How Earth Friendly is Your Tea?

©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer

Ever wonder what kind of impact tea has on the environment? That depends largely on the behavior of the tea drinker, according to tea technologist and longtime tea industry consultant Nigel Melican of of Teacraft Ltd who recently did an in-depth study on the carbon footprint of tea.

Researching tea’s carbon impact from Asian tea farm to American teapot (and landfill), Melican sought to find out whether tea is an environmental “saint or a sinner” when we measure its carbon footprint by a number of criteria. He found that several variables in the domain of the tea drinker herself have a great impact on the final result, and it seems worth sharing since we are on this planet together.

“If tea is well made, if we look at the supply chain properly, if we make some adjustments, we can actually get tea to be carbon neutral,” said Melican. “Some tea in some countries we could get to be carbon negative. Now that is quite something for a product which goes from where its grown, ten thousand miles [away], to the consumer…”

In his research, Melican discovered that tea’s carbon footprint (measured by the number of grams of carbon dioxide per cup) can vary greatly from over 200g CO2 per cup to -6g CO2 per cup, depending on how the tea is grown, processed, shipped, packaged, brewed, and discarded.

On average, a loose tea which you drink at a tea lounge has about 20g CO2 per cup. As a reference point, the carbon footprint of a cup of beer is 374g, a can of Coca Cola is 129g and a cup of cow’s milk is about 225g. As such, loose tea is a far better choice environmentally than any of these.

But here is where the tea drinker comes in. First, the tea selection made by a tea consumer plays an enormous role from the start. . Melican found that teabag tea has, in fact, ten times the carbon footprint of loose tea (all other variables being equal). I’ll repeat it in reverse. Loose tea has one tenth the carbon footprint of teabag tea.

Selecting a loose tea over a teabag tea means you (and the environment) are unencumbered of a number of carbon-intensive packaging materials like the nylon or paper teabag and its string, the box and the plastic wrap around the box. This is perhaps the best PR for loose tea I’ve ever found (although drinking loose tea speaks for itself).

Recycling or re-using tea (as well as its packaging) also improves its carbon footprint. Loose tea often comes in minimal, recyclable or re-usable containers, and this benefits the planet simply because the packaging is often re-used and not discarded in landfill. Composting tea rather than tossing it in the trash will also benefit the earth. If you don’t have a garden, offer your used tealeaves to friends and neighbors who do (they will thank you for it and so will the earth).

As well, the consumer can re-use tealeaves, improving its carbon footprint. Steeped tealeaves can be put to good use to fertilize houseplants or gardens, to clean one’s home or for skincare. A tea drinker can also re-use tea and tealeaves to cook, to clean, and to reduce odors in the home (leave loose tea out in a bowl or cup to absorb odors in a room, just like baking soda).

How a tea drinker heats the water for tea also has an impact. According to Melican, “Gas is best as there is only one conversion loss from burning the fossil fuel to produce heat energy to raise the water temperature in the kettle. With electricity, you get five separate losses: 1. turning fossil fuel into steam, 2. steam into electricity, 3. grid losses along the wires (voltage drop), 4. transformer losses as voltage is stepped up and down, and 5. in heating the water in the kettle.”

Melican said that when he set out to do the study to present at the 2009 World Tea Expo in Las Vegas, he had no idea what he would find. “I was very happy to find, in actual fact, tea is actually a saint.” said Melican.

Finally, Mr. Melican would like to see mandatory carbon footprint labeling on all food products, a law which is being considered in England and which consumers in the U.S. and around the world can request of their representatives. In the meantime, sip your loose tea guilt-free and with abandon!

-Jennifer for Samovarlife.com

Jennifer Leigh Sauer, is a freelance photographer, award-winning video journalist, and author based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of The Way to Tea: Your Adventure Guide to San Francisco Tea Culture (2007).  Click here to reach her by email.

Check out these carbon-neutral loose-leaf, organic, and fair trade teas that are on special in celebration of Meilican’s findings: Downy Sprout White Tea , Yunnan Golden Bud Black Tea, Palace Pu-eh Tea, and the Maiden’s Ecstasy and Black Infusing Mug Gift Set.

Great tea requires artful preparation, the highest quality tea leaves, and pure water.

Water temperature also influences the final cup, and tea masters are vigilant about heating their water optimally to match the tea they are brewing. However, they determine the “readiness” of the water in different ways-visually, auditorially, and electronically.

Some look for visual signs of the water temperature to determine when the water is heated properly for the particular tea they intend to brew.

You may have heard tea masters talk about looking for “fish eyes” in the water.  This is when medium bubbles form just before the water moves towards a roiling boil.  This is when the water is ready for oolongs, generally.  The way the steam leaves the spout of the kettle—in wisps or in gusts–also signals the water’s readiness for some tea masters.

Lu Yu said:

When at the edges it chatters like a bubbling spring and looks like pearls innumerable strung together, it has reached the second stage.  When it leaps like breakers majestic and resounds like a swelling wave, it is at its peak.  Any more and the water will be boiled out and should not be used.2

David Lee Hoffman listens to the water.  During our tea time together, as the water began to get closer to boiling, he stopped the conversation and said “Listen!”  as he waited in anticipation for exactly the right crackling noise to emit from the iron kettle over the fire.  A skilled technical sound man, Hoffman has a keenly trained ear which he puts to good use as a tea master. He said he also pays attention to the way the steam rises from the spout at different temperatures.

Many tea masters simply use automated kettles that brew water to a pre-selected temperature, and still others in the slow food movement who like to be numerically exacting without the aid of electronic technology, will use a simple kitchen thermometer meant for liquids. (Note: these thermometers go up to only about 220ºF and will melt in the oven).

I rely on a combination of visual and auditory methods to brew water to the right temperature.  I watch for the intensity and velocity of the steam coming from the spout of the kettle, and if I am busy doing something while the kettle is heating, I listen for a certain sound I have become acquainted with that tells me how close the water is to boiling and always try to catch it before it boils.  If the whistle blows before I reach the kettle, I’ve failed.

I just recently had to buy a new tea kettle and notice that it makes different sounds than the old one, so I am having to learn the language of this new tea kettle.

You will also want to become familiar with the relationship between tea type and water temperature. Here are some basic guidelines, which are meant to be experimental bases:

Green and white teas tend to require cooler water temperatures, usually between 160-185ºF; oolongs do well in higher temperatures, approximately 185-205ºF; and black teas can be steeped in water 205º to boiling (212ºF).  If you play around, you might notice that steeping an oolong, for example, in cooler-than-optimal water will bring out more sweet notes in the tea.

This is just a brief overview of water for tea. Each aspect regarding water for tea is a subject in itself that some experts delve into one or the other with great vigor and in great depth.  Collecting and brewing good water is the first step to brewing good tea. However you brew it– drink, dream, share and be merry.

-Jennifer for Samovarlife.com

Jennifer Leigh Sauer, is a freelance photographer, award-winning video journalist, and author based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of The Way to Tea: Your Adventure Guide to San Francisco Tea Culture (2007).  Click here to reach her by email.

1, 2: The Classic of Tea, translated by Francis Ross Carpenter (Ecco Press, 1974)

Water is important in every step of making sencha green teas: from the growing, to steaming, to brewing of the leaves.

David Lee Hoffman’s appreciation for quality tea water reminds me of those of Lu Yu, the eighth century Tang Dynasty tea sage who instructed his readers in The Classic of Tea about how and where to collect water for tea:

“On the question of water to use, I would suggest that tea made from mountain streams is best, river water is all right, but well-water is quite inferior.”1

Other tea masters rave about the water used for brewing tea in the rural mountain villages of China where they go to find teas. They believe that where good tea grows, good water is often close at hand.  As well, the experience of drinking a tea in its natural habitat with local stream water meant for that tea is an inimitable lifetime experience to be treasured.

Rites and rituals for heating water for tea can of course be found in Japanese tea ceremony. If you were to be a fly on the wall watching a Japanese tea master prepare for a gathering, you would see him or her carefully positioning hot coals in the hearth.

The vision of the gleaming scarlet coals heightens the aesthetic experience of having tea.  Whether it influences the water or not is hard to say, but seeing and hearing the bright coals glowing and crackling under the large cast iron teapot makes the guest feel warm and cared for, as if they were existentially “home”.  There are even ceremonies to mark the seasons by changing the hearth itself.  The act of brewing water for tea is that important.

If you don’t have the time or will to go to the mountains to collect water for tea, and you don’t happen to have a tea brewing hearth or a fire pit nearby, you will probably, like most of us, be using tap water heated in a tea kettle on a gas or electric range.

You can still attain an easily-met, higher standard by simply filtering the water.  You can find a variety of filters, some that are quite sophisticated and are installed in your water system, and some that are more basic, like a Brita® filter over a plastic jug.  You can also put a special piece of whole-stalk bamboo charcoal into your tea kettle, which absorbs undesirable chemicals and odors while your water heats up. (These can be found in some Asian tea shops and in places like San Francisco’s Japantown). However you do it, it’s worth the effort of filtering local tap water.  Your tea will taste better this way.

As an extra note, the distillation process is said to rid water of the minerals that bind with the tea to bring out its best flavor, so you will not want to use distilled water for brewing tea.

In my final blog about the importance of water for tea, I will talk about the ideal water temperatures for making the best tasting tea.

-Jennifer for Samovarlife

Jennifer Leigh Sauer, is a freelance photographer, award-winning video journalist, and author based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of The Way to Tea: Your Adventure Guide to San Francisco Tea Culture (2007).  Click here to reach her by email.

1, 2: The Classic of Tea, translated by Francis Ross Carpenter (Ecco Press, 1974)

Before buying tea, it’s always optimal to taste it, just like wine. In general, you should buy small quantities – unless it’s a particular favorite – because this will allow you to consume the tea while it’s still fresh.

Looks Good = Tastes Good
The first thing that you should notice about tea is how it looks. You probably already know that the whole leaf is preferable to CTC (Cut Torn Crushed) ‘tea’ dust that is put into many tea bags.  If leaves are broken, it probably means that they were harvested by machine. Broken leaves often results in bitter tea.

Use Your Nose
After the tea has been infused, good teas will give off a delicious aroma. Green teas are often refreshingly grassy; oolongs can be peachy and super floral; blacks are sometimes sweet; pu-erhs are earthy.

The most important thing is that there should be some smell, whatever the tea, even in the dry leaves. Flavored teas such as Jasmine Pearl and Earl Grey should retain their essential aroma even after an infusion.

Feel Me (Examine the Infused Leaves)
A great pleasure can be found in unfurling leaves. If you open a large tea such as Buddha’s hand or Tiequanyin (Iron Goddess of Mercy), you may be astonished at the size of the leaf. A good leaf can be handled without crumbling or breaking.

Taste is Tops
As with any food or drink product, taste is the ultimate test and everybody’s tastes are different. Tea should never, ever taste stale or flavorless or flat. If brewed properly, tea should not be displeasingly astringent or bitter.
The best way to taste tea, like wine, is to slurp it in order to allow air to mix with the tea and enhance the flavor. It’s also a lot of fun.

Ultimately, whatever the tea, the decision to buy it or not depends on your own personal taste.

How Much Should I Buy?
Our philosophy at Samovar Tea Lounge is: smaller quantities are better.

Our rationale is, if you buy small quantities of tea and buy more often, you’ll get a better brew because you’ll only ever have the freshest tea at home. The best thing to do, of course, is to come to Samovar Tea Lounge and sample every tea – that way you can be sure to know how it tastes when it is brewed perfectly.

If you don’t live nearby, we recommend that you buy in quantities up to about 4-6oz. All Samovar teas are packaged in airtight, double-lidded metal tins to keep the tea as fresh as possible. Following our philosophy, we only sell tea in weights up to about 6oz.

Buy Tea from Samovar – Visit our Online Store

If you buy tea from us, you can rest assured that you are buying the freshest tea. We also buy tea in small quantities and we move it quickly. So, unlike other tea sellers who boast an offering of hundreds of teas (which sit around getting stale until they are sold) we offer a few that are fresh, great, and delicious.

Picking. Sorting. Steaming. Firing. Twisting. Oxidizing.

All tea is made from the same plant.
Yes, you read right, all tea, whether it’s black, oolong, green, white, or pu-erh, comes from the Camellia sinensis plant in the same way that all wine comes from the grape, albeit different varietals.

Like wine, different tea leaf varietals have developed in different geographic locations. Each tea varietal’s unique characteristics are the result of the human selection, soil composition, and local weather patterns.

Processing makes all the difference.

Processing the tea in different ways creates different kinds of teas. (Just for the record, we need to differentiate between tea and herbal infusions. The former is what we’re describing here, the latter is a beverage made from herbs and plants such as lavender, chamomile, rooibos, lemongrass, and osmanthus.)

In general, the more oxidized the tea is, the darker the infusion will be.
White tea and Green tea are the least oxidized and the color of these teas is little changed from the buds and leaves on the bush.
Black tea undergoes a complex and lengthy processing, which involves full oxidation of the leaves.

The amount of oxidation a tealeaf is allowed to undergo before this oxidation is stopped, determines what kind of tea you will get.  More oxidation produces dark-colored Black and Pu-erh teas. Less oxygen results in Green and White teas.

Most kinds of tea go through a process of plucking, withering, rolling, oxidation and drying or firing. Here’s what each of these terms means:

Plucking
Before tea can be processed, it must, of course, be picked. Only the bud and two small leaves are plucked from the best tea plants to ensure the best tasting tea.

Withering and Steaming
Withering is particularly important for white, oolong, black and pu-erh teas.
After picking, the leaves are laid out to dry on bamboo trays or in large in-door areas where heated air is forced over them if the climate is too cool to heat the leaves naturally. This process reduces water content and makes the leaves pliable enough to move to the next step in the process, rolling.

In the case of green teas, leaves are often steamed, baked, or pan-fired instead of, or immediately after, being withered briefly. Steaming, pan firing, or baking arrests oxidation of the leaves so that they remain green.

Rolling
The next step in tea production is rolling.
Have you ever wondered how oolongs, some greens, and black tea leaves get scrunched up?

Traditionally, this was done by hand. This hand rolling is still used to make extremely rare high-end teas, but today, machines are often used to roll and shape the leaves. This process helps break down the leaf cell structure, which releases the juices and oils from the leaves, encourages a more uniform oxidation, and gives each tea its distinctive flavor.

Oxidation
Oxidation is the chemical process that is easiest to observe by looking at a dried tealeaf’s color. The greener the leaf, the less oxidized it is. Like a cut banana turning brown, the tea leaf turns brown as it oxidizes.

Japanese steamed teas, senchas, are the least oxidized (as apparent in the vibrant green color of the leaf and infusion). Black teas are the most oxidized (as you can see in the dark color of the leaf and deep crimson-brown of the infusion.

Drying or Firing
Tea is finally dried evenly, without burning the leaves, in large ovens or drying machines to complete halt oxidation and lock in the final flavor.

To learn more about how tea is made, read the seminal work on tea: New Tea Lover’s Treasury by James Norwood Pratt.

To encourage and control leaf oxidation, the Tea Masters who make Oolongs employ various stages of withering, bruising (to encourage oxidation), roasting (to stop oxidation), rolling, and baking techniques. The amount that a particular tealeaf is allowed to oxidize before baking results in the range of oolong infusion color: from bright green or golden to amber or reddish infusions.

Oolong Teas that are more oxidized, as with black tea, have a darker, coppery, reddish-amber infusion. Less oxidized Oolongs have a greener or golden-green infusion.

Oolong Teas was first made in Fujian, China during the 18th century. Today Oolongs are produced in Guangdong and Fujian, China, Taiwan, Northern Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Oolongs can be made with spring, autumn, and winter leaves- with each harvest possessing unique characteristics.

Oolong teas have complex flavor profiles and there is a wide range of them. Some oolongs are processed into tightly packed pellets or pearls (pack rolled), while others are long and twisted (long rolled). These differences in appearance are created by distinct rolling techniques that vary from region to region.

Please see the Samovar Oolong Teas

Black tea is processed to become dark. This means that enzymatic oxidation is encouraged.

With black tea, the leaf is not fired until the leaf has oxidized to a point that the Tea Master making the tea determines is enough. If the tea is not oxidized enough, it will be to green in flavor. Too much oxidation and the tea will taste flat and dusty.

The resulting infusion of a Black Tea is a coppery “red.” This change in color occurs as a result of the way oxidation alters the polyphenols in the tealeaf. Fresh tealeaves are rich in polyphenols (the antioxidants), which have a clear and greenish pigment. When these clear-green polyphenols oxidize, they become Theaflavin, which has a golden-yellow pigment (as with the infusions of oolongs and white teas). In black tea, the Theaflavin has further oxidized and become Thearubigin, which has a reddish pigment.

Due to the hearty tea leaf varietals traditionally selected to make Black Tea, the infusions tend to be higher in caffeine than most other kinds of tea.

Please see the Samovar Black Teas

There are two types of Pu-erh: Raw Pu-erh and Cooked (or “Ripe”) Pu-erh.

Often Pu-erh teas are referred to as aged teas. This is because, unlike white, green, yellow, black, and most oolong teas, which are highly perishable and have a short shelf life, well-made pu-erh teas may be stored and aged for years of enjoyment. Also, unlike other teas, Pu-erh teas are usually exposed to a fermentation process.
Both types of Pu-erh Tea (Raw and Cooked) are made with Sai qing “sun-cured green tea,” which is processed by withering, roasting, rolling, kneading and drying the leaves in the sun.

This is how Raw Pu-erh is made: After it is processed as Sai Qing, the tea leaves can either be left loose or compressed into shapes. At this point the tea may either be consumed in this “raw” green/semi-green form, or properly stored for aging, (which means the tea will be subject to further oxidation and to fermentation).

This is how Cooked (or “ripened”) Pu-erh Tea is made:  It is subjected to a transformation through natural fermentation. After the tealeaves have been processed as Sai qing, they are intentionally fermented in piles by adding purified water and mixing the tealeaves in a well-ventilated, climate and temperature controlled room. This process is similar to composting.

Once the desired fermentation is complete, the tea is sorted, graded, and then processed as either loose pu-erh or it can be compressed into shapes (like tea bricks or tea cakes).

The flavor profile of many pu-erh teas are complex layers of pungent earth, moss, damp wood, with and prevailing sweetness.

Please see the Samovar Pu-erh Teas

A Golden Mini Pu-erh Toucha (Cake Tea)

A lot of customers have been asking about Pu-erh tea, so, I thought I would provide a bit of insight into this really magical brew…

Pu-erh is a category of tea, just like Black tea is a category of
tea. And, just like there are different types of black tea (Darjeeling,
Assam, Earl Grey, etc.), there are countless types of Pu-erh teas.

The one special thing about Pu-erh tea unlike all other teas (White tea, Oolong tea, Green Tea, and Black Tea) is that it is the only tea that is intentionally aged, just like a fine wine or cheese.

With that unique processing method, Pu-erh has an incredibly different flavor and effect than all other teas. Pu-er is dark, rich, smooth, and robust with an incredibly deep flavor that often is characterized by notes of chocolate, espresso, and even coffee–but it is tea!

In the US we are only just beginning to discover the variety and deliciousness of Pu-erh tea and Samovar Tea Lounge is currently the largest supplier of certified organic fair trade pu-erh.

Pu-erh Tea Cake Wraped and Unwrapped

In China Pu-erh is known as a”slimming” tea because of its digestive
benefits when sipped with meals,especially with rich, hearty, or oily meals.

Now, how to decide WHICH Pu-erh is right for you? The best way is just to taste away! The flavor of the different types of Pu-erhs ranges from more chocolaty and espresso like (Palace and the Maiden’s Ecstacy), to more oceanic (Menghai Select), to more green (Sun dried Green Beencha and Green Toucha).