June 2022 Tea Subscription - Royal Banquet
A Prose about Exclusivity
June 2022
Thank you for drinking tea with us.
"Royal Banquet" aims to bring tea drinkers into the world of very fine and exclusive teas. These teas used to be inaccessible to commoners in time gone by, but today we are able to bring it to you via our network of sourcing direct from the farms and our friendship with the producers.
The three teas on feature are a white tea, a green tea and a wulong tea, namely:
- 2022 Zheng He Silver Needle (政和白毫银针), 6 gm
- 2022 Dong Ting Bi Luo Chun (洞庭碧螺春), 6 gm
- 2019 Gold Award Tie Guan Yin (两岸金奖铁观音), 8 gm (Limited)
Emperor Huizong of the Song dynasty is perhaps more famous in his artistic and tea accomplishments than his political ones. In fact, he was indirectly responsible for the collapse of the Song dynasty and died with his son (the next emperor after he abdicated) under the captivity of the invading Mongolians who swept across Asia and Europe. During his time, Guan Di county (关棣县) of today’s Fujian province was part of a larger tea region known as Bei Yuan (北苑贡茶园) that supplied tribute tea to the royal court. The garden was famous for producing a needle-shaped tea known as Bei Yuan Potent Buds (北苑灵芽) and this probably was the original form of Silver Needle tea famous today. This tea impressed the emperor so much he changed the name of the county to his era name of that time - Zheng He (年号政和). No other places in China share such an honour throughout Chinese history. This was just a few years after he wrote his tea treatise during the Da Guan era (大观茶论). In this treatise, he discussed about white tea, and specified the steps of whisking green tea powder using a bamboo whisk to make into a broth, a method which was subsequently exported to Japan to develop into the matcha ceremony we see today.
This tea was made by Tea Master Yang Feng, who is the Chinese government appointed custodian for the Intangible Culture Heritage of making Zheng He Red and White Tea.
Bi Luo Chun is from Dong Ting Mountains in Tai Hu of Suzhou (苏州太湖洞庭山). It is often confused with Dong Ting Lake in Hunan which produced another famous tea – Junshan Silver Needle (君山银针). History records show that the tea’s original name was "Scarily High Fragrance" in the local dialect, reflecting of course its high fragrance. During his fourth visit down south, Emperor Kangxi was similarly taken aback by the high fragrance but was unimpressed with its unglamourous name. Being a lyrical emperor, he changed it to Bi Luo Chun, referring to its dark green tone (碧), its twirled shape like shells of snails (螺) and its spring harvest (春).
This tea was made by Zou Guang Qi. He has been awarded High Level Agriculture Technician, First Level Tea Evaluator and First Level Tea Brewer.
Tie Guan Yin is a familiar tea but its discovery story is less famous. There are two discovery stories, one of which involves the Wang family and the other the Wei family. In the Wang story, Wang Shi Rang (王仕让) was a court official during the reign of Qianlong emperor of the Qing dynasty. When he was posted to today’s Hubei, he had a tea house built at Nanshan. One day, he noticed a tea sapling which looked special and he transplanted it to his tea house to take care of it. Surely the tea tree produced a tea with high fragrance and long lasting aftertaste. Once he was summoned to the capital, he brought along this tea and offered to the Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Rites. The minister was equally impressed by the tea and offered it to Qianlong emperor. Upon inspecting the shape, it is tightly rolled and dark like metal. The tadpole shape with a broad base and small tail looked like the usual shape of the Goddess of Mercy in meditation. As such, he named it Tie Guan Yin, which literally translates to Metal Goddess of Mercy.
This tea was made by Tea Master Xu Liang Hu, who is the Chinese government appointed custodian for the Intangible Culture Heritage of making Tie Guan Yin. Tea Master Xu took part in the Fujian and Taiwan tea roasting competition in 2019 and he was awarded gold metal for producing dark roasted Tie Guan Yin. This tea, in its original packaging, is the product of the competition. It is limited in quantity and has been aged for 3 years.
御宴
散文，2022年6月
谢谢你和我们一起喝茶。
“御宴”旨在将饮茶人带入极品名优茶的世界。这些茶在不算遥远的过去是普通老百姓无法触及的珍，但在今天已不是禁品或贡品。百茶门通过我们的网络以及和茶农老师朋友的友谊把这些珍贵的茶直接带给大家。
2022 政和白毫银针 6克
宋徽宗在艺术和茶艺方面的成就也许比他的政治成就更出名。事实上，他对宋朝的灭亡负有间接责任，并与儿子（他退位传位于儿子）死在席卷亚洲和欧洲的蒙古人的俘虏下。宋朝北苑贡茶园内的关棣县因盛产北苑灵芽而闻名，这是白毫银针的原型。当时的关棣县因进献贡茶银针，“喜动龙颜，获赐年号，遂改县名关棣为政和”。这份殊荣是中华历史唯一一例。宋徽宗几年前刚撰写了《茶论》，因成书于大观元年（1107），史称《大观茶论》。书中讨论了白茶，并详细说明了“点茶法”，即用竹筅击拂茶汤形成水乳。此法后传入日本，发展成为我们今天熟知的抹茶仪式。
此茶由中国政府指定非物质文化遗产郑和红白茶制作工艺传承人杨峰制作。
2022 洞庭碧螺春 6克
碧螺春产于苏州太湖洞庭山。有东西两山，我们这款为西山碧螺春，位于太湖中间，远离城市，环境好，污染少，所以这里产的碧螺春茶叶更加原生态、无污染。洞庭山非洞庭湖，其湖位于湖南，也产另一款名优茶—君山银针。
历史记载，这茶以当地苏州话叫“吓煞人香”。茶正如其名，香气逼人。康熙帝第四次下江南，被此茶的香气吓了一跳，也被它不雅的名字吓到。作为一个诗情画意的皇帝，他赐名碧螺春，来形容它碧绿的颜色，螺旋形像蜗牛壳的形状和它的春季的采摘。
此茶由邹光旗制作，他是农业高级技师、一级评茶师、茶艺师。
2019 两岸金奖铁观音8克
铁观音是我们熟悉的茶，但它的典故却鲜为人知。故事有两个，一个属王家，一个属魏家。王氏故事中，王仕让是清朝乾隆年间的朝臣。当他被派到今天的湖北时，他在南山建了一个茶馆，命名“南轩”。有一天，他看到一株长得特别的茶树苗，便将它移植到“南轩”照顾。当然，茶树经过他细心的照料，制作出茶香浓郁，回味悠长的好茶。乾隆六年，王仕让奉召人京，他随带此茶献给礼部侍郎。侍郎品其味非凡，便转送内廷，乾隆皇帝饮后大加赞誉。又因茶叶紧实乌润，像金属一般，颗粒状宽大的底部和小尾巴如蝌蚪状，看起来就像观音坐禅的姿势。因此，皇帝赐名铁观音。
此茶由中国政府指定非物质文化遗产铁观音制作工艺传承人徐良虎制作。徐老师于2019年参加两岸制茶大赛，制作浓香型铁观音获得金奖，就是你手上的这款茶。它还是原来得奖的包装，已陈酿3年，数量有限。
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