The magic Tea Kettle - A Japanese Fairytale

By http://www.japanippon.com/index.html

There was once a priest who was very fond of drinking tea. He always made the tea himself and was very fussy about the utensils he used. One day in an old secondhand shop he discovered a beautiful iron kettle used for boiling water for making tea. It was a very old and rusty kettle, but he could see its beauty beneath the rust. So he bought it and took it back to his temple. He polished the kettle until all the rust was gone, and then he called his three young pupils, who lived in the temple.

"Just look what a fine kettle I bought today," he said to them. "Now I'll boil some water in it and make us all some delicious tea."

So he put the kettle over a charcoal fire in a brazier, and they all sat around waiting for the water to boil. The kettle started getting hotter and hotter, and suddenly a very strange thing happened: the kettle grew the head of a badger, and a bushy badger tail, and four little badger feet.

"Ouch! it's hot!" cried the kettle. "I'm burning, I'm burning!" And with those words the kettle jumped off the fire and began running around the room on its little badger feet.

The old priest was very surprised, but he didn't want to lose his kettle. "Quick! quick!" he said to his pupils, "don't let it get away. Catch it!"

One boy grabbed a broom; another, a pair of fire tongs; and the third, a dipper. And away the three of them went, chasing after the kettle. When they finally caught it, the badger's head and the bushy tail with the four little badger feet disappeared and it was just an ordinary kettle again.

"This is most strange," said the priest. "It must be a bewitched teakettle. Now, we don't want anything like that around the temple. We must get rid of it."

Just then a junkman came by the temple. So the priest took the kettle out to him and said: "Here's an old iron kettle I'll sell it to you for very cheap, Mr. Junkman. Just give me whatever you think it's worth."

The junkman weighed the kettle on his hand scales and then he bought it from the priest for a very small price. He went home whistling, pleased at having found such a bargain.

That night the junkman went to sleep and all the house was very quiet. Suddenly a voice called: "Mr. Junkman. Oh, Mr. Junkman!"

The junkman opened his eyes. "Who's that calling me?" he said, lighting a candle.

And there he saw the kettle, standing by his pillow, with the badger head, and the bushy badger tail, and the four little badger feet. The junkman was very surprised and said, "Aren't you the kettle I bought from the priest today?"

"Yes, that's me," said the kettle. "But I'm not an ordinary kettle. I'm really a badger in disguise and my name is Bumbuku, which means Good Luck. That mean old priest put me over a fire and burned me, so I ran away from him. But if you'll treat me kindly and feed me well and never put me over a fire, I'll stay with you and help you make your fortune."

"Why, this is very strange," said the junkman. "How can you help me make my fortune?"

"I can do all sorts of wonderful tricks," said the kettle, waving his bushy badger tail. "So all you have to do is put me in a show and sell tickets to the people who want to see me do my tricks."

The junkman thought this was a splendid idea. The very next day he built a little theater out in his yard, and put up a big sign which said: "Bumbuku, The Magic Teakettle of Good Luck, and His Extraordinary Tricks."

 Every day more and more people came to see Bumbuku. The junkman would sell tickets out front and then when the theater was full he'd go inside and start beating a drum. Bumbuku would come out and dance and do all sorts of acrobatics. But the trick that pleased people most of all was when Bumbuku would walk across a tight rope, carrying a paper parasol in one hand and a fan in the other. The people thought this most wonderful. They would cheer and cheer for Bumbuku. And after every show the junkman would give Bumbuku some delicious rice-cakes to eat.

The junkman sold so many tickets that he finally became extremely rich. One day he said to Bumbuku: "You must get very tired doing these tricks every day. I now have all the money I need. So why don't I take you back to the temple, where you can live very quietly?

"Well," said Bumbuku, "I am getting a little tired and I would like to live quietly in a temple. But that old priest might put me on the fire again, and he might never give me delicious rice-cakes."

"Just leave everything to me," the junkman said.

So the next morning the junkman took Bumbuku and a large amount of money and some of Bumbuku's favorite rice-cakes to the temple.

When they got to the temple the junkman explained to the priest everything that had happened, and he gave all the money to the priest for the temple. Then he said: "So will you please let Bumbuku live here quietly forever, always feeding him rice-cakes like these I've brought and never putting him over the fire?"

"Indeed I will," said the priest. "He shall have the honored place in the temple's treasure house. It's really a magic kettle of good luck, and I would never have put it over the fire if only I'd known."

So the priest called his pupils. They put the kettle on a wooden stand, and the rice-cakes on another stand. Then with the priest carrying one stand, and the junkman carrying the other, and the three pupils following after, they carried Bumbuku carefully to the treasure house, and put the rice-cakes beside him.

It is said that Bumbuku is still there in the treasure house of the temple today, where he is very happy. They still give him delicious rice-cakes to eat every day and never, never put him over a fire. He is peaceful. He is happy.

Yunnan Puer tea

Named after a town in Yunnan province, the place where it originated, pu-er tea is a winner of a tea. It is made from rather large leaves that are oxidized twice in a process that imparts a very special earthy flavor. You may know this tea as Bo-lay or Bo-lei tea, both of these are Cantonese pronunciations. In years past, very long ago, this broad-leaf tea was called nuo-shan and it came from a plant that may be related to pre-glacier trees. That Quingmao tea tree, as it is called, is in the family of Camellia or tea plants. It has long ovine-shaped leaves and grows mainly in the highlands in and near Xishanghanna along the Lancanjiang River in the southwestern region of China.
One tale about Pu-er tea tells that Kublai Khan's troops introduced this earthy tea to the rest of China. The veracity of this is questionable. Some say that a Chinese emperor was first to introduce this variety of tea to the west. He sent some to the king of England in 1806. One thing that is guaranteed is that in 1986, Pu-er tea garnered an international award at a fair in Barcelona, Spain; so it truly is a winner.
Pu-er tea is considered a mild tea. Those leaves with a light coating of mold are considered the best. Traditional medicine practitioners recommend the tea to relieve indigestion and diarrhea and to reduce cholesterol. These are only some of the medicinal effects attributed to this tea. There are many others.
Popular since Tang Dynasty times (618 - 907 CE), this tea is mistakenly spoken of as a black tea. Professionals understand why, because it is semi-fermented twice and this process is done longer than most oolong or semi-fermented teas, close to the cusp of what is done for black teas. Several call teas that are not quite black, as is pu-er, a 'Formosa oolong.' Tea made this way keeps its flavor through many infusions, more than almost all other teas. That, too, is a winner.
One thing to note about pu-er tea is that it is the only tea the Chinese like to age. Another notable fact is that they drink it with the same respect Westerners give to a fine wine that is well-aged. A third is that this is tea afficionados like to consume this tea in a leisurely fashion and after a extremely good dinner.
Should you like to so indulge, as several of us did a few years ago in Toronto at the five-star Lai Wah Heen restaurant in the Metropolitan Hotel, buy the very best. We ordered a pot of pu-er for the table at a cost of forty-eight dollars. There were ten to enjoy it and the pot抯 many refills throughout the dinner. Some at the table gulped, but they calmed down when told it only cost about the same price per person as a decent cup of coffee, and lots less than a decent glass of wine. And, we were to have not one but many cups full. Why was this particular one costing so much? Ordered, was a vintage forty-year-old pu-er to accompany a very fine dinner.

Compatriots at the table thought heads had turned to putty when with it was ordered individual bowls of shark's fin soup costing more than ten times that per person. After drinking the first cup of tea, they questioned their sanity and ours. Two infusions later, they were praising the decision, and by the seventh pot of tea, they deemed it phenomenal. For the first time, those new to this aged tea began touting its praises, even touting mine for ordering it.
Unusual among teas, pu-er teas are fermented (but the technical term is really 'oxidized') as a white tea or green one, or they are semi-oxidized and called an 'oolong' tea. That is the kind we had at that dinner. They can also be fully oxidized and be a black tea. Except for the oolong variety, the others are rare and often not good. The very best leaves are usually prepared as an oolong tea. Emperor Zhong of the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 CE) learned how great this tea was when he ordered his steamed; he used only the buds with hair on them and said that was the best. 

Pu-er is versatile in other ways. Some like it mixed with chrysanthemum tea. That is called gupa cha. Made with white tea as the Emperor had it, it is called pu show. Pressed into a bowl shape, as are many other fine teas, it is called tou cha. And as a seven layer cake-tea, it is called bing cha. Made into balls, it is called tuan cha, and in a rectangular cake, it is fang cha.
No matter the shape, be sure to learn how long the tea has been set aside and properly aged. Teabags of pu-er found in a Chinatown supermarket were labeled as two-years old, others said 'five-years-old,' and some had no age. They tasted less good than either of the others. Do not expect the broken leaf teabag types to taste anywhere as good as the longer aged whole leaf varieties; but they are better than some other teas, particularly by the third and fourth infusion.

When making your tea, except for the white or green renditions, be sure the water is at a rolling boil. Most formosa oolong and black teas need water that high, past when they just start to boil. Green teas brew better at thirty degrees lower than that. And, if you want to make the very best tea eggs, use a pu-er tea, aged from two to five years.
If you want to emulate the French in their tea-drinking, as in many other food behaviors, do drink aged pu-er tea. About one-quarter of all tea consumed in France is pu-er tea. Mr. Twining, one of England's favorite tea packers, has a fine new pu-er tea. The first tea brought to England in 1712 was a pakho or 'pekoe' tea. Not the pekoe of today, the tea then was white-haired tea, the kind loved by the Emperors of China. Today the English also import lots of pu-er tea.
Researchers at Xiyuan Hospital and others at the Beijing Academy of Traditional Medicine have been going through old records. They report that in the Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911 CE), pu-er tea leaves and medicinal herbs were decocted together. Called 'Elixir Tea' and recorded in the Secret Recipes of Pills, Powders, Ointments and Pellets of Chinese Medicine in the Imperial Hospital. A recipe for it appears eight times in the Records of Pulse Conditions of Concubine Ying of Emperor Jiaqing. Medicinals using pu-er tea during Qing court times (1644 - 1911 CE) were mixed with purple leaves of perilla and grass-leaf sweetflags. Also included were the rhizome of water-plantain and Chinese hawthorn slices, among other things.

Other items about this tea were touted in Ming times from Tao Hongjing's (456 - 536 CE) annotations about bitter tea. They recommended using it with asparagus shoots and China-greenbriar leaves. Then and now, 'Elixir Tea' is thought useful for the aged. In the Records in Pulse Cases of the Qing Courts, this tea was recommended to cure chills and fevers, headaches and pains from colds, indigestion after a sickness, and nausea.
The nobility of the time, who had a liking for and overindulged in greasy and sweet food, believed in drinking pu-er tea. To them, in any of the above mixtures, it was useful in reducing obesity, improving digestion, alleviating depression, and promoting blood circulation. They also liked its taste and its effects on their mood. 'Elixir Tea' can be purchased in upscale Chinese supermarkets and tea emporia. It is still thought to be efficacious as an agent to reduce obesity. In China, it has been successfully tested on animals. Do not be fooled, however, should you want to use it to lose weight. Not all teas sold as a diet tea have it or any of the combination of ingredients used in Elixir Tea, nor are there any guarantees it will work.
The Chinese classify tea as a cold and bitter food. Its contribution when used for herbal purposes dates back at least to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE). Mixing teas with herbs is thought to have begun with the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420 - 581 CE) and continued to today. Large-scale consumption, that is every day drinking of tea in China started in early Tang Dynasty times (618 - 907 CE). It was the great poet Su Dong Po (1037 - 1101 CE) when writing about the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 CE) who said that tea drinking was essential for (his own) good health. His living to age sixty-four was cause enough for other Chinese to follow him. They believed and took his words to heart. Jing Xinbo in the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 CE) went further, he wrote about different teas in his book Food and Drink Recipes and said that one should drink it because it aids when needing to cure a disease, and it prolongs life.

Have you had your tea this day? Invest as the emperors did and be sure that at least some of the time you drink pu-er tea. You will be delighted you did. The Chinese believe in its many positive effects including its mood-enhancing effects and reduction of melancholy. They confirm that it stimulates digestion and should always be consumed after a large meal. In addition, they drink pu-er tea to help in weight reduction and detoxification as they say it cleanses the body of damaging substances. For those who drink it regularly, the Chinese believe that all tea stimulates their Qi and aids in assuring a long and healthy life.

By Explore Cultural China

Tea - tracing its flavorful journey - Part Seven

This is the last of the 7 parts of this article

Other frequently consumed Chinese teas include Keemun, a mellow black tea with a strong aroma; some call it 'the wine of tea.' There is also Lapsang Souchong, a large-leafed tea from the Lapsang region of China. Oxidized to have a smoky flavor and aroma, it is large-leaf tea with a tiny taste of ripe peaches and is a Formosa Oolong. Recently, I was given a red oolong tea flavored with and called Osmanthus tea. It has its leaves attached to stems, has a fine aroma, and is worth trying.
When I took a group of twenty-five to Roy Fung's for a group tasting seminar, we were impressed with his expertise. We all learned a lot whether we were knowledgeable or novices. He is the International Director of Tea, but not its editor. Tea is an interesting and very educational magazine addressing all kinds of tea and related issues worldwide. Mr. Fong is also founding master of the Tea Masters Association. The Imperial Tea Court, founded by Roy and his wife Grace, is a typical teahouse with dark wood interior, counters, teacups and pots, and marble floor. It came piece by piece from China along with six workmen who installed it, even the bird cages typical of Chinese tea houses. Must report that the sanitation laws of San Francisco forced him to remove the birds, so the cages are now empty.
For him, an importers hobby has now grown into a full-fledged business selling more than half million dollars worth of tea a year, and growing. Mr. Fong is so concerned about tea quality that when he learned he could not adequately control it, he bought tea gardens in China to have control over the entire process. His customers demanded organic teas and he can assure that they get them because he only uses organic fertilizer made of soy meal and other bean mashes, green leaves, and a special manure.
His is the first traditional tea house in the United States and almost all of the tea served or sold there comes from China, be it from Yunnan, Fijian, Hongzhou, or Anhwei. A small amount does come from Taiwan where he has contracted for specific teas. His first year he bought all his tea, the second year a small garden in Fujian harvested but ten kilos. For the record, last year Mr. Fong imported more than one and two-tenths tons of tea, most from his own gardens.
At our tasting lesson, we sampled three different oolong teas. Lung Ching was the most expensive served (his best sold for $380.00 per pound). We tasted the $180.00 a pound variety. I became a convert tasting his Jasmine Pearl tea at $49.00 for half a pound. That amount makes more than a hundred mugs of tea while a half pound of coffee makes only twenty cups. The third tea tasted was Tit Kun Yin. We learned how to taste, brew tea correctly, and to allow air through our teeth as we drank it. We also learned to enjoy the texture of some of the teas felt on the roofs of our mouths.
On a different day, I tried his Jade Ring tea, only two hundred eighty pounds were made last year. That tea has an fruity apricot aftertaste and is best consumed alone or before eating. I also tried Green and Black Peony Teas. These are hand-tied leaves that open in the teapot and look like the flower. They were mild and like most teas, full-flavored and better after brewing a second pot with the same leaves.
Taste different teas from many vendors. As you drink more of them, like wines, you'll become your own expert. After frequenting many sellers of tea, I learned that I prefer Jasmine Pearl from Imperial Tea Court, a mid-priced Tung Ting from Ten Ren Tea and Ginseng Company, Huang Mountain Hairpoint Tea from Eastrise Trading Company, Tit Kuan Yin from C.C. Fine Tea Company, and Hao Ya B from Harney and Sons.
A few fine sources are listed alphabetically below; there are others. Call them to learn their hours and availability for tea tasting. Also, read about tea in the books listed in the earlier mentioned article or in newer books reviewed in this issue. After you have tasted them, do write and share thoughts about your experiences and your favorite teas.

By Explore Cultural China

Tea - tracing its flavorful journey - Part Six

Tea Museums and clever tea packaging come from or are available abroad. Should you travel to Europe to get either of the above, try to go to Butler's Wharf in London where tea was unloaded hundreds of years ago. There, near the Tower Bridge, you can visit the Bhamah Tea and Coffee Museum on Maguire Street in the Clove Building. You may want to phone ahead: 071-738-0222 to check their hours. They have information about tea's arrival in Britain, more about the teabag, and about hundreds of tea leaf kinds. You can even buy Chinese tea, though they only have a handful of varieties from that country. They also have a wonderful book written by Mister Braham, published by Hutchinson in 1972, called Tea and Hsee.
In Paris, visit Mariage Freres, a tea house situated at 30 Rue du Bourg-Tibourg in the 4th district or arrondisement. You can telephone for their hours to 011-331 42 72 28 11. This tea mecca has been selling tea since they opened their shop in 1854. They now have about four hundred teas from thirty-two countries, China included. Most of their Chinese teas come from Fujian, Hunan, Anhui, Jiagsu, Zhejiang, Hubei, Guangzi, and Jiangzi, as well as from Taiwan, other Asian countries, and other places around the world. The upstairs museum houses teapots, tea cups, samovars, and wooden tea chests, among other things.
Buying loose tea and tea varieties requires knowledge. So teabags and museums aside, to be a tea connoisseur, you need to learn what is considered the best and where to shop and taste different teas to determine your own favorites.
If you live in or near San Francisco, try the Imperial Tea Court. Roy Fong, its owner, has his own tea plantations in China where he supervises tea from tree to thee. The tea he sells is very fresh, very flavorful, and very good. So is tea at the Ten Ren Tea and Ginseng Company, a source for good tea from Taiwan. Fong has but one place, Ten Ren has dozens of stores in many cities in the United states and in other countries including Taiwan.
Tea varieties you should taste are Snow Tea, White Tea, Green Peony Tea, Lung Ching, Jade Ring, Jasmine Pearl (also known as Jasmine Balls), and Tung Ting. These teas are white, green, or oolong, some more oxidized than others. You can also try a black tea such as Lychee Black, Hao Ya B, or any other black tea.
There are quality levels of each of these and in some tea emporia they may have other names. Every tea and every price level makes for differences. You may not prefer the most expensive of any of these but you do need to try several in order to make educated taste decisions. A good vendor will encourage tasting as you make your purchasing decisions.

By Explore Cultural China

Tea - tracing its flavorful journey - Part Five

All teas can be processed by hand or by machine and all teas are graded by size of the leaf. They can be scented or flavored, and only a small proportion of them are. Most often, oolong or black teas are so treated. Blossoms, petals, or pieces of fruit can be added to flavor teas as can the addition of commercial essences, oils, or fragrances. Flavors such as jasmine, rose, litchi, orange, and orchid are popular, in that order. It is common practice, that when essences or oils are used that a large piece of cotton be saturated with same and put in a big box of tea leaves and left there for hours or days, depending upon the depth of aroma desired.
Everyone should know that teabags and compressed teas are neither new nor an American invention. Tea used to be compressed in large blocks or rounded shapes. For shipping, they were packed in bamboo then further protected by a wooden chest or a leather bag for their long journeys. Sometimes these bags got wet. The caravan stewards saw infused tea leaking from them and more than one of them thought of making a batch of tea in that manner in a bag of one sort or another.
When I was a child listening to Arthur Godfrey extolling the virtues of Lipton Tea in easy to use bags filled with 'pekoe and orange pekoe' tea, I saw bits of orange and thought him selling the highest quality tea known to man. My imagination wandered because I heard 'orange pekoe.' However, those words mean long leaves; 'pekoe' alone means shorter leaves. Other tea leaf words for their sizes include: 'souchong' meaning coarse leaves, and 'fannings' and 'dust' as words for the left-overs of any of the above.
The above terms do not connotate flavor, rather they speak of tea leaf size, and therefore quality. Tea bags, flow-through or otherwise, can be and usually are mixtures of fannings and dust and perhaps some other known tea leaves ground small. They rarely, if ever, have small spring-picked leaves so beloved by the Chinese.
I have since learned that flow-thorough tea bags do brew better tea than flat tea bags because there is more room for leaf expansion. Both beg the question, however, of how to handle the teabag, and extract the best of the brew. At a recent food show, I learned that the Tetley company with offices in Shelton, Connecticut, has one way to solve that problem. They now make a drawstring tea bag.
Except for seeing that at that show, this English import is not yet on supermarket shelves. T-sac Produktions, of Hannover, Germany, also has a neat solution. Theirs is for those that want to use their own fine tea leaves and bag them; they, too, are not readily available in the United States; but becoming more so.

By Explore Cultural China

Tea - tracing its flavorful journey - Part Four

Professor Chang Hung-yung of National Xing Hua University reminds us that tea was traditionally made in a shalu or very large clay pot, in a gaiwan or covered individual bowl, or in a gongfu or very small pot. In any of these, tea leaves or pieces of compressed tea were infused. When using a small earthenware pot, teacups are placed together in a chachuan or tea serving saucer. One of the best known teapots is the 'Yixing Dragon Teapot' made with wet reddish-purple clay. This pot enhances and conserves flavor and heat, and holds the aroma of the tea.
The Chinese discuss tea categorizing it by the color of tea leaf, as follows:
White Tea is also called silver tip. This tea is mostly new buds plucked before they open, then withered to allow much of their moisture to evaporate. These unfermented tea leaves are gently dried in the sun, usually in bamboo trays or in low temperature ovens. The tea infusions from them are referred to as white or light yellow, and are known as the champagne of teas. They are rare, harvested but once a year usually in early July, and gathered within a two week period. It is the only tea that is considered non-astringent. All other teas have some or a considerable amount of astringency.
Green Tea is also an unfermented tea. It is from leaves allowed to dry somewhat, then heated, also called roasted, in ovens or pans to stop the oxidation process sometimes incorrectly referred to as fermentation. Some green teas are steamed first then rolled into balls or around a very thin stick. If on a stick, they are slid off. As such or as balls, they are then put to dry. Infusions from these teas are considered yellow to yellow-green and are considered very astringent.
Oolong Tea, is a semi-fermented tea with leaves dried and as they are so doing, shaken periodically to bruise them. Then they are heated, fried, roasted, fermented, or whatever you'd like to call them, to further the oxidation process. Puchong oolong teas are oxidized the least, Formosa oolongs the most. This provides infusions from pale yellow-orange to a deeper orange-red, respectively.
Black Tea is also dried first, in the sun or in the shade. The leaves are then rolled or not and set aside in a reasonably moist place until the leaf turns reddish brown. After the correct color is achieved, they are put into large woks and heated, fried, fired, or which ever expression you prefer, or they can be put into pans and oxidized in an oven. The infused brew is reddish in color.

By Explore Cultural China

Tea - tracing its flavorful journey - Part Three

All teas come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. The best of them grow at high altitudes and in damp tropical regions. The way and length of time tea is processed is what makes teas different. Fine teas, like fine wines, come from many regions, the best from one or another particular producer and from one or more growing places referred to as tea plantations or tea gardens. As with wines, different years produce different tea qualities, and different soil and the kind of water makes a difference. Freshly drawn spring water makes the finest tea.
With the exception of one variety, tea does not improve with age, as does wine. Storage in a tightly sealed tin is best. Though some say tea stored that way can last a year or so, be advised that tea less than six months old is better because fresh leaves make better tea.
Tea leaves are picked three or more times a year. How they are handled makes for differences as does whether the leaves are sprayed, the types of fertilizers used, how the leaves are picked, and how the four-part oxidation processing is done.
Tea leaves must be carefully dried and withered. Then they can be rolled, and are fermented, heated, or fired at near 200 degrees Fahrenheit to reduce their moisture content to about five percent. After that processing, whole leaves can be broken further. They are then graded and sorted. The color of tea is known by the color of the leaf in the Western world. In China, tea is discussed by the tint of the brewed infusion.
Teas are brewed at different temperatures and for different amounts of time. Some suppliers put instruction labels on their teas to help novices do it right. Others assume that they know or that it is not important, so they leave it to chance. Some labels are illustrated (and can be seen in the hard copy, thanks to the Imperial Tea Court), so that you can learn from them.
Most tea in the United States is made using a tea bag. More recently, large quantities of tea are consumed as beverage in a can or a bottle. Almost all of these are black teas made by crushing, tearing and curling fully oxidized tea leaves. Only about two percent are made from green tea leaves or from loose leaves that were plucked by hand; more than a thousand needed for a pound of tea. Incidentally, brewing tea leaves became popular in China during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 CE) when an Imperial edict said loose tea is a sign of offering tribute.

By Explore Cultural China