Tea of the week: Nonaipara Estate, 2nd Flush Assam (SFTGFOP1)

Welcome to our new section, Tea of the Week.  If I were to pick five things that were good, they would be cats, baseball, Berlin, FOOD JUSTICE, and tea.  Tea is the best drink in the world.  Some people compare tea to coffee: this is an okay comparison, but not really, because tea is very different.  It is healthier, subtler, and nicer to look at.  In the end, all coffee tastes essentially the same.  There are good beans, good roasts, good preparation, but ultimately it's all the same thing.  Am I right?  I don't actually know, I've never really had a full cup of coffee.  Sound off, coffee drinkers!

Anyway, tea is an incredibly varied, and, if it's good, intricately complex drink.  Wars have been fought over it, cultures have developed around it.  It is a drink with history, and that history continues to this day.  Tea: a cool thing to drink!

On Tea of the Week, we will profile a new strain of high grade tea every week.  This will be lots of fun, and I'm sure we will all learn something.  Get your strainers ready, people: we're off for a smooth ride!

BUT FIRST, A QUICK INTRODUCTION!

What is tea?  Some people think tea is anything that hot water is strained through.  My stupid friend Harry once said that coffee was a type of tea (he was wrong!!)!  In truth, tea is only one thing: a drink made from the leaf of the Camellia sinensis plant:

There are four common types of tea: black, oolong, green, and white.  All of them come from the same plant; the difference lies in how the leaf is prepared.

Black tea is highly oxidized (what does that mean?  Some help please, Chem majors!) leaves.  Black tea leaves appear dark, shriveled, and dry.  Black tea is the strong, dark, caffeinated drink most people associate with tea. 

Green tea is only minimally oxidized.  Green tea leaves are generally larger, and greener.  I don't like green tea and don't think about it very much.  It is a subtler, less caffeinated drink, and generally made from Chinese leaves.  People seem to think green tea is healthy; this is probably true.

Oolong tea is oxidized to a level between green and black tea.  As a result, it tastes like something between green and black tea.  I like it more than green tea and less than black tea.  I would call it the Joe Lieberman of teas, except not really.

White tea is very minimally oxidized, and made in a different process than green tea.  It is the most delicate tea, and maybe the most rewarding.  White tea leaves are big, full, and generally light colored.  If I were to describe white tea without fear of being beaten up by people who think describing tea is lame, I would call it delightful.

Unless you are dealing with people who are stupid/have more interesting things to think about, tea is generally referred to by the region where it was produced.  Some common tea regions are: Assam (known for strong, breakfast teas), Ceylon (aka Sri Lanka, known for light, almost citrus-y teas), Darjeeling (the Champagne region of teas), Keemum (a dark Chinese tea).  

Anything else that people call tea is not actually tea.  People often refer to some drinks as herbal teas, but usually they are neither herbs or teas.  If you want people to not like you, you can tell them that they are actually drinking tisanes.  I told this to my stupid friend Harry and he told me that to do something unpleasant and rude.  I felt sad but correct.  Common types of herbal tea are rooibos, or African Red Bush tea, chamomile, which is made from flowers, and some other things which are pretty obvious.  Herbal tea is nice but not that interesting.

If you find all of this fascinating as I do, you can check out the Wikipedia article on tea processing, which is filled with detailed information about how each type of tea is prepared. 

One last thing.  There are a lot of acronyms in the tea trade.  The one you will most commonly see is in reference to the tea's grade, or quality.  This is based around the Orange Pekoe system.  OP stands for Orange Pekoe, which means "standard, full leaf."  From that, we get things like:

BOP: "broken orange pekoe," standard leaves, but cheaper because they are broken.
FOP: "flowery orange pekoe," pretty good, longer leaves.
FTGFOP: "finest tippy golden flowery orange pekoe," or "far to good for ordinary people," the best, fullest leaves.
STGFOP1: "special finest tippy golden flowery orange pekoe 1," even better than the best.    

Anyway, there's a quick introduction.  Now let's talk about the Tea of the Week...

NONAIPARA ESTATE, 2nd Flush Assam (SFTGFOP1)

 I've been looking for a strong breakfast tea for awhile now, one with the complexity of a Darjeeling in addition to the solid maltiness one comes to expect from Assams.  I'm content with a simple Keemum, but I've been searching for an intricate Assam to compliment it.  The Khongea Estate strain of last year was incredible, but didn't have the heartiness I'm looking for in the early morning.  This 2nd flush Nonaipara, however, just might do the trick.

The Nonaipara doesn't have the thick, malty taste of a simpler Assam (such as Tao of Tea's competent Malty Assam), but it's undeniably hardy.  The rich smell of the unsteeped leaves are indicative of the flavor: this is a warm tea, filling without a harsh kick.  It isn't too astringent, and takes milk well.

What makes this tea truly extraordinary, however, is its sweet, almost chocolate undertones.  The smell of cocoa is prominent in the brewed leaves, and the taste comes through in the end of the sip.  It leaves a lingering richness, in many ways akin to that of a dark hot chocolate.  Without this undertone, this would be an unexceptional tea, fairly simple and not even notably malty.  However, the strength of its cocoa aroma and taste makes it an interesting addition to anyone's breakfast selection.  I don't see it becoming a staple of my collection, but I could hardly think of a more pleasurable tea for this time of year.

This tea is good for two steeps, but begins to loose flavor by the third.  You can purchase it from the TeaSource online store, or, if you're in the Twin Cities, pick up a bag from their store in Highland Village.  There doesn't seem to be much information about Nonaipara Estate, except that they seem to have a bit of an elephant problem.  I can't really relate.


-Ben "The Best" Tuthill