It was a sunny, brisk, billowy-clouded Sunday… perfect weather for Gen Mai Cha. I headed over to Abbot Kinney, the cool boutique-and-café populated section of Venice, CA, for the seventh annual Valentine’s Tea Festival. The featured country this year was Japan, so I knew I’d find my fix.

Housed in the Electric Lodge, a solar-powered community space dedicated to artistic and environmentally conscious development, guests were invited to celebrate tea and culture Japanese-style.

Tea vendors were at the ready, and while my palate is a bit pampered by Art of Tea’s signature Gen Mai Cha, “Dragon Crisp,” my craving for the hot, roasted goodness of this so-called “poor man’s tea” was satiated.

The Valentine’s Tea Festival proved to be a lovely event with a wonderful feeling of community. Old friends coming again to see what this years festival had to offer as well as local walk-ins checking out what was going on in the neighborhood.

Creations by local artists were exhibited and performances were held to entertain guests. There were calligraphy workshops where you could try your hand at the art of sumi-e and origami lessons, with kids and adults alike delighting in the creation of paper cranes whose wings would flap at a pull of the tail. Sushi and mochi making demonstrations provided their own delectable appeal in the realm of edible art!

My favorite part of the festival was experiencing the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Performed by Stinton Stranger, an artisan who crafts beautiful tea tables from reclaimed wood, this nearly 500 year-old tradition is imbued with appreciation for the moment. Every aspect of this exchange between host and guest is marked with grace and significance — from the way the ladle is handled, seasonal decorations that might appear on the various implements, to the kind of flower that might be displayed (like a delicate camellia, which would only last the day, as opposed to a heartier blossom, like the chrysanthemum). Hot water is ladled with care into the bowl to clean it, discarded, and then another added for whisking the fine, powdered matcha. The bowl is turned three times and then handed to the guest, a frothy, brilliant green. It is a sacred sharing of a moment in time, unique, honored and then relinquished like a cherry blossom carried away on the wind. Of course, the Electric Lodge had some thumping beats coursing through her P.A. system, so it wasn’t quite as poetic as cherry blossoms on the wind, but you get the idea.

The Valentine’s Tea Festival is a labor of love that began with Kulov, the event producer, throwing Valentine’s Day tea parties for his nieces. The fun and success of those parties grew to include more and more people and naturally evolved into the larger occasion now celebrated.

“Every year around Valentine’s Day we host a cultural event honoring a country with a strong tradition of tea,” says Kulov. “Last year, we celebrated India and the response was quite enthusiastic. Los Angeles enjoys a special richness in its various communities,” he continues, “yet they often seem isolated from one another. Part of this is because everything is so far apart and spread out. But we like to mix it up a little by creating community-building events that are both fun and informative. And probably the biggest compliment we received last year was that people wished L.A. was always like this.”

The success of the 7th annual Valentine’s Tea festival, with nearly 200 guests (double last years attendance!), surely points toward an 8th on the horizon of ‘08’s V-day, with rumors of expansion to an entire weekend of tea and culture! Stay tuned to find out which country we’ll be exploring next time!

Our flavor Guru lives on the island of Maui, creating some amazing flavors that we use here at Art of Tea. In conjunction with the varieties of tea in their purest form, many teas are enhanced with flavors to give them a new and unique identity.

Mike told us that in creating new flavors for teas, he is, as he does in windsurfing, constantly searching for the next best flavor, wave, combination, or ride. For Mike, these are the things in life that heighten, invigorate, and synergize his joyful addiction, whether it be to riding waves or creating flavors.

We asked Mike to give us a look into what make flavors, well, flavors, and how they are used in teas.

Q: What is a flavor?
A: A flavor is defined as Aroma + Taste. I always use the following simple equation: AROMA + TASTE = FLAVOR. Aromas are what our olfactory senses perceive from the molecules or essences which are contained in the flavoring or food product. All aromatic compounds enter our nasal receptors located in our sinus cavities. Without our nasal receptors we simply would not be able to identify the fruit or food product we are ingesting. To prove this, one can hold their nose and try to taste a strawberry or cup of hot green or black tea.

The only attributes one can perceive while consuming and holding their nose at the same time, are the elements that make up TASTE. As you probably know from school or reading cookbooks, taste comprises the following sensory perceptions: Sweet, Salty, Bitter & Sour. A fifth perception has been identified as Umami, which is a savory sensation associated with soy sauces. Flavors can come either dry, or as a liquid, which can be combined with tea & herbal leaves.”

Q: What is the difference between an essence and an extract?
A: These flavors are made by creating extracts & essences. An extract is essentially what is extracted from a fruit puree with oil or water, and an essence is the molecules which make up the extract. Liquid flavorings are then created by mixing several essences together.

A natural flavoring is different from an artificial flavoring because natural flavorings contain only essences and molecules which are derived from the natural fruit or herb product, and not derived or created from an artificial source such as petroleum compounds.

Q: What is your favorite flavor for tea?
A: I really do not have one favorite flavor for tea. That’s mainly because I keep searching for the more perfect flavor to create. However, I do enjoy tropical flavors such as Passionfruit, Mango, Pineapple, Guava, and Coconut.

Q: Where do you see trends shifting in the next few years with flavors and teas?
A: I see the consuption trends shifting to more demand for natural flavored, organic teas, rather than artificial flavored tea leaves. Tropical flavored teas will become more popular then they are now. In general I believe we will see consumer demand for tea leaves (loose leaf & tea bags) increase as a greater share of the total tea market over bottled ready to drink teas.

The simplest way to understand how oxidation works is to compare it to taking a first bite out of an apple. Than imagine your best friend called you and wanted to tell you all about how his/her date went last night. Twenty minutes later you hang up the phone and before you realize, something has happened to your apple. What is the color of it now as compared to before? With tea, oxidation refers to how and when the oxidation occurs, and how and when the oxidation stops.

The process of white tea is quite minimal which includes drying and withering almost immediately after picking. Some refer to white tea as a “raw” tea. The secrets of the teas withering process varies from region to region in Fujian China and depends on climate conditions and family traditions. White tea gets its name from a silvery type down that cover the leaves and buds, known as “Hao.”

Green tea leaves are plucked then immediately cooked to prevent oxidization. Japanese greens are generally steamed resulting in a bright green infusion while Chinese greens are pan, or wok roasted to neutralize the natural enzymes, rolled, then dried which results in a pale green color. 

Full leave Black Tea leaves are produced through a rolling and cooking action resulting in 100% oxidization process. As a result, black tea generally provides a robust and brisk flavor and as the juices are brought to the surface from the rolling action the effect contains more caffeine than the teas in other categories.

Finally, Oolong Teas are hand tossed in baskets to bruise the leaves and release essential oils that initiate the oxidation process then withered between 2-8 hours depending on moisture, climate, and results the artisan is looking to achieve.  Oolong teas being partially oxidized can be categorized generally in between a Green Tea and Black Tea in terms of length of oxidation, strength of flavor and caffeine content. Oolongs can be between 1% oxidized which would be closer to a green tea up to 99% oxidized closer to a black tea. 

What is Tea?

Being that we have an entire blog dedicated to the art of tea, I thought that it might be interesting to take a step back to discuss what exactly tea is.

If someone was to ask you what tea was, what would you say? A warm comforting pot shared with a friend? A delicious thirst quencher on a hot summer day? Perhaps a healthy elixir that makes you feel centered and focused? You would all be right, but when we speak of the word tea specifically, we are referring to the Camellia Sinensis plant. The word is Latin in origin and translates to Chinese Plant. Legend has it that China is where the discovery of tea began, when a leaf of a Camellia Sinensis plant blew into the Emperor’s cup of hot water by chance.

Many botanicals and other plants are considered tea. Technically speaking, however, anything that is not originated from a type of Camellia Sinensis plant, is better defined as a Tisane, or herbal infusion. Some examples of tisanes are Egyptian Chamomile, Mint Teas, and Rooibos Tea, which comes from an African red bush.

We have now narrowed down the true sense of the word tea to only teas from the Camellia Sinensis plants, but I know what you are saying, “Dave, All this talk about tea is making me thirsty.” Fine then, I will wait ‘til you grab your favorite cup of tea or tisane.

OK. As you are searching your favorite cup of tea, you have probably noticed that this one tea plant is responsible for literally thousands of different varieties. To go into detail of each of them would take quite some time, so let’s break them up into four categories: White, Green, Oolong and Black. In a nutshell, the main component that determines what type of tea the Camellia Sinensis plant becomes, is oxidation. We won’t get into this now, but we’ll be back to fill you in on what oxidation is, and what happens to tea during this process.