Although Keemun tea is famous in Europe, especially in England where it’s been a favorite of the monarchy for the past 160 years, most people in China have never tasted this wonderful tea.
Chinese people have traditionally been inclined to drink oolong and green teas, and have only recently begun to pay attention to black tea. Keemun (Qimen in modern spelling) is the name of the county in Anhui Province where the tea was first grown. It’s best known as the “burgundy” of teas, for it has a rich liquor with an orchid fragrance. This is known in Chinese as a “gong fu” or “kung fu” tea, which refers to the “disciplined skill” required to produce the dark wiry leaves. A higher grade of Keemun is called “Mao Feng” or “hair point.” No other black tea is similar to Keemun in taste or fragrance.

There are two stories regarding the origins of Keemun. The most common story is of the government official She Ganchen, who after leaving office in Fujian Province and returning to his home county of Keemun in 1875, decided to manufacture black tea which he had learned about while living in Fujian. The tea was embraced by western importers and She was able to persuade local farmers to produce this black tea. A second story attributes the tea’s beginnings to Hu Yuanlung, who faced with a weak green tea market decided to produce for the stronger black tea export market and opened the Rishun Factory in 1876.

Today, Keemun is produced in the Anhui Province counties of Qimen, Shitai, Dongzhi, Guichi, Yi, and Guangshan, as well as the Jiangxi Province region around Jingdezhen City, best known for its porcelain.

Although Keemun is described as having a faint orchid or rose scent, we’ve often thought it also suggests dark chocolate. Try steeping for 4 minutes, but experiment with longer or shorter steeping times.

by Indigo Tea Co.

Iced tea is America’s contribution to world tea culture. Because making iced tea is so easy, why not do it right?
Already by the 19th century iced tea recipes began to appear in cookbooks. But iced tea really took off in popularity when the tea merchant Richard Blechynden, unable to sell tea during a heat wave at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, decided to serve his tea over ice. It was a hit with visitors, and summer’s haven’t been the same since.

Today, iced tea is the most popular tea in America. Forget about instant iced tea from a jar; it’s too sweet and lacks real tea flavor. Great iced tea can be made with any black tea as well as flavored teas, such as Peach Black Tea, Lemon Green Tea, or even Oolong or Japanese Sencha. If you like it sweet, try using superfine baking or bartender’s sugar (you can also make your own in a food processor). You can also mix up a sugar syrup on the stove with a 1:1 ration of sugar to water, simmer for a few minutes, cool, and keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. If you allow tea to cool down naturally before refrigerating, it won’t cloud or “cream down.”

Cold Steeping
In this method, just double the amount of dry tea leaf (2 heaping tsp or 2 tea bags per cup), place in any clean jug and add the proper amount of cold water. Let the infusion stand in the refrigerator overnight or for at least six hours. Strain the tea into a second jug or container. Add sugar or lemon to taste. This is similar to sun tea, which also works fine, but some experts fear bacterial growth may occur in sun tea. I doubt it, but you be the judge.

Hot Steeping
Method 1: Use half the hot water you would ordinarily use for hot tea (1 tsp per 6 oz cup), infuse for 3-5 minutes, and pour over a full 12 oz glass of ice. The rapid cooling gives you a crystal clear tea.

Method 2: Some recipes call for doubling the tea leaf amount, steeping for 3-5 minutes, and then pouring into a container with the equal amount of cold water. This dilutes the strong tea and chills it quickly.

Fruit Juice Iced Tea Strong tea concentrates are especially great when mixed in a 1:1 ratio with lemonade or other fruit juices. Just be sure the juice doesn’t overpower the tea flavor. If you shake this mix with some sugar in a cocktail shaker or in a blender, the aerated drink is wonderfully fresh and light tasting.

Recommended Iced Tea Blend: Tropical Black Tea (passionfruit, mango, peaches and black tea)

by Indigo-Tea Co.

Milk tea, or the “tea latte,” has moved from India to East Asia to America, and now joins with the European tradition of tea with milk.

Tea with Milk: Whether you add tea to your cup tea first or last is up to you. Some argue that if you add milk last, you have better control over the amount, but others say that milk protects fine porcelain cups from cracking when the tea is poured, and the flavor of the milk is enhanced when the hot tea hits and scalds the milk. You be the judge. Just don’t add milk to Green or Oolong teas. Two-percent or whole milk is best. Cream is not good with tea, as the milk fats interact adversely with tea tannins.

Chai: In India, all tea is called “chai.” The most common method of brewing Indian Chai involves tossing tea leaves (usually broken Assam tea or CTC tea) into a kettle of boiling water, simmering for a few minutes, adding milk and sugar, and once the milk boils, removing from the stove and straining into a pre-warmed teapot or mug. Indian Chai sold by Chai Wallahs at train stations is usually made this way, and is very strong, milky, and sweet. The unglazed clay cup used for serving is then tossed from the train as you travel down the line.

Chai Tea Masala Chai: What American’s call Chai, should actually be called “masala chai,” or “spiced tea.” This recipe is the same as the Chai recipe above, but with the addition of spices such as cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, and so on. Many families in India have their own recipe, and grind fresh spices at home. Supermarkets now sell pre-mixed concentrates of Masala Chai that you add milk to and heat in a kettle or the microwave. Chai is also very popular in American coffeehouses, although usually made too sweet. Try our Masala Chai blend.

Tea Latte: The tea latte probably started in Japan and spread to America. Usually a strong black tea is mixed with steamed milk and sugar, plus flavored syrups, such as almond and vanilla. Be careful that the syrup flavor doesn’t overpower the taste of the tea. You can also brew up some flavored black tea and add hot milk or boil the whole concoction as in the first recipe.

Milk Tea Recipes
Recipe #1: Make a tea concentrate by doubling the amount of black tea leaf and brew a mug, or a half or full pot of tea. Fill pre-heated mug 2/3 full of brewed tea, add hot milk, and sweeten. Full bodied teas, such as our Assam Blend, English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast or Africa Morning are ideal.

Recipe #2: Add 1 heaping teaspoon dry tea leaf to 1 cup boiling water in saucepan and simmer for 1- 2 min. Add a little less than one cup of milk to tea mixture. When milk comes to a boil, remove saucepan from stove immediately and strain the �milk tea� into your cup, mug, or pre-heated teapot. Sweeten heavily!

Recommended Tea: Assam Blend

Water quality is very important to a good cup of tea.

Tap water should be filtered with a Brita or Everpure filter to avoid chemical or other bad flavors. Hard water makes bad tea, so if you are out camping, you might want to bring your own water. Soft water or pH 7 water is best for green teas, and pH 7.9 for most teas. Temperature
A rolling boil is usually needed to bring out the full flavor of teas, but lower temps are recommended for green teas to avoid bitterness. Sometimes you can allow boiling water to sit for a minute to cool down, or you can splash a little cold water into the kettle. Try using a thermometer to get a better understanding. After awhile, you’ll develop an innate feeling for when the water is ready.

Temperature Scale
(Based on Tang Dynasty tea scholar Lu Yu)

Fish Eyes: 160-180° F.
Tiny bubbles begin to float to the surface. Ideal for delicate green teas.

String of Pearls: 180-190° F.
Strings of bubbles connect bottom of kettle with surface. Good for most green teas.

Turbulent Waters: 190-210° F.
A rolling boil. Best for black and oolong teas.

Indigo Tea Company

Tea tasting, like wine tasting, pays attention to similar factors: sight, smell, taste and touch.

Usually, a tea tester works for a large tea factory or is involved in buying. They test several teas of the same type, such as Ceylon teas from the same estate. The tester looks at three things: the dry leaf (appearance and feel), the liquor (color, flavor and aroma), and the wet, freshly brewed tea leaf. At home, you can simplify tea tasting by comparing two Darjeelings. Or for fun, invite a friend or two and hold your own tasting. 1) Dry Leaf
You can tell a lot about a tea by first examining the dry leaves. Gently press some dry leaves in your hand. Most new teas are a little springier and less likely to crumble than an older teas. Look for fibers, dust or stalks and note the leaf size. With some experience, you will notice whether the leaf appears shiny and fresh, or dull and stale. Buy a good quality tea and pay attention to its dry appearance as well as its smell. Remember your impression.

2) Infuse & Examine Leaf
Measure a level teaspoon of each sample into infuser. Use white or clear cups to view the truest color. Begin your analysis of the infused leaves as the cups are filled. Smaller flat leaves will show more body than larger twisted leaves, which take longer to steep. Steep the teas for a fixed time, generally three to five minutes.

3) Color of Liquor
After steeping, take in the aroma of the tea and examine the infused leaves for color and evenness. Color does not necessarily indicate the strength or body of the liquor, but every tea has a unique look, taste, and feel peculiar to that tea.

4) Tasting
Now you’re ready to taste the tea. Take a spoonful of the liquid to your lower lip and slurp with force to ensure that the tea is sprayed over the entire tongue. Move the tea around in your mouth, sucking in more short bursts of air in order to release more delicate characteristics. This step is important since we taste bitterness at the back of the tongue, saltiness in the middle, sweetness in the front and sourness on the sides of the tongue. If you were working in a tea factory testing room, you would spit the tea into a waist-high spittoon and move on to the next tea.

It may be difficult to describe your findings at first, but after sampling many teas you will begin to notice similarities and differences in color, taste and smell. Many teas have a typical “character” or flavor profile. You may want to start a notebook to record your impressions.

Tea Vocabulary
Select a few words from the list below to expand your descriptive vocabulary of tea.

Dry Leaf (un-steeped tea)
Desirable characteristics: Curly, wiry, neat, blackish, bloom, clean, leafy, nose, tip, well twisted.

Undesirable characteristics: Mushy, ragged, grey, dull, light, uneven.

Infused Leaf
Desirable: bright, coppery, smooth, self drinking, full, rich, soothing, smokey.

Undesirable: dull, dark, tarry.

Liquor/Brew
Desirable: body (light, medium, or full), bright, brisk, character, point, pungent, quality, strength, flavor, full, mature, self-drinking (does not need to be blended with other teas)

Undesirable: baggy, bakey, bitter, brassy, burned, coarse, common, dry, dull, musty, plain, raw, soft, stewed, tainted, weedy, thin, earthy, empty, hard, harsh, heavy, lacking, green (referring to black tea).

Indigo Tea Company

Steeping Tea Guidelines

Good tea is not expensive!
Keep in mind that a pound of tea makes 180-200 cups. Therefore, a $6.00 bag of tea makes 50 cups (33 mugs) at a cost of .12 per cup.

Indigo Tea Company

By Jason  Dalrymple
Not many people realize that Green, White, Oolong, Black and Pu’Erh teas all come from one plant. It seems hard to imagine this is true when each type of tea tastes so much different from the others. The differences in taste, color, smell, and appearance come from the different processing techniques that make each tea unique although the main difference in each tea is the amount of oxidation it goes through.

Oxidation happens when the enzymes in the leaf are exposed to oxygen in the air after the cells of the leaf are broken in the rolling process. Many people are familiar with oxidation and may not even know it: when you bite into an apple and it turns brown, when the leaves fall in the autumn and turn brown as well; these are both examples of oxidation. The enzymes that are released initiate the oxidation process and the more the leaf is handled, crushed, and curled, the more quickly it will change color. Oxidation is stopped by heating the leaves, or firing them, and when the enzymes are heated the oxidation process winds down and is no longer sustained. Here’s a quick guide to the oxidation levels in each of the five teas:

White tea: Completely air dried, unprocessed and no oxidation

Green tea: (Chinese) Pan-fired to stop oxidation completely before it starts

                  (Japanese) Steamed to stop oxidation completely before it starts

Oolong tea: Partially oxidized

Pu’erh tea: Can be oxidized or non-oxidized and aged and fermented

Jason Dalrymple is a tea entrepreneur living in New York City. A recent graduate of Appalachian State University, his travels within China have inspired him to introduce premium loose leaf tea to American culture under a fun, innovative, and socially conscious brand, Teasy.

Many people ask how to make the perfect cup of tea but this question is relative to people’s taste so it is always tough to answer. Perhaps with more knowledge about what affects the taste of a cup of tea, you can experiment and find your own perfect cup.

Infusing tea is a matter of water, tea, temperature and time. The temperature of the water and the time will be determined by the type of tea and the size of the leaf. The flavor of the cup can be changed by adjusting the amount of tea, the temperature of the water and the amount of infusion time. You can use the following table as a guide to start out making whole leaf tea: 

Black- 5 minutes at 205-210 degrees Fahrenheit

Oolong- 3 minutes at 175-195 degrees Fahrenheit

Japanese Green- 2 minutes at 160-175 degrees Fahrenheit

Chinese Green- 3 minutes at 170-180 degrees Fahrenheit

White- 3 minutes at 185 degrees Fahrenheit

The above table assumes 3 grams of tea with 8 ounces of water. If you aren’t able to strictly monitor the temperature of the water, you should know that 205-210 is just below boiling and for anything less, you can either let the water sit for a few minutes after it boils or you can add some cool water to bring the temperature down immediately

Jason Dalrymple is a tea entrepreneur living in New York City. A recent graduate of Appalachian State University, his travels within China have inspired him to introduce premium loose leaf tea to American culture under a fun, innovative, and socially conscious brand, Teasy.

Green tea can be stored longer than other teas and still keep its original taste. But here are some more tips to stretch the freshness even longer. The tea should be stored in a closed aluminum or tin cans. The cans should be placed in cool and dark place. Keep the tea away from any radiation, light, and heat source such as oven, heat, and microwaves. The light and the heat can possibly change the taste of your tea.

We usually think that heat goes with Dry. But actually heat goes with humidity. It’s cold that goes with dry. So if there is a excess amount of heat, the tea go moldy due to the moisture that is released into the air. The refrigerator is a cool place but it’s not a good place for storing green tea. Besides moisture, tea is also sensitive to the fragrances of other foods, like onions or other herbs.

When serving tea, be sure to clean and dry the spoon before you use it to scoop the tea. A little water could ruin the whole can.

A good idea may be to store your bulk tea in smaller containers so you don’t ruin your entire lot if something goes wrong in your storage or use.  You’ll thank yourself when you throw away the small container and still have the rest to use!

One last thing to keep in mind is to make sure the lid of the container you are using is tightly closed. It’s not a great feeling when you are cautious with everything else but find out later that the tea is still ruined because you forgot to close the lid…tightly.

Mr. Pham has great interest in tea, herbs, and their health benefits. He has created Nature Healthy Tea to share his knowledge on simple yet healthy tea drink.

By Jason Dalrymple
Name the five types of teas… Green, White, Oolong, Black, and Pu’erh. Now, what do these five teas all have in common? They all come from the Camelia Sinensis Plant and in fact, any drink that doesn’t come from the Camelia Sinensis plant is actually not considered tea, it would be considered a tisane or herbal infusion. Considering that tea is the second most popular beverage in the world, behind water, it’s surprising most people don’t know more about this amazing plant.

The Camelia Sinensis, or tea plant, is native to Asia but is grown commercially all around the world. It can grow anywhere with a tropical to sub tropical climate and altitudes from sea level to 7,000 feet. The plant prefers lots of sunlight, and a warm humid environment with plenty of rainfall.

When grown commercially, tea plants are placed close to each other with 1500 to 5500 being planted in an acre of land. These tea plant farms are often called estates or tea gardens and can be grown on plots of land as little as a quarter acre by a family or on hundreds of acres and maintained by a village of workers. The tea plants are typically ready to be harvested when they are five to seven years old and can be plucked for over 100 years.

Within this category of plant, Camelia Sinensis, there are different varietals that lend themselves to making tea. Within these varietals, there are two that are the most prevalent, Camelia Sinensis Sinensis and Camelis Sinensis Assamica. The first one, Camelis Sinensis Sinensis, has a smaller leaf and is indigenous to China while Camelia Sinensis Assamica has a larger leaf and was first found in the Assam district of India. Theoretically each of these varietals is able to make all five types of tea but certain varietals lend themselves to making a certain type.

Jason Dalrymple is a tea entrepreneur living in New York City. A recent graduate of Appalachian State University, his travels within China have inspired him to introduce premium loose leaf tea to American culture under a fun, innovative, and socially conscious brand, Teasy.