Probably thanks to COVID-19, this spring I had a chance to make English tea leaves from fresh leaves harvested in Niiharu Citizen Forest 新治市民の森. Niiharu Citizen Forest has tea plant (Camellia sinensis) which were planted by the first Chairman of Lovers Association, Mr. Heihachi Nakamaru. They yearly provide fresh leaves without fail. Every spring on the day of Spring Kids’ Festival, people picked “first flash” from the trees and made Japanese tea leaves (; pls. see my post on May 20, 2016). As posted here on February 7th, Niiharu Lovers Association planned this year’s Spring Kids’ Festival for May 10 when kids and families were to harvest tea leaves and prepare fresh Japanese green tea in a traditional way. The State of Emergency negated our plan. On the other hand, such things are none of their business for Camellia sinensis. They had lots of first flashes as every year. They definitely needed to trim the bang.
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| Tea plants in Niiharu Citizen Forest, early May this year. |
“Well, Naomi, if you think so, you can pick the first flash by yourself.” “Really?” “Yeah, but this year we cannot provide the facilities to make Japanese tea leaves. No large steamer. No large cooking pan heated with charcoals. And of course, no crowds of helpers to massage leaves for hours.” “Indeed, what are you going to do with those leaves after picking?” Hm. Naomi had an idea. “Er, I cannot say for sure if it works, but I at least have a plan. Can I have those picked leaves for myself.” “OK. If you say so, try that.” Wow! So, this week is about my adventure to produce English tea leaves from scratch. Why English tea? I googled and found out the way to prepare tea leaves without infrared heater or hours of hand massaging of leaves. It was to make English Tea.
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| Venerable Twinings … |
On this planet there are 3 large categories of tea made of leaves from tea plant: green tea, Chinese tea, and English tea. When we pick tea leaves, they first wither, and then start to ferment with oxygen. These 3 kinds of tea differ in the timing when oxidative fermentation is stopped by cooking. Japanese tea is green tea, for which tea leaves are prevented from fermentation by cooking as soon as possible after harvesting. Various Chinese teas are made by choosing different levels of fermentation. It sounds demanding for amateurs to pick the right moment to cook leaves. English tea is of tea leaves reached to the edible-max of fermentation. To make tea leaves with limited availability of skill and equipment, English tea is the most feasible option to take, it seems to me. So, here is the way I took, based on a HP of Japanese tea merchant.
First, we have to pick the leaves. As you can see in the above photo, first flash tea leaves have distinctive lime green and soft shoot. We pick the top 3 new leaves from each branch.
This year, we have collected this much of tea leaves. Several senior Lovers took some of these. “I’m going to make Tempura this evening with these leaves!” The fresh tea leaves are edible, but we have to be careful. They have lots of Vitamin C and caffeine. Too much consumption for supper can bring us insomnia …
This is the portion I had from 2020 tea leaves of Niiharu Forest. I washed them, and, THIS IS IMPORTANT, left them withering for about 24-48 hours in a shade with good air circulation. My space was filled with fresh scent from the drying first flash …
For Darjeeling First Flash, two days for natural drying are best, they say. So, I waited 48 hours. Niiharu’s leaves were withered to this level. It is time to “massage” tea leaves.”
The way to do is like kneading dough for bread, preferably on a flat bamboo basket for easy circulation of air during the process. The leaves soon became a ball, and my hands could feel a sort of stickiness with tea aroma.
After kneading the leaves for about 30 minutes, the leaves reached the stage to stick each other and did not fall off from the ball. It’s time to stop, and separate the held-together “tea leaf ball” like this photo. It seems to me if we left the ball as a ball, we can never separate the leaves. Spreading them out is important.
I put them in a plastic bag, closed the bag, and left it for half a day at room temperature. The massaging broke the membrane of leaves, which lets protein inside the cell oozing out. That substance acts as catalyst for tea tannin to be oxidized, which is “fermentation of tea.” So, it’s the process different from fermentation done by, say, lactic acid bacteria. In order to stimulate oxidization, I put the massaged leaves in a closed bag and locate it not too hot/cold environment.
The result of 12 hours’ oxidization, or fermentation. It certainly had floral scent. My expectation rose … According to the instruction, 12 hours inside a plastic bag is for first flash tea expecting fresher aroma. If we don’t mind too much about the flavor, 3-4 hours in a bag would be enough. Anyway, to stop fermentation here, we have to “cook” the leaves. The way to do is simple: bake them in an oven at 120°C for 10 minutes.
Done. Wooooow, it looks like leaves of Fortmason Tea! Yeah, we can taste it here. But, you’d better dry it further in room temperature for few hours before storing. Or fllowing the advice from the HP I referred, I decided to let them mature and have sweeter scent by leaving them in a closed container with packets of oxygen absorbent. It will take half to one year more before tasting them ...
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| I keep throwing in oxygen absorbents from chocolate boxes. |
Come to think of it, English found their tea brought from Mumbai by sailing ships of East India Co. The merchants crossed steaming-hot Indian Ocean, went round the Cape of Good Hope and arrived London or Liverpool at last. It would take 6 months or more, passing the equator twice. During the voyage, the barrels of tea had a good sleep at the bottom of the holds … Mine is in a corner of my house now, ready to wave over steaming-hot Japanese summer in a port city of Yokohama. Let me see how they would turn out!
If you find a problem in Yokohama’s North
Forests, please make a contact with
Office for the Park
Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government
Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016
FAX: 045-316-8420
If you find
environmental issues in Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa
Natural Environment Conservation Center 神奈川県自然環境保全センター
657 Nanasawa, Atsugi City, 243-0121
〒243－0121 厚木市七沢657
Phone: 046-248-0323
You can send an
enquiry to them by clicking the bottom line of their homepage at http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/div/1644/
Bonus for this post. I found this sweet in Depachika of Sogo Department Store Yokohama. It’s Dorayaki, a pancake sandwich of red bean paste. (Do you know Doraemon, a cat robot? It’s his favorite.) Could you see a strange figure on a pancake? Now this drawing of Amabie is hot here in Japan. It is said that Amabie is … er, magical spirit appeared early May 1846 in the beach of Ariake Sea 有明海 of Kumamoto 熊本. First, villagers noticed something was shining in sea for several nights. They thought it strange and reported the incidents to Samurai Lord in Kumamoto Castle. He dispatched his subordinates to investigate to the beach. Then, that light approached slowly to the officers waiting on the beach. A strange creature, the one on the pancake, appeared. It said “I am Amabie. I tell you, humans, you’ll have 6 years of good harvests from this fall. You also have terrible epidemic during the time. You have to make picture of mine and spread my figure all over the country.” Amabie then returned to the sea. The officers were astounded, and reported the story to his Lord. From there it became national news. 1846 was not a particular year, epidemic-wise, for Japan, but it was the time of Irish Famine, right? How to interpret her warning …? The “newspaper” issued in Edo (Tokyo) at that time is now in the library of Kyoto University as a historical document. First forward to the 21st century, Ms. Amabie who loves to be seen by millions is THE Japanese Idol under COVID-19. Here is the site you can check the latest cutie Amabie created by Japanese artists. Happy Social Distance Life, and stay safe.
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