Suited to a tea

Longing for oolong? Desperate for Darjeeling? Drink in these tips on traditional teapot styles and leaves from cultures that have turned brewing into an art.

Call it the Starbucks effect.

One retailer convinced a nation that it should learn Italian traditions, spend big bucks on its brew and, for the dedicated, learn how to use home espresso makers.

Now comes tea, a drink so heating up in popularity that the Tea Association of the U.S.A. reports sales not only tripled in the past 15 years, but are expected to continue to rise.
Health seekers drink tea. Bottled ice tea sales are up. A steady increase in traditional tea drinking is going on as well, says Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Association.

Tea now has hundreds of retailers who are encouraging a nation to learn Asian and British traditions, spend big bucks on tea and, for the passionate, learn the finest of brewing techniques.
One of those retailers is Kyle Stewart, co-owner of The Cultured Cup on Preston Road in Dallas, an upscale tea, coffee and chocolate shop that is training palates to understand the difference between first-flush Indian Darjeelings and Taiwanese oolongs. The mail-order portion of his business goes out mostly to the East and West coasts. He finds the great middle land still learning to explore the wonders of traditional tea.

To Stewart, tea is an art.
“Coffee is a bit Type A. Tea is for people seeking reflection,” Stewart says. When he talks about tea, he uses the worlds “elegant” and “beautiful,” the same words that are used to describe the traditional pots that experts say make superior tea.

The pots

Yixing (pictured)

This is the mother of all teapots.
The Chinese were the first to cultivate tea from the native tea plant, camellia sinensis, and the first to develop the yixing teapot style, from which all other modern teapots in the Western world descend. The yixing still is used in China.

Yixing (pronounced yee-sheng) pots are considered by many to be the finest teapots in the world. Unglazed lead-free clay allows tea to seep into the walls of the pot. Over time, the pot takes on a patina and the tea it pours has been described as tea brewed within tea.
Yixing pots come in many sizes but usually are small, handmade pots. Yixing are small sculptures that range from the most basic shapes to elaborate renditions of objects in the natural world, including animals, flowers, vegetables and more.

The yixing pot most often is used for black or oolong teas. Green and white teas don’t season the pots as well, says Stewart.
Most don’t come with an infuser basket. Simply place tea in the pot. This allows the leaves room to unfurl.
Only use the pot to brew one kind of tea so flavors don’t mingle.

Yixing pots should be seasoned before use. Several methods exist, says gourmet retailer www.sensationalteas.com, but the easiest is to rinse the pot repeatedly with boiling water to remove bits of clay. Another way is to make a saucepan full of hot but not boiling tea, remove from heat and dunk the pot in carefully until it is submerged. Let sit overnight or even for a few days.
Never wash the teapot with soap or in the dishwasher. Only rinse it with warm water.
Prices range from $20 to $100. The Kimbell Art Museum gift shop carries several styles.

Ceramic and glass

The clay yixing were favored by Chinese, who sold British traders blue and white porcelain created especially for export. Descended from this classic color palette are all the patterns of teapots we see today.

Porcelain pots are favored for their elegance and versatility in brewing any type of tea.
Common in British households is the pot known as the Brown Betty, made of red clay and glazed on the outside in a deep brown. Fans of the pot say this type of clay retains heat and the particular round shape allows boiling water to swirl the tea leaves properly. It is primarily used for black teas.
“In some households a Brown Betty is like part of the family,” tea expert Stewart says. That’s how much the teapots are loved.
Glass is the favored material for Stewart. He likes to see the tea’s color and watch the dance of the leaves in hot water.

Pots glazed on the inside are good for any type of tea. This twice-fired china won’t hold any flavors. Some teapots today are dishwasher-safe, but the best pieces should be gently washed by hand.
Pots that are unglazed on the inside do best with one type of tea and rinsings only with water.
Prices vary. Brown Bettys are usually found only through specialty tea shops and Web sites, but glass and china pots are widely available.

Tetsubin

The tetsubin (pronounced set-su-bin) is a traditional teapot in Japanese homes. Originally used as a way to add heat and humidity to homes, the tetsubin was put to use for tea after Buddhist monks first brought the fragrant leaves back from China.

Ceramics commonly are used in Japanese pots, but the tetsubin is a popular pot among traditionalists. It is made of heat-trapping cast iron and its elegant shape has a Zen aesthetic.
Tetsubins are used to brew green tea, the favored tea of Japan.
Although cast iron, they usually are glazed on the inside to prevent rust, and are not meant to be used on the stove top.

The unbreakable pots are prized for their long life.
Cost: $50 to $125; at Sur La Table in Dallas and gourmet tea Web sites.

The Teas

All true tea comes from the camellia sinensis plant of China, and one of its cousins in the Assam tea region in India. The varying styles of the teas are the result of their growing regions, their freshness, and the way they are picked and processed.

Tea connoisseurs snub tea bags and prefer to drink only loose full-leaf tea. If they are passionate, they learn about individual tea plantations and buy only what is known as “single estate” tea, all of it hand-picked on one plantation so that each leaf has reached the proper maturity.

The rest of us are content with widely available full-leaf loose teas, and if those aren’t around we look for tea bags that are labeled as carrying full-leaf tea. If it doesn’t say “full-leaf” then it likely contains what is known in the tea trade as “dust,” the finely broken pieces that aren’t considered top grade but do brew more quickly because of their broken state. It’s the tea most of us drink, and although it isn’t high grade, it still can make a tasty “cuppa.”

White tea

What is it?: Tender new buds picked from the top of the plant. White tea is barely processed. Formerly rare, white tea is more widely available in specialty shops and upscale grocers now. It is considered to best retain many of tea’s health-giving properties.

Taste: A delicate tea that is very pale in color and light in flavor. “For some it is almost like drinking water,” Stewart says. Often found flavored with citrus or melon.

Brewing: Use 2 teaspoons per 8-ounce cup. Don’t use boiling water. The water should be about 180 degrees, about the temperature the water reaches when small bubbles first appear. Steep up to 7 minutes.

Green tea

What is it?: Tea leaves that have only been lightly processed.

Taste: Brewed properly of good-grade leaves, it is a refreshing, light tea with no bitterness. Japanese green teas have a more “grassy” taste and scent than Chinese green teas. One common Japanese green tea is called Sencha; one popular Chinese green is known as Dragonwell.

Brewing: Use 1 teaspoon per 8-ounce cup. Use water that is below the boiling point and steep for only 2 to 3 minutes, otherwise the tea may taste bitter.

Oolong tea

What is it?: Oolongs undergo more heating and drying than green tea and less than black. Taiwan is known for its fine oolongs.

Taste: More full-bodied than green tea and less “stout” than black, oolongs are known for a fruity and flowery aroma. Processing differences produce three main types: the strong dark oolongs, medium-bodied jade oolongs and pouchong, an oolong that is close to green tea.

Brewing: Pouchong and jade oolongs: One teaspoon per 8-ounce cup prepared with water that is below the boiling point and steeped for 2-3 minutes. Darker oolongs taste best with up to 2 teaspoons of tea steeped for 7 minutes.

Black tea

What is it?: This is a large group of teas that go through more processing, including more heat, to produce the black color of the leaves. The tea liquid ranges from amber to deep red. It is the most common tea imported from India, China, Kenya and Sri Lanka (still called Ceylon in the tea trade), the world’s leading tea-producing countries.

The following popular teas are black teas:

Assam: Traditionally a dark, rich tea from northeast India known for having a smooth and malty taste. This tea region is now also producing green and oolong teas.

Chai: Any black tea prepared with milk, a sweetener and a combination of spices that often includes cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and peppercorns.

Darjeeling: A tea from the foothills of the Himalayas in India. Known for its bouquet, its reddish color and its delicate, almost fruity undertones, Darjeeling, if it is of the first spring crop known as “first flush”, is called “the champagne of teas.”

English breakfast: Any robust black tea sturdy enough to be served with milk and sugar.

Earl Grey: A black tea scented with bergamot oil from the peel of a Mediterranean orange-scented fruit.
Irish breakfast: An Assam tea suitable for adding milk and sugar.

Orange pekoe: A black tea that does not taste of oranges. “Orange” is an honorary nod to the Earl of Orange, and pekoe refers to the size of leaf.

Where to get it: Central Market and Whole Foods carry loose-leaf tea, as do specialty shops such as Design & Grace in Grapevine and The Cultured Cup in Dallas.
Tea shops in antique stores, such as the Montgomery Street Antique Mall and The Antique Sampler Mall in Arlington, carry small bulk bags of the teas they serve, which are fruit-flavored black teas. Online, www.specialteas.com offers a wide range of high quality tea and www.theculturedcup.com carries the French Mariage Fréres teas of the world.

Cost: The price tag might stun you. It isn’t unusual to see premium tea for $15 to $60 a pound. Multiple infusions of one tea serving mean 1 pound of tea makes about 200 cups of tea, according to calculations at the popular gourmet purveyor, www.adagio.com.

(this article was taken from the Star Telegram and writte by Jessie Milligan)