LTH Home

Todd & Holland: Black Iron High Mt. Ali Shan

Todd & Holland: Black Iron High Mt. Ali Shan
  • Forum HomePost Reply BackTop
  • Todd & Holland: Black Iron High Mt. Ali Shan

    Post #1 - May 21st, 2004, 12:06 pm
    Post #1 - May 21st, 2004, 12:06 pm Post #1 - May 21st, 2004, 12:06 pm
    Todd & Holland: Black Iron High Mt. Ali Shan

    Yesterday, around 4:00 PM, I stopped in at Todd & Holland, tea merchants; I just needed to grab some customizable tea bags. I ran into Bill Todd, and we started talking about his recent trip to China. He related a story about how he had to stay over a few days extra, and so ended up spontaneously going into the mountains in northern Taiwan for an unplanned visit with a tea master who handcrafts Black Iron High Mt. Ali Shan: this is an oolong (semi-black) and is the most remarkable vegetable beverage I've had in a while. Bill brewed a pot, and it was full and deep, with the herbaciousness of green teas as well as the more nuanced and finished qualities of a good black. It has a "heaviness" on the tongue, but it's still very light and fresh to the taste.

    Bill had me sample it in three different cups: first a small white wide-mouthed ceramic cup, then a standard 6 oz. Jena glass cup with handle (my usual tea cup), then a Yixing clay cup. Damn, if the tea didn't taste slightly different in each cup. I suggested that perhaps it was the size of the cup mouth that shaped the aroma as it hit the nose, or the angle of the cup lip that channeled the brew upon the tongue, but Bill felt it was the actual material of the cup that made the most difference. I can't explain it, but there was a definite difference between the taste of the same tea coming from different cups.

    I was so caught up in the tasting of Black Iron, that I completely forgot the customizable tea bags I had stopped by to get; but I did pick up a small pouch of Black Iron, which, at $240 a pound, will have to last a while. Bill told me that this tea will stand up to eight infusions (!); he also pointed out that the Chinese usually dump the first infusion (the only one most Westerners drink), considering it a "wash" to simply start the tea leaves unfurling to give forth their goodness in further infusions. He hand-carried several kilos of Black Iron back from Taiwan, and when it's gone, that's it for this growing season.

    Around 6:00, after two hours of sipping several pots of Black Iron, I stumbled back into the light, relaxed, and impervious to NPR news reports of yet more disturbing photos and alleged war crimes perpetrated by our country's leadership. Tea puts me somewhere inside myself and outside the world. I just dig it a whole lot.

    Todd & Holland
    7577 Lake Street
    River Forest, Illinois 60305
    708-488-1264
  • Post #2 - May 21st, 2004, 5:02 pm
    Post #2 - May 21st, 2004, 5:02 pm Post #2 - May 21st, 2004, 5:02 pm
    You have unleashed me:

    On another board, I read a long rant a while back about a restaurant that, when asked for more tea, just supplied hot water for another infusion. What cretins!, the poster ranted, secure in his superior knowledge. Others piled on, and I read agog.

    I meant to reply, but let it slide. I also have been recently converted to T&H by VI and am also a customer of the Tea House, a Naperville mail order joint Al le vin told me about. And I always infuse more than once. Each infusion does taste different (more so for blends because the different components give it up at different rates). There is nothing at all wrong with multiple infusions, even with a Lipton tea bag, by which I mean the second infusion is different but nothing less than the first. The main problems, and they are large, with tea service at most US eating establishments are:

    - Water temperature
    - Quality of tea
    - Contamination of water, in general, and
    - Contamination of water, cup and every damn thing with coffee.

    Sorry for the rant. :wink:

    But I am reading your notes and one of these days I will post some of my own. I do have a lovely Black Jasmine I often have in the morning from the Tea House (www.theteahouse.com) - lovely mix of jasmine green and fine black, which gives it a great nose. But I do like T&H better because I can go smell and taste the teas.
    d
    Feeling (south) loopy
  • Post #3 - May 25th, 2004, 9:15 am
    Post #3 - May 25th, 2004, 9:15 am Post #3 - May 25th, 2004, 9:15 am
    David,

    I see you use empty tea bags. I've been meaning to try some for ease of use at work. Are they a pain?

    Thanks,
    Al
  • Post #4 - May 25th, 2004, 9:30 am
    Post #4 - May 25th, 2004, 9:30 am Post #4 - May 25th, 2004, 9:30 am
    Al,

    The customizable (i.e., "fill yourself") tea bags sold at Todd & Holland -- which come in something like 2, 4 and 8 cup sizes -- are essential. I use a slightly oversized bag so that the leaves can unfold and release all their deliciousness. Tea balls are usually way too small to allow leaf expansion.

    With customizable tea bags, you just add the tea (usually three-quarters of a teaspoon or one teaspoon per cup); you can even, if adventurous, create your own blends, no problem. These bags are durable, and stand up to multiple infusions.

    Customizable tea bags are harder to use than ready-made bags, of course, but ready-mades are routinely filled with inferior leaf ("dust and fannings," as it's called in the tea trade).

    David
  • Post #5 - May 25th, 2004, 9:31 am
    Post #5 - May 25th, 2004, 9:31 am Post #5 - May 25th, 2004, 9:31 am
    David,

    Maybe you should team up with Bill to be the Riedel of the tea cup biz.

    BTW, glad to see you frequenting Bill's shop. He is truly a great guy. A few years ago I contacted him about advertising in the now defunct Local Palate. We must have spoke for a couple hours about marketing a small niche food/drink business. I also ran into him when we both poured our wares at a Feast of the Senses two years ago. Unfortunately, I don't get down to his neck of the woods to often anymore.

    Cheers,
    Al
  • Post #6 - May 25th, 2004, 11:48 am
    Post #6 - May 25th, 2004, 11:48 am Post #6 - May 25th, 2004, 11:48 am
    I use a slightly oversized bag so that the leaves can unfold and release all their deliciousness. Tea balls are usually way too small to allow leaf expansion.


    Thank you, David, I must try this. The Bride, ever on the lookout for shiny tschotchkes (sp?), has developed a collection of tea strainers, the least pretty of which (a one inch diameter mesh ball on the end of a metal handle) is the most usable. But the customizable tea bags sound much better, and I do not imagine they are harder to use than tea balls.

    Good to see you here, Al.
    d
    Feeling (south) loopy

Contact

About

Team

Advertize

Close

Chat

Articles

Guide

Events

more