J-Tea: The Story Behind Our Name

People often ask, “What does the ‘J’ stand for in J-Tea?" In fact, it doesn't stand for anything. It’s simply our name. In the process of conceiving a name for the tea company, we created lists and lists of possible names. Yet, none stood out. During this time, my grandmother was visiting from Chicago and I asked her opinion. She is a poet and for long as I can remember, she has recited a poem at Thanksgiving that includes all of the family members and something special about them. I remember thinking that she might just have the answer to the name quandary. Upon asking, she cocked her head, tilted and looked slightly upward, much like I've seen a terrier do when you ask it if it wants to go outside. "J-TEA," she said. My grandmother, in all of her wisdom, had spoken. The name had a nice ring to it and the rest is history.

People often think that the “J” in J-Tea signifies my name, Josh. It’s true that I am the “J” behind J-TEA, but J-TEA is an entity of its own, with its own name. On a side note, people who don't know my name often call me Jay. At first I thought it was funny, but now I just go with it. Sure, you can call me Jay. In fact, call me whatever you like; just don't call me late for drinking tea.

2013 Tea Sealing: Year of the Snake

Art by Dave Snider

We are excited to be able to offer this fantastic event once again. This year, we will do things a bit differently. Do you have some old tea sitting around or a clay lidded jar that you wish to use for sealing? Feel free to bring it to J-TEA for this tea sealing event. We can also recommend specific teas from the shop for sealing. We are curating a collection of storage vessels from local potters along with an assortment of tins and other tea storage vessels. A common practice for this type of event is to ask others in attendance to sign the seal. In this way, we collectively witness the creation of the tea time capsules.

This year tea sealing will be an ongoing activity. We have created a notebook in which we can record the creation of tea time capsules throughout the year. Want to mark a special occasion by sealing some tea? We can help you out. Tea sealing can signify the birth of child, the beginning of marriage, a birthday, or any other meaningful occasion. Eventually, when you open the tea and enjoy its flavor, you will be able to appreciate and taste all of the changes.

As tea ages, it changes. Different teas will change in different ways. Some tea is harsh and as it ages, it mellows. Some teas have a subtle underlying characteristics that will rise to the surface as it ages. Flavors that might have been extremely subtle are made clear and present in aged version. Some teas change to earthy medicinal flavors sometimes fungal rich and soothing. We have examples of aged tea for sale in the shop and people are welcome to try a cup. Typically, aged tea tends to be more expensive, and by aging your own tea, you are planning ahead. That is a great thing to do, especially this year. Year of the Snake is a planning year.

Dave Snider

This Sunday (February 10) we will offer tea pairings of the un-aged version accompanied with its aged counterpart to celebrate Chinese New Year. Taste for yourself the changes that occur as tea ages. Join us from 12-2 pm for the tea sealing event. We will seal tea and hope that many people will attend so that we can invite them back to try the tea 20 years in the future.

Tea Smoked Wings a la Party!

Photo from Stuart Phillips of Red Wagon Creamery

When Katie asked Party Cart to create a tea-infused recipe for the article in Take Root Magazine, Tiffany immediately thought of wings. "Wings, wings, wings," she kept repeating. I was under the impression that the recipe would include chicken wings in some form, and it did. But through the process described below, Mark and Tiffany unleashed the chicken wing cannon. They transformed the evolutionarily impressive wing of a chicken into a dish that produced a symphony of mouthfeel and flavor. At once, it was crispy, caramelized, brittle, and juicy. This multi-day recipe delivers layer upon layer of gastronomic rewards. In fact, I had the thought that the wings tasted too good to be street legal. Yet, they were served on Friendly Street, in the great tradition of street food across the world.

Party Cart is preparing to open a restaurant in downtown Eugene. Currently, they are offering meals for delivery or pick up Tuesday-Friday as well as catering services. Visit their Facebook page to learn more (viewable even without a Facebook account): https://www.facebook.com/CartParty

Chicken Wing Confit with Lapsang Souchong Tea Sauce

Recipe by Tiffany Norton and Mark Kosmicki of Party Cart

Ingredients

For the Confit:

3 pounds chicken wings, cut into 3 pieces, tips reserved for sauce

24 grams sea salt

4 cloves

8 each: peppercorns, fennel seeds, szechuan peppercorns, all smashed

1 star anise, smashed

½ inch cinnamon stick, smashed

2 teaspoons lapsang souchong

3 pounds lard, or enough to cover wings

For the Tea Sauce:

4 cups strong tea (3 tablespoons lapsang souchong, 4 cups water, steeped 10 minutes)

Wing tips

¾ cup honey

½ cup tamari

½ cup apple cider vinegar

Pinch each: fennel seeds, szechuan peppercorns

1 star anise

½ dried thai chili

1 tablespoon minced pickled ginger

2 tablespoon sliced garlic

To Finish:

Pinch lapsang souchong

2 teaspoons chopped celery leaf

½ cup tea sauce

Directions

To make the confit:

Combine wings (minus tips) salt and all spices for the confit in a 1 gallon ziploc bag and seal. Squish around to equally distribute salt and spices. Refridgerate for 1 day minimum and 2 days if possible.

Rinse salt and spices off of wings and pat dry. Place in an oven-safe pot. Melt the lard in a separate pot. Pour lard over the chicken wings making sure to cover them completely. Bring to a simmer and drop them down into a 190 degree oven. Cook for 6 hours. Cool completely in the fat. The wings can be finished up to about a week later at this point.

To make the sauce:

Combine all ingredients for the sauce and simmer for 1 hour. Using a spider, scoop out all chunks, including the wing tips, and discard. Turn the heat up to high and reduce the sauce to a near syrup consistency.

To finish:

Melt fat and wings in a 200 degree oven or on low heat on the stovetop. Remove wings. Heat a cast iron pan to high with a small amount of confit fat. Brown wings on all sides making sure the skin is crisp. Toss them in a bowl with a pinch of tea, celery leaf, and ½ cup of tea sauce, or to taste...PARTY.

Note: Lapsang souchong is available at J-Tea or in the bulk sections of Sundance and The Kiva.

Observations of Twitter: Misadventures in Social Media

I’ve found that dislike for Twitter is a often matter of misinformation, which can lead to misadventures. Often, people simply don't understand what it is or how to use it. Read on for my suggestions to find maximal Twitter enjoyment.

The Basics: Start with this formula and see if it fills your need for information.

1. Choose 10 to 10,000 people who you admire or who fascinate you to follow.
2. Follow 10 to 100 local news sources, 5 to 50 national, and 3 to 30 international.

Take it to the Next Level: Get inspired.

3. Check out who the people and groups you follow are following, paying special attention to those are retweeted. Add a few of these people to your list. The reason for this really gets at the heart of the matter, and no one is an exception: Everyone needs inspiration. Did you ever wonder where the people and groups that inspire you draw their inspiration from? 

Welcome to Oregon: Wine, Truffles...and Tea? - By Katie Lewis

Excerpt from Take Root magazine (Winter 2013). Read the full version here: http://www.takerootmagazine.com/

Just north of the Salem tea plot, the red clay hills of Dundee produce elegant, earthy Pinot noirs. Could tea prove to be another latent agricultural phenomenon in Oregon like wine or, more recently, truffles? Similar to wine, tea reflects its terrior, is somewhat temperamental, and requires intensive processing prior to consumption. It’s no easy task and the economic viability of tea has yet to be proven in Oregon. The majority of the world’s tea grows in China, Taiwan, Japan, India, and Sri Lanka, where it’s supported by thousands of years of culture and knowledge on tea cultivation, processing, and consumption. While it’s certainly possible to cultivate tea in the Northwest, as evidenced by the efforts of Minto Island and Sakuma Brothers, the region lacks tea harvesting and processing equipment and knowledge. At present, this appears to be the major challenge for the endeavor.

Rob Miller holds some fresh picked leaves on his experimental tea plot

Curing the leaves at J-TEA

The finished product...

Porcelain Vendors

What does it mean to brew tea in porcelain? When you buy from a vendor who brews your samples in porcelain, the vendor is basically saying, “I have confidence in the quality of my tea and I have nothing to hide.” My favorite vendors will also let me choose the standard used when comparing tea (either 3g and 5 minutes or 5g and 3 minutes). Porcelain does not enhance the quality of the tea like unglazed clay so what you taste in the shop is pretty easy to replicate with the brew ware you use at home.

Brewing in unglazed clay, however, improves the quality of the tea. If an unglazed clay teapot, like an Yixing pot, is used to brew extremely high quality tea over a long period of time, the high-grade tea will permeate the pot’s walls. When using the same pot to brew a lower quality of tea, it will taste better than it normally does and, as a result, it might be impossible to replicate the quality when returning home to brew your newly purchased tea.   

The Yi Xing Teapot is the New Honey Badger

Sitting at the table ready to brew tea. These little teapots sit in front of me. Why are the pots so small? Even a tiny teapot can brew up quite a bit of tea.

Some days I like to sit and drink pot after pot of tea. In this type of scenario, the best practice is to have food near at hand so that mealtime can be given a priority (this is best accomplished in Taiwan where exceptional street food is plentiful). Tea and food are connected. Tea was first used as a medicine to help the stomach; I’ve found that it aids in digestion. Consequently, it’s no surprise that the type of tea I want to drink correlates with the types of food I've been eating.

The small teapots are not used just for making an individual serving of tea. They are made to accentuate the characteristics a particular tea has to offer. Remember, a tea has a range of flavors it can express. The same tea can be either bitter or sweet, but the most interesting teas are both bitter and sweet. In terms of flavor, there is no right or wrong, it really is a matter of preference.

Here's the real reason for the Yixing teapot. Teas such as oolong and puer are special, and have an amazing range of flavor. But to really get these flavors to come out, Yixing teaware is critical.

The Yixing teapot evolved side-by-side with oolong tea and dates back to between 1400 and 1500 (if we are to believe Wikipedia). The Yixing teapot has the following characteristics: Its small size is ideal for a higher leaf to water ratio and its small surface area means there is less room for the heat to dissipate. The small size also reduces the time it takes to decant the tea, resulting in a tighter control of the time variable. Yixing teapots lack glaze so eventually the pot becomes seasoned with tea. This, in turn, enhances the flavor of the tea. Additionally, the clay used has a high iron content, which keeps the water temperature higher. This is favorable for oolongs with a higher level of oxidation and a strong roast. These types of teas require a high temperature in order to extract the magical flavor within.

In summary, the Yixing teapots are small, but they are badass, much like the honey badger.

地 "Di" Earth, Soil, Terrior

Here we will discuss the Di factors that bring about good tea. The French word “terroir” is the best match for describing the use of the Chinese word 地Di in the context of Tian Di Ren. In On Food and Cooking The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Harold McGee describes terrior as the following factors: “the entire physical environment where the plant (tea) is, the soil and its structural and mineral content, the amount of water retained in the soil, the plant’s elevation, the slope, orientation, the microclimate, the pattern of temperature, sunlight, humidity, and rainfall.”

We know that temperature varies from one elevation to another. What can be sweltering hot at sea level can simultaneously be briskly cold at the elevation of one mile. Regarding soil content, because of 岩茶 “Yen Cha,” we know that rock vs. earth is one aspect that contributes to good tea. Yen is a cool character. The character illustrates a mountain over a stone, indicating soil that is rocky. Any of the Di factors can vary greatly, even over small distances, such as from one tea farm to the neighboring farm. Different degrees of slope will determine the amount of sunlight as well as the amount of water absorbed by the plants.

In Taiwan, the influences of terroir are enjoyed by tea aficionados. Tea from Ah Li Shan, Li Shan , Shan Lin Xi, Dong Ding, Wen Shan, and Miao Li all express different sets of characteristics that appear year after year. Each of these areas have their own Di, which is reflected in the innate characteristics of that area’s tea.   

Drinking Tea for Health

Recently I had an experience that reminded me about health benefits of tea drinking. I was sitting by the campfire preparing the cooking fire. As I anticipated drinking tea, the water started to make noise... it is starting to boil. I have been anticipating this tea since earlier in the afternoon and am ready for some tea drinking. As the tea steeps, it evolves--infusion after infusion, the first infusion light, and by the second infusion and the third, I am in the thick of it. Delving into the rich textures, the tea washes over me. The tea strikes a tone and I feel a chord struck in my heart. I am surprised by the strength. The feeling is profound yet small and passed quickly. It was fleeting; it was one instant. Small and strong, creating the sensation of peace and stillness.

This message regarding the health benefits of tea is sponsored by J-TEA.  

_________________天_________________

天, or Tian, literally means heaven but in the case of Tian Di Ren, Tian means weather, as in 天氣 tian qi (first tone, fourth tone). Weather is up to the gods and the season, which generally is correlated with specific weather patterns and significant changes in temperature. This is also derived from Tian.

How does weather influence tea? What weather conditions bring about good tea? Below is a list of weather conditions that slow a tea plants ability to put forth leaf:

Thick fog, reduces sunlight

Lengthy cold spells and consistent cold weather

The right amount of rain at the right time

Weather conditions that should be avoided:

Drought

Heavy snow

Excessive rain

Rain at harvest or during processing

Tian, as in heaven, as it relates to Di can mean hazards to tea fields, such as monsoons that lead to landslides.