Yearning Tea Plantation in Meizhou China

A few weeks ago, Winnie Yu, one of the owners of Teance Fine Teas in Berkeley, California hosted a book signing event for The Hakka Cookbook. In the zen-like atmosphere of this tea shop designed by Fu-Teng Cheng, the tea shop staff served several recipes from my book with premium teas while  I talked about my Hakka journey. The enthusiastic audience was relaxed and totally engaged. Perhaps that is the magic of drinking premium teas with food, it soothes the soul and creates energy.

Speaking at the tea bar at Teance Fine Teas in Berkeley, California.

Winnie says, “Appreciating artisanal teas is a lot like appreciating great wines.” For our event, she served mostly fine oolong teas, semi-oxidized and roasted teas that seem to go with a wide variety of foods. I think of oolong, similar to a Pinot Noir, with lovely aromas, complex flavors, and a full-bodied palate. The oolong teas can range from greenish and floral to darker and fruitier. We started with Old Grove Shuixian with dark cinnamon notes that we drank by itself while we waited for guests to assemble.

Behind the scenes, samples from The Hakka Cookbook to serve with tea at Teance.

We sipped the full-bodied Tieguanyin Light Roast with Salt-baked Shrimp (page 62) and  Garlic Chile Eggplant Sticks (page 56). Phoenix Almond Oolong with the taste of almonds complemented the neutral Steamed Rice Cake (page 174) with the sweet-sour-medium hot Pickled Red Chiles (page 72). We tasted the spicy-sweet Taiwan Beauty with the Chewy Rice Morsels in Sweet Peanut Powder (page 97).  With the robust flavored Braised Taro in Bean Sauce (page 219), we drank a Red Plum Black tea, a darker, fully oxidized tea.

This book event reminded me of our afternoon at a tea plantation on our scouting trip in China. In the mountains of Meizhou, we visited the Hakka owned Yearning Tea Plantation. There we tasted the local dancong tea, an oolong tea noted for its ability to soothe the throat. The company logo, a flying wild goose, represents the Hakka fleeing from the north to the south, a fitting tribute to tea and the Hakka.