Resonance with the ninjas
This evening, my wife and I had a good time watching the Netflix series House of Ninjas. They have put a good modern and human twist in telling a story which plot would otherwise be much calculable. Although it is nothing more than a pastime for relaxing another intense week, one very small detail in the story echos loud in my mind. They say that abstaining from alcohols is a basic code of conduct for the ninjas, which they are still abiding by.
In fact, alcohols, hot spices, over-seasoning, intense deep-fries, and over-baked foods all used to be no-nos for tea tasters. Incenses, perfumes, and smokes (that most certainly include cigarettes and other inhales) are illicit. This is just a basic discipline to maintain the activeness of the taste faculties for our daily work.
This way all the training in tasting can work. This way I can tell the finest details of a delicate taste profile.
During peak harvest season, we have to do a lot of comparative tasting to select the best from a region, a producer and for a same tea variety. Our senses must remain sharp and ready at all time in order to make the right choice. The numbed taste and olfactory cells would miss out key elements and likely end up on bad choices, as seen in the poor quality and high price that flood the global fine tea market.
Betrayal of the culture
Sadly not many tea practitioners are following this basic code of conduct nowadays. Once when I was visiting Yunnan, it shocked me when I walked into the tasting room of a Pu’er factory when the intense cigarette fume preceded the sight of five tea tasters smoking around the tea table.
I do not know how these people can compare the quality difference between different batches.
It is actually quite depressing to see that the situation is even more common in those “wholesale markets” throughout China, where a large proportion of tea distribution happens. Many of these same people also gulp down huge amount of strong liquor, big bowls of chilli, and stay up really late wasting themselves. Seeing such a huge proportion of people of the trade disregarding a simple conduct is disheartening.
The need for hi-fi taste buds
A photographer friend has a hobby of collecting and constructing speaker/amplifier systems. When he was still spending most of his time in Hong Kong, I used to have the luxury of the centre seat every time I dropped by to listen to the music played from his recent acquisition or new construction, which often cost hundreds of thousands, and which I couldn’t afford. The range and minute details of each concerto, each serenade, each violin solo, each a-cappella, become so absorbingly beautiful with much more range, clearer details and even notes that I had never been aware of when I listened to them from the built-in speakers on my iMac. The otherwise familiar tunes have become something else: their true sounds.
And yet the Mac speakers are already very good in rendering faithfully to their best capacity. Imagine covering them with dust or hampering them with strong magnets.
The first tea advocate in Japan was Eisai (aka Yosai) who was himself a Zen monk. The use of discipline for self awakening was therefore an integrated part of his life. Tea began in China through the promotion by the monks too, although it very quickly integrated into the daily life of all. Yet the “cleansing” nature of the drink remains the same in both culture. The two large character in the stone slab translate as “Tea Cenotaph”. It was erected as a monument for Monk Eisai in Kenninji Temple, Kyoto.
Similarly, a person’s tasting capability would be greatly influenced when constantly exposed to those intense stimulants earlier mentioned. It is therefore, a professional tea taster’s basic discipline to stay away from such taste crippling agents. Before he/she can go through the long journey of tasting training. Before their tasting faculties can be the equivalent of a multimillion sound system, they have to be at least a fair pair of built-in iMac speakers.
Discipline is just a small part of the foundation for preserving a tradition
As for those wholesalers and tea tasters in China who drink and smoke heavily, all I want to tell them is to respect the true tradition of their own job. Otherwise a most beautiful culture will die in their own hands. How do these people sell their products when they can understand only a small part of the taste of their tea? Maybe that is why tall tales, scams, and an extreme lack of confidence are so widespread (as is obvious in their vanity). They are killing their own trade. Lucky enough there are still diligent followers of the true spirit of the trade, even though far from being the majority.
For you as a consumer, I am not here to ask you to cut away your beloved Montecristo, your single malt, or your Thai curry. You just have to understand your tea will taste very differently after these sensory experiences. If you are interested in the cleansing sensation of finer teas, after having some of those other indulgences nevertheless, do pick teas that you will enjoy when infused to a stronger strength. A better tea is still better than a good tea in that regard, even when you may miss some of the finer accents and tones. That is why we are here to select the better teas for you.
Free your taste faculty to open a window for a new world
Anyone seriously interested in the delicate transcending experience of a properly prepared cup of fine tea, try abstaining from those other vigorous stimulants for a few weeks to rejuvenate the gustatory and olfactory cells. A new window will be open for you.
That said, the art of tea infusion and tasting are instrumental to what extent you are able to enjoy the tea, but that is another topic. Before that, just keep the teapot brewing and have fun. Before you can be a ninja in tea tasting.
Are you a ninja of tea tasting?
Comments (0)
Leave a reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
