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about bon teavant
Bon Teavant author, Jennifer Leigh Sauer, is a freelance photographer, award-winning video journalist, and author based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of The Way to Tea: Your Adventure Guide to San Francisco Tea Culture (2007). You can contact Jennifer at into@waytotea.com or view her work as a photographer, book packager, and video journalist at www.treehavenproductions.com.
Bon Teavant
accomplishing more by doing less (while sipping tea)
Also speaking at the tea salon will be Pamela Weiss, founder of An Appropriate Response, and a leadership coach who helps people manage their lives to their fullest potential. The fourth tea salon in a series of six entitled "Coping with The New Economy", this tea salon will engage its intimate audience to interact with the guests, while sipping fine premium teas at the newest Samovar Location in "Zen Valley."
This promises to be a tea event that helps to ease your mind and energize your focus. Please join us and learn how to accomplish more in your life in a more relaxed, direct, and meaningful way. Here are the particulars:
When: Tuesday, June 23, 7-8:30 p.m.
Samovar Tea Lounge
297 Page Street @ Laguna
San Francisco, CA
Tickets are $12/each (bought on location only) and include a pot of premium tea worth the cost of admission.
meet peet's tea director eliot jordan
"TEA HAS AT LEAST THREE times the variety and complexity of coffee," said Eliot Jordan, Director of Tea for Peet's Coffee and Tea. When asked about the benefits of being a tea man in the center of a coffee kingdom, Eliot Jordan, in his kind and intelligent manner, cited the great platform he has been given to influence how Americans receive and perceive tea. With 192 stores in the U.S., Peet's is one of the largest tea retailers in the country, and its tea program is highly regarded, thanks to the skill, knowledge and sensitivity of it's quietly diligent tea buyer, Eliot Jordan.
"To put Peet's name on a tea, it has to be worth every penny," said Jordan, who began working at Peet's in 1984, and was mentored by Jim Reynolds for 14 years before being offered autonomous leadership for Peet's tea program. I'm also not a tea elitist," he said. Rather, his goal is to buy the best tasting teas at the most affordable prices to delight the palates of a broad range of consumers. "The biggest market for quality Chinese teas is China, not the U.S.," said Jordan who shies away from "tribute teas" and tea competition winners. "It is fantastic tea, but even if I could buy it (for Peet's), I couldn't sell it here because of the price. Tea is just not valued in the same way in this (U.S.) market."
Jordan does buy single-estate, hand-processed teas for Peet's Rare Tea collection, including the Ancient Trees Organic Pu-erh, Golden Dragon Oolong, and Silver Cloud white tea. This is greatly to his credit, considering the care and effort that must be made to procure finer quality teas at prices that match the bottom line for such a large retailer.
Jordan focuses mostly on first- and second flush teas from India and China, buying Chinese greens in April, oolongs in May, and North Indian and Chinese black teas in June. He is responsible for buying about 200 teas and spices (in a ratio of 4:1 respectively) which are (often but not always) blended to create the 44 tea products made available to Peet's customers.
He has, of course, different criteria for judging different teas. "I approach all teas with a British style cupping (method) of boiling water and five-minute steep, with the intention of drawing out all the good and bad that the tea sample will offer. Then for certain styles of tea from China and Japan, I will re-evaluate the tea in the context of how it's brewed by Asian experts, in particular for greens, oolongs, and pu-erhs, so that I fully understand how the tea can taste at its best."
Jordan cited the current trend towards the Chinese way of evaluating teas. In China, he said, they value the appearance of teas more than they do in India, and, in fact, sometimes might pay too much attention to how a tea looks rather than on its taste. "When I evaluate a Chinese tea, I take appearance more into account than when I judge an Indian tea. If an Indian tea tastes extraordinary but looks so-so, I might buy it, but with Chinese tea, if it looks bad, I'll avoid it. Americans expect rare teas to look good." "if it is in a tea bag, the appearance of the leaf is not relevant," said Jordan. He looks carefully at the leaves in any case to be sure the leaves are evenly graded.
"There is cultural freight or inheritance with every tea," said Jordan. "In China, you have generations of tea farmers experimenting with varietals, and many teas have at least 700 years of history. India has a much shorter history of tea cultivation, Jordan said, "but what the Indians have that the Chinese industry doesn't is a system where all teas are tracked from the field to the factory to the exporter to the buyer. Each lot is tasted and tracked complete with sale price, at least for teas sold at auction. There is a long history of tea cupping and record-keeping that goes back to the British. China, with its much bigger diversity of tea and less Westernized approach to production just has a different and more diverse tradition."
A good tea is only good in its application," Jordan added with enthusiasm. "Green, white, or lighter oolong teas are meant to be smooth and light, so excessive heat is out of balance to the flavor and aroma. It's better to drink it at a little cooler temperature,. This allows the subtle flavors to come up," he said. "In contrast, black and pu-erh teas are best brewed and sipped hot to get the best out of them."
As we sip our tea together, I realize that this year marks the 25th anniversary for Jordan's career with Peet's, much of it spent as the Director of Tea. With a light in his eyes, he exclaims, "There is so much more to know about tea. It is never ending."
©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
samovar tea salon in san francisco
Here is a line up for the Samovar Tea Salon Series entitled" "Coping with The New Economy, a six-part tea salon series which brings the San Francisco Bay Area community together in a forum with some of the brightest lights in entrepreneurship, technology, spirituality, self help and envrionmentalism.
Samovar Tea Salon Series invites a small audience to an intimate, open-dialogue forum meant to inspire and energize the community to respond mindfully and optimistically to a rapidly changing social and economic era. Tea Salons will be held bi-weekly on Tuesday evenings from 7-8:30 p.m. at Samovar's new "Zen Valley" location (297 Page @ Laguna).
Tickets can be purchased on location only.
Tuesday, June 16: "The Meaning of Money in the New Economy" Guests: John Marshall-Stella (Author) & special guest moderator James Norwood Pratt (tea expert & author of The New Tea Lover's Treasury)
Tuesday, June 23: "Human Potential in The New Economy" with Guests Marc Lesser (author of Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less) and Pam Weiss, Executive Coach
Tuesday, July 7: "Spiritual Potential in the New Economy" with guests Robert Thomas (President of the SF Zen Center and Sydney Mintz (Rabbi at Congregation of Emanu-El, plus special guest moderator James Norwood Pratt (tea expert & author)
Tuesday, July 21: "Green Living & Working in the New Economy" with guest Emily Kirsch, Bay Area Organizer for the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
brewing fine oolong tea
Brewing tea is an art and can determine the actual quality of the tea experience. If you buy expensive teas, as I do, you will want to refine your skills to be sure you are getting the most out of your tea. This morning I treated myself to a wonderful tea from Red Blossom Tea Co--their 2009 Fu Shou Shan-- fresh from the Lishan mountain range in Taiwan. As I prepared to brew the tea, I took some time to think about the tea and what it might take to brew it to the finest liquor possible.
First, the water has to be good -- at least filtered, if not spring water. Second, the water has to be heated to the right temperature for the tea--not too hot to injure the complexity of the leaf's offerings, but hot enough to excite the leaves properly. I decided to heat my tea water to near boiling (around 200ºF) but not quite boiling (212ºF). Third, I had to gauge how long to steep the tea in relation to how much tea was being steeped. I used about one tablespoon of tea, which when steeped, would expand generously to perhaps six times the volume.
For a Formosa (Taiwanese) oolong, which is rolled, I wanted the first steeping to only partially unroll the tea leaves. This process of the tea leaf unfurling is referred to as "the agony of the leaf". In this case, it didn't take too long, around 25-30 seconds for it to open to the degree I wanted (about 2/3). I also checked the aroma off the lid of the gaiwan to see if it still had a water smell (under-steeped) or a round, complex bouquet (correct-o). I hit it just right. The second steeping opened the leaf fully, and this took only about 15 seconds with the same water temperature (around 200ºF). Again, spot on. The third steeping allows the full expression of the open leaf to avail itself to the water. Ahhhhh, perfection. "It's liquor like the sweetest dew of heaven...." (Lu Yu).
Try playing with the above variables yourself--with any tea--and see how many wonderful (and not so fabulous) tastes you come up with. See what you can do to refine your brewing technique, and along with it, your palate.
upcoming tea events in the bay area
Last night's event at Samovar Tea Lounge with Will Rosenzweig, the original founder of The Republic of Tea (and co-author of the book by the same name) was fabulous, and we were very lucky to have such a great educator, entrepreneur and tea man coming to our tea salon forum, put on by Samovar and The Way to Tea/Bon Teavant.
Here is a line up of the next few tea salons:
June 16: "The Meaning of Money in the New Economy", with John Marshall, and moderated by James Norwood Pratt
June 23: "Human Potential in the New Economy" , with Marc Lesser and Pam Weiss
July 7: "Spiritual Potential in the New Economy", with Robert Thomas, Sydney Mintz, James Norwood Pratt moderating
July 21: Green Living & Working in the New Economy", with Emily Kirsch, Ella Baker Center
Also, Teance in Berkeley is opening its doors Friday evenings for Spring Harvest parties, offering tastings of their newest delicious arrivals.
This Friday, June 5: Rare Teas
Friday, June 12: Taiwan Oolongs
Tickets are $25 and include tastings of several teas as well as the guidance and instruction from owner Winnie Yu and her fabulous staff.
tea & entrepreneurship at samovar tea lounge tuesday, 6/2
Will Rosenzweig, Founder of Republic of Tea, speaks at Samovar Tea Salon 6/2
It doesn't matter whether you like tea or not. If you are thinking about building a business yourself, here is an opportunity to hear an entrepreneurial genius talk about what it takes to build a successful business--while sipping premium tea.
Will Rosenzweig, social entrepreneur and original founder of The Republic of Tea, will be my guest at the second tea salon event in the series "Coping with the New Economy" at Samovar Tea Lounge. The event will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, June 2 from 7-8:30 p.m.
There are three Samovar Tea Lounges, so be sure to come to the right one in "Zen Valley" at 297 Page Street in San Francisco. Tickets will be on sale the day of the event and can be purchased on location only. This will be an intimate gathering, with only 30 seats available, so come early to be sure you will get to hear Mr. Rosenzweig speak. Here is a link to the coordinates of the event, as well as a little ditty by Bon Teavant on Will Rosenzweig and Tea Mind: http://samovarlife.com/tea-mind/. If you are lucky, you might also spot a tea luminary with the initials JNP at the event....
Hope to see you there.
tea musings freely offered
To answer the questions of friends and colleagues who visit this site: No, I am not paid by tea merchants to plug their products. I am simply an appreciator of fine teas as well as a media person. When you combine these two passions, the result is what you find on Bon Teavant: news, interviews, photographs, and musings on the connoisseur tea world and the delightful tea people who engage in its landscape.
The tea community is vast, ever-fascinating and always evolving, especially in the United States, where tea culture is just taking hold and being created. When I find a tea merchant who has incredible teas, I want to share the news. When I meet a tea expert who has information on some arcane aspect of artisan tea, I interview that person so I can share what I am learning with a growing audience of tea aficionados.
I hope you will return the favor by commenting or sharing your favorite teas and tea venues with the Bon Teavant audience.
Until the next posting -- happy sipping, happy spring.
spring teas arrive in san francisco
Images ©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
I feel happy enough to dance around a maypole today after imbibing in freshly harvested, hand-crafted Formosa oolongs from Red Blossom Tea in San Francisco. Co-owner Alice Luong and I spent a good portion of the afternoon tasting their 2009 spring Lishan, Alishan, and Fu Shou Shan teas which are newly arrived at their elegant store in San Francisco's Chinatown. I don't like to plug one venue or another, but must admit that Red Blossom is one of my favorites.
San Francisco has a fabulous selection of tea shops, tea lounges, and tea rooms to choose from, and many of the tearoom owners take great pride in the teas they select during their semi-annual trips to Asia. This is what makes tea so much fun and so engaging: sharing it with those who know more than you, and who make you smile as they share their knowledge about tea. Alice certainly fits this bill.
What makes these Formosa oolongs so special is that they are high elevation teas, hand picked and harvested in the traditional method. This is a delicate art that is passed down through generations and we don't know how long it will last, as automation devices for tea processing take hold across Asia and the rest of the tea-producing regions of the world. What an honor to taste these teas, in which we can appreciate the great craftsmanship and farming that are imbued in them.
We first tried the Alishan, a hand-picked and harvested tea that is "gently oxidized over a 10-hour period, then expertly roasted and rolled to accentuate the natural floral aromatics of the tea leaves," according to Red Blossom's product description. This tea really was delicious. Alice then moved to the Lishan, which was bright, crisp, light and aromatic. It was a favorite of a fellow tea sipper next to me, who bought a half pound and promised he would soon return for more.
If I had to vote for just one of the teas we tasted, I would cast my ballot for our final tea, the Fu Shou Shan, grown on the second highest peak of the Lishan mountain range at an elevation of 2600 meters. For me, this tea was the show stopper....a rich, bold Taiwanese oolong with a long long finish. We agreed that this would be a great tea after a meal, and something to serve to special guests who appreciate truly fine teas. The Lishan is round and crisp and is great to drink in the morning or when you need a vibrancy makeover perhaps mid-afternoon.
Truth be told, any of these teas are a luxury at any time of day, and one is lucky to procure some at Red Blossom's very reasonable prices. Spring is here, and Formosa oolongs are some of the first teas to arrive, along with Dragonwells for green tea lovers.
Let me hear from you. Let me know where you are finding great spring harvest teas!
Samovar Tea Salons
Here is a line up for the Samovar Tea Salon Series entitled" "Coping with The New Economy, a six-part tea salon series which brings the San Francisco Bay Area community together in a forum with some of the brightest lights in entrepreneurship, technology, spirituality, self help and envrionmentalism.
Samovar Tea Salon Series invites a small audience to an intimate, open-dialogue forum meant to inspire and energize the community to respond mindfully and optimistically to a rapidly changing social and economic era. Tea Salons will be held bi-weekly on Tuesday evenings from 7-8:30 p.m. at Samovar's new "Zen Valley" location (297 Page @ Laguna).
Tickets can be purchased on location only.
Tuesday, June 16: "The Meaning of Money in the New Economy" Guests: John Marshall-Stella (Author) & special guest moderator James Norwood Pratt (tea expert & author of The New Tea Lover's Treasury)
Tuesday, June 23: "Human Potential in The New Economy" with Guests Marc Lesser (author of Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less) and Pam Weiss, Executive Coach
Tuesday, July 7: "Spiritual Potential in the New Economy" with guests Robert Thomas (President of the SF Zen Center and Sydney Mintz (Rabbi at Congregation of Emanu-El, plus special guest moderator James Norwood Pratt (tea expert & author)
Tuesday, July 21: "Green Living & Working in the New Economy" with guest Emily Kirsch, Bay Area Organizer for the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
samovar tea salon series begins May 19
The first Samovar Tea Salon on "The Role of Technology in the New Economy" will be held Tuesday, May 19 from 7-8:30 p.m. at the new Samovar Tea Lounge (297 Page Street @ Laguna, San Francisco, CA). Tickets are $12 or two for $20.
This is the first of a six-part Tea Salon Series entitled "Coping with The New Economy," and runs through July 2009. The series brings together some of the finest Bay Area minds in finance, spirituality, technology, entrepreneurialism, self help and the environment in an interview/forum format, moderated by Samovar owner Jesse Jacobs and events associate Jennifer Sauer (of Bon Teavant and author of The Way to Tea: Your Adventure Guide to San Francisco Tea Culture.
Images ©2009 Jennifer Leigh Sauer
Featured guests for the first event, "The Role of Technology in the New Economy" include Brian X. Chen, (Wired.com) and Mark Friedler, a serial technology entrepreneur. Tickets are limited to 30 people per event, and Samovar will be serving fine premium teas at the start of each event (worth the cost of admission!). Tickets are available for purchase at Samovar's Zen Valley location in advance or at the door on the evening of each event. Come early to ensure a seat or buy a series of tickets in advance.
Discount tickets are available: two people for $20 (single event), or three tickets (three individual events-one person) for $30. All events will be held from 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. at the Zen Valley Samovar Tea Lounge at 297 Page Street (@ Laguna St.) in San Francisco, CA.
Please come to be a part of these forums on some of the most important topics of our time and enjoy sipping premium teas at Samovar Tea Lounge.
