Gray & Seddon's Premium Japanese Teas including Sencha, Maccha, Kamairi Cha and Genmai Cha

Leaf powders are left over in every type of sencha production. These are nutrient and flavour rich, often derived from 'tip' fractions which provide tasty green teas even if somewhat 'green' and hazy in character. The shin-cha harvests yield some of the best powdered sencha, or kona-cha. But other types of sencha can produce epicurean delights. We review the kona-cha green teas of Japan, those from the prestigious shin-cha manufacture, the sencha derived kona-cha and high grade kabuse teas, as well as powders from bancha and fukamushi-cha and gyokuro production.

Instant Tea
An improved preparation
[The Tea Business November 2005]

Instant tea has been around a long time but it has yet to realize the returns that many in the mass-market tea industry had hoped. Massive amounts of money were spent developing flavour extraction and drying technologies for tea in an attempt to create fully soluble powders which imitate real tea perfectly. Unfortunately, technology has not produced teas of any great character. And mainstream has not been lured from the comfort of the teabag. The progression from loose leaf to bags and then instant tea powders has not transpired. Instants have yet to provide the tea drinker with anything that compares with the bag or, comes close to the leaf ... The modern invention and development of instant tea predates the commercial arrival of the teabag. It is accredited to a man from Yorkshire, England. A John William Brown of Huddersfield who took out a British patent on his idea "An Improved Preparation of Tea" in 1885. His idea was simple enough and embraced the notion of convenience so closely associated with Western ideas on tea ...

A Chilli Insecticide
Taiwanese researchers show the way for tea
[The Tea Business October 2005]

Intensively cultivated tea is grown as a mono-culture of one metre high, closely spaced bushes in regions which are hot and humid for much of the year. These conditions are ideal for the breading of pests and the spread of disease. The tea crop is therefore deluged with round after round of chemical sprays to limit the destruction of tender leaf buds and maintain plantation yields at levels that make its cultivation economically viable ... The search for safer insect controls, from repellants to natural insecticides and weed killers has until recently been considered largely a waste of time. The promotional activities of the big pesticide producers, and farmers all too willing for short term gain, has lead to a polluted agriculture with pesticide chemicals turning up in our tea ...

Shaded Gardens
The way of all Japanese tea
[The Tea Business September 2005]

The creation of maccha, Japanese ceremony tea, came from the earliest Chinese traditions in compressed brick tea. Over time its cultivation and production became better understood and refinements introduced to enhance flavour. Uji emerged as the centre of powdered tea, where secrets of its production remained guarded for centuries. It was largely developments associated with maccha powders that drove innovation. Open-garden techniques, shaded cultivation and steam processing were all studied for the improvement of ceremony tea. This lead in turn to the creation of new types of green tea and arguably establishment of the Japanese tea industry.

Chinese Restaurant Tea
The scenting of jasmine tea
[The Tea Business August 2005]

Jasmine tea is known throughout the world for its refreshing and fragrant character. The tea is commonly a blend of green tea with jasmine flowers. The quality of jasmine tea depends on the grade of the green tea and how the scenting stage is ... Jasmine tea is made by a lengthy scenting process involving a base processed tea leaf and freshly harvested jasmine blossom. Timing is everything jasmine tea production ... The plant, Jasminium sambac, is a short flowering bush. Its leaves rounded succulent, soft and slight hairy and hanging downwards. Jasmine flowers protruding the leaf canopy in bunches. New jasmine flowers are bright white with bent back petals tinted yellow in the center and headed ...

An Infusion of Mint
Blending the perfect mint tea
[The Tea Business July 2005]

The mints are believed to have originated in the Mediterranean region and have been used in cooking by the Europeans since the Stone Age. The Romans cultivated 'wild mint' or water mint and introduce spearmint to Britain ... Mint tea infusions can be made with almost any tea, black, oolong, green or herbal. Some work better than others and undoubtedly the best use a green tea base. In fact best blend are the simple combination of a quality green tea and spearmint. The most well known green tea for blending is the Chinese rolled tea, gunpowder, but ...

For further information on reports and reviews featured in
The Tea Business contact Gray & Seddon. Please include
full details of your enquiry. Thank You!
THE TEA BUSINESS

Earl Grey Mystery
A secret blend of known ingredients
[The Tea Business June 2005]

All modern-day tea firms are proprietary about their Earl Grey brand but 'rights' to the famous flavoured tea have never been contested, largely because of uncertainty over its origin. Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, Jacksons, Lipton and a long list of others have their Earl Grey tea. Many theories have been put forward over the years, many of which are nonsense. Even Twinings, the business that makes the strongest case for ownership of the Earl Grey brand .... However their version of events, "The Mandarin Story" sounds fanciful ...

Black Bud
Keemun Mao Feng
[The Tea Business May 2005]

Keemun Mao Feng is one of China's most prestigious specialty black teas. A tea made from leaf-buds, hand picked in March and April and produced in tiny amounts, 50,000 kg yearly. Almost all of which is sold to connoisseurs in Europe and the USA. It is one of Qimen's tea delicacies which has recently acquired international organic accreditation. It is also one of the lesser known Keemun black teas but one connoisseurs are well acquainted with.

Aromatherapy
The fragrance of sencha
[The Tea Business April 2005]

Some one hundred aromatic ingredients have so far been identified for sencha. Not many more than what exists in the original fresh leaf and far less than any parched green tea, oolong or black tea. The odour intensity of all green tea is described as 'weak' by comparison with other classes of tea, where strong aroma is formed during withering and fermentation. Sencha is not withered nor fermented. Its aroma is already in the leaf or formed during streaming-rolling/drying in manufacture ...

Fukkoku-cha
Old artisan gyokuro making a comeback
[The Tea Business March 2005]

Historical records illuminating Hoshino's long traditions in tea making trace its origins as far back as the 13th century, when tea was cultivated and processed at the temple of Hoshino-mura. The 1279 accounts of plantings and tea making lay the basic foundations for the development of modern cultivation a shaded tea: a method originally designed to protect tea leaves from the strong bright sunlight of early spring. Cool and dry storage of processed tea was equally necessary otherwise Japan's long, hot and oftentimes steamy humid summers would ruin any spring tea in a matter of weeks. Shade-grown tea leaves were held in deep 'man-size' ceramic pots, kept dry over charcoal and stored below ground in cool cellars where the tea would remain in good condition over the months.

Origins of Kakiemon
The mystery of an exclusive porcelain
[The Tea Business February 2005]

Prices for modern kakiemon are among the highest for contemporary porcelain anywhere in the world. A small tea-set costs US$2500.00 and even a modest purchase of a yunomi, Japanese teacup, costs US$250.00, western style 5oz teacup & saucer is US$450.00. Numbers to make people curious, but ordinary porcelain buyers few. Investors should maybe note that kakiemon is always in demand and never out of fashion. There is an active market in its modern pieces and there is never enough being made by the kiln. Gold may fluctuate over time but kakiemon porcelain never depreciates, ever!

Tea in Bags
A matter of taste
[The Tea Business January 2005]

The commercial tea-bag is just about marking its centenary. A hundred years of high convenience and aproaching fifty years of wider distribution with 40 years of mass commercial success. The history of the tea-bag goes back far longer ...

Fragrant Green
Yellow Mountain's delicious green tea
[The Tea Business December 2004]

The Yellow Mountain region of Anhui province has an ideal climate for cultivating and processing unique kinds of whole leaf & curled leaf-bud green teas. It has a long history of artisan production which has innovated many different & fragrant styles of mountain tea. The region's comparative isolation has been helpful in terms of modern requirements for healthy & natural teas. The lack of industrial development has meant the preservation of a clean environment and the continuation of centuries-old cultivation practices, which are now called organic farming. Today the fragrant green teas of Yellow Mountain hold pride of place in any tea rankings. We review a short list of ten of the most well known teas originating from Huangshan and the neighbouring Qi Yun area.

China's Specialty Teas
Organic production the key to success
[The Tea Business November 2004]

The organic tea industry in China grew from nothing in the mid-1990s to hold a commanding position in the trade of specialty 'chemical-free' teas almost a decade on. Its tea businesses governed largely through China National Native Produce and Animal By-Products Import and Export Co, (China Tuhsu), have aggressively sought international accreditation for production which has steadily come on-stream since 2000. China now exports the widest range of organically certified green, oolong and specialty black teas to Europe and USA, where consumers are calling not only for healthier and more exotic teas but information on their origin and way of production.

Japanese Tea Industry
Advances since the 1940s
[The Tea Business October 2004]

Advances in the Japanese tea industry since the second world war have been phenomenal. From a patchwork, cottage industry to its present-day dominance in quality green tea manufacturing. Always consuming much of its own production, its teas have never been widely known to tea drinkers outside Japan. Still, this to a large degree is the fault of the Japanese themselves. Happy enough to sell the world beautiful cameras, stylish cars and advanced electronic play gadgetry, but not something as close as their very own sencha.

Fluoridation of Tea
Teas are getting stronger in fluoride
[The Tea Business September 2004]

Tea is rich in fluoride. And the amount of fluoride in tea is on the increase and has been for the past century. Tea is not alone, but in-line with many other foods and the overuse of chemically formulated fertilizers enriched with fluoride. It is now known that the element accumulates in greater amounts in older leaves, so summer harvests have much more than spring. Although fluoride has good press, its good for teeth, little is said of the consequences of over-consumption, and in particular the amounts we intake with our daily tea.

Kuchi-cha
The stem and leaves green tea complementing raw fish
[The Tea Business August 2004]

Not to distract tea drinkers from the esteemed high-end teas like the seasonal shin-cha and very early gyokuro, tea producers hold back several diminutive classes of tea which can be outstanding in their own right. Kuki-cha, is one such tea. Made at similar times over the shin-cha period, they may hold many characteristics of their origin. The kuki-cha teas arrive on the scene normally by the end of June, but more often than not are promoted from July onwards. Although they are the last of the teas to show themselves in the Japanese tea calendar, they are very well regarded. Enjoyed at home and restaurants everywhere in Japan.

Keemun Hao Ya
The ultimate in black tea
[The Tea Business July 2004]

Give five year olds a sip of keemun tea with milk and ask what favourite food it reminds them of - chocolate pudding would be the answer. Even connoisseurs of this tea find it hard to come up with a better description. The unusual flavours of gongfu grades of keemun enjoyed by generations of fine tea drinkers is a consequence of its Qimen cultivation and the gongfu black tea processing. Many describe the Hao Ya teas as having a richness and fullness not found with any other kind of black tea. The aroma of Hao Ya A is particularly appealing. Perhaps sometimes with a slight roast edge owing to the end stage high firing which also introduces dark cocoa like flavours as well. In the cup these roast and chocolate elements blend nicely with a finish that is unmistakably a honey-sweetness.

For further information on reports and reviews featured in
The Tea Business contact Gray & Seddon. Please include
full details of your enquiry. Thank You!
THE TEA BUSINESS

Fukamushi-cha
The green tea, that's steamed and steamed
[The Tea Business June 2004]

The earliest methods of steaming tea originated in China with basket & pan heating. This continues to this day & is an important step in the preparation of many leaf-bud green teas. In Japan the steaming of tea superseded former pan-firing techniques, & was perfected for sencha. More than any other process in the manufacture of sencha, steaming makes this famous Japanese tea what it is. The tea-maker views steaming as a critical sequence in the sencha process. Timely heating of the fresh leaves is required to prevent unwanted chemical oxidation & other changes.

Patterns in Porcelain
A look at the common designs in Japanese porcelain
[The Tea Business May 2004]

Japanese porcelains may look similar, but look more closely and you'll see intricacies of feature in each design. Often there are several patterns worked together with some interesting associations. Artwork on contemporary as well as old porcelain depict the history of porcelain-making derived from China and Korea. The classic designs remain part of modern interpretations throughout the main porcelain centres in Kyushu Island. We review 26 of the most important patterns with a view to identifying old pieces.

The Mint Business
A trend in the sparkling flavours of mint tea
[The Tea Business April 2004]

Mint teas are being drunk in ever-greater amounts as the move to healthier non-caffeine drinks is being realized. Supermarkets are seeing sales of these alternative herb drinks improve year after year. Mint is big business. In the UK the herbal retail market is worth almost GBP40m a year and growing in double-digits. More than half of this number is for mint and mint-based blends. A number of regions are now producing dried mints in commercial quantities to satisfy the growing demand for herbal tea blends. But the market is for Organic Mint and production of this mint however, is still a subsistence-level industry. Wholesale prices for high-quality organically cultivated mints are extremely high. So high that commercial blenders in the Europe and USA choose the lowest grade sources from India and elsewhere. Such mints may well meet chemical residue standards set by importing countries, but they are certainly not organic and do not meet consumers' expectations.

Hairy Crab
One of Anxi's treasured oolongs
[The Tea Business March 2004]

Mao Xie Wu Long has been cultivated among the winding hilly gardens of Anxi, southern Fujian Province since early Qing times. It has recently become fashionable among Western traders to refer to this tea by its English name, Hairy Crab Oolong. Not an overly appealing name for a tea maybe, but one that befits this lighter Fujian style of wu long cha. Hairy Crab is so named because of its deeply serrated leaf form & the plethora of floss on the cultivar. Aspects of the tea's character that immediately become apparent during processing. The tea is harvested throughout early summer and is carefully made to bring out aromatic & mildly roasted flavours. Aside from several grades of Hairy Crab which are now known to western oolong drinkers, the Anxi region is home to many other famous oolongs as well. The most noteworthy of which is Tie Guan Yin. Hairy Crab though is one of Fujian's favourite styles - a high quality oolong, reasonably priced. It is drunk in teahouses & traded throughout the region.

Japanese Tea Calendar
A review of the green teas made in Japan
[The Tea Business February 2004]

The 2004 Japanese tea season is only weeks away, so what better time to review the tea calendar and give a mention to the main tea groups that make up the connoisseur scene. The Japanese tea calendar begins around the middle of April with the arrival of a few of the earliest sencha from Kagoshima & Shizuoka regions. Although these early teas are very much welcomed, they are not the best teas of the season by far. Yet teas like Kagoshima-cha command prices way in excess of their quality. Exposed hilly gardens normally deliver their sencha weeks later, once the new tea 'green' flavours have settled. Those from the northern most areas of Kyushu Island are eagerly awaited. Ureshino-cha & Yame-cha and others are usually worth the wait. From the end of April much of the year's shin-cha bursts onto the scene. Concurrent are the highest grades of kabuse-cha and some special kamairi-cha as well. After the shin-cha attention shifts to gyokuro, the earliest of which comes to retailers by the middle of May. Maccha soon follows afterwards and by June the bancha harvests start appearing.

Genmai
A grain for sake and green tea
[The Tea Business January 2004]

Genmai-cha is a common tea beverage in Japan. Drunk regularly at home as an evening tea, served at cafes and restaurants as well as sold as a ready-to-drink bottled tea from vending machines. Genmai tea blends are available in supermarkets and food-stores everywhere. And they are always among the cheapest popular tea. Not surprisingly then genmai-cha is manufactured by almost every tea-producing region in the country and sold in every corner teashop; many with their own blends and local variants. Genmai-cha is a casual tasty drink, drunk both as a hot beverage and a refreshing iced green tea often with food. Yet to many western drinkers of Japanese tea the popularity of genmai-cha is a curiosity. Perhaps because it is made with lower grades of sencha whose flavours are not fully appreciated. Or it could be the broad roasted tones of the oven toasted genmai itself. Understanding why it's so popular with the Japanese is not so obvious.

Bolei
The collector's tale
[The Tea Business December 2003]

Pu'er is undoubtedly the oddest and strangely unnoticed of all varieties of connoisseur tea. It the oldest class of tea also. Fermented with microscopic fungi and bacteria & with a health folklore unrivalled. Even stranger, it is the only tea traded on its age and bizarrely, admired for that. And because of its long tradition, the fact that 'vintage' is important and cellaring is part of the activity lends itself to the collector, hoarder and obsessive. Pu'er collections are made & sold, both contemporary and ancient. Teas and collections are auctioned and gossip adds to the interest too. The dedicated collector of pu'er will stop at nothing to acquire a 30 year cake or indeed a fellow obsessive's lifetime's hoardings.

The Inconvenience
of Green Tea
Bags, why they don't work
[The Tea Business November 2003]

In order to understand why it has proved elusive for the mass tea-bag makers to emulate the flavours of finer leaf grades of green tea, you must understand the marketing strengths of the bag and its original application to black tea.

Green Tea and
the Prostate
Australian and Chinese health study
[The Tea Business October 2003]

An Australian and Chinese research co-operation has shown that regular drinking of green tea can dramatically reduce the risk of contracting prostate cancer. The study was conducted by scientists at Perth's Curtin University, Australia and Zhejiang Cancer Hospital in China. The results indicate that men who drink green tea daily have one-third the risk of getting prostate cancer compared with non-tea drinkers.

Pesticide Sickness
Indian tea workers face daily hazard from chemical sprays
[The Tea Business September 2003]

Reams are said about the potential hazards of drinking tea propagated using chemicals to control pests and disease. But the traces of pesticides reaching our cups are minute compared to the daily exposure tea plantation workers face each day. The tea plantation industry across Darjeeling, Assam, Dooars, Sir Lanka, Kenya and other regions of Africa is a multi-billion dollar activity. Yet for plantation workers (paid a dollar a day) mixing & spraying these chemicals day after day, basic health-care needs are not being met by negligent Tea Estate owners.

Making Bricks
Tuocha 'Vintage' 1996
The microbial fermentation of tea
[The Tea Business August 2003]

Funny word 'fermentation' when applied to tea. It doesn't mean what everyone thinks it means, and it certainly doesn't involve micro-organisms. That is unless you're talking about pu'er. Tea specialist use the word tentatively, often qualifying its meaning even when everyone knows what they're talking about. Some Asian tea researchers claim that the word was in fact originally used for tea before being applied to wine and beer making. There are several ways of fermenting tea leaves for pu'er tea making. The older methods simply heap the leaves into a compost-like mass, where they remain for days to, ferment. The use of wooden tubs is now commonplace. Here, the leaf is compacted and left for the molds, bacteria and other microbes to alter flavour.

Where Tea Meets Coffee
The roasted teas which are houji-cha
[The Tea Business July 2003]

The toasting of sencha for the manufacture of coppery-red houji-cha is one of those distinctive smells which marks the late autumn season and end-of-year festivals at tea-houses all around Japan. The aroma-filled air surrounding teashops at this time is so inviting it's hard to resist a tasting. And once you've savoured freshly roasted houji-cha it's easy to see why everyone loves this tea.

For further information on reports and reviews featured in
The Tea Business contact Gray & Seddon. Please include
full details of your enquiry. Thank You!
THE TEA BUSINESS

The Emerald Leaf
A beginner's guide to Japan's fine sencha
[The Tea Business June 2003]
Over-riding all of the aforementioned in the eyes of the ordinary tea drinker is season. Time when the tea was harvested. The word shin-cha or new tea is then used, but only for the highest grades of early spring harvested tea: some of which is still harvested by hand. Early season sencha given the shin-cha label are generally regarded as the best of each year's crop. Sencha regions (and gardens) compete on quality and seasonal availability. In Japan teashops proudly display the shin-cha characters until early June. After that time this seasonal name as a promotional tool anyway is usually dropped. The category and garden name once again feature more prominently in local advertising.

Hoshino's
Twenty-one days of night
[The Tea Business May 2003]
Gyokuro is understandably a curiosity in the world of tea. Its exclusivity - made only at a handful of locations, strange cultivation practices and unusual drinking customs set this tea apart from all others. It's May, and at Hoshino-mura near the tea town of Yame the covers are off after three weeks of darkness. Gyokuro artisans will now spend a few arduous days & nights making a superb range of 2003 gyokuro.

Tea
A modern panacea
[The Tea Business April 2003]
To the people of ancient China tea was no mystery. They were well acquainted with the medicinal properties of its extracts. Tea's infusions held principles that could enliven the spirit and revitalise the body. Drunk regularly tea would bestow lifelong good health. This message travelled throughout the Chinese-speaking world from the times of unwritten history to the Tang recorders. Western understanding of the tea camellia began in the sixteenth century along with commercial trade in its main products.

White Tea
A market for troubled skin
[The Tea Business March 2003]
Of all the new-age skin products it is the skin whitening trade that is making the mega-bucks. An industry which has convinced a generation of clear-skinned women in Asia to apply copious amounts of hydroquinone (a de-hydroxyphenol) - based formulations to the skin. These creams it is claimed are perfectly safe and will clear and remove so-called unsightly bloches, marks and spots found on older skin. The hard sell techniques used by the world's cosmetics houses are currently making the rounds in newspapers and fashion mags across the globe. Naturally, focus has turned to other polyphenol compounds that might abound. And yes, that means Tea.

A Perfect Tea
Tetley's science of tea making
[The Tea Business February 2003]
It's one of the many mysteries of life that some people however stupid they appear seem to make it well, while others fail miserably with each new effort. It's true that all classes of tea have their own particular requirements when it comes to preparation. To make any tea consistently well needs care at every moment and to an almost analytical degree. The finer, less forgiving, connoisseur teas such as oolongs and sencha, will perform badly for the novice. And, so do high-grade fragrant black teas, the gongfu keemuns, first-flush Darjeelings and orthodox Assams. One would think that the 'engineered' teabag would escape all this fuss. Not so. Even here the tea maker can get it dreadfully wrong.

Theanine
The tea flavour that touches the taste buds & brain waves
[The Tea Business January 2003]
In the late 1940s a substance was discovered in green tea that turned out to be responsible for much of the drink's flavour. It was later characterised & found to be theanine, a unique amino acid that occurs in great amounts in high grades of certain Chinese & Japanese teas. The amino acid's powers to stimulate the taste buds, so inducing a sense of umami, are now well documented. More recently however, researchers at Aichisyukutoku University (Aichi) & Kagaku Co., Ltd (Mie) in Japan have investigated theanine's physiological actions. Its ability to induce a state of relaxation is intriguing & suggests new possibilities for theanine as a functional food supplement in health foods & medicines.

The Qing Cha
of Fujian
A review of the oolong teas made in Fujian Province
[The Tea Business December 2002]

The Chinese call it Qing Cha, Blue Tea, while the native Fujians named it Wu Long or Dark/Black Dragon. But oolong is neither blue nor black. The highest quality oolong has also defied the best attempts at automation & mass-production. The tea being heavily dependent on hand-processing and a masterly understanding of the oolong process stages. Tie Guan Yin, Mao Xie, Shui Xian & Da Hong Pao are among the most well known Fujian oolongs. We review these and others from Fujian Province.

Shizuku-cha
The gyokuro tea of ceremony
[The Tea Business November 2002]

Shizuku-cha is an unusual style of Japanese tea. It is a gyokuro shade-grown tea which is eaten at the end of an informal ceremony or preparation. Shizuku gyokuro is rare among Japanese teas, as it is prepared in gaiwan-style yunomi (no other Japanese green tea is made in this way). The preparation follows cool and then gradually hotter infusions until at its climax the tea is eaten, often with the accompaniment of a sweet snack.

Arita Porcelain
Nabeshima, Kokutani & Kakeimon
[The Tea Business October 2002]

To collectors of contemporary fine art porcelain the Arita names of Nabeshima, Kokutani & Kakeimon symbolize perfection. Collectors of these pieces are expected to dig deep into their pockets, as prices normally start at around $10,000! We have reviewed the three famous porcelains of Arita with a brief guide to the main styles and patterns.

Japanese Tea Pottery
The stone-makers art of errors
[The Tea Business September 2002]

The Japanese have great admiration for pottery art & the skills that form stoneware articles. The imperfections & accidental effects that occur during creation, whether by hand or in the kiln, are welcomed. They are a sure sign of the maker's workmanship. Although it is widely appreciated that early Japanese pottery culture was influenced by Chinese and Korean potters, who helped to found the great porcelain centres at the start of the Edo period, the history of Japanese stoneware pottery is much longer dating to the Jomon period (2500-250BC). Several ancient stoneware potteries are recognized for their art. Seto, Tokoname, Bizen & Shigaraki are but four. We have reviewed the famous stoneware potteries of Japan which today produce some of the finest tea pottery in the world.

Tamaryoku-cha
A bright & shining Japanese green tea
[The Tea Business August 2002]

Tamaryoku-cha is frequently used to describe all kinds of Japanese green tea. In English the word means shining green tea (tama = shining, ryoku-cha = green tea). For those who know the Japanese teas well, this is a fitting description for many of the highest grades of sencha that appear each spring. ... ARA-CHA FACTORY Quality tea needs a quality leaf and this can only be achieved through good growing practices supplemented by high standards of garden management. Fine tea crops can certainly be ruined at the tea factory, but no matter how skillful the tea-maker ...

Black Magic
The manufacture of Chinese black tea
[The Tea Business July 2002]

Chinese black tea is manufactured in ways never attempted by the Indian mass-labour plantations. By and large the Chinese gardens have retained small-scale production which has been in use for centuries; methods that are now recognized to yield quite unique teas. Today connoisseurs are left with a staggering variety of black tea, which, because of the distribution bottle-neck in consuming countries never reach the breakfast table of most western tea drinkers.

For further information on reports and reviews featured in
The Tea Business contact Gray & Seddon. Please include
full details of your enquiry. Thank You!
THE TEA BUSINESS

In Awe of Long Jing
Derivatives proving irresistible
[The Tea Business June 2002]

Before the commercial boom years of the mid 1990s travellers could stroll through the sleepy village of Long Jing during the harvesting season and apart from the odd roadside tea market and lush hillside gardens, they'd be hard pressed to notice that this is one of China's most prestigious tea-growing areas.

A Bluer Leaf
Reviewing the hillside gardens at Yaoli.
[The Tea Business May 2002]

Yaoli leaf-bud teas are setting new standards for China's fledgling organic tea industry. The Yaoli leaf buds are a group of regional green teas that have been traditionally grown on the steep slopes of northern Jiangxi Province & made entirely by hand. These chemical-free tea crops are now getting an enthusiastic reception at specialist tea-houses all over Asia.

The Way of
Japanese Tea
The origins of Japan's steamed tea
[The Tea Business April 2002]

The conventional view embraced by many writers on tea's long social history is that modern Japanese tea customs wholly originated from China. When and by what means, tea arrived in Japan certainly are questionable. The easiest answer to accept is that tea knowledge, seed, cultivation and processing wherewithal were brought from continental China, possibly through the Korean peninsula, to the island of Kyushu. Intermittently over the course of centuries, & from the earliest influences of Buddhism, the Japanese gradually learned the ways of Chinese tea-craft.

A Brief Survey of Japan's Sencha Regions
An 'official' classification
[The Tea Business March 2002]

Tea in Japan is typically grown at low altitude & on a flat or shallow aspect. The highest gardens being no more than 700m above sea level. Cultivation is concentrated in central and western areas on the main island of Honshu, and in several regions on the south-west island of Kyushu. The tea industry in Japan classifies its tea-growing territories by the following prefecture districts: Saitama, Shizuoka, Mie, Kyoto, Nara, Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Miyazaki and Oita.

The Age of Tea
Legendary fables, buddhist ritual and
a multi-billion dollar business
[The Tea Business February 2002]

Tea drinking is very much a part of Chinese legend. The divine cultivator Shen Nong is said to have discovered the nature of tea. Leaves from the camellia tree falling into his pot of boiling water. And so the qualities of tea were revealed. In pre-history, tea is thought to have originated somewhere in the south-eastern areas of China. Commonly believed to be present-day Yunnan Province.

The Evergreen
Instant Tea
Introduction to maccha, tea of ceremony
[The Tea Business January 2002]

The art & drama of the Japanese Tea Ceremony is recognized the world over. Its influences have touched fashions in western cuisine, ceramic styles, tea pottery, & even the social habits of tea drinking. Tea ceremony gatherings are delicately arranged performances on the appreciation of life through the way of tea.

Tea & Wine
There must be a God
[The Tea Business December 2001]

The parallels between tea & wine can be observed at a number of levels. The most recent scientific research has confirmed what tea lovers have known about tea, & wine connoisseurs have known about wine for a very long time - they are beneficial to human health in addition to being highly enjoyable beverages! Modern science has shown that the tea leaf & grape skin contain powerful antioxidant ingredients that may help slow the ageing process and even protect us against certain types of cancer.

China Black
Keemun: the quintessential Chinese black tea
[The Tea Business November 2001]

China produces an enormous variety of fermented tea, otherwise known as, Black Tea. Many of which are neglected by the majority of consuming countries. With the present popularity of 'big-flavoured teas', in the form of tea based spicy cocktail drinks, Boba teas & Chai, the original & unblended China Blacks are being re-discovered. Black tea is a Chinese invention & a western preoccupation. Yet mainstream tea drinkers in the West are surprisingly ignorant of the black teas still made in China.

Black Dragon
A myth revisited!
[The Tea Business October 2001]

Stories of oolong tea's supposed fat-dissolving properties are as old as the tea itself. Doctors take these claims with a pinch of salt, while oolong connoisseurs largely dismiss them. Regular drinkers of the tea are more open-minded about oolong's powers. This might explain why oolong tea is found in a great number of diet & health tea concoctions. The belief that oolong offers some good for weight-watchers is popularly held throughout south-east Asia.

Biluochun
In the shade of peach & plum
[The Tea Business September 2001]

Any traveller in search of original tea in the eastern parts of China is sure to visit the famous Long Jing tea-growing area. They may also take a tea tasting at an authentic Suzhou tea-house or perhaps journey along the expansive Lake Tai (Taihu). A trip to Jiangsu Province's Biluochun tea gardens might not be as obvious. Partly because this special green tea is grown in tiny garden plots hidden beneath citrus and peach groves that dot the hillside around Taihu. Cultivation in the softer diffuse light and harvesting during the blossoming of spring fruit ensures a tea with some very distinctive characteristics.

Tea Station
For a Greener Oolong
[The Tea Business August 2001]

The Taoyuan Tea Station is located in the Yangmei district of northern Taiwan. As tea research stations go, Taoyuan Tea Experimental Station, or to give the organization its official title, Taiwan Tea Experimental Station (Taoyuan), is smaller & more relaxed than most. It's a homely facility, welcoming to visitors who are genuinely interested in oolong tea. Gray & Seddon first visited the Taoyuan Tea Station in the spring of 2000 to learn about the lighter & greener styles of oolong tea.

Making Green Tea
Not all clocks & thermometers!
[The Tea Business July 2001]

Green teas require some special care. This is because the flavours held by the leaf are quite readily lost to the infusion if the way of making the beverage is performed badly. For example, volatile aroma and other flavour ingredients, extracted from the leaf are easily evaporated, or swamped, by strong & bitter-tasting flavours if the water use is too hot. Among the main considerations to bear in mind when preparing any quality green tea are; (i) packaging & storage of tea, (ii) water quality, (iii) balance of leaf & water, (iv) water temperature and (v) infusion time. The rest is up to you!

For further information on reports and reviews featured in
The Tea Business contact Gray & Seddon. Please include
full details of your enquiry. Thank You!
THE TEA BUSINESS

Sechibaru
Located in the hilly northern areas of Kyushu island. A tea growing region making some very original spring sencha
[The Tea Business June 2001]
A visit to the Sechibaru tea-growing areas during the harvesting months is a very pleasurable experience for any tea enthusiast. A countryside filled with beautifully lush gardens, crisp air and soft spring sunlight. Sechibaru is situated in Nagasaki Prefecture to the northwestern edge of the island of Kyushu. The village is a couple of hundred metres above sea level and located about 40km north of the port of Sasebo, close to the port and ancient pottery town of Imari, that is 30km to the west.

Anhui Province
A tea treasure trove
[The Tea Business May 2001]
Anhui Province lies west of Shanghai & Jiangsu Province. It has many hills & plains, with mountains in the central west and south. Anhui has not had the industrial development of the coastal areas, and it is best known for its scenic attractions such as Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) and Mount Tianzhu, and Buddhist temples in the Jiuhua Mountain. Not so well known is the fact that Anhui Province produces some of the finest teas in China - and thus the world! Although specializing in premium green tea, one of the finest black teas is also produced here - Keemun which was first produced in 1875.

Ureshino
Town of hot springs, traditional handicraft and the origin of a special green tea called kamairi-cha
[The Tea Business April 2001]
The old pottery town of Ureshino is located within Saga, a prefecture in the northwest of Kyushu; Japan's most westerly island of major population. Pottery making of tea wares has survived to this day, but this is now of marginal importance compared to other nearby potteries with worldwide reputations. Visitors who come to Ureshino are attracted to the town's natural hot springs. The spas being famous for their soothing alkaline qualities & penetrating high-temperature waters. Ureshino is also the traditional home of kamairi-cha, a kind of green tea styled in the old Chinese ways of pan-frying. In fact, kamairi means pan-fried, and the tea is still sometimes given the name 'Chinese green tea' owing to the unique oven-roasting process involved in its manufacture.

Green tea drinking
in Japan
Monthly household consumption of green tea
in Japan follows a well established pattern
[The Tea Business March 2001]
Like so many aspects of Japanese business, the tea industry, although undoubtedly under severe strain, seems remarkably resilient. On the one hand specialist tea merchants, traders and wholesalers are finding business hard going in the present economic climate, relying as they do on personal and corporate gift-giving. The mass-market sector meanwhile, invents new convenience tea products and expands cultivation and production overseas. During the past five years sales of tinned green tea drinks have witnessed explosive growth with the major beverage company Kirin, taking the lion's share of this profitable segment.

Dementia
Saga study on green tea
[The Tea Business February 2001]
The formation of amyloid plaques, the proteinaceous material that glues itself to the neurofibrillary tangles in people suffering from Alzheimer's disease, have been intensively researched over the past decade. The true cause of amyloid plaques is still debated, but they are said to be linked with many risk factors both genetic and environmental. There is now a growing amount of speculation that oxidative damage contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease and possibly the presence of these protein deposits.

Gyokuro
Is it the end of the road?
[The Tea Business January 2002]
Times change and so do tastes, and none more than with specialist teas. It's now acknowledged that many of the world's rare, handmade teas are under threat of extinction. "There simply aren't enough people who appreciate, or want to prepare them anymore," one prize-winning Kyushu grower told The Tea Business. Now a Japanese trade study has revealed that all kinds of gyokuro are losing market share in regions traditionally recognized for drinking this very special tea. Gyokuro growers cite several reasons for the decline, including competition in the tea & beverage industries, high price and apathy. In Japan, the younger generation has turned to coffee, a drink that has gained popularity owing to the aggressive promotional activities of US coffee-shop companies.

Yixing
Buying teapots on-line
[The Tea Business December 2000]

Yixing's recent history is one of obscurity, commercial boom and bust in the Chinese world, followed by a very gradual recovery. In the boom years of the 1980s Yixing teapots became the fashion item for every wealthy Chinese in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Over supply quickly saturated the Taiwanese markets and the economic crisis exhausted Yixing demand in HK. Yixing became commonplace, prices plummeted and Yixing producers turned inward to find new business. Today, demand has been revived, creating lucrative markets within China's affluent cities. Markets which are again fuelling rising prices at the top end of the business. The Yixing pottery industry is a diverse one with teapot production centred around the town of Dingshan nearby Yixing.

Kagoshima
Tea harvesting in Kagoshima has come to a close for another year
[The Tea Business November 2000]

Located to the southwest edge of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima or Satsuma, as it is sometimes referred, has a thriving agricultural economy symbolized by its modern tea industry. Tea manufacturing dates back centuries, but the modern industry began in the late 1940s when preliminary advances in garden management were established. The region's tea industry underwent a major restoration in the mid 1960s owing to a flow of investment which provided the capital needed to modernize production. Better agricultural practices, extended land area under tea and greater efficiencies in ara-cha processing gave the impetus for improved tea quality and scale.

Old Tea, New Prospects
A Taiwanese study now confirms what continental Chinese researchers have known for decades
[The Tea Business October 2000]

A centuries-old folklore, and in modern times decades of scientific speculation, have added to the mystery that surrounds pu'er drinking. As medical research on the effects of tea in our diets has mounted (over 700 scientific research papers last year alone), pu'er teas seemed not to have attracted much attention from outside China. This neglect maybe because pu'er tea has long been regarded as purely a Chinese peculiarity, and has a certain Chinese herbal mystique associated with it.

GM Tea
British and Japanese researchers have tracked down the genetic source of caffeine in tea
[The Tea Business September 2000]

Researchers in Britain and Japan claim to have traced the genetic source of caffeine in tea. Genetically-modified tea clones would herald a future where naturally caffeine-free tea drinks were possible. But even if nature was overcome so easily, would these GM teas be accepted even if growers could afford the heavy costs of replanting?

For further information on reports and reviews featured in
The Tea Business contact Gray & Seddon. Please include
full details of your enquiry. Thank You!
THE TEA BUSINESS

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