On Sep 17, 10:58 pm, Charles Dawson > wrote:
> I visited the Sakuma Brother's Farms tea fields this weekend and it was
> slightly disappointing.

> Still, it was a treat to see actual
> tea bushes grown commercially in person.
>
> They were sold out of their green but they did have some packages of
> white left from their first harvest. As promised the leaves were only
> FOP and OP, but they were neither rolled nor twisted, and there was
> little white-tea fuzz present anywhere. They were packaged horribly --
> in clear plastic bags, folded over and "sealed" only with a
> computer-printed label. I can only imagine that they'll see lots of
> light, heat, and moisture damage and it will go stale quickly.

To achieve success in agro tourism you must match or exceed
expectations - this often causes a packaging dilemma for the specialty
producer: does my target audience want an understated eco friendly
approach or a svelt up market pack for its $135 per lb product?
Unless Richard Sakuma's clientele has changed in the five years since
I visited the farm I would think they are looking for "farm shop
simple". Which is not to say that the simplicity should not meet the
functional requirements of excluding ingress of moisture, light and
taint and egress of tea aroma.


> The resulting brew was different than expected -- almost no tea flavor
> but a very present fruity tone that was somewhere between dried apple
> and strawberry. We're not sure if they were just not careful about aroma
> contamination during processing or if the tea bushes themselves picked
> up some aroma from the immediately-adjacent berry fields.

The fruit flavor of this new origin tea really is interesting as i)
it's not a taste I have ever found in China Whites, nor Ceylon, yet b)
it's a taste we get in some African whites - though not our Malawi
White Teas (these have a delicate floral aroma and taste - a little
like wild rose) but we certainly do get the fragarant apple aroma in
our Pearl rolled Malawi teas (there isn't a category for these teas
yet - they are hand rolled white teas but whites cannot by definition
be rolled, not green teaa as the enzymes are not zapped, not black
teas as there is no oxidation - closest I can get so far to a
definition (by taste and form) is a White Oolong but that's sure to
upset the purists. I have also found this distinct fruit aroma in the
Kenya whites (unrolled) that I have tasted - but not in them the
floral notes of the Malawi's. We also find cedar wood and wintergreen
in a few of the Malawi Whites - there are more than 30 cultivars to
try all with different nuances. These are teas looking for a home.

>
> At $8.95 for 1.1 oz (about $135 per pound) it's not unreasonable for a
> high-quality tea (and certainly not for fresh tea), but I'm not sure the
> flavor quite qualifies as truly high-quality.
>
Washington State grown tea is rare - and rarity sets its own price -
our special Antlers d'Amour which are the tender velvety stems of the
finest flush - yes, White Tea tea just made from only the the juicy
stems with the leaves and buds removed(!) are selling retail in the
USA at $12 per half oz ($384 per lb) - but to my certain knowledge
this product (which concentrates the aroma in the stem and the
superfluous bud and leaves would just dilute the effect) is unique in
the tea world.

Nigel at Teacraft