Newly Arrived from HK --- Queen Peony

You may think Khoo EL brought back a young China Doll from his recent trip. Indeed he knows better than that. He brought back some good stuff to share with us all HGGers.

The Queen Peony, branded as Tian Ting Mou Tang (Peony Flower from the Sky) by the seller in HK, must be the premium selection from the Peony tea family. The tea leaves alone emit a very pleasant fragrance. After brewing for a few minutes, the unmistakable tea favor is so tinged with the fragrance that it should satisfy a very wide range of tea-drinkers, from the aficionados to those who just want to quench their thirst with some drinks that do not leave them with a bad aftertaste and even thirstier still.

Seriously, Peony teas are not easily available in Penang. Certainly not from the usual super or hyper market shelves. I enquired with some specialty tea shop in town. They also do not carry them. Just too few connoisseurs around, they said.

Just from the appearance and favor, i believe Peony tea belongs somewhere between green and dark tea. Thus it should have the great properties of both. That is rich in antioxidants, vitamins and a widely acceptable favor.

Let us enjoy it in the next few days. 75gm won't last very long.

Happy Golfing and "Yum Char"!

喝普洱茶請小心了哦...



農委會茶業改場長廖慶樑說，大陸雲南出產的普洱茶

近年席捲香港、台灣，變成搶手的茶葉，但學者專家

調查，普洱茶因特殊製程、陳年儲藏環境等因素，

使其總生菌數高的嚇人，必須煮沸才得以完全消滅，

一般人單用開水沖泡的飲茶方式，對人體可能有害。



廖慶樑說，雲南出產的普洱茶近年來被渲染成具有神

奇保健療效的茶葉，對腸胃尤其有益等，使港台一帶

掀起一股「普洱茶熱」，人手一杯，且早、中、晚不

停喝，部分人士更認為，喝得愈多，對身體愈佳，

事實上大謬不然。

廖慶樑解釋，普洱茶屬於後發酵茶，是將茶菁經殺菁、

揉捻、乾燥等手續後，堆置在倉庫中稱為「渥堆」，

使茶葉內部多酚類化合物氧化，其氧化可分自動氧化、

酵素性氧化、麴菌氧化等三種不同方式。

廖慶樑說，普洱茶後發酵堆置倉庫有乾倉及濕倉二種，

前種為自動氧化作用與酵素氧化作用二者混合併行，

後者則加上麴菌氧化作三者混合進行，市面上出售的

普洱茶，其貯存年限有五年、十年、甚至四、五十年

以上者，業者常標榜陳年普洱，愈陳愈香，更增醫療

保健效果，並抬高售價。事實上，廖慶樑調查，普洱

茶在產地雲南西雙版納、孟臘等邊疆地區，居住環境

都離乾淨清潔有一大段距離，何況茶葉經長時間貯存，

是否能維持好衛生安全品質？值得懷疑。

廖慶樑引用中興大學食品科學系教授區少梅的研究報

告指出，從普洱茶微生物的分析結果顯示，其總生菌

數與黴菌數高的驚人，如五年特選普洱茶，散茶總生

菌數每公克有一點廿六乘以十的六次方菌落數，黴菌

數則每公克有一百十五個菌落數。

廖慶樑說，早年普洱茶是運往中國西北地區作為蒸煮

調製奶茶的原料，均經高溫殺菌後再飲用，不會出問

題，但現在人們均習慣用小壺沖泡方式來飲用，則大

大不妥，不但無法增進健康，反對身體有害。

廖慶樑鄭重警告，飲用普洱茶，務必以高溫充份煮沸

為宜，例如以傳統中藥煎煮後飲用，亦可增加安全性，

避免感染。

Tea for breakfast gathering after golf game

It has been at least over a year since we have added Chinese tea to our breakfast gathering after a friendly private golf competition at BJCC.

I think it is an excellent practice since the other beverages (mostly kopi-ais or other common coffeeshop offerings) are not as wholesome as Chinese tea (known to be rich in antioxidants and other "natural goodness").

We have so far been fortunate to have several HGGers bringing their private collections to share with us. Most of them travel widely or have friends who travel widely to bring in exotic varieties for our enjoyment.

Todate, we have stuff from Beijing, Vietnam (both northern and southern parts), HK. Some tastes great, some appears great, and all are enthusiatically imbibed often after some greasy breakfast items are ingested. So I can deduce, the tea has not just provided quench for our thirst, it probably also works to allow us to have many many happy golfing years.

At this point, how I wish we start this tea drink earlier before Soon Lee has his fall.

Furry Peony ("Sau Mei" King or "longlive eyebrow" king)

Sau Mei is a family of tea that is very popular in HK to go with morning timsum sessions. It is not really a connoisseur's stuff.

Apparently Furry Peony's Chinese name is Sau Mei King. This must mean it is the best among the relatively average stuff.

From the appearance, the tea leaves contain lots of dried stems mixed among dark and green leaves. This suggests the tea are picked in rather unrefined manner (vs picking gently only the young shoots). The tea are semi-fermented and not steamed and dried (thus leaves are not curled up as most high end tikuanying are).

I measured about 8gm of tea leaves for my tasting. With 98C water, and brewed for 2 min in the first instance, the resultant tea color is very pleasingly golden. The taste is also rather pleasant, albeit with a distinct "green" or "raw" tinge as an after-taste, as to be expected with high content of green leaves. By and large, it is a big departure from our usual oolong (tikuanying) or the dark "pu erh".

I am sure the HGGers will appreciate its thirst-quenching property, especially after a exhausting round of golf pulling one's own trolly.

On my rating scale , i will accord Furry Peony a 6

George Orwell called it a mainstay of civilization; William Gladstone praised its revitalizing powers. But to Henrietta Lovell, founder of London's Rare Tea Company, the traditional British cuppa is overrated. "People in the U.K. are used to drinking really cheap, industrially produced tea," she says.

Determined to get Brits to try new brews, Lovell's Rare Tea Company (www.rareteacompany.com) sources and sells exclusive, uncommonly tasty teas from Asia and Africa. It was on a business trip to Asia in 2000 that Lovell, a former project manager, discovered her passion for a superior sip. "In China, businesspeople would show off by buying a $120 pot of tea at lunch," she says. "I'd never tasted anything like it." Made from leaves grown and processed on small mountain gardens, those exquisite infusions were far removed from the bland British teabag — which can contain leaves from up to 60 factory farms. "I realized that Britain was drinking the equivalent of blended whiskey," recalls Lovell. "We'd never tried the single malt of the tea world."

Lovell now imports 14 hand-harvested whole-leaf teas, ranging from a delicate, grassy white silver-tip tea ($10 for 25 g) made from spring buds grown in China's Fujian mountains, to the robust, olive tones of the Satemwa Estate black tea ($15 for 50 g), cultivated on the slopes of Malawi's Mount Thyolo. Although Lovell's leaves can be found in the mugs of Hollywood royalty (Anjelica Huston's a fan), they have also captivated regular tea lovers. "I got the builders who worked on my flat addicted to jasmine and white silver tip," she laughs. "And I've even persuaded London taxi drivers to take tea instead of money."

A Brewer's Art
Making the perfect tea requires good leaves and a light touch

1 Place a pinch of leaves in your teapot and boil some freshly filtered water. If you're making white, green or black tea, stop the kettle just before it boils. Otherwise, the tea will taste more tannic and less sweet.

2 High-quality whole leaves can be re-infused numerous times, but lose their flavor if left soaking in hot water — so measure out the water in the required number of cups before pouring it into the teapot.

3 White silver-tip tea should be left to brew for 4-6 minutes. Green, black and oolong only need 3 minutes.

4 When serving, pour out all of the tea. The remaining leaves will be relatively dry and ready to use again. The water penetrates deeper into the leaves with each infusion, revealing new flavors.

5 Drink your cuppa neat. Don't spoil it with milk or sugar.

Silver Peony tea tasting

Today i am privileged to have a chance to taste a rather unusal tea, brought to Penang from HK by Khoo EL. It appears to be a private blend from a "Ying Kee Tea House". With very scanty description of the ingredients.

From the English and chinese instructions, there appear to have Pu Erh and green tea as the components of the blend. Silver Peony (a Chinese flower) is added as a favor.

I had 5gm (out of bag of 75gm) made into tea with 98 Dec C water (my Panasonic thermo's setting) . I tried some after 2min of brewing and following by additional 10min of soaking.

The 2min brew is very light golden in color. Very refreshing. With light fragrance of some sort not commonly found among teas (like Jasmin or Rose). There is lacking the typical Oolong (TikKuanYin) tea favor.

The 10min brew is much darker in appearance. The tea favor is also becoming apparent. Nevertheless, it is not the "kam" at the tongue-tip type characteristic of Oolong.

This tea is an excellent diversion for us who are normally able only to taste the common Pu Erh or Tikkuanyin. I am sure our HGG group will enjoy it.

If i were to rate the Tea King "Tik Kuan Yin" once brought by SH Leang as a 7* (scale 1* to 10*, 10* being the best), this Silver Peong should be a 5*.