Tea colours
 

Reading tea books sometimes it happens to find some tea definitions
based on colour. One example could be: red tea.
Now, I now the normal distinction between white, green and black teas,
but this is based on the way they are processed after the picking.
I know that pu-ehr has a red colour, then I imagine that it could
belong to the cathegory "red tea". But when I read about "blue teas" I
can't understand what does it means.
Could someone help me with this tea "colour theory"?

Tea colours
 

"Dada" > wrote in message
..
> Reading tea books sometimes it happens to find some tea definitions
> based on colour. One example could be: red tea.
> Now, I now the normal distinction between white, green and black teas,
> but this is based on the way they are processed after the picking.
> I know that pu-ehr has a red color
>then I imagine that it could
> belong to the cathegory "red tea".

In that classification, puer can be put in the *black tea* category. What
you call black tea is commonly called *red tea* all over Asia.

>But when I read about "blue teas"

Tea processed like wulong. Semi-oxidized.

Kuri

Tea colours
 

In Asia teas are classified according to the colour of the infusion
rather than leaf colour. Hence black tea is red tea and pu-er tea is
black tea (if your pu-er is red then you probably aren't brewing it as
strong as in Asia - try brewing it gongfu style).

As for why oolong is known as blue tea, i think the reason is that the
wuyi oolongs were traditionally baked over charcoal fires and the leaf
attained a metallic tinge, reminiscent of the colour blue. But that
goes against the other labelling system. Can anyone shed some light?

tea ja vu, perth, australia

Tea colours
 

On 22 Oct 2005 04:12:55 -0700, "TJV" > wrote:

>In Asia teas are classified according to the colour of the infusion
>rather than leaf colour. Hence black tea is red tea and pu-er tea is
>black tea (if your pu-er is red then you probably aren't brewing it as
>strong as in Asia - try brewing it gongfu style).

Then what do you call young green puerh? What do you aged green puerh
of which the liquor is truly red and never black no matter how strong
you brew it ? For example right now I am drinking a late 70s green
7532 that yields an chestnut colored liquor, what would you call that?
Surely it is not a "black" tea based on color.

I was taught that the (Chinese) "black tea" designation was more
related to the fermentation style than the color of the liquor. Teas
such as Liu An and Liu Bao are true Chinese Black" teas yet their
liquor is never black.

BTW, you list vintages for your puerhs which is good, but most
customers who know their puerh will want to know the factory as well.
Also only a few of your puerhs specify whether they are
sheng/raw/green or shu/cooked/black, which is another crucial piece of
information.

Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net

Tea colours
 

"TJV" > wrote in message

> In Asia teas are classified according to the colour of the infusion
> rather than leaf colour.

In Australasia maybe.

> Hence black tea is red tea and pu-er tea is
> black tea (if your pu-er is red then you probably aren't brewing it as
> strong as in Asia - try brewing it gongfu style).

So Japanese hojicha would be sold as brown tea ? And you'd obtain a milky
infusion with white tea ?
There are sometimes namings of tea that refer to the color of the liquor
(I've seen red wulong/golden wulong...), but that's not a classification.

>But that
> goes against the other labelling system. Can anyone shed some light?

The colors I was talking about definitely refered to the process (and that
doesn't match systematically leaf color)and not the liquor. Now, in Japan,
and I've seen it in China too, they are often replaced or followed by
indication like that :
red tea (oxidized)
wulong tea (semi-oxidized)
black tea (post-fermented)

Kuri

Tea colours
 

Mike Petro > wrote:
>On 22 Oct 2005 04:12:55 -0700, "TJV" > wrote:
>
>>In Asia teas are classified according to the colour of the infusion
>>rather than leaf colour. Hence black tea is red tea and pu-er tea is
>>black tea (if your pu-er is red then you probably aren't brewing it as
>>strong as in Asia - try brewing it gongfu style).
>
>Then what do you call young green puerh? What do you aged green puerh
>of which the liquor is truly red and never black no matter how strong
>you brew it ? For example right now I am drinking a late 70s green
>7532 that yields an chestnut colored liquor, what would you call that?
>Surely it is not a "black" tea based on color.

I would like a paisley tea, please. The plaid is not to my tastes.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Tea colours
 

Thanks for shedding some light on it. I've only ever seen pu-ers yield
a black infusion and red teas yield a red to brown infusion, plus I'm
sure I've read about that system of classification elsewhere. But it
seems from other posts that the colour classification refers only to
oxididation process, which makes more sense to me.

I'll update the information about the pu-ers soon.

Adrian, Tea Ja Vu, Western Australia

Tea colours
 

On 23 Oct 2005 19:34:12 -0700, "TJV" > wrote:

>Thanks for shedding some light on it. I've only ever seen pu-ers yield
>a black infusion

I assume from what you say then the aged puerhs on your site must be
black puerhs. Is your PP006 a black puerh too? At $200 it seems
awfully expensive for a black puerh. Black puerhs are just not that
valuable. Only GREEN puerhs are considered to be that valuable.

You say you have only seen puerh yield a black liquor yet your own
description of PP003 calls the infusion a "deep autumn yellow co
lour". This is typical of young green puerhs. Do you drink your own
puerhs? Or are you just using someone else's description?

There are TWO types of puerh, green and black. There is far more
green puerh on the Chinese market than there are black puerhs.Take a
look at http://www.pu-erh.net/greenpuerh.html and
http://www.pu-erh.net/blackpuerh.html for more information. Green
puerh yields a different colored liquor depending on age. Young green
puerh will be very yellow in color and the liquor will gradually turn
into a chestnut red color as it ages. The transformation of yellow to
red takes 20 to 30 years, but the liquor from green puerh will NEVER
turn black regardless of age. Only black puerh, which undergoes an
additional fermentation step (that green puerh does not), yields a
black liquor. Aged black puerh is generally not as sought after, and
therefore not as valuable, as a well aged green puerh. Green puerh has
been around for thousands of years, the black puerh variety was only
invented about thirty years ago (early 70s).

Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net

Tea colours
 

Tea colours
 

Thanks Mike,

I came across your pages just a few months ago but haven't had time to
update the info on our site yet. I'd certainly like to discuss the
differences in more detail on the pages. I tasted and wrote the
descriptions for all of the teas on our website with the exception of
the 1989 Black Pu-er which I haven't tasted (we can't sell a broken
disk).

It was interesting to read your info about the green pu-er because when
we drank the green pu-er late last year we personally didn't like the
taste of it unless we used small quantities of leaf (like with a green
tea). We found it quite astringent and only began to enjoy it into the
third or so infusion. I'm really interested in tasting it over the next
5 years to see how it matures.

You've got a great resource happening on your website. Even just two
years ago it was difficult to find any good online information about
pu-er. Almost everything I've learnt about pu-er has come from a friend
and collector in Hong Kong.

btw, I love your Taiwanese style gaiwan in your pu-er briefcase! Very
nice indeed.

Cheers

Adrian