” (sheng) type of Maocha goes through a natural fermentation process due to environmental influences, while for the “ripened” (shou) type this process is accelerated by means of a specific processing method that was only introduced in the early 1970s.

• Maocha: The freshly picked tea leaves are first spread out to wither and dry in the sun. Then they roasted, traditionally in are in a large Chinese wok in order to stop the enzymatic fermentation process. The roasted tea leaves are finally rolled into streaks, which are once again dried in the sun.
• Raw Pu’er Tea: The Maocha is subjected to a secondary oxidation and fermentation process, which may require several years, until the desired result is achieved.
• Ripened Pu’er tea: The fermentation process is accelerated by storing the tea leaves under controlled warm/humid conditions, while under constant re-piling, turning around and moistening, thereby promoting the formation and activity of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi), pretty much the same way as with the composting of biodegradable materials. This process usually takes between 6 months and one year.
• Pressing: The dried Maocha is portioned and the weighed portions lightly steamed in order to achieve a more cohesive consistency. In the old times, the resulting units were then pressed with a hand press, in ancient times a stone press, until the lever press prevailed soon after being introduced, and now increasingly with hydraulic presses, in various forms such as cakes or bricks, as is the case with our Pu ‘Er Tea from Doi Wawee. Often when pressing a motive is coined in, which can include the manufacturer’s logo and / or the date of pressing or the ripening period.

Doi Wawee, northern Thailand, produced, as well as for producers in Yunnan is now typical, both forms of Pu’er teas, raw and mature Pu’er, the raw Pu’er is subjected to a natural maturation process manufacturer of 5 years .

Shan Tea

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Post-fermented (Pu Errh style), charcoal fire-roasted tea from the large-leaved camellia sinensis assamica tea species that is local to the border area North Thailand/Burma and has been growing wild there in form of trees for hundreds of years. The tea looks back on a long tradition of use amongst the native hill tribes, Shan and North Thais.

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Dec 29, 2010

From Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai

It is 10:45 a.m. of the penultimate day of 2011. Alex, my 6-year-old son, and me, after a grueling journey to the Arcade Bus Station on a motorcycle taxi, whose trailer just about accommodates the both of us and our scanty luggage, are boarding a bus to Chiang Rai. Our journey’s destination is Doi Mae Salong. I had paid a short visit to Chineses town, located high in the mountains of Northern Thailand, two months earlier during a visa run, and that visit had aroused my curiosity and set a ball rolling.

Although already my third visit of the Chinese mountain enclave in northern Thailand, the tea production that is now typical for Doi Mae Salong and coins the townscape had come into the focus of my attention for the first time: a wide range of professionally grown and processed green teas, oolong teas and naturally flavored teas, and more recently, probably due to the relevant demand from the West, also black (Chinese: “red”) tea at very reasonable prices direct from the manufacturer.

Thai tea, especially the Thai “Formosa” Oolong tea since little more than a decade has set out to acquire an international reputation for its high quality. In the US, however, these tees are still scarcely available, the few providers ask considerable prices. One reason may be that the plantation areas in Thailand are limited because of the high quality tea’s need for an altitude of at least about 1200m, and the country therefore produces “only” a volume of an estimated 200-300 tons of tea per year, which, while a considerable heap of tea, is certainly not enough to attract the interest of the tea industry’s larger, internationally active trading companies.

After some research and countless cups of Oolong N ° 17, I was now on my way to Doi Mae Salong in order to check out in detail the locally grown tea products, pricing and availability, and to obtain a representative sample for testing.

The road from Chiang Mai to Doi Mae Salong leads inevitably via Chiang Rai, the second largest city of Northern Thailand. Our bus, the air-conditioned “luxury version” of a Thai line bus, will only take approximately 3 hours for the 185 kilometer route to Chiang Rai and offers the advantage of a guaranteed seat. We take our seats and off we go on our journey’s first major leg.

The road first leads through flat country, dotted with settlements and agricultural areas, interspersed with occasional trees, reminiscent of the dense forest carpet that once covered the whole territory around Chiang Mai. Here and then, we pass through a typical Northern Thai town, whose main streets are seamed with houses, shops and workshops of all kinds, along with food stalls, street kitchens and small restaurants. On the part of the way, real forest can be seen only in the distance, a green blanket spread over the mountains that border the plane on the far horizon.

After a while, we start moving slightly uphill. Trees, mountains and abysses are moving in closer an closer on both sides of the street, interrupted by small villages, fields and clearings overgrown with grass and scrub, at times allowing some short insights into tranquil green valleys. Passing by the horizon’s soft line and the beauty of the landscape in front of it exert a calming effect on me.

Due to the New Year’s holiday, there’s a vivid travel traffic on the road, an elephant trail 50 years ago, and still predominantly used by bicycles and bullock carts just 30 years back in time.

Alex keeps up with last night’s short sleep, so I can enjoy watching view the passing scenery and indulge in my thoughts without disturbances.

Doi Mae Salong … I had been there 19 years ago, during my second trip to Thailand (which I never really came back from), for just one overnight stay. At that time the city had been a kind of Chinese Wild West that lived from the opium trade and seemed to be widely oblivious to the influence of the Thai law and regulative authorities. I will never forget, when me and my traveling companion at that time in the middle of the night were startled from sleep by a group of Thai soldiers, armed with machine guns that stormed into our room without knocking. Fortunately, we quickly turned out not to be what they had been looking for, and the soldiers disappeared just as quickly as they had turned up. Although this was my most formative memory of Doi Mae Salong to date, the place in my perception was also haunted with an exotic and mysterious, almost mystical aura. History and development of Doi Mae Salong make the small City, inhabited by about 25,000 inhabitants and located an altitude of up to 1600m above sea city, a particularly special and unique place.

The history of Doi Mae Salong has its beginnings in the year of 1949 …

The history of Doi Mae Salong

Mao’s Cultural Revolution had been  victorious, and the Yunnan local troops under General Chiang Kai Shek were forced back across the Chinese-Burma border,

Chiang Kai Shek

Mao Tse Tung

where they initially endured in order to resume their conter-revolutionary struggle at given time. However, Mao and his Communist Party very quickly succeeded in cementing their power all over China. Military action against the revolutionary army was doomed to failure, a return to China impossible. The communist revolution enjoyed a reputation for their course of action with counter-revolutionaries, if they got their hands on them.

From Burma, groups of  these Chinese Kuomintang soldiers soon started migrating to Thailand and Taiwan, where they formed typical Yunnanese settlements. The most renowned of these communities in Thailand is Doi Mae Salong, a small, picturesque town, situated amidst the magical scenery of the Northern Thai highlands.

The area is part of the legendary Golden Triangle, and it can be assumed that the Kuomintang-Chinese Doi Mae Salong had their share, if not played a decisive role in the flourishing opium trade, for which the Golden Triangle has gained a worldwide reputation.

Golden Triangle with Shan State

The early departure Thailand’s from the opium cultivation on a commercially relevant scale, compared with Burma or Laos, is owed to Thailand’s royalty, particularly its ruling monarch since 1946, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

King Bhumibol, for decades in many ways a blessing for his country, recognized early on that it was useless to fight the opium cultivation and trade only with the adoption of relevant laws and their their police and military enforcement, since that trade represented a major part of the Northern Thai people’s economic and livelihood foundation. He realized that he could not just deprive the people of this economic basis, without offering a replacement.

Extent and sustainability of the Royal Thai agricultural projects are worldwide exemplary. Ultimately, the relevant efforts of the Thai royal family play a key role in the territory’s transition from opium trade to tea cultivation, and, to a lesser degree, some other cash crops, within just a few years.

The community of Doi Mae Salong made the best of it. The region now produces about 200 tons of tea annually, and in particular the quality of local Formosa Oolong teas, for which the plants were originally imported from Taiwan, has been steadily  gaining in worldwide reputation during the last few years for their distinctive, delicate flavor as well as their health benefits.

Doi Mae Salong is just perfect for tea cultivation. Altitude, topography and climate, conditions similar to those of the Taiwanese cultivation regions, from which the tea plants were imported, enable the cultivation of fine green teas, oolong teas, and more recently, also black tea. The region also produces a number of teas naturally flavored e.g. with jasmine flowers,  Thai jasmine rice or Ginseng roots.

While 20 years Doi Mae Salong’s daily street market appeared as a homogeneous fusion of Yunnanese village setting and touristic purpose (snakes and other animals in alcohol along with other obscurities), the town’s 3 km long main street, mostly consisting of sharp curves and steep slopes, today is completely dominated and characterized by the tea trade. The snakes in alcohol have disappeared (now banned?), but instead even the shops that offer something else than tea, too, still offer mainly tea, and everything about tea, for that matter, such as ceramic teapots, cups and complete tea sets, Chinese tea tables, tea-warmers etc. Town’s edge is mainly home of a range of “tea factories” (larger wooden shed with signs that reveal Chinese characters, meaning something I will probably never know what it is) and a handful of classier tourist resorts, skillfully hidden in order not to disturb the traditional townscape.

Chiang Rai to Mae Chan

Arriving at the bus station in Chiang Rai, the next stage of our little journey is to be organized. This will bring us to Mae Chan, a small town situated halfway between Chiang Rai and Mae Sai, a Thai border town with Burma. In Mae Chan then, a road leading further into the mountains and finally to Doi Mae Salong, branches left off the highway. In order to fully get to enjoy the scenic beauty of this 30 km ride, we decide to rent a Tuk-Tuk. A tuk-tuk is a typical, gas-powered Thai taxi that can hardly be described with words. The following photo of our tuk-tuk to Mae Chan occupied by a happy Alex may therefore serve as an illustration.

The investment in the tuk-tuk pays back: Landscape and atmosphere are moving in significantly closer to us than they were in the air-conditioned bus. The airstream turns out to be a highly appropriate substitute for the air conditioning. During the whole journey, however, I wonder how the exhaust cloud of our own tuk-tuk manages to pass and run us out despite our speed of about 60 mph and at the absence of any headwind. A typical Thai mystery …

After about three quarters of an hour drive through a landscape that is largely similar to that between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, our tuk-tuk suddenly takes a left turn and then after a few meters comes to a halt in front of a typical Thai mom and pop shop. We are in Mae Chan.

Mae Chan to Doi Mae Salong

There, a blue Songthaew taxi (pickup truck with the half-open cabin converted cargo area) is already waiting. From here, the journey to Doi Mae Salong is like a journey into another, magical world.

After we’ve left Mae Chan behind us, the road, apparently consisting of an endless series of hairpin curves, leads steeply uphill. We spend most of the trip hanging out the open side windows with our cameras’ focusses pressed to our eyes, in order not to miss any of the spectacular shots passing us by virtually in series during the 20 km ride.

There it is! In a valley far below us to the left, I finally see it: The first tea plantation!

This means we are now at an altitude of about 1200m and Doi Mae Salong can not be too far away. The view on the road we have come, now deep below us,  is staggering.

Now and again we see smaller bunches of wooden and bamboo huts, roofed with leaves and straw, being the home of some of the different hill tribes local to this area. The panoramic perspectives on the Northern Thai mountains are so stunning that I almost regret that we will now arrive soon.

Arrival in Doi Mae Salong

Finally, the houses on both sides of the road grow in regularity and frequency. We pass a final military checkpoint, and around the next bend Doi Mae Salong comes in sight.

A minute later, our taxi rolls up and down the 3-km long, tortuous of the strange Chinese town situated right in the middle of the Northern Thai highlands. There seems to be hardly a house in this town, whose residents do not operate any type of business: Accommodations, restaurants, household goods, groceries, shoemakers, hairdressers, agricultural products of all kinds, shops whose purposes cannot be identified at first sight, the mandatory 7/11, and, of course, tea. The estimated percentage of shops selling tea from their own cultivation and processing is at least a quarter.

Right in the center of town, around the obligatory 7/11, about 5 budget Guest Houses in backpacker style are grouped (recommended: Shin Sane Guest House). You get a room with private hot shower here at about 6 $US per night. For additional 2-3 $US, the room even comes with a TV. I tell our taxi driver the name of the resort I had booked (the Khum Nai Phol Resort, close to the town’s center, a little more expensive but, as it turns out later, for justified reasons) and he agrees to take us there.

The bungalow that is assigned to us after a friendly welcome, is a small jewel, consisting entirely of teak wood, and crowned by a spacious, tastefully decorated bathroom with a bathtub therein. The balcony of our bungalow overlooks the part of town closer to us on the left, while on the right hand, we enjoy a view over some gentle slopes covered with tea plantations, perfectly blending in the townscape, bordered by Doi Mae Salong’s more remote part in the distance.

While completing the formalities at the reception, we learn that our stay coincides with the town’s Tea Festival, held annually from December 25 to January 02, which probably means as much as nightly music and dancing until late hours. What else it does mean, I will unfortunately know only many kilometers spent climbing up and down Doi Mae Salong’s main road later.

The Tea-Shop Odyssey

Moving on foot in the evening Doi Mae Salong proves twice as cumbersome after dark, since the already narrow road, resembling a roller coaster, doesn’t have any sidewalk and is a traffic hustle and bustle due to the New Year’s holidays and the tea festival.

It is customary in the tea shops of Doi Mae Salong to not only grant visitors an apparently unlimited free tea tasting, but actually to virtually force people to try never ending cups of different teas, so that the visit of only a few of these stores is already associated with a considerable time investment. Hence, we spend the next few hours with a walk through Doi Mae Salong, stopping by at a series of tea-shops, where we piece by piece drink ourselves through the region’s entire tea portfolio. The people hosting us are all so nice and friendly that we hardly manage to get away somewhere without suffering a considerable guilt complex.

Finally, we end up in a shop, whose offer completely convinces me. There are different varieties and qualities of local Oolong tea, green tea, jasmine tea, tea flavored with rice, so-called 4-season tea as well as Jiaogulan tea and ginseng tea, in  other words: all I’ve been looking for. The young girl guarding the otherwise abandoned shop provides answers in a shy, but friendly manner, and we decide to accomplish our tea purchases here the next day.

Next, we pay a visit to the Doi Mae Salong Tea Festival, held not far from our resort. The musical entertainment shown on the festival stage on this evening sonicates the entire town and had already accompanied us on our previous tea shop odyssey.

The Doi Mae Salong Tea Festival

Arrived on the fairgrounds, the first thing we notice is that we’ve done all the mileage for nothing. The seven-day, annually held festival serves as a promotion platform for the local tea products and their manufacturers, and therefore each tea producer from the entire area has a booth where they present their full offer in a neat manner. A comparatively manageable, about 100m long series of tea-shops on level ground vs. a kilometer-wide mountain and valley hike through Doi Mae Salong.

The initially rather small crowds increase after dark, and more and more curious and interested visitors gather around the stalls to look at tea, try tea, negotiate prices and make purchases.

Again, we try tea and it isn’t long until we have identified the festival representation of the tea shop/producer we previously identified as our chosen place of purchase. The company is a family business, with one of the daughters attending the factory’s store on that evening and her two sisters running the festival booth, while Mom constantly commutes between the two locations.

After a few cups of tea, lots of questions and just about as many patient answers, we are invited to visit the family-owned tea factory the next morning, an offer I happily accept.

The musical program on the festival stage consists of ever changing local singers, accompanied by CD recordings.

For dinner, there is Yunnanese roast duck with cooked spinach leaves in a small Chinese street restaurant adjacent to the festival grounds.

Moving

The next morning, however, we first have look for a new accommodation, because our resort is already fully booked on that day. Again, it goes up and down the road, this time with luggage, and I regret for the first time having brought my guitar including case along. We are lucky. After only about 500 m, we find an acceptable room for the second night in the “See-See Guest House”, which usually comes at 15$US per night, but because of the holiday traffic, it costs twice as much now. The terrace of our bungalow offers a much less spectacular view than our previous abode, but the room is okay and we content ourselves.

Visit at the Tea Factory

Half an hour later, we are at the tea factory, where a fresh supply of Oolong No.12 is just about to be unload and spread out in the sun in front of the factory.

During the following tour and demonstration of the processing of the tea leaves, many so far unresved mysteries resolve, such as the question of how the Chinese manage to roll each individual tea leaf to a little ball (the so-called “Gunpowder”), without making a 100g pack containg thousands of such granules unaffordable: There are, of course, machines for this, and production takes place in a sort of assembly line style. Nevertheless, the process proves to be complex, multi-staged and time consuming.

However, we also learn that in Doi Mae Salong the tea leaves of the more precious teas are still completely handpicked, always 2 leaves and a shoot at the time, a technic no picking machine is really able to reproduce and that requires great skills and years of experience from the pluckers.  

Tea is first heated in large, rotating drums, whereas the rotation allows for an even heating…

Then the tea is poured from the tilting drum and packed in a cloth, which is then wrapped to form a bale.

The bales are then wrapped up tightly and placed on a sort of churning machine, where they are wrapped up even tighter and then are rotated and churned for a while.

Then the bales are brought down from the churning machine and unpacked again.

The process begins anew. Rotating heating drum …

… wrapping  in a cloth …

… wrapping up tightly and on upon the churning machine.

The entire process is repeated several times for an Oolong tea, depending on the desired degree of fermentation, and the centrifuging of the compressed, heated tea obviously has the effect of the the tea rolling themselves into balls, the famous Chinese “Gunpowder.” Substantiation is provided by the last heating drum’s output.

I realize that this must have been once done by hand, but nowadays, of course, I could neither expect nor pay that. The proceeding of Green tea is less of an effort, because the tea laves are subjected to the boiler procedure only once, and without or lower heat supply. I don’t see it that day, but I learn that the flavoring of tea leaves with jasmine or Thai jasmine rice also takes place in these boiler drums and under heat supply.

The tea dust remaining in the drums after this process is collected and sold at the price of one dollar per kilo. It is used as a food additive and as forage.

The Tea Purchase

I stroll back to the shop of “our” tea family, located only 50 m from their factory, where Alex, who quickly got bored with the factory soon, peacefully plays under the tea mama’s supervision with their youngest son, both of them having great fun.

The ensuing hours go by with establishing my tea order. My goal is the purchase of a representative sample. This sample in the end consist of a total of 14 teas: A number of Oolong and green teas of different quality and price classes, a tea flavored with jasmine flowers, one flavored with Thai jasmine rice, a four-season tea (to be harvested four times a year), a Ginseng Oolong tea, and Jiaogulan, the legendary Chinese “immortality herb”. Black tea (Chinese: “red” tea, Thai: “Chaa Deng”) ist not available yet at this time. This, along with Osmanthus and Dong Ding tea, will later be added to my tea portfolio.

After long negotiations concerning prices and quantities over endless cups of tea, a “sample” of 24kg tea is ordered , definitely enough to satisfy my own tea needs for lifetime. Two of the family’s daughters immediately take on the packaging task.

Each pack is individually filled, weighed and then sealed in a vacuum packaging machine.

The Chinese design of the tea packs are very genuine and the vacuum packing method leaves nothing to add.

The individual packages are packed in large card boxes and I’m starting to worry about how I will transport them to Chiang Mai the next day. I mention my concerns towards the shop owner, who in response climbs on on her motorcycle and roars off. When she comes back 10 minutes later, she tells me she has found a Songthaew driver, who’d be willing to take me to Chiang Rai the next day at a time of my choice for 800 baht (25$US), an offer I can’t refuse, watching the card boxes filling up and becoming heavier by the minute.

The two remaining items on the day’s agenda are a visit to the tea plantations around Doi Mae Salong and the enjoyment of the much vaunted view from Doi Mae Salong’s Chinese temple located on top of the mountain. I am sure that the shop owner will be able to help us with this as well, an assumption that proves to be correct. It explains a motorcycle taxi driver exactly what I want, and he agrees to bring us to both destinations at a total rate of 150 baht (about 5$US).

Doi Mae Salong’s Tea Plantations

We leave Doi Mae Salong in the direction of Mae Chan and turn left after about 1km. The motorbike carrying all the three of us goes down a steep, sandy dirt road, the whole thing looking dangerous and probably being so, but our driver reassures us telling us that he does this all the time, so I am trying to feel reassured.

Once arrived at the bottom, it shows that we actually got to the top, more precisely to the upper edge of a vast tea plantation.

In order to to get photos from other perspectives, too, I start the descent. After only a small part of the way, new perspectives are opening up.

I increasingly gain the impression that for reasons unknown to me everything about these tea slopes is round … the fields themselves, the shape of the plants, everything. Perhaps an aspect of Chinese tea plantation aesthetics …

Half way down I pass a small group of tea plantation workers, who are just taking a break and have made themselves comfortable on a shoulder of the hill in front of a particularly beautiful background scenery.

I wonder to which extent the locals themselves know how to appreciate the scenic charms of their home area, for them probably being a matter of course. A question I cannot answer with final certainty, but I think the fact that they choose this place for their break, substantiates the idea that at least they won’t entirely lack a sense for the scenery’s charms.

Finally, I have reached the bottom of the plantation. Though the motive of the tea plantation photographed from below proves to be less spectacular than expected …

… new breathtaking sceneries are opening to my right …

… and to my left:

On the arduous way back to the top I perceive the vague outlines of a building in the background that looks like a Chinese temple, or at least the way I would imagine a Chinese temple to look like …

Back at the top, we once again climb onto the back seat of our motorbike taxi, and on it goes to the temple enthroned high above Doi Mae Salong.

The Temple above Doi Mae Salong

A 20 minutes steep uphill ride later, we are rewarded for our decision not to miss this tourist highlight of Doi Mae Salong. The temple itself is less spectacular, but it has an observation deck on its 2nd floor that allows for a 180 degree panorama view of Doi mae Salong and the surrounding area.

The temple has an adjoining building, in which the usual Buddhist relics (Buddha statues, illustrations from the life of Buddha, etc.) might be kept, or not, fot that matter, since I see no hint whatsoever pointing to a Buddhist or other particular religious orientation of the place. The building is closed, so we might never know.

The view from the observation platform leading around the temple dome cannot really be caught with an ordinary camera, due to the multiple perspectives it offers. To the left extends Doi Mae Salong …

… with its tea plantations …

…while to the right, a view over wooded mountain landscape opens up.

Doi Mae Salong Tea Monument

On the way back to town, our driver makes a little detour to show us Doi Mae Salong’s “Tea Monument”. What do we get to see then may be disputable from an artistic point, but definitely exceeds my expectations. The tea monument’s entrance is guarded by a giant pair of lions.

While the male lion looks rather threatening, possibly to deter uninvited guests such as evil spirits…

…the stone image of the female lion, holding her paw protecting around the lion baby nestled into it, expresses some more facettes.

On the site itself there are two oversized, stone-carved teapots, one of them silver and stand-alone …

…the other one golden and placed on a “heater stove”, accommodating a tea room in its interior, which is closed at this day, unfortunately.

The picture is completed by a “3-teapot-artwork”, which inevitably reminds of a well, but without water. The pots give the impression of freely hovering in the air, but actually “stand” on the “beams” of the “liquid” that “flows” from the teapots, which are bended forward for pouring.

On the way back to town, I discover a Buddhist temple, otherwise the most ordinary of all phenomena in Thai village and town sceneries, but not so in Doi Mae Salong: even buildings which seem to be temples at first glance, often house no Buddhist relics and no monks either. More likely, they might be expressions of Chinese spirituality or arts worshiping. This is however clearly a Buddhist temple, with all of the characteristics of a typical Thai Temple, and as many of those it sits in a particularly picturesque spot, in this case on a hill on the outskirts of town, against the backdrop of a beautiful natural scenery.

After a short visit to our Guest House, we walk along a stretch of the main road and stop at the “New Era”, a small restaurant with an attached bakery, which is run periodically by a nice young Frenchman (Thomas) and his Thai girlfriend. For a change, there is Thai food available here, as well as town’s only cheese sandwiches, along with a Western style breakfast of toast, eggs, coffee, cakes. etc., which we decide to get back to the following morning.

We also pay the “Tea Festival” another visit, on our way there accompanied by a magnificent sunset over the hilltops of Doi Mae Salong.

We’re making a final round of the tea festival grounds, not missing another drop-in at “our” tea stall for a cup of that tea scented with Thai Jasmine rice (“Chaa Khao Hoom”), which we both particularly like.

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast at the bakery run by the young Frenchmen, we meet with our songthaew driver at the town’s mark 0 km stone.

5 minutes later, we pick up my luggage at the Guest House, another 5 minutes later the tea boxes at the shop follow. I leave Doi Mae Salong with one crying and one laughing eye … I think this place will see me again soon.

Martin Krieger notes in his book “Tea – A Cultural History” the following:

“Some hill tribes in India, China, Thailand and Burma initially rather coincidentally discovered the stimulating, concentration-enhancing and even healing properties of the leaves of the tea plant, and the Old China their commercial potential.”

Considering the Chinese sense of business and the rootedness of tea culture and tea cultivation in the life of the North-Thai hill tribes, this version at least bears a certain degree of historical probability. Hence, we can assume that in the area today forming the border region Northern Thailand/Burma, tea was already harvested from wild growth at a very early stage by hill tribes for their own use.

The tea plant’s targeted cultivation for commercial purposes in Thailand, however, is of much more recent date, and again ethnic Chinese people played a crucial role. But this is a long story that has its beginning in 1949 …

The Kuomintang Army

Mao’s Cultural Revolution had achieved victory and the counter-revolutionary troops local to Yunnan under General Chiang Kai Shek were forced back across the Chinese-Burma border, where they initially held out in order to resume their struggle

Chiang Kai Shek

Mao Tse Tung

at given time. Mao and his Communist Party, however, very quickly managed to cement their power in all parts of China. Any military action against the revolutionary army was doomed to failure, a return to China impossible. The communist revolution enjoyed a reputation for the way it treated counter-revolutionaries, if it could get hold of them.

Doi Mae Salong, Thailand

From Burma then, splinter groups of these Chinese Kuomintang soldiers soon migrated further to Thailand and Taiwan, where they formed typical Yunnanese communities. The most important of these communities in Thailand is Doi Mae Salong, a small, picturesque town, situated at an altitude of 1800 m above sea level, amidst the magical scenery of the northern Thai mountains. The area is part of the legendary Golden Triangle, and it can be assumed that the Kuomintang Chinese of Doi Mae Salong contributed to, if not played a essential role in the flourishing opium trade, for which the Golden Triangle has earned its world-wide fame.

Golden Triangle with Shan State

Doi Tung Tea / The Royal Thai Development Project

Thailand owes its comparatively early withdrawal from opium cultivation in a commercially relevant scale to its royal family, namely its monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej Rama IX., ruling the country since 1946 and until today.

King Bhumipol, for decades a blessing for his country in many ways, recognized at an early stage that it was useless to fight the opium cultivation and trade, those times being a major part of the locals’ economic basis, only with the adoption of dedicated laws and their police and military enforcement. He realized that it wouldn’t be wise to deprive these people of their economic basis without providing them with a replacement.

In this context of replacing opium cultivation with the farming of other, more beneficial and sustainable cash crops, the higher altitudes of the north-west part of Thailand bordering Burma were found to be particularly suitable for the cultivation of tea. On the initiative of the Royal Development Project, experts from Taiwan were consulted to identify the Taiwanse Oolong tea cultivars most appropriate for the cultivation on the slopes of north-west Thailand’s mountains. Then, these cultivars, the Jin Xuan Oolong Nr. 12 and the Ruan Zhi Oolong Nr. 17 were imported and given to local farmers willing to shift to the cultivation of tea. Many of the people living in the ethnic melting pot North Thailand, originating from regions in China and Tibet, looked back on their own tea culture and tradition, this making the initiative falling on very fertile soil.

You will find a detailed account of the Royal Development Project’s work on the Doi Tung and the resulting tea cultivation scene there in our article

“How Poppy Fields Turned Tea Gardens – The Royal Development Projects”

and our Doi Tung travel feature

“The Tea Gardens of Doi Tung – on the tracks of the Royal Development Project”.

Tea cultivation at Doi Mae Salong

Scope and sustainability of the Royal Thai agricultural projects are worldwide exemplary. This way King Bhumibhol contributed to a development that resulted in the income gained from opium cultivation in the mountain enclave being completely replaced by one from the cultivation of tea, and to a lesser extent coffee and some other cash crops within a few years. The community of Doi Mae Salong made a virtue out of necessity. The region now produces more than 200 tons of tea annually, and the quality particularly of the locally grown Oolong teas, but also the Green Teas and more recently a locally produced Black Tea, for which the plants were originally imported from Taiwan, in recent years steadily increase in international reputation for their distinctive, delicate flavor and health benefits.

Doi Mae Salong provides just perfect conditions for tea growing. Altitude and climate, conditions similar to those of the Taiwanese cultivation areas (from where the tea plants had been imported) are optimal for the cultivation of finest Green and Oolong teas. The region also produces tea scented with jasmine flowers, the Chinese “immortality herb” Jiaogulan, as well as Ginseng Tea and other scented teas like Rice Tea or Osmanthus Green Tea.

While 20 years ago Doi Mae Salong was already characterized by its market, which seemed a homogeneous fusion of Yunnanese village idyll and tourist aspiration (snakes and other animals in alcohol along with other obscurities), that market seaming both sides of Doi Mae Salong’s main street is now coined by tea trade. The snakes in alcohol are now banned, instead now even the stalls and shops selling something else than tea at all, will mainly offer tea and everything related to tea, like Chinese and Taiwanese tea sets, tea tables, tea water heaters etc. There’s a range of “tea factories” to be found on the edge of town (larger wooden sheds, on which signs with Chinese characters inscripts tell something I’ll never know what it is) and a small number of classier tourist resorts, well-hidden in order to not affect the townscape.

Doi Mae Salong is definitely worth a visit. More and detailled info in our article

Journey to Doi Mae Salong

Doi Wawee

Another Kuomintang Chinese settlement in Northern Thailand, located about 45 km west of Doi Mae Salong and smaller than Doi Mae Salong, is Doi Wawee. Today, Doi Wawee is also mainly characterized by its tea cultivation. The initiative for the import of high quality tea plants from Tawain started from here in 1996, while Doi Mae Salong, the larger “Twin town”, jumped on the train only 2 years later.

A specialty of Doi Wawee’s tea production is the manufacturing of Pu’ Er Tea according to the traditional Chinese method.

Other Tea Cultivation Areas in Northern Thailand

Also other areas of northern Thailand disposing of the blessing of an appropriate altitude have been working successfully for some years now to gain a name as tea-growing areas, especially the regions Doi Tung and Doi Chang, mainly initiated and developed by the Royal Thai development project.

Tea cultivation in the Shan areas

The Shan people have inhabited the north-eastern regions of Burma, stretching all the way down into Thailand, for hundreds of years now. Originally originating from China, from where they probably brought the knowledge of tea cultivation, they’ve been growing tea in the Northern Thai/Burmese highland border regions for centuries now. The Shan call their plants ‘Ning Lung’. Climate, altitude and geographical properties provide ideal conditions for a particularly fine tea.

After the Burmans, the Shan are the second largest ethnic group in the multiethnic state of Burma. Like so many other ethnic groups in Burma, they’ve been suffering from the repression of Burma’s military junta against their people for more than four decades now. Human rights violations such as eviction, forced relocation, forced labor, rape and many more have been the daily fare in Shan State for a long time now. On the run from Burmese army (the “Tadmadaw”), tens of thousands of Shan refugees strand on the Thai / Burma border, where they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The way back comes with a great risk to their lives, while any legal way into Thailand remains denied. Hence, many end up either in Thailand with the status of illegality, or arrange themselves at the border as good as the situation allows for.

Political considerations, the inaccessibility of the forested mountains of Shan State, and Burma’s anti-press policies have ensured that the issue makes the Western news all too rarely. The German refugee aid organization “Help Without Frontiers” has dedicated its work to alleviating the plight of the Shan refugees on both sides of the border and, for example, set up kindergartens and schools for children in affected communities and unofficial refugee camps (unofficial due to the lack of official ones). Help without Frontiers in this context operates a comprehensive medical aid program, for which there is huge need not only due to the ongoing military clashes between the Burma army and the various military rebel organizations, but also due to the massive abuses of the civilian population by the Burmese military. The commitment of Help without Frontiers further involves the initiation and active support of a project for the cultivation of cash crops for the sustainable improvement of income and livelihood of the refugees on the Thai side of the border as well as in Burma.

One of these cash crop projects is the cultivation of tea. Many Shan are from childhood on familiar with the cultivation of tea trees, the processing of the leaves into the tea beverage, as well as various methods of refinement and scenting. Climate and altitude were optimal and so, now more than 2 years ago, the project of clearing land for a tea plantation and planting it with tea plants was started…

Especially the clearing of the slopes particularly suited for the cultivation is a weary effort.

The work follows the region’s typical style: Mostly, some people are working, usually, some people are having a break, often, everybody makes a break, sometimes, everybody works. After preparing the land comes the seeding:

After work, all participants gather reverently at the scene of the future tea plantation.

And after not too long time, the first tea plants sprout from the soil.

Thanks to the support of Help without Frontiers, in probably no more than 2 years we will be able to offer the tea grown by the Shan people in this project for sales at SiamTeas.

In the meantime, we offer a tea we call ShanTea, harvested by Shan farmers on the Thai side of the border from wild ancient tea trees, representing not only a gain for our customers and our business, but also providing a source of direct support for the Shan farmers through the provision of a lucrative market opportunity. In addition, the sale of their tea in Germany, Switzerland and the US will indirectly, but highly targeted, benefit the Shan refugees via a percentage levy on the realized proceeds from the sale of ShanTea amounting to 20% of total sales.

The interested reader will find more and detailed information about the product ShanTea, the village of Pang Kham near the Thai/Burmese border, where the tea originates from, in my article

Pang Kham: Tea village in No-Man’s-Land

Information about our “Project ShanTea” for the generation of financial means for the active support of relief projects for Shan refugees from Burma, as well as the provision of a sales market for small Shan farmers along the Northern Thai/ Burmese border, can be found under

Project ShanTea

Articles, photos and videos and more information about the Shan Refugee Aid in Burma can be found on the Help Without Frontiers’ website

www.helpwithoutfrontiers.org

Most sources date the first use of tea for consumption and medicinal uses to about 2700 – 2800 BC.

Some of the earliest records of these times come from the Tea Bible “Cha Jing”, written by the Chinese literate Lu Yu. According to Cha Jing, tea became first known through the Chinese healer Shennung (2737BC.), and was further promoted by the ruler Zhou Gong (1100 BC). Shennung lived in the 28th century BC and is described as a special healer in China’s first history book (206-24 B.C.). Shennung was known for his talent to identify special herbs for the treatment of diseases.

He discovered tea, according to the legend, when some tea leaves suddenly fell into some water he was boiling underneath a tea tree. He noticed the water had changed its color, and proceeded to taste it. Immediately, a refreshing and exhilarant effect occurred. He later recorded the lightly bitter and, at the same time, sweetish drink, had detoxifying properties as well. He influenced generations of natural healerse, amongst them the famous German writer, composer and philosopher, Hildegard von Bingen.

Another story tells that Shennung was capable of observing his inner stomach. He experimented with all kinds of plants and observed which effect they would have inside him. When experimenting with the tea plant he had the feeling as if the tea would sway back and forth in his stomach, as if it would subject his stomach to an examination. This is why he called this plant “Cha”, which in Chinese means “examine”.

In the medicinal herb book “Bencao” (655 AD), tea is also mentioned as a medicinal herb. According to this source, tea increases people’s vitality, boost their concentration, and enhances their will to live. Tea is described to have a refreshing and stimulating effect on the body. Tea also became know to improve digestion. The health benefits related to tea have been mentioned in Chinese literature time and again.

Up to the 13th century, the common practice was to press the tea into the form of flat cakes. The tea had to be moved from the southern provence where it was grown, to the imperial court. The pressing of tea into cakes worked well because it was easier to transport, and the cakes conserved space.

In the 3rd century AC, an author named Zhang Ji describes how a piece is broken off the flat tea cake, roasted over a fire, then crushed and doused  with hot water from a porcelain jar. According to his recipe, ginger roots, spring onions, and tangerines are also added to the brew. The resulting drink is supposedly a wonderful medicine for excessive alcohol consumption and fatigue.

The exotic blending of teas became fashionable during the cultural heyday of the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). People used to brag amongst each other about the newest and trendiest teas in their possession. The upper class were always on the search for the newest blends and spent considerable amounts of time and money to get a hold of them. It became common to mix the crushed tea flat with spices or herbs before adding the hot water, which suppresses the natural taste of the tea, although, given the modern practice of scenting teas, is still a common and fashionable practice today.

Lu Yu, the author of the Tea Bible “Cha Ying”, had grown up an orphan  in a Zen monastery. He had a critical attitude towards the prevailing tea culture, which he considered to be decadent. He consulted old scriptures and found out that there had been a time, when tea leaves had simply been chewed in the mouth or cooked with water, a method that had put the emphasis on the genuine taste and odor of the tea. Lu Yu advocated this traditional way of tea preparation, and regarded the drinking of tea a ritual and spiritual act. Initially his views on the importance of the purity of tea  bore only modest fruit. Only much later, in the 11th century, did his point of view received increasing recognition. The teachings of the Cha Ying wield a noticeable influence on the way of tea preparation until today.

Much of the development of tea as a commodity, including the methods of cultivation, commercialization, and processing  can be attributed to the Chinese (examples: Green Tea, Oolong Tea, Black Tea, scented teas). Japanese as well as Indian sources substantiate that in both cases tea was originally brought into their country’s by travelers returning from China. Young Buddhist monks from all over Southeast Asia who had spent time in Chinese monasteries and temples, returned home knowledgeable in the cultivation and preparation of tea.  Subsequently this knowlege spread to India, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. This contributed to the further development and diversification of tea cultivation and processing.

Tea was first brought to Europe by the Portuguese priest Gasper da Cruz. After his return from China to Portugal in 1560 he wrote the first book about tea published in Europe. The Portuguese royal family was subsequently actively involved in the spread of the tea-drinking habit to other European countries’ high society circles.

Tea held its great march of triumph through all of Europe in the course of the 17th century. Ever since, the beverage along with the culture and rites surrounding the consumption of tea, in European life and social life have claimed a leading position amongst the most established and widespread beverages and donors of health benefits available, with distinct characteristics and varying appearance and degree of importance throughout the individual European countries (see England).

Although in general there is agreement that China was the venue of the tea plant’s discovery, the author Martin Krieger notes in his book “Tea – A Cultural History” the following:

“Some hill tribes in India, China, Thailand and Burma initially discovered by chance the stimulating, concentration capabilities-enhancing and healing properties of the tea plant’s leaves, and ancient China the opportunity of its commercialization.”

People familiar with the Chinese sense of business and the rootedness of the tea culture and tea cultivation in the lives of the Northern Thai mountain tribes, will have to at least concede a certain historical probability to this theory. It therefore at least suggests itself that, in the area, which is now the Northern Thai/Burmese border region, tea was grown by the hill tribes for their own private use at a very early stage.