Karakorum Cha Cha Cha

I went a bit overboard with my praise for Greg Mortenson and his incredibly popular book Three Cups of Tea last year.  It appears the incredibility of the book's popularity was more incredible than at first suspected.  There was a huge scandal about Mr Mortensen and his questionable handling of his charity in general and his books inflated sales in particular.

Before all of that, I was rather taken with the ideas he espoused in the book (still am actually) and paraphrased his main ideas here: Tea Alchemy.

Once people find out you're into tea, they start bringing you tea samples.  That's exactly what happened when a friend went to see Greg Mortensen in person.  The Karakorum Cha pictured above was on sale after his presentation, and it was purchased and brought to me.

Although I'm always grateful to receive tea that I don't know yet, I wasn't particularly impressed with this tea.  It took a long while before I figured out the way to brew it that brought out its best qualities, but I'll save all of that for the tea review I'll be writing over at the Tea Review Blog.

But the bigger questions are: Can we still support Greg Mortensen's ideas without supporting deceptive method of collecting charity?  Can we still like the tea regardless of the bizarre circumstances that it came to us?

My answer to both is: Why yes, of course.  I still like the idea of our relationship going from stranger to friendship to family while drinking several cups of tea.  It continues to be a naive but powerful idea.

And as much as I love high quality Darjeeling tea, it's a pleasure to get to know other tea from the Himalayan regions.

So, I'll talk more about how it tastes in my tea review, but you want to see the leaves, don't you?  Here they are:

Karakorum Cha Cha Cha

Getting my brain around Darjeeling

For some reason right as I'm drinking more Darjeeling, there are articles specifically about this region in the papers I read. Maybe there are always so many mentions of this tea-growing region of India, but I doubt it. I wrote about it several days ago, and today I want to talk about a few specific ones that I like.

Have written about Darjeeling Singbulli 2nd flush here before, and I still think it's one of the best tasting teas I've tried.

Similar to that is another 2nd flush called Darjeeling Jungpana FTGFOP. This is a really delicious Darjeeling. There’s something almost floral in the smell and taste of this tea. Much stronger and tastier than a first flush. It's definitely my taste.

Having said all that, I want to also recommend a lighter tea of this sort because I know not everyone likes such strong teas. It's a 1st flush called Darjeeling Gielle, and it has a much milder taste. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I had it this afternoon, and it was perfect for a light, refreshing break from my normal morning brew. It has a light brown color in the cup and, from what I've read, comes from the middle of the spring growing season. If you can find either of these very different Darjeelings and try them, please let me know what you thought.

The interview I read this morning was in the Business section and talked about some interesting things I hadn't considered. A tea grower called Ashok Kumar Lohia, who owns plantations in both Assam and Darjeeling, was being interviewed. He mentioned that Darjeeling tea had the same problem Champagne, Scotch, Gouda cheese and Parma ham have.

Because they're considered the finest regions for their products, people sell inferior products by trading on these well-known names. Tea sellers play fast and loose with the name 'Darjeeling'. Although only nine tons of tea is grown there in a year, you can find forty tons on the market. Luckily, the EU has decided to help protect the name and will demand more strenuous regulations for what can and cannot be sold as Darjeeling. We'll see if it actually does any good when the first cases actually make it to litigation.

The last thing I want to mention is how the interview began. He was asked why Darjeeling tea was so special. So different from other teas. His answer was that because the tea was grown so high in the mountains in the shadow of the Himalayas that there was something mystical about it. That the soil and the air was certainly crucial, but that the god Shiva lived there and his spirit affected the tea. It's easy for me to dismiss that part, but then he said that the people who actually tend to the tea have an important impact on the way every cup of tea turns out. That growing tea takes a patience and dedication that has been honed for generations. The esoteric stuff is so difficult to quantify, but the thought that this tea tastes so luxurious partly because of the trained hands that prepared it. That's something that even this Western brain can comprehend.

source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntags Zeitung Wirtschaftsteil 18 April 2010 p.33