Monday, March 26, 2012

2011 ZeDa Tea Wild Jiri Mountain Korean Yellow Tea


Sam of Good Green Tea sent this box of micro farm balhyocha which he glowed about weeks before over email. Later he reported that he acquired it from a small farm from Sancheong, Jiri Mountain, and that is was completely wild tea. He claimed that Mr. Hong has over 50 years experience making tea and that he makes it all by hand with only the help of his wife. Mr. Hong makes only Hwang cha (balhyocha) with his tea leaves and only produces 15 Kg per year (he keeps 5 KG of this tea). The production of this tea is all natural and even includes air drying the leaves on big heated boulders during night time instead of the standard ondol heated floors which are commonly used to produce balhyocha.

Sounds to good to be true, as these micro-garden Korean teas rarely ever make it too market, never mind North American market. Lets look at the dry leaves and see if this tea is the real deal.


The dry leaves are quite small, likely ujeon grade, with some buds in the mix. Very juicy and sweet, very vibrant odours emit from these thin, rolled leaves. Strong fruity peachy dried apricot notes are apparent.



The first infusion contains soft peach notes with sweet pure light sugary tastes that glide across the tongue. It leaves a smooth fresh apricot finish in the mouth. The mouthfeel is full but soft, light and very clean.


The second infusion delivers a very distinct peach and spicy pungent cinnamon initial taste. A very light but rich smooth base of sweet autumn leaves is underneath which delivers a clean deeper malty taste that faintly lingers in the distance. These tastes, especially the distinct peach and cinnamon, fade into the aftertaste. The mouthfeel is light but full leaving a sweet taste in the mid-throat. The qi is profoundly relaxing and completely spaces out the mind.


In the third infusion the fruity taste and spicy cinnamon taste seem inseparable and very strong and pure in the initial flavour. Soft persimmon and dried apricot come to mind. The mouthfeel is full and leaves the mouth and throat soft and slightly sticky. Barely detectable underneath is the sweet malty-syrup taste providing a bit of contrast to the sweet, dominating pungent fruit tastes. The qi emits a subtle warmth on this cool windy day. The mind feels tranquil.

The fourth and fifth infusion are much the same as the third- very fresh, clean, deep, smooth, and soft. The persimmon is bready now with still quite sweet edges. The mouthfeel continues to impress with its soft gentle nuances in harmony with this gentle clean tea.

The sixth infusion has more of a smooth spiciness with fruity notes becoming weaker while the malty, caramel depth drawing more attention. This tea maintains much of its taste throughout the session without moving too much away from these pleasant pure tastes.


The seventh infusion is now of plumby-peach wood with pungency that is almost gone. The light caramel tastes are still apparent. These tastes fade into faint apricot that stays on the breath.

The eighth and ninth infusions impart a bready quality upfront which turns to persimmon then slowly fades away. This tea is taken for a few more longer infusions which bring out sweet pure, deep, rich malty fruit pear tastes with subtle spicy persimmon.


This tea is sold under the name "ZeDa Tea" at Good Green Tea which has nothing to do with the Korean source. It is simply a brand that Sam started which is bringing in wild or small farmed teas.

This tea has since sold out but Sam is taking pre-orders for the 2012 version of this same tea.  Contact him if you are interested.

Peace

11 comments:

Bret said...

Hey Matt,

I just happened to get this same tea in a shipment from Sam yesterday, looking forward to trying it.

Bret

Matt said...

Brett,

You will be pleasently supprised with this balhyocha!

Let us know what you thought of it.

Nice to hear from you again,

Peace

Tea Fanatic said...

Bah! After reading your review I wanted to try some but they had already sold out.

Settled for the Jung Sun. This will be my first experience in Korean teas, any advice?

Matt said...

Tea Fanatic,

It looks like this one sold out within a day of posting. It was a unique opportunity to purchase such a great tea- lucky for those who got their order in!

The Jung sun is pretty standard Korean jungjak grade tea, it tastes a bit different because of the steaming process though. My advice with this one is to drink it shortly after opening as one got less then exciting results with this tea weeks after opening the package. Fresh green tea is always better green tea!

Let us know what you thought of it.

Peace

GoodGreenTea said...

Hi Matt,

Thank you for the wonderful review.

One of the unique things of Mr Hong's technique is that he never use a cauldron while making Hwang Cha. When you visit Korean, I can arrange for you to meet with Mr Hong. :-)

Tea Fanatic,

Sorry to hear that you couldn't place an order before they sold out.

I will have some extra Hwang Cha(320g) in few weeks. Please send me an email if you want to try some.

Sam

Matt said...

Sam,

Thanks again. I bet Mr. Hong likes red tea. Haha...

It would be wonderful to meet him someday.

Peace

GoodGreenTea said...

Matt,

"I bet Mr. Hong likes red tea."

That tells everything about you. :-)

You have a amazing palate


Sam

Bret said...

Matt,

From picking standard, processing, and into the cup, this is a superb tea. The mouthfeel is full and round yet it's delicate. The range of flavors and aromas to be had are impressive. And whats equally impressive is how the flavors stay fairly consistent with each additional steeping, the more subtle flavors never really dissappear, they go the distance. That is something you don't find very often, even in high quality teas. Money well spent!

Bret

Matt said...

Bret,

Yes, a very pleasant balhyocha! The stamina and relative consistency of such light tones is surprising. Feel free to leave your thoughts or comments on any other Korean teas you may have acquired from Good Green Tea on the corresponding posts here on MattCha's. As always, it is nice to here your impressions of these teas.

Peace

Bret said...

Matt,

Besides the balhyocha I bought some Ssangkye teas, Jungno, Roasting Sejak, and Black Sejak. The Jungno is brilliant, expensive but worth the money for the ocassional self indulgence. Black Sejak is also very nice, nothing in common with what westerners think of as black tea. The Roasting Sejak I havn't tried yet but I'm sure it's going to be equally superb. Whats suprising is that all of these teas taste and smell fresh as the day they were made, and seeing as they are at a discounted price right now I,ll be ordering more, especially the Jungno.

Bret

Matt said...

Bret,

Have found that Ssangkye green teas seem to hold their freshness longer than other Korean tea brands. Last year ones large yearly shipment of Korean tea was expected to arrive in August so one deliberately decided to go with mainly Ssangkye green teas knowing that most would be consumed in the Fall, Winter and Spring.

In fact, just opened and finished a box of Jongno this month, it felt just as fresh as the box opened early Fall. See here:

http://mattchasblog.blogspot.ca/2011/11/2011-ssang-kye-jungjak-semi-wild-hadong.html

Haven't tried the Roasting Sejak or Black Sejak- am sure they taste great.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on these teas.

Peace