Continued from Compressed Teas and Tisanes Beyond Pu’er – Part 2
Compressed Tisanes
A final frontier not everyone even wants to venture into or would have heard of. Again I tried two completely different tisane bars from Moychay (they sent me quite a few samples to review last year, and I’ve even started contributing some review-article content to their website).
The first was a compressed fruit that seemed to contain a bit of spice: Really far from standard tea in character, but pleasant. The pressed version of dried fruits was definitely different. The other was a pressed version of willow herb, which also goes by fireweed and is also called Ivan chay. This herb is really unique for being able to oxidize in a way similar to tea (Camellia Sinensis), although
If the way it works out were similar to “real tea” versions, pressing the herbs would only change the loose material character a little. They’re not the same as Camellia Sinensis but the wider range of materials to input enables a different range of potential. Any herb, flower, or fruit blend could be combined and pressed that way, in theory. Or mixes of teas and other ingredients, which is a popular theme in Western markets now. One potential downside is that there’s no current market demand for such a thing (pressed tisanes and blends
I think the compressed tisane theme was more appealing to me because trying the one local shop’s white tea bar and Moychay Da Hong Pao (roasted oolong) were such positive experiences. Both of those could be brewed Gongfu style, prepared in a
The fruit tea version would even work well simmered with black tea–perhaps with a bit more spice added–to make a fruit-oriented version of masala chai. Or these could be added to a thermos and left to brew that way, over any length of time. That would seem to involve committing a thermos to the practice since cleaning after something that aromatic might be problematic: Maybe even if the liner was made of glass or steel. Tisanes have the potential to be even more flexible than teas to brew (with the exception of tea types that aren’t astringent and work well at any infusion strength, like
Really there are too many types of tea to get to among standard types as it is, but all of these make for interesting tangents and additional range to explore.
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Dear John,
This 3-part series is so rich and interesting, it feels like a class on compressed teas. There’s so much diversity. And I appreciate that you’ve gone beyond the trendiness and shared so many of the reasons why it’s important. Your work provides a lot of the nuances about tea processing. The video about black tea processing that compares Yunnan sun-dried vs. traditional applied heat brings out some of the differences that processing makes. This is one of those articles (all 3 parts) that bears re-reading several times.
Thank you,
That’s very nice of you to say. It’s funny the contrast in someone on Reddit commenting on a link that I’d missed an obvious inclusion in Shui Xian mini tablets, which I think I’ve seen referred to as “pillows.” It’s hard to get framing clear in posts that cover much ground, to really spell out what is or isn’t covered and why, but this was just supposed to be some main types I’ve tried. The world of Chinese tea is too broad for any one person to try it all, and some versions come from elsewhere, or are modern takes. Like dok cha, Korean compressed tea disks, or falap, a bamboo-stuffed version like pu’er from Assam, both of which I’ve tried to turn up but haven’t just yet. Related to all that, a main theme for me is not trying to drink the ocean, to explore at whatever natural pace new things come up.