The master of tea
Yu Hai Tseng checks the smell of the tea
At the age of four, Yu Hai Tseng tells us, she made tea for her little sister. In the middle of the night, the girl from Nanton, west of Taiwan, prepared him for the ancient Chinese ritual Gong Fu Cha, which means "tea time". The sisters sat each other at a late hour, holding their noses in the steam, lilacs in spring, honeysuckle on a summer's evening, wet grass after a thunderstorm and figs in autumn - a whole universe in a single cup of tea.
Tea is still the passion of Yu Hai Tseng. We ring the bell at their "Maison des Trois Thés" and cheerfully "Bonjour, comment-allez vous?" receive. High glass doors, simple, airy rooms, huge windows. Outside, at the Place Monge, in the heart of Paris's Latin Quarter, is the market. It is raining and the wind is blowing cold between the stalls. Inside, in the tea house, there is earthy warmth, mysterious signs on a red wall, in the background the monotonous melody of a traditional Chinese stringed instrument, somewhere water is seething. Yu Hai Tseng is small and evenly beautiful.
Over a hundred cans are waiting at the Maison des Trois Thés
Her age does not betray her. She was a clarinettist, today she is the only woman among the ten Chinese teas and one of the most sought-after tea experts in the world. Whether she is able to distinguish 1000 or 10,000 odor nuances and flavors, she can not say, "I never counted." She bypasses questions she does not like. She does not like interviews, not even photos - actually. But tell about tea and drink tea - Chinese, not Indian - after all. "Tea is a living art," she says, "no ceremony." Take a deep breath, smell, taste, trace. "Smell and taste awaken memories of childhood experiences in many people." A sentence that I will understand later.
Managing Director Fabien Maiolino leads us to one of the tables - "Elm wood from old Chinese doors", as well as the long sales counter. Behind it, over a hundred cans, lined up on the brick wall on iron bars, as if they were floating. Madame Tseng is a passionate lover of old things, he says, and of tradition. Because the new rich in China no longer appreciate good tea, she prefers to bring Europeans closer to the 3000-year tea culture of their homeland.
More than 10 years ago, she emigrated to France and set up Europe's largest teapot office in the capital. A temple for tea connoisseurs. 17 tons of tea, more than 1000 varieties, are stored in the cellar, rare vintages, the oldest from 1890. Only the tea master herself has a key to this treasury. The most expensive tea served by her was worth 5,000 euros, say rumors. Water is boiling in the teapot.
Yu Hai carries trays of small cups and pitchers to the table. Then she walks along the wall with the tea caddies, tapping one here, then another, until she picks a different one and plucks a few grams of tea leaves. Meanwhile, the CEO speaks with awe of his boss: Madame Tseng comes from one of the oldest Chinese aristocratic families, her ancestors were emperors and ministers, she was with the Chinese tea master Zhang Zien Fu, the man who saved the ancient tea tradition through the communist years apprenticed.
Finally she sits down with us, throws back her long hair, pours water over the tea leaves in a white cup, the zhong. She holds herself upright, pans the tea leaves in the water, then brings the lid to her nose, smells, listens to herself, pours water, lets the tea flow, at most three minutes, smiles: "The tea tells its story own story."
It takes talent to hear them, concentration, a fine nose (highly insured!) And a sensual palate. With rehearsed movements that follow a strange choreography, she gives the golden-red, transparent liquid in white porcelain cups. Silently. As a thank you, with your outstretched index and middle finger, tap twice on the wooden table, as the CEO has shown us. It smells fruity, like raspberries, maybe. A first sip. It tastes good? Yes, but what? Dried apricots? No, I got it: elderberry, cooked black elderberry.
Ordinary everyday tea, she says. He belongs to one of the six major Chinese tea families: semi-fermented blue-green tea. In addition, it distinguishes white tea from velvety leaf buds, which are only dried and not fermented, yellow and green tea from young leaves, unfermented turn, and what we call black tea, but in reality fermented red tea, and finally the actual black Tea.Tea is also physical work, explains Madame Tseng. She is always on the go. Like a treasure hunter, she roams China in search of rare tea trees, rummaging through forgotten cellars in Tibetan monastery cellars. At her own plantations in Taiwan, she personally oversees the harvest, processing and complex fermentation process.
The water seethes, the senses are sharpened, the gaze inwards. Now the tea tasting really starts. Pour, empty, pour, pour - from one bowl to the next -, pure meditation. We tap with our fingers. The tea is crystalline, pastel yellow and not easily recognizable by the smell: jasmine. But what a! We smell: peeled apples, honey, almonds, many odors one after another. It took four years to put this white jasmine tea in a nutshell and to create the harmony between flowers and unopened leaf buds, she says. Ten kilos of flowers on a kilo of tea. These flowers are not collected at some point, but on a summer's evening, "when the flowers speak" when they smell the most. A tea for elves.
Madame Tseng is one of the best tea experts in the world
Does it really have to be virgins collecting the leaves of white tea, as the legend says? Yu Hai laughs, she does not think much of such "chinoiserie" as she calls it. The high priestess of the tea suddenly seems down to earth and not so strange anymore. "Where I am, I smell," she says. In the metro, in the theater, in the supermarket. That's certainly not always enjoyable, with such a sensitive nose? "Yes," she says, she has fled more often.
Yu Hai is preparing a new tea, this time a Wu Long. We are silent devoutly. Two cups, one to smell, the other to taste. We suck on the smell: lilac, white sugar, tobacco, caramel, vanilla, coconut, mirabelle plums, pure clauses - a firework! About 250 different fragrance molecules accumulate on a tea leaf. We advise, laugh, the tea master makes us fidget. The smell of the tea changes so fast that we can not get behind it: white peach, ripe, passion fruit, artichoke, green pear, iris, chestnut honey. Unlike wine, which only changes its smell every three minutes, tea aroma changes every five seconds.
We take short, slow sips and try to guess the taste. Fourth infusion, it rises on the tongue like cress, far back on the palate, it unfolds a freshness like dew in autumn and tastes of grapefruit. What is the name of the tea? But Yu Hai does not name anything, remains mysterious. Only so much: It is the leaves of a tea tree that grows somewhere on a sunny slope in the middle of China. 300 years old, the only one of its kind. There are three kilos of this tea worldwide. The tea master has lifted this treasure. "I love things that have a life in them, tradition, wit and spirit."
The fourth tea she serves is the Grand Cru. Black tea, born in 1983, reddish brown depth. He hops under his tongue, round like a ball, I'm looking for a fruit that I know, and suddenly see myself in a barn. In autumn, as a child, as I turn the big wheel of a sugar beet mill. White, earth-smeared beetroot slices with a pale pink shell fall into a basket. I chill, reach in with both hands and feed animals in the warm stable. The tea tastes of sugar beets: sweetish, milky, dry, earthy, stony, moist, frosty, warm, thirsty, for wet foliage - after childhood. Fingertips on the old elm wood: xièxie - merci - thanks!
Take a look, taste and taste: Maison des Trois Thés
The "Maison des Trois Thés" in Paris
The "Maison des Trois Thés" offers not only exclusive varieties but also quite affordable tea and accessories. Teekunde, advice and tasting are fantastic. It is asked to come unscented. Open: Tue-Sun. 11-19 clock. Tasting from 13 o'clock, reserve at the weekend! The prices are between 20 and 5000 euros.
Maison des Trois Thés, 1, rue Saint-Médard, Place Monge, 75005 Paris, Tel. 00 33/1/43 36 93 84, info@maisondestroisthes.com
We have two packages for you compiled with exclusive "Maison de Trois Thés" teas.
Package 1: Three varieties: 75 g Mo Li, light white tea without tanin; 100 g red Yun Hong with a wide range of fragrances; 50 g Gan Xiang, blue-green tea with a rich aroma. 50 Euro, incl. Shipping
Package 2: Four varieties: 100 g Pu Er, black vintage tea from 1992 with autumnal aroma; 75 g Mo Li, white, slightly perfumed tea; 100 g Beauté académique, very multi-faceted blue-green tea; 100 g Gu Hong, red, aroma-rich tea. 100 Euro, incl. Shipping. Order address: www.cityandmore.de, Tel. 072 21/99 28 99
Time for enjoyment: the traditional tea ceremony
Gong Fu Cha, the traditional tea ceremony, developed from the courtly tea culture of the late Ming dynasties. In the southern provinces of China and Taiwan, it has survived above all in the educated classes of the bourgeoisie. To elicit the tea all its odor and taste nuances, one carries out a very complex procedure.Gong Fu Cha means the method of the complicated way.
The ceremony begins with the artful construction of the utensils. The participants are placed, each one is assigned a tea cup pair. The tea master begins with the ritual washing and cleaning of pots and bowls. He pours the hot water in turn from one bowl to the next. Now the jug is filled to one third with tea leaves, poured hot water over it and then poured again - the leaves were "awakened". Again, hot, non-boiling water is replenished. After 30 to 45 seconds, the tea master pours the tea into the high scent cups.
The participants pour the tea into the flat drinking bowls, take the empty cups and first enjoy the multi-faceted fragrance of the tea. Only after extensive sniffing you sip the liquid in small sips. This procedure can be repeated up to eight times, depending on the quality and variety of the tea, color and taste change many times.
