A GIFT FROM THE MOUNTAIN

 

Our Quality Policy

 

I have worked as an food engineer in food industry from 1995 to 2005. I have experienced R&D and manufacturing management. My working experience enabled me to make different approaches from other tea merchandisers into this tea business. It is reflected in our quality criteria in selecting tea and tea ware and I like to share our thought as follows.

 

In tea line, the price you pay for the tea would not be in proportion to the quality that you enjoy. Customer pays more hoping that they would get good quality tea. But the price may be set based on other criteria. For example, tea is rare, very old or famous. Due to the sour experience in the past, many customers who walk into the tea shop look apparently worried and suspicious. We think it is due to unclear quality standard that tea shop often set price for respective tea and teapot.

My family is professional farmer, growing apples in Japan. I observe the same situation in the apple business as well. In the market, the higher price is given to the apple that is harvested earlier in the season. In addition, the redder the apple, the better the price. Unfortunately the best apples in terms of taste are those that remain on the tree until late in the season. It is very sweet and strong in flavor.

 

In Japan tea market, the earlier the plucking season of Japanese green tea is, the higher the selling price it becomes. Most Japanese even believe that the earliest plucked tea is the best. Unfortunately, this is not true. The outcome is sometimes rather the opposite. The plucking of tea usually starts from the tea garden located at lower altitude. At higher altitude, the spring comes later and the timing of tea plucking is much later than the tea garden of lower altitude. At lower elevation, the plucking starts in the mid of April, while at higher elevation, the plucking will only starts a month later. Of course needless to mention that the quality of tea grown at higher elevation is much superior.

 

When dealing with tea, it often happens that customer is paying a lot more for the rareness or in an unfortunate situation, they pay for the wrong quality. I often observed this situation typically in puerh tea. Many believe that the longer the puerh tea is being kept, the better the quality it becomes. However the point is that the longer storage period does not make tea to be better quality but changes its character. For example, it promotes further oxidation of poly phenol or tannin. As a result, tea becomes less astringent, mellower and with more matured flavor. The old tea is rare and not easily obtainable that raises its price up. But it does not mean quality is better. If you pay a lot for old tea hoping that its taste is fantastic, you may be disappointed. I am not saying old tea is not good. In our definition, taste defines the quality and flavor defines the characteristics of tea. Regardless of the age of tea or how it is processed, the same definition is always applied.

 

Definition of Quality Tea

 

What is quality tea for you?

From my point of view, good tea gives long lasting taste and flavor. Quality tea gives a more long-lasting flavor and a deeper taste, while the flavor of poor quality tea does not last long and it tastes flat. Both qualities give the same type of scent, yet the length of finishing in taste and flavor is obviously different. Tea connoisseurs enjoy the flavor and taste that lingers and stays longer in their throat. It is a little difficult to find an appropriate English word to describe this feeling precisely. In Chinese it is called “Hou Yun 喉韻”. “Hou Yun” means the persistent taste that you can feel lingering in our throat. With strong “Hou Yun”, the flavor stays longer too. The finishing of taste and flavor is affected by the specific minerals present in the tea and water. In particular, iron makes the flavor and the taste of tea deeper and longer lasting. This Hou Yun is the most important criteria that defines the quality of tea.

 

The intensity of “Hou Yun” gets stronger if tea contains more iron. The more the iron ion that exists, the stronger the Hou Yun is. In other word, the higher the iron ion that exists in the tea, the better the quality it is. In fact, the intensity of after taste doesn’t deteriorate even if tea gets oxidized. The oxidation completely change or spoil the flavor as it is composed by organic substance, yet mineral remains the same.

 

The same concept is also applied in making wine. The quality of wine does not change no matter how long it is kept inside a glass bottle, although its character does change. Wine is matured in an oak barrel. The oak contains a lot of minerals that are released into wine. Oak matured wine gives very long lasting taste and rich in flavor thanks to the elution of minerals.

 

I have carefully studied the environmental factor that affects the mineral (iron) content and select the right material based on the strength of its after taste. I believe that it is not the process that defines the quality of tea. The process defines the character of tea. The quality of tea is defined by the material. I select ideal material based on the following factors.

 

Altitude

 

During the day time, plants produce a lot of substances with photosynthesis. Those substances are supposed to be consumed at night as plants grow. However at high altitude, due to extremely cold temperature at night, the growing speed is very slow and less nutrition is consumed. In addition, the tea garden located at higher altitude has longer period of winter. Eventually the tea plant accumulates more minerals and organic substances.

 

Age of Tree

 

An older tree has longer roots than that of a young tree. It effectively absorbs minerals from the ground.

 

Cultivar

 

Certain type of tea cultivars produces very long roots. For example, Tie Guan Yin produces very long roots and therefore it effectively absorb mineral from the ground.

 

Number of plucking

 

If tea leaves are plucked many times throughout the year, the minerals are diluted over the number of new leaves. Less number of plucking concentrates more minerals in the tea leaves.

In general, the definition of good tea is that it grows slower with less number of leaves and effectively absorbs mineral with longer roots.

 

 

 

Definition of Quality Tea Ware

 

In order to make a nice cup of tea, I am not only paying attention to the tea leaf, but also for water that we use. Tea leaf is just like the herb used for cooking. The function of the tea leaves is to provide the water with a nice flavor and lasting taste. In a way, tea leaves are the condiment to enjoy a nice cup of water.

 

However, just depend on the tea leaf and water is not sufficient to make a nice cup of tea. If the tea leaves carry less amount of iron ion, you have to look into the brewing equipment. In this regards, teapot and kettle plays a very important role. Besides the teapot separates tea leaf from water and serves tea into a cup, teapot has another influential function which people often overlook. Clay teapot releases a lot of mineral ions. The more iron exists inside the clay and the bigger the surface area, the better the taste of tea it becomes. A good teapot increases the iron content in water and improves its taste.

 

I select teapots not based on who is the maker or how beautiful its outlook is, but I seriously look into the effect of clay and always keep searching for the means to improve the taste of water. Basically I do not purchase teapot from the artist who is not particular about their clay. I often go to the origin of tea ware production site, visit the mountain or mine together with the artists and discuss about the quality of clay. The baking temperature is also an important factor. It affects a lot in the porosity of clay.

 

Most of customers who visited our shop could tell the difference in our product line-up from other shop and recognize the quality criteria we set for tea and teapot. Our quality policy for tea and teapot may not be identified by everyone. In fact, nearly 20% of walk-in customer could hardly recognize the difference of taste that is influenced by the teapot. If one can not tell the difference at all, there is no way for us to impress how particular our selections are.

 

I believe that a good product is made with good materials and good processing technique. I have set my own definition of good material that is always reflected in our product line-up.