Sunday, November 28, 2021

Why Honored Gyokuro Tea As The Highest Grade Japanese Tea?

Matcha may be the first-come impression that many people talk about Japanese tea. Actually, Japanese tea got many types, even though they are almost green tea. Among them, Gyokuro is honored as the top grade, just as Matcha. Typically, Gyokuro tea’s market price is nearly about 1 dollar per gram. That seems not too expensive, especially after you know how it is made.

What Is Gyokuro Tea

Gyokuro’s Japanese name is ぎょくろ, which means jade-like dew. Gyokuro was a merchandise name of the Yamamotoyama Tea Company, invented and named by the sixth owner Yamamoto Kahei in 1835. He was just 18 years old and had already a great tea master.

After he promoted this tea at Edo, the excellent quality and flavor attracted and was loved by many nobles and intellectuals soon, and became one of the Edo famous products.

Some senior tea lovers may associate with another tea- Enshi Yulu from China. They got the same-meaning name, and both are steamed green tea. But they are totally different at the cultivation, processing, flavor, and judgment criteria of quality.

Why Is Gyokuro So Rare?

There is a view that Gyokuro is a kind of high-grade Sencha because they got similar processing. It is just a narrow classified way and telling that Gyokuro is more high-grade. At the tea appreciation party, Gyokuro is usually classified separately. It is like the Jinjunmei black tea, which belongs to one type of Lapsang Souchong, but also be classified independently because it has a higher quality.

A higher-quality signifies a higher price. As the top Japanese tea, Gyokuro’s price is much higher than the general Sencha. And this quality is base on harsh, strict, and delicate cultivation and processing.

Unique Cultivation – Shade Grown

Most Japanese teas are made from a Camellia Sinensis named やぶきた. It is grown in many tea plantations in Kyoto(Uji), Saitama(Sayama), Shizuoka, and Kagoshima, etc. These places are also the primary production areas of Gyokuro tea.

As the same situation in other tea-producing countries globally, the spring flush tea is typically regarded with the highest quality, so is Japanese tea. Yes, Gyokuro is also harvested in spring, the local saying is ichibancha(いちばんちゃ.)

The biggest characteristic of Gyokuro tea is its unique cultivation pattern. Every spring, when the new buds just sprout out on the branches, tea farmers will shade the tea trees by a shed made from straw, reed, and bamboo mat, preventing them from sunlighting.

This pattern is called shade cultivation. The new buds will grow for about 20 days under the shade before picking. By away from the sunlight, the leaves work less with the photosynthesis, inhibits the theanine transformation to the tannin(a substance that gives the bitter taste.) So the bitterness and astringency of the leaves will reduce and become fresher and sweeter. The leaves will get the so-called 覆い香（shade aroma) at the same time.

Besides, due to the photosynthesis has been influenced, the chlorophyll contained in the leaves will increase a lot. As a result, it will finally make the tea infusion looks more green like jade.

Nowadays, almost all the shades are made from black mesh and get a shading coefficient high to 90%. The top of the shade is about 2m from the ground, convenient for the management and picking. Some plantations(especially those located at Mie Prefecture) take another shading way. They cover every tea tree’s crown alone and reduce the shading time to one week. Most Japanese tea masters disapprove of the Gyokuro grown in this way and just called it shaded tea(Kabusecha, かぶせ茶.)

Different from the major tea producer countries like India and China. Even though Japan has a large total tea plantation area, it has a limited production due to the smaller national-territorial area. And Gyokuro is only made from the spring flush leaves. Some of them will also be processed into Matcha, so Gyokuro becomes rare and gets only a few hundred tons annual outputs. And this also leads to a relatively higher price.

Delicate Processing

You may ever hear about the craftsmanship spirit of the Japanese. Every product made from Japan can gives the impression of being meticulous; so is the tea.

As the top Japanese tea, Gyokuro will be processed in a hand way by tea masters. The eligible leaves will be sent to steaming after picking to stop fermenting. Steam fixing is a very traditional and old method, which is taken by most Japanese teas. Unlike the fire fixing method in other countries, steaming is more focused on remaining and increasing the original flavor of the leaves rather than changing them too much.

Leaves after fixing will be placed for cool down and drying for a while, and then tea masters start their rolling job. This is a unique manual craft called Uji Gyokuro Rolling, and it is recorded in the intangible cultural heritage catalog. Tea masters will roll the leaves with their hands carefully, again and again, till they become tiny needles. Finally, pick out the stems and unhandsome leaves, then dry.

Typically, Gyokuro tea is just for one time brewing because its leaves are too delicate and tiny. However, this only one brew still brings an unexpected and strong flavor.

The Charming Umami

There is a significant difference between Chinese green tea and Japanese green tea on the flavor. Chinese green tea focuses more on the fragrance, color, mouthfeel; and Japanese tea cares about the taste more, properly speaking is Umami.

The umami flavor is verified and named by Kikunae Ikeda in 1908. He also isolated the glutamic acid from kelp, a substance that can strongly express the umami flavor and the main component of MSG.

A characteristic of spring tea is rich in amino acids, so is Gyokuro. And because it has been shade-grown, the amino acids(theanine and glutamic acid) are great remained in the leaves. Then the steam fixing also destroys the amino acids less, rather reduces the tea polyphenol and tannin content, improving the umami flavor to a certain extent.

The Gyokuro after drying can be said the condensed essence of the Umami substance. With the unique rolling craft, making this flavor can be extracted much easier. This is why the Japanese love Gyokuro and regarded it as the best.

The umami flavor of Japanese is often described as nori and kelp-like, making people reminiscent of the taste from the sea; and this accord with Japan the Island Country feature. And among the Chinese tea, white tea is also famous for being rich in amino acids. But white tea didn’t been shaded during cultivation, the amino acid just remained in the “Hao.” And it also not being fixating but slight fermented. So the umami flavor of white tea is far away from the Japanese tea, the impression it left to people is more like the fresh fragrance from the mountain plants.

Worth knowing that after people knew the truth about the charming umami, the nitrogenous fertilizer began to vast used for pursuing the perfect flavor. The result was quite satisfactory, the tea’s umami flavor improved greatly, but the tea seems no longer organic.

Benefits & Potential Side Effects of Gyokuro

Although there are many differences from the common teas on the processing and preparing, Gyokuro tea still brings various benefits as the same, like:

  • antioxidant
  • anti-aging
  • anti-inflammatory
  • weight loss
  • manage diabetes
  • mind refreshing
  • potential anti-cancer effect
  • ……

All these benefits are primarily from tea polyphenols(EGCG) and caffeine. Once we mention caffeine, many people will be worry; especially many articles said that Gyokuro tea even contains much more caffeine than coffee.

We’ve talked about there are many factors that influence the caffeine in your cup in my other post(here.) Due to the ingredients in Gyokuro are very easy to be extracted during brewing. To people who are sensitive to caffeine, it may more easily lead to nervousness and insomnia.

As far as some people thought that Gyokuro tea tastes like MSG and may be harmful to health. That is a view without any reference value. Because their flavor components are not totally the same, the most important thing is that MSG has been proven safe unless you over intake it.

How To Make Gyokuro Tea

It will be a great waste if you brew Gyokuro tea in the normal way. Typically, we use about 60℃ water to making Longjing and Baihao Yinzhen; this is a very low temperature for making tea. But to Gyokuro, it is even more extreme; most of the time, we will brew it with 40-50℃ water.

  1. Prepare 5g Gyokuro leaves and a 200ml white porcelain Gaiwan. It will get a better experience if you are making it with the Japanese teawares. And the purple sand teawares are not suitable for this tea;
  2. Rinse and pre-heat the teaware with boiling water;
  3. Put the leaves into the Gaiwan, cover, let them get pre-heat by the remained warm, then feeling the fragrance;
  4. Wait for the boiling water to cool down to 40-45℃;
  5. Add the water in till to the 3/4, cover, steep for about 2 minutes;
  6. Pour all the infusion out to the teacup, do not leave one drop;
  7. Enjoy;

When making the second brew, you can properly raise the temperature to 50-60℃ and extend the brewing time because most of the flavor has been extracted at the first brew. Typically, Gyokuro tea is hard to make out more than 3 rounds.

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6 Types Of Jianzhan(Tenmoku) Style: The Most Beautiful Teaware

 Teaware is praised as the father of tea. A set of excellent teaware not only improves the tea-drinking experience but also becomes valuable collectibles; Jianzhan is one of the most popular. Compare with the old-fashion and humdrum Zisha teapot, the charming Jianzhan looks more like a high-tech thing. Actually, it has a longer history than the teapot.

What Is Jianzhan

Jianzhan is also called Jian ware or Cha Zhan, famous for its Japanese name Tenmoku, a kind of black porcelain ware. “Jian” refers to its origin Jian Yang, China, and “Zhan” is for describing its shape, and you can interpret it as a bowl. But in ancient China, the poets thought to call it a bowl seems too vulgar, and “Zhan” will be more elegant and poetic.

The glaze for making Jianzhan will turn black after a high-temperature firing. With some special crafts, it will form abstract style, beautiful patterns, such as “hare’s fur,” “oil-spot,” and “partridge feather.” These patterns are not created by human control but natural; it can say every one of them is unique, and this is the charms and precious feature of Jianzhan.

History

In the article about Chinese green tea and Japanese tea, we’ve talked about that in the Tang and Song Dynasties of China, people changed their drinking way from cooking to whisking, which was called Dian Cha and similar to the Matcha making method in Japan. The green tea cake is the only choice. People smash it into powder first, add a little hot water, stir it soupy, and then keep adding hot water and whisking until some foam.

At that time, the high-society people also like organizing the tea battle to see who can make the most beautiful tea infusions and foams. That needs a dark color teaware to improve contrast and reach a better visual effect. Thus, the black porcelain Cha Zhan became people’s favorite. The ones from Jian Yang are the best because the local clay and ore glaze have excellent properties. The products are solid and good at keeping warm, which helps make more beautiful foams easier.

Due to the demands of Cha Zhan were primarily from the high-society and royal, so it was expensive. It also made Cha Zhan production became the main industry of Jian Yang and developed fast. Later the masters found that raising the firing temperature can create interesting patterns on the glaze’s surface. These patterns are primary filiform and spot shapes, showing a metallic of gold, silver, and blue. And they can bring out a more beautiful vision of the tea by the light refraction.

But the productivity was very backward at that time; people didn’t know the relative theory, so the rejection rate was high, and the less Jianzhan can get the patterns successfully. Those Jianzhans with patterns were the exclusive products for the rich man and royal. It is said in the Song dynasty, a hare fur style Jianzhan was equivalent to 3000 bolts of cloth; it was not a teaware that the ordinary citizen can afford to.

One thing worth knowing, there is a pattern style name flare eruptions, which called Yohen Tenmoku in Japanese, was the most beautiful and rare. It has a fantastic looking, like the shiny planets in the galaxy, with a flowing and changing light color. Those 3 Cha Zhan in Japan now regarded as national treasures are all Tenmoku; only one is survived in China, but it is broken.

Later, the tea-processing and tea-drinking ways changed; teapot, teacups, and six gentlemen took over the mainstream. Most of the time, Cha Zhan only took as an antique for collecting and trading. However, Japan has an intensive exchange with China in Tang and Song dynasties. They inherit both Dian Cha and Cha Zhan and develop them into their own style Sado.

Now, Jianzhan is re-popular in China, but the styles or processing methods are far from the past. Because Dian Cha is no longer popular in China, people just take Jianzhan as a teacup for use most of the time. And with the modern technologies help, to produce a patterned Jianzhan is no longer a problem too. Of course, the ones made in the traditional firing way are still at high prices.

Production Methods

Traditionally, to produce a Jianzhan needs to use the Jian Yang local clay. The clay contains over 7-10% iron and is red. After firing, it becomes very hard, and can make a metal-like sound when knocking, so that aka “iron preform.” The clay will be through precipitation and clean to remove the impurity after exploit, then filter the water to make the raw material for making Jianzhan. In a handmade way, the masters shape the clay into a Jianzhan preform. For a better effect in the following glazing step, these preforms will get firing under 500℃ for one time first.

The glaze material is also from the local ore, smash, and blends with plant ash to be processed into glaze liquid. This kind of glaze has great liquidity so that typically does not paint at the bottom; most of the common Jianzhans have a naked and original base.

The ancients certainly didn’t know the theory about how the patterns form. It is the result of a series of physical and chemical reactions. During firing, the temperature in the kiln is up to 1300℃, and the iron contained in the preform will separate out to the glaze layer. The glaze is still flowing, and the iron element will be stretch into filaments or gather into spots, forming patterns after cooling down.

There are too many influence factors. It is still hard to get an ideal pattern in the traditional way even though people are clear about the theory. Nowadays, most Jianzhans are produced by machines; they can get what pattern style they want easily. But compare with the traditional ones, they lost some philosophical sense and collection value.

In a narrow sense, Jianzhan just refers to the ones produced in Jian Yang China. It is typically called Tenmoku in Taiwan and Japan. They are in the same vein but a little different on the clay and glaze materials. Besides, the different cultures make unique aesthetics standards, and people also have diverse evaluation criteria on the patterns and styles of Jianzhan.

Is That Safe To Drink Tea With A Jianzhan?

When you see the Jianzhan first time, you may be shocked by its fantastic appearance and get confused at the same time: is it safe to use it drinking tea?

All the beautiful patterns are created from iron, with no harm to human health. And they all already become crystallization glaze, also will not absorb by the human body. Of course, it is just a conclusion based on the conventional Jianzhan.

Some porcelain manufacturers also produce Jianzhan, not as a teaware but as a decoration. For a better ornamental value, they may get some drawing on(it’s easy to distinguish;) but even more, they may with some Plumbum in the paint. Those Jianzhans are not safe and will cause heavy metal poisoning if used for drinking tea.

Besides, you may see some Jianzhan with colorful light in your tea lover friend’s home. Even though they look strange, they are safe. Because it is a result of teawares “raising.”

Jianzhan Styles

The patterns style determines Jianzhan’s price. Even though the traditional Jianzhan patterns are totally formed by nature, they can still broadly be classified into 6 types.

Flare Eruptions (Tenmoku)

The flare eruption style Jianzhan (Tenmoku) is the rarest. They look like the eyes shining strange blue light or planets with a halo in the galaxy. By the light changing or adding water, the teaware also changes its color, mysterious and fascinating. Only 4 antique Tenmoku are existing. 3 in Japan and a broken one in China. They are all regarded as national treasures. Even though with a modern craft, it is still hard to get the flare eruption style naturally.

Hare’s Fur

During firing, the iron separated from the preform flowing in the glaze stretched into filaments patterns, look like a hare’s fur. The firing temperature has a big influence on the hare’s fur style forming. If too hot, the iron will separate over much and cover the base glaze color, making it looks unobvious. And a too low temperature will make the filaments being not bushy. Besides, the iron will get a redox reaction when cool down, forming different colors according to different results; typically is gold, silver, and brown.

Partridge Feather

It’s named after the feather pattern on the back of the partridge. The iron separated from the preform will gather into spots during firing because of the gravity and surface tension. Check with a magnifying glass, and you can see the gaps created while they were gathering. The partridge feather style Jianzhan has a lower finished rate than the hare’s fur style, and it also can get different colors by the temperature.

Oil Spot

People often confuse partridge feather style and oil spot style. They look too similar, but the spots of the oil-spot style are smaller. During firing, the iron was not reaching the surface at all, just gather inside the glaze. So the spots were not showing a flowing view, and they obviously stay under the glaze surface.

Variegated Color

The Jianzhan didn’t get an ideal style, and with chaotic color and patterns. For professional tea lovers, the variegated color style Jianzhans are defectives. But the relatively low prices still attract many fans; after all, everyone has their own aesthetics.

Black Glaze

The Jianzhan got a large area of black color because of the low firing temperature. This type is also regarded as defective by the masters but still popular with ordinary people. Because it has a reasonable price. The brown Jianzhan has a similar reason, but it is caused by the over-high temperature during firing.

How To Pick A Jianzhan

Without talking about the antique Jianzhan, the ordinary ones are also at high prices. Their price range is extensive, from dozens to thousands of dollars. The production way, pattern styles, and whether made by famous masters are the factors that influence the prices.

Classified into 3 types according to the production ways, price from low to high:

  • The preform made by machines, then firing by the electric kiln;
  • The preform made by hands, then firing by the electric kiln;
  • The preform made by hands, then firing by a traditional firewood kiln;

Typically, all the famous masters will take the most traditional way to make a Jianzhan. Their productions will be sold with the certificates and numbers, can be assured to buy.

The pattern style is the most significant factor that influences the price. In the traditional producing way, a kiln can produce thousands of Jianzhan one time, but only dozens can get the ideal patterns, even though they are made by famous masters. So they are certainly at a high price. For the Jianzhan made by the modern craft, their patterns have another beauty, and the prices are much lower. Of course, all it is depends on your budget and aesthetics.

How To Raise A Jianzhan

Jianzhan can be “raised” the same as Zisha teapot, but with a different theory and cost less time.

After you buy a new Jianzhan home, it’s better to rinse it with hot water, then dry it with a soft cloth, to remove the storage smell. If you take the Jianzhan as a teacup, just do the above steps again after using it. Never use cold water; that will cause expansion and makes the glaze break.

The patterns of Jianzhan are formed from iron, and the mineral elements in tea will react with it slowly. After a period, a compact oxidation film will form inside the Jianzhan and reflect colorful metal light. The tea rich in minerals like rock tea will be easier to “raise” the colorful light.

Worth know is, the partridge feather style Jianzhan is easier to get the colorful film because its patterns are on the surface. And to the hare’s fur style, that will be harder more.

You can also take the Jianzhan as a Matcha bowl for use, even though it is not so convenient. After a long-term rubbing by the bamboo brush and steeping by tea infusion, the Jianzhan can also get a unique “raising” effect.

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Honeysuckle Tea: Best Traditional Chinese Anti-inflammatory Drink

 Last Friday I ate too many fried foods at dinner. As a result, when I woke up the following day, my throat felt burning, and several acne came to my face, even a slight headache. Then I realized I am in “heat“(inflammation.) My mum said, why not having some honeysuckle tea, and then she went to the pharmacy and purchased some honeysuckle herbs.

Things went out of my expectation. My mum didn’t make the honeysuckle tea in a brewing way but cooking, just like making Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) so that the taste was very strong and hard to accept. Still, I took one cup. 

In the next 3 days, I made the tea in a brewing way instead; 10g dried honeysuckle divide twice for consuming every day. The symptoms were relieved gradually and finally healed on Tuesday.

You may be wondering why I bore the symptoms and drank the bad-tasting herbal tea for few days, rather than take the anti-inflammatory drug to cure it quickly.

It’s not about the distrust of modern medicine or the deep superstition of traditional Chinese medicine. Although TCM looks ancient and the folk recipes seem hard to believe, honeysuckle tea is regarded as the best herb to diminish inflammation. It had been proved by many successful cases and application experiences.

What Is Honeysuckle tea? 

Honeysuckle, Latin name Lonicera japonica Thunb. is a herb commonly seen in China, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula.

In China, honeysuckle is also called Jin(gold) Yin(silver) Hua(flower.) Because when it just blooms, it’s white like silver, and after it matures, it becomes yellow like gold. Honeysuckle was first recorded in Compendium of Materia Medica, a famous work believed by all TCM practitioners. And it also means that honeysuckle has been applied several hundred years, even more.

Worthing to know, there are two common types of honeysuckle. The one which is taken as herbal tea is yellowish-white, and the one for ornamental is magenta.

Traditionally, the Chinese dried the honeysuckle flowers to make herbal tea for taking care of their health. Because in the TCM, there is a dualistic theory about “Yin” and “Yang,” which are two opposing principles in nature. Once the balance between them breaks, and people will get sick. Most foods can be classified into “Heat” and “Cold,” some are neutral. Fried foods can make the human body get overmuch “heat” and lead to sickness. Honeysuckle tea belongs to a “cold” beverage, which can make “Yin” and “Yang” return to a balanced and cure the “heat” disease.

Not just during diseases, many Chinese will make honeysuckle tea on ordinary days with other herbs like wolfberry and chrysanthemum for detox. In the past, honeysuckle infusions are also used externally to treat skin conditions such as eczema and acne.

Main Ingredients

TCM is a folk therapy. However, most theories can be explained by modern science. As a herbal medicine with a long history, many scientists analyzed honeysuckle’s main ingredients a long time ago. They try to figure out the principle of drug action to use it more safely.

According to the related studies, scientists isolated over 140 compounds from honeysuckle. The main ingredients are essential oils, organic acids, flavones, iridoids, saponins, etc. They all can provide excellent effects on anti-inflammatory, antibiosis, and antioxidant.

The more comprehensive study of honeysuckle making it possible to be applied widely. The familiar products are facial masks and toothpaste, which with honeysuckle extractive, and take anti-inflammation as their main selling point. On the therapy of common diseases like cold and sore throat, Chinese doctors are also like using the Chinese patent medicine with honeysuckle ingredients.

Related Reading: Try These 9 Best Herbal Tea For Sore Throat Relieve.

What Is Honeysuckle Tea Good For

Making honeysuckle tea in a simple brewing way can relieve the following symptoms effectively:

  • common cold
  • constipation
  • fever
  • toothache
  • ozostomia
  • sore throat
  • acne

Of course, the tea only works when the symptoms are slight. If getting seriously ill, the only thing you should do is go to your doctor.

Suppose you are a skincare lover and pursue the natural way, then you can put the honeysuckle tea in your DIY mask as an ingredient. It can help reduce facial inflammatory and bacterial infection, and the antioxidant benefit can also slow skin aging to a certain extent. In ancient China, this method is popularly used by imperial concubines.

Potential Side Effects

In TCM view, honeysuckle tea is a “cold” beverage. Drink it often will have a harmful effect on the kidney and liver. Having it much in a short time will lead to gastrointestinal discomfort and diarrhea. Females who during a period or pregnancy also should avoid having honeysuckle tea.

Is DIY Dried Honeysuckle a Good Idea?

Honeysuckle is an ordinary herb, and you can even found it in your garden or the roadside. So, can we pick them up and dry them for making herbal tea?

It’s not recommended to do this. Because their exact classification is hard to distinguish, and you can’t make sure whether pesticides had polluted them.

Suppose you want to try honeysuckle tea, experience its benefits and flavor. In that case, you can buy them in TCM pharmacies or online stores easily. 

But one thing you should pay attention to when you are buying online. There is a kind of green tea which also called honeysuckle tea. Because honeysuckle has a charming fresh fragrance, people usually process the green tea with it in a scenting way, like the jasmine green tea. The honeysuckle green tea benefits are not as significant. And due to green tea is a true tea that contains caffeine, which will lead to insomnia.

Honeysuckle Tea Flavor and How To Make It Tastes Better

Dried honeysuckle shows yellow-green, chubby strips. After brewing, the infusion shows a light yellow, bright and clear, with a slight, fresh vegetal fragrance. The honeysuckle tea also tastes weak, with a little bitter, not strong but odd, and that’s the reason I’m not too fond of it. Especially making the infusion as my mum did – in a cooking way, the color will show darker in a cooking way, and the flavor will be too robust and hard to accept.

Having it as tea but not TCM, a few grams of dried honeysuckle is all enough for a 300ml cup. The brewing water is best to be at 100℃ so that can let the effective ingredients release better. Another, due to it being a “cold” plant, it’s not suitable to make it into a cold drink; or it will increase the body’s burden in TCM view.

After having a cup of honeysuckle tea, a cool feeling will be left in the oral, and slight sweetness. If you got an oral inflammatory, you would feel much better after drinking it.

Most of the time, people get used to making honeysuckle tea with other herbs to increase the benefits and taste better. The common collocations are:

  • wolfberry
  • chrysanthemum
  • Radix Ophiopogonis
  • scaphium scaphigerum
  • dried rose
  • fructus crataegi

These herbs can provide a more pleasant sweetness and tart flavor, help remove the bitter of honeysuckle and bring more health benefits. In TCM view, they can also neutralize the “cold” of honeysuckle. Some people may love to add sugar and honey in it for flavoring; that’s ok, but I thought the tastes would become more strange.

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