WEBVTT - Tea Time: Ceylon, Oolong, and Assam 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:05.600 We're in the rolling forest of Sri Lanka where silon 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:09.680 tea is handpicked and harvested. We're here to find out 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:24.120 what makes this te so special, making the TV's silhott 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:28.440 This is taken only the bud. This t is very 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:34.080 very expective. Eighteen sixty seven is the first plant being 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:38.760 planted in Sri Lanka. So since then there were some 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:43.640 people will skilled people being brought from the south of India, 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:48.760 and so generations they have been here. Each of these 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:54.800 delicately plucked leaves are then impact. It's very difficult to 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:59.440 sort of have a missionary to pluck t robo cannot 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:05.560 think and certain things. On top of all, the fact 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.120 is the most important thing is the human touch is 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:24.680 very very important teeth process, especially in tea. Tea is 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:29.400 one of the world's most ancient beverages and today remains 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:33.840 the most consumed beverage in the world after water. Too 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:37.080 many of us we know tea in its most modern form, 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:39.840 which is that we steep the tea in our mugs 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:44.440 by unwrapping those little paper envelopes that hold string tea 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:49.840 bags from dried and crushed leaves. However, that's not how 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.160 much of the world drinks tea, and the history of 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:57.520 tea is complex and its practice spans across multiple Asian cultures. 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.240 Earliest record state drinking tea to the third century a 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.880 d in the u Non Province of China, when indigenous 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:08.639 tea plants in the wild were harvested and used for 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:14.240 medicinal purposes. Soon thereafter, it was brewed as the precursor 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:18.280 to the tea that we know today. And today's show, 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:22.720 we're going to explore global expressions of tea, the rituals 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:26.440 and ceremonies that accompany tea, and we will learn how 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:30.520 the leaves harvested from this shiny leaved, shrub like plant 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.799 produces one of the beverages that is the most consumed 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:40.119 around the world today. On point of origin, it's teatime. 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.560 One of my absolute favorite parts of visiting New York 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:53.560 is when I have an opportunity to come to the 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.520 West Village, find a little corner in your tea shop 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:01.320 and move through the menu methodically drinking all the oulong's. 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.480 It's one of my absolute favorite places on earth. So 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.400 thank you so much. That's very kind. We're lucky to 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.720 have the audience that we have in the neighborhood that 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:26.760 we have. So all the cheese that we know, you know, 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:30.320 in the supermarket, that's from anything from Lupton to you 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:34.160 know the recent trend just match um green cheese, oolongs, 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.160 black cheese, white cheese. Everything that we see that's not 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.120 an herb or a flower, they're all on the same plant. 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.600 This plant is called Camelia sinenses. So this is Elena 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:48.880 Law who is the owner of ta company in the 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:52.720 West Village of New York. Elena is a first generation 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.200 immigrant who grew up in New York City. She didn't 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.520 have any direct connections to the world of tea, but 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:01.680 she was born in Taiwan, which is sort of the 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:05.560 next best thing. Yes, I actually didn't come from a 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:08.960 tea family. I didn't come from a key business or 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.760 either in production or trade by any stretch of the imagination. 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.840 But I did grow up in Taiwan, where every family 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.960 drinks tea. It's ingrained in the Chinese culture or any 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:22.760 Chinese heritage countries where like tea drinking as tea gifting. 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.680 You know, it's a very much part of your life 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:28.200 and you don't think twice about it, sort of like 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:31.280 New Yorkers and pizza, you don't really think about the 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.880 dough all the time or the where the sauce comes from. 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:36.240 You just have it in your life. So she started 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:39.799 sourcing teas on her trips to Taiwan and across Asia, 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:44.159 which was just the starting point. I remember only getting 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:46.480 teas from Taiwan when my mom would mail them or 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:48.719 when I go home and I would get that, And 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:52.760 any time I've run out, I literally have nowhere to 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:55.920 go in, you know, sort of the only thing that's 0:04:55.960 --> 0:05:01.919 available to me is a grocery store. It really is 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.760 sort of like a living historical artifact of like what 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:10.919 culture and civilization had developed this beverage from plants, the 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.480 different styles of it sort of went to different parts 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:15.880 of the world, so that became interesting for me, and 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.599 then ultimately I start sourcing them, start of visiting, you know, 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.800 when I go to Taiwan, I would visit families, friends 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:26.680 and people who understand really good quality food, really good 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.760 quality wine, really good quality coffee can really absolutely relate 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.279 to really good quality tea, and sort of over time 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:36.719 figure it out that I need a little tea room 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.800 to really showcase them and have a place for people 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.760 to come in. You can't sell this stuff on the internet. 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:48.479 You can't sell smell, you can't convince someone you know 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:57.920 the craft that went behind these products. So let's take 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.919 a step back to understand more out what te actually is. 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.280 It comes from the leaves of a plant called Camilla senesis. 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:14.159 It's a fairly nondescript looking shrub that originates in East Asia, 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.599 and a simple way to think about tea is really 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.280 the same way that you would think about wine. So 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:24.800 wine comes from grapes and teas come from leaves. The 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.640 grape variety that's used in wine production is called Vitas 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:32.360 vinifera and the name of the plant used in tea 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:37.720 production is the aforementioned Camilla sinensis. So while there are 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.200 many different types of teas, most of the variances that 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:45.320 you'll experience and flavor, aroma, and taste are based on 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:51.640 the variety of Camilla sinensis, plus how it's grown, harvested, processed, 0:06:51.839 --> 0:07:01.120 and stored. So how we process the tea plant after 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:05.039 it's harvested is what define them to be green teas, 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:09.240 ulan's white and black. What is long tea and what 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.760 makes it so special? The main difference between them is 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:16.880 oxidation levels. Um, So you imagine when you pick the 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.280 tea plant off the stem. You know, if you leave 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:21.720 it on the table after a few hours, it will brown, 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.640 the same way as if you cut open apple, it'll brown. 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:29.680 Cut up an avocado, it brown's it's the plant's natural 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:33.280 way of decaying by interacting with the oxygen in the 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:36.960 air um and that simple process. I'm sure if physicists 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.880 will explain this better than I can, but it's called oxidation. 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.600 Green tea by definition is non oxidized, and black teat 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:48.600 by definition, it's fully oxidized. So what that means is 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:51.880 when you harvest the tea plant, if your intention is 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.600 to make green tea, you will heat the tea leaves 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.440 up right away when you harvest them. It's the endomatic 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.480 reaction to kill the enzyme, so then it doesn't exodized 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.120 with the oxygen in the air and therefore keep it 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.600 bright green. For black tea, you would let it oxidize, 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:12.640 so let it naturally decay fully brown naturally. Therefore, black 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:16.520 teeze is much darker or much more coppery brown, the 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:20.640 same way as your apple browns, if you will. Along. 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:25.840 By definition, is partially oxidized, so that means it's anywhere 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:30.560 between green and black, so you can have oxydized. So 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:32.880 this feels like a good time to once again say 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:38.079 that other than the so called herbal teas which are 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:42.679 made with hot water being poured directly over herbs, spices 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:46.160 or other plant materials, all of the teas that you 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:49.560 see in the wild, from grocery store shelves to a 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.520 trendy maucha cafe, they all come from the same plant 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.679 and the thing that makes them different primarily is the 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:02.720 way in which their exposure to oxygen is either encouraged 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:06.240 or disrupted. And this is what we mean when we 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:11.240 talk about the processing of the team is extremely wide. Therefore, 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:15.920 you know, so many flavor profiles can all be called 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:21.199 ulan team. So that's really the main sort of categorically 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:23.960 how we define what mulan te is. But what are 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:27.079 some of the variations that you see in an ulan 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:32.200 te from Taiwan that makes it particularly prized. So Ulans 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:36.360 are sort of a later stage development in the Chinese 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:40.640 tea cultivation. Like the Chinese didn't wake up one day 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.240 and created like fifteen different kinds of g and like 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:45.880 call it a day, like it was you know, through 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:50.400 a long thousands of years in fact of development and change, 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:54.320 trial and error that they gave you different styles of teammaking, 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:58.680 and ulan being sort of the later style. By the 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:02.199 time of the Shang dynasty from seventeen sixty six to 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.840 ten fifty BC, tea was being consumed in the yu 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.520 Non province for its medicinal properties. UM. I think the 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:13.760 earliest records of tea production is like two thousand years 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.440 BC versus I think long To you came around I 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.440 don't know, year seven hundred eight, so like it's it's 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:23.560 a few thousand years if when I think the monks 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:26.040 sort of figured it out how to make it in 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:32.080 between process two and so through thousands of years. China 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.760 obviously has you know, a beautiful list um of ulan 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:41.680 to that's available. There was specifically made mainly you know 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:46.440 in Fujin area and we mountain and over time because 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:51.280 of the close proximity of Fujin to Taiwan, literally like 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.720 it's a tiny ocean way away. Um, there's not a 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:58.080 lot of natural migration that went to Taiwan, and that 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.040 includes some of these long to may have been there 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:09.440 for generations. From eight to the end of World War Two, 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.360 Taiwan was seated by China to Japan as a result 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:18.520 of the First Sino Japanese War. Because of its geography, 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:23.400 Japanese occupation was deemed a strategic necessity for military ambitions. 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.720 During this period, most of the social, economic and cultural 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:33.000 changes and occupy Taiwan were driven by technocrats living in 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:37.520 the colonial government. It was during this period that Japan 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:41.800 became invested in Taiwanese tea and in nineteen o three 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:47.200 developed a governmental agency specifically for t R and D 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:53.000 for research and development. Taiwan has really quite a unique 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:58.320 historical reference that influence I would say heavily as to 0:11:58.720 --> 0:12:01.480 what the product begets, you know, what becomes in the 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:06.000 sense that it went through Japanese occupation for about fifty years. 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:09.640 It bypassed the cultural revolution that happened in China. It 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:14.280 sort of was its own independent, ruling democratic society, which 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.200 you know, people having to be able to pay for 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:19.960 things that they like sort of you know, encourage economic 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:24.520 consumption as well. So you have those influences in Taiwan 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:28.480 that really makes the t quite different from where I 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:33.240 came from. Very early on NTO through the Japanese some 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:36.440 looked at the taiwan These teason was like these are 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:40.440 wonderful product that we should really invest in. And so 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:44.520 they had started a research center called t Research Extension Stations. 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.199 It's run by a bunch of chemists and engineers and 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:51.000 all they do is study the tea plants and create 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.960 new tea plants and facilitate the education of farmers that 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.079 they've run local competitions and they'll go out and teach 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.240 you what they're looking for so then you can win. 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:03.600 And if you win the competition, then you have your 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:08.520 your teas are auctioned off and um, it's heavily financially rewardous. 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:13.040 So it created a very healthy circular loop for the 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:15.680 farmers to elevate their skill sets for a lot of 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:18.440 the technologies from you know that Japanese was known for 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:22.040 that was sort of influenced into the production of the tea. 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.320 This agency is still very active and alive today and 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:30.160 it's sort of facilitated a lot of the development of 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:34.640 either varieties or types of teas or method of making. 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:38.760 So that is something that is extremely unique to Taiwan 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:42.640 the island alone, that differentiate the products that came from 0:13:42.679 --> 0:14:03.400 out of a Chinese heritage in Lugian. How are these 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:09.640 teas actually grown, you know, go into the mountains to 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:12.959 side indigenous tea plants. Of course, um that's by how 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.920 it started from the very beginning, but over times nowadays 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.720 for commercial cultivation, you really see them sort of you know, 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.680 trimmed about waist tie. They're usually about three feet tall. 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:27.880 And for ease of harvesting, because when we harvest the 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.760 tea plan, we really harvest just the young shoot of 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.440 the tea plant, so to make it easier and you 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:35.280 don't have to climb trees because you know, if you 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.360 let it tea plant grow, they can for some of 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:41.040 them can grow to like two or three story hie um, 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:45.080 and we only use the baby button maybe like the 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.280 young shoots sit for tea production. And this is true 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.280 for very fancy tea and looked at right, so consistent 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.800 and to make that easier commercially. Nowadays, pretty much everywhere 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.680 that you go in the world that produces tea, you'll 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.200 see most to the tea plant sort of like around 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.520 three feet tall. When the tea blood comes out, you 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.560 just grazed the top of the plant and this is 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:12.640 done by hand, depending on where you are, I think 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:14.680 sort of for Taiwan, and the one thing actually I 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:18.320 forgot to mention about you know what makes out too unique? 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:22.400 It is an island has a ton of moisture from 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:25.720 the ocean. It also has it's on the traffic of cancer, 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.800 which is literally like, we're probably the very ideal if 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.600 you will, for tea cultivations that has a very good 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.240 you know what, we're familiar as the term tail are 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.960 for the tea plant to be to time one in 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.920 addition to having all these culture heritage actually has a 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.320 very good and it provides a very good environment for 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:53.440 t cultivation. As for ceylon and Oolong tea, much of 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:56.600 the tea around the world is still picked and processed 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:01.320 by hand. That's because during harvesting, workers are solely picking 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:04.280 the bud or the tip of the plant where the 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:10.840 newest growth lies. The flush is the mostly newly sprouted leaves, 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.760 and the flesh harvest can contain up to five leaves, 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:19.600 but the most valuable is what's called the golden flush, 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:23.720 which is only the first two and three leaves that 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:28.440 are harvested and made into tea. Because farmers don't harvest 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.760 all the leaves on the plant and are just picking 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:37.000 the newest, youngest growth, there are specific seasons for harvesting 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:40.800 the tea plant. And the warmest regions where tea grows, 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:45.400 like Sri Lanka where Ceylon tea is cultivated, harvesting seasons 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:50.040 are long, while in most of the northern regions tea 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.840 is harvested only a few times during April and September. 0:16:54.400 --> 0:16:58.240 In Taiwan, Alanis farmers have developed a balance between hand 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:02.640 harvesting ooh long in technology, so another way of like 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.440 human interaction. As far as hand harvesting or machine harvesting, 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:09.960 you know, you could have it both ways. Obviously, hand 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:14.840 harvesting much more precise. Um you can get exactly the 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:17.160 part of the plant that you want, and certain keys 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.320 calls were just a bud. Or if you have bad 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.960 weather and sometimes or you have you know, fifty acres 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:26.680 of land that you need to harvest in a few hours, 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:30.320 you need the machine. So really depends on scale, depends 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:34.000 on the terrain of the land. Um parts of Taiwan 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:39.120 hasts really really high elevation tea gardens which are two 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:43.480 thousand meters above sea elevation, and these are a mountainous terrain. 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:47.520 They're not easy to run a machine through. So most 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:51.159 of those lands you have to hand harvest um, and 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.639 obviously that drives up the price. It drives up the 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:58.600 cost of the actual harvest. But certainly it's worth that, 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.480 you know, extend, probably because they're so precise um well 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.159 made to bees that are picked one by one by 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:20.399 are humans. If we want to be better drinkers of 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:26.240 these fine oolongs, how do we prepare the tea so 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:28.399 that we can drink it at its peak? If you 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.840 want to start drinking better tea, the first thing to 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:35.480 do is when you get to either whatever what's available 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.000 to whether it's a tea store locally or in a 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:42.240 grocery store, look for tea that doesn't have flavorings. So meaning, 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:44.960 you know, sometimes when you smell some teas and it 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:48.400 smells like peach, or it smells like raspberries, who sounds like, 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.520 I don't know. Sometimes chocolate chip, I don't think everything 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.400 is you know, I don't know. Strawberry sounds unfortunate. Chocolate 0:18:55.440 --> 0:19:02.840 chip tea. I've seen banana bread cheese, and so I 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.920 would say stay away from Notice that is step one 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:09.600 because what happens in those cheese, and we know nature 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:13.760 doesn't give you a chocolate chip, it's from cook cow beans, 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:17.800 it's not from commits sensis, So it's usually any the 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:21.080 smells extrawberries, peaches and what have you that's not a 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:25.320 tea plant. And so I usually highly encourage people to 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:29.200 smell the dry leaves if this smells like these additives, 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:32.440 and don't get those, because what happens is if you 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:35.760 use fragrancy, you don't really need the tea to be 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:41.000 very well made. You will cover it anyway with peach fragrance. Generally, 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.480 look for pure teas, and that's either of pure green 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.399 of your like at your lum or your block. So 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:49.840 try different categories and you're narrowed down to a category 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:53.160 that you like. So either um, it's something that's grassy 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.800 or or something that's not malti or something that toasty. Um. 0:19:56.880 --> 0:19:59.200 And don't feel like there is a right or wrong 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:03.159 way to assumed tea if it's too strong at some 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:05.840 hot water, if it's too weak, could have back in 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:09.240 the tea pot grow a little longer. So that's where 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.399 I just want to set this stage because some people 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:16.520 feel like it's something really precious and it's not. It's 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:19.479 it's like I tell people that kool aid, you just 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:23.320 add water if it's too strong to you know, casual. 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:28.159 Every t is different, everyone palid is a little different, 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:30.560 so it never feel like you're going to ruin something. 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:39.840 You're never gonna nothing bad happens. And then the other 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:43.880 one is not restraining the tea leaves so nice. Their 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:47.440 tea leaves generally are rolled in a certain way that 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:52.400 they really need room to expand and full. These teeth, particularly, 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.439 their rolled really tightly, so any room to expand, So 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.720 don't put them in a you know, a really small 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:04.280 tea ball that were physically they are unable to open um. 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:08.040 We generally recommend putting the tea leaves in an open vessel, 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:09.920 like in a whether it's your tea pot or in 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:13.960 a picture where it's not considering biophysical space, or a 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:17.320 tea bag or a sachet, and that way you sort 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:21.040 of let the teas have the most room to expand, 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.560 and therefore you get the most flavor. And it's the 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:27.040 most productive way I would say, of extracting tea as 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:30.320 far as brewing. So you really want those leaves to 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:42.520 unfurl freely, that's right, that's right. And then the brewing 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:46.840 temperature the generally generically the group Neery style, the teeth. 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:51.400 The lower the temperature pretty much regardless of what type 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:53.800 of teeth is, because otherwise, if the temperature is not 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:57.840 hot enough, it won't open and you can't actually extract 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:01.320 all the flavors. Tea leaves can be possessed by drying 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:06.080 the leaves out in the sun. These withering techniques reduce 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:10.240 the water content and make the leaves pliable enough to 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:13.119 move on to the next step, which is called rolling. 0:22:13.960 --> 0:22:18.199 Traditionally done by hand. Rolling tea leaves into compact balls 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:23.520 helps to break down the leaf cell structure. This releases 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:27.119 the juices and the oils from the leaves and encourages 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:32.760 a more uniform oxidation. Just like the take companies oolong tea. 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:36.800 There is a reason for historical advancement to roll cheese 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:41.080 into the tightly rolled pearls. One of the reasons for 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:45.400 transit um. We're able to transport a lot more tea 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:49.680 with the smaller physical space, so they're densely rolled um 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:54.960 a safe space the seconds. It protects the integrity of 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:58.120 the shape of the leaves, so when you brew them 0:22:58.200 --> 0:23:00.679 you don't have to break them there for it you 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:05.040 keep the shape of the leaves which has less broken 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:09.280 surface area. Which will give you a less tannin extraction 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:12.240 will give you a better mouth feel. And now I 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:22.399 really sound like a nerve right there. And one of 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:26.400 my favorite things about tease in this style is that 0:23:27.119 --> 0:23:31.000 I find the drinking of them to be so pleasurable 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:36.760 in the ways in which the flavor profile changes with 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:41.600 each steep. Yeah, I would say really good quality tees. 0:23:41.640 --> 0:23:45.400 They're made with the idea in mind that you will 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:48.800 repeatedly steep the leaves like we tell people generally as 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:51.840 three steepings and us to feel free at home to 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:55.160 do up to five and tent. But basically what's happening 0:23:55.400 --> 0:24:00.760 is different molecules are moving in fragrance, oils, mall it doos, 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:03.040 it's in the tea. Leaves are moving at a different 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:06.800 speed when you brew them. So, for instance, caffeine as 0:24:06.840 --> 0:24:10.920 an as a particle, it's the first thing it extracts, 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:13.520 is caffeine. Um. If you're brewing with really hot water, 0:24:13.840 --> 0:24:16.720 and usually the first two infusion and the most caffeineated, 0:24:17.119 --> 0:24:20.119 and then the third and the fourth are less so. 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:23.040 So if you imagine that the same principle applies to 0:24:23.400 --> 0:24:26.119 I don't know, the chemical that makes the tea smells 0:24:26.119 --> 0:24:29.080 like flowers. It has a different traveling speed than some 0:24:29.119 --> 0:24:33.520 of the other ones. So as you're brewing different infusions um, 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:38.359 you're extracting sort of different particles um every time, and 0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:42.040 that sort it gives you the slight variation in you know, 0:24:42.040 --> 0:24:45.119 in the multiple infusion, different steepings, if you will. So 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:48.520 that's something that is really fun for someone like kind 0:24:48.560 --> 0:24:50.720 of what you're saying that you're sitting with the tea 0:24:50.760 --> 0:24:53.960 and you sort of enjoy it's like a little journey 0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:57.000 or a little tea vacation that youk and it take 0:24:57.119 --> 0:24:59.320 and it's really just like between you and the tea 0:24:59.440 --> 0:25:11.800 and your friend, you're shot. So this is a poem 0:25:11.840 --> 0:25:20.680 called a te song. Dan't You was an immortal who 0:25:20.720 --> 0:25:24.639 cared nothing for rich foods, But after picking some tea 0:25:24.760 --> 0:25:28.840 and drinking it, he sprouted wings and flew to the 0:25:28.920 --> 0:25:33.800 abode of the immortals to escape life's emptiness. Now he 0:25:33.840 --> 0:25:38.000 lives among the clouds in a palace unknown to humans. 0:25:38.680 --> 0:25:42.359 His tea is brewed in a golden teapot by a 0:25:42.440 --> 0:25:46.800 young immortal who lives upon a peak amidst the clouds. 0:25:47.400 --> 0:25:52.200 How worthless is lou U's classic of tea when compared 0:25:52.280 --> 0:25:57.920 to this that is Cheeo Jin of the Ting Dynasty's 0:25:58.600 --> 0:26:22.560 Tea song. I grew up, you know, seeing tea in 0:26:22.640 --> 0:26:25.560 my in my family and in my culture as the 0:26:25.760 --> 0:26:29.480 thing that I was brought people together. Warrist Alla Walia 0:26:29.640 --> 0:26:32.919 is our next guest. Born in Amristo, Northern India and 0:26:33.040 --> 0:26:36.000 raised in Brooklyn, New York, Alla Walia is a designer 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:39.760 best known for his House of Wars fashion and jewelry line, 0:26:40.240 --> 0:26:44.760 but he's also an avid tea connoisseur. For Wars, tea 0:26:45.040 --> 0:26:47.760 is a social connector, one that he learned about from 0:26:47.760 --> 0:26:51.119 his mother's traditional hospitality. It was the first thing you 0:26:51.240 --> 0:26:54.440 offered when someone someone came over. You would invite people 0:26:54.520 --> 0:26:56.800 over for tea. And you know when I wouldn't when 0:26:56.800 --> 0:26:58.760 I would go to India with the family, you know, 0:26:58.920 --> 0:27:01.320 it was it was there. It was the first thing. 0:27:01.400 --> 0:27:03.600 It was, it was the last thing. It was just 0:27:03.720 --> 0:27:07.119 a part of living right. It was integrated, It was 0:27:07.160 --> 0:27:12.040 woven into existence. And so it was something I was 0:27:12.160 --> 0:27:15.680 very familiar with as as an idea and what kind 0:27:15.680 --> 0:27:18.960 of tea were as being served in your home. It 0:27:19.160 --> 0:27:23.160 was traditional tea. My mom would take regular black tea 0:27:23.200 --> 0:27:26.920 and then and then add cardamom and clothes and spices 0:27:26.960 --> 0:27:29.360 to it. You know what, she what she grew up with. 0:27:29.600 --> 0:27:34.040 Indian tea leaves are not prepared separately by being steeped. Instead, 0:27:34.119 --> 0:27:37.520 tea leaves are boiled along with additions like spices, and 0:27:37.560 --> 0:27:40.320 then boiled again after the addition of milk and sugar. 0:27:41.400 --> 0:27:45.040 And many parts of the country the most special cup 0:27:45.080 --> 0:27:47.960 of tea is one in which the tea leaves are 0:27:48.000 --> 0:27:50.840 boiled separately in milk. If you had people over, you 0:27:50.920 --> 0:27:53.720