Tea!

[ann_leckie]

If you’ve read Ancillary Justice, you know that tea is very important to the Radchaai. As it happens, tea is also important to the events of Ancillary Sword, and not just because it takes place firmly inside Radch space. It so happens that Athoek System has a planet where tea is grown, so tea is extra important there.

I’ve been asked if Radchaai “tea” is really tea, or if it’s perhaps just a convenient term for some sort of Space Caffeine. In fact, it’s tea. As in made from the leaves of Camellia sinensis. We sometimes call nearly any sort of vegetable matter steeped in hot water “tea” but technically speaking, if it’s not Camellia sinensis, it’s not tea. It’s probably a tisane. Many of which are quite nice! But they’re not quite, you know, tea.

All the various types of tea are made from basically the same plant, but there’s quite a variety available. Some of that variety is due to different cultivars of Camellia sinensis, but quite a lot is a result of the different ways the leaves are picked and processed. Depending on the sort of tea, leaves might be left to sit and wither for varying periods of time before being steamed or pan-fried or air-dried (which halts the oxidation process that’s been supposedly* happening while the leaves wither); bruised, cut, or rolled to encourage even more oxidation; dried again; or even left to age and actually ferment.

The end result is a wide range of very different teas, all produced from essentially the same plant. Roughly you can divide them up as white tea (the most minimally processed, briefly withered and then dried), green tea, oolong, black tea, and pu erh (this is the aged, fermented category, though in the past forty or so years it’s been possible to make something allegedly very like the long aged and fermented pu erhs in just a couple of years, and this sort of pu erh has become relatively widely available. It happens to be the only sort I’ve tried, which is why I say “allegedly”), but there’s quite a lot of variety just within those categories.

White teas aren’t too difficult to find these days–in fact, they’re a bit trendy. But white tea’s trendiness is nothing compared to green tea! Green tea is definitely in these days. There’s nothing wrong with the stuff from Lipton or Bigelow or whoever in the grocery store aisles, if it tastes good to you, but consider trying some of the Chinese green teas (I’m partial to pi lo chun, myself). Or try gyokuro, which is a Japanese green tea made from the leaves of plants that have been deliberately shaded, which affects the flavor. Or try genmaicha, which is green tea mixed with roasted rice, or hojicha, which has been pretty seriously charcoal roasted and tastes like it. It’s not one of my favorites, but you might like it. (I also strongly dislike lapsang souchong, which is a black tea that’s been smoked over pinewood, and tastes basically like drinking the ashes of a tragic Christmas tree lot fire. People I love and respect adore drinking the stuff, though, go figure.)

Oolong! So-so oolong is, you know, so-so. But find yourself some good Ti Kuan Yin (sometimes called Goddess of Mercy, or, for reasons I don’t grasp, Iron Goddess of Mercy). Or, currently my favorite oolong is the Milk Oolong sold by the Republic of Tea. (Bonus–if you get on their mailing list, every now and then they send out a paper mailing that often includes a sample tea bag.) There are lots of different sorts of oolong, of course, lots of individual variation in the process that produces oolong teas, but those are my favorites right now.

Black tea is what you probably think of when you think “tea” if you’re in the US or the UK. Most of what’s available in US or UK grocery stores is a blend of various black teas. Wanna taste the unblended stuff? Check out a fujian black or a keemun (both Chinese) or a darjeeling or assam (both Indian). Tea plants are native to China, by the way, but in the mid 1800s the British were, for various reasons, quite anxious to be able to grow tea in their own territories. They tried sneaking seeds and plants out of China to grow in India, with very little success. Eventually they found a variety of the plant growing wild in Northeast India, and they were off to the races.

Pu ehr is easier to find these days–I swear I saw bags of Lipton pu ehr at the store the other day, in fact. It’s generally very smooth with a very earthy flavor. It doesn’t get bitter even if you steep it for ages. Get a small amount and see if you like it. Not everyone does. (I do!)

You can get tea bags, and loose leaf tea, and even tea bricks–it’s not done much anymore, but steaming tea and pressing it into bricks makes it easier to store and carry long distances, and it keeps much longer that way. There’ve been times and places where bricks of tea were used as money. Most of the tea bricks I’ve seen that are easily available in the US aren’t actually meant for consumption, though, they’re just meant to be cool objects. But the pricey, long-aged pu erh is still formed into bricks or cakes. Poke around ebay for a bit and you’ll find some.

By the way, it’s not true that you can “rinse” nearly all the caffeine out of tea by steeping it very quickly in hot water and then discarding it. There are styles of preparing tea that call for that, but there’ll still be plenty of caffeine in the next steep. It’s also not necessarily true that white tea has hardly any caffeine, (which I’ve heard asserted several times) or that green tea has less than black. Just something to keep in mind, if caffeine is an issue for you.

So now, if you’re still with me, you’re wondering what sort of tea do the Radchaai drink? And the answer is, it depends. Radch space is huge, and no doubt various sorts of tea are popular in various places. But the cheapest, easiest to find tea is bricked, and shipped very long distances, probably quite slowly, so plenty of time to age. So if you want to know what the lowest-common-denominator tea is like, maybe it’s something like pu erh. If you want a step up from that, you might try the various flavored teas based on pu erh. Because adding flowers or fruit or whatever else to tea has been a thing for ages, is still a thing today, and will probably continue to be a thing as long as tea is drunk.

There’s a named tea in Ancillary Sword: it’s called Daughter of Fishes, and best I can tell you is, it’s something like a really good oolong. So try some Ti Kuan Yin.

But what, you might be asking, is Breq’s everyday cuppa? Probably some sort of green tea, actually. If you’re new to green tea, by the way, it can be quite bitter if you brew it too hot or too long. Try just one or two minutes at first. And if you can, try brewing it at about 170F. (This is easier if you have a variable temperature kettle, which [cough] some of us do. (It’s research!) Or you can boil the water and then let it cool down to 170. Or, you know, not, whatever, the short brewing time might fix the bitterness up fine.) As I said above, I’m partial to pi lo chun just now, but I’ve also got something I ordered from Yunomius that I was pretty sure was an aracha, but now I’m not sure exactly what it is, because the package is all in Japanese and I can’t find it on the site, but it’s very good!

Incidentally, if you haven’t already, I recommend at least trying loose leaf. It’s not that hard to do–you can get a teapot with a little basket that lets you easily pull the used leaves out, or a sort of pot that you set on top of your cup and the tea drains down, or an infuser that will sit in your cup that’s easy to empty and rinse out.

Or, you know, not, if that’s too fussy for you. The important thing is to end up with a cup of tea that you enjoy, so whatever works.

____
*I say “supposedly” because from what I can tell, what’s actually happening here is poorly understood. Also, note that while some steps in tea processing (particularly black tea processing) are often described as “fermentation,” there’s no actual fermentation taking place. Unless, of course, you’re talking about pu ehr.

Mirrored from Ann Leckie.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I have ALL THE LOVE for this entry. Having spent years in Japan, matcha, mugicha (tea with barley, drunk in summer), and genmaicha are all favorites. Oh, and oolong-cha (as it's called in Japan), in a can from a vending machine--SO NOSTALGIC. I also love jasmine tea, mmmmm, and chai--not the sort of chai you get in teabags, because I don't believe you can make it that way--but the homemade sort, where you mix loose tea and cardamom and honey in a saucepan of milk (at least, that's the way I was shown to make it).

Pu erh I only tried when my son introduced me to it, but I liked it well enough. And I love ceylon tea and darjeeling tea, and OH TEA.

Daughter of Fishes ♥ Okay, I'll go try some Ti Kuan Yin.

(Are you introducing more Ancillary Justice teas over at Adagio?)

[ann-leckie.livejournal.com]

I've actually blended a tea for each Emanation. EtrepaBo is up, and available. (And contains lapsang souchong. Despite my dislike for it, there's only a small amount but that small amount adds a nice smokey flavor.)

The logical next tea to make public would be EskVar--but it's based on a pu ehr and both of Adagio's plain pu ehrs are out of stock except in the Western half of the US! I am frustrate.

Actually one of the four is still maybe under development. I am pondering. But. Yes, there are at least four teas to add to the initial three!

I have some matcha, but have clearly not got the trick of preparing it. The time I tried it, it was horrendously bitter. I haven't tried again.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Awesome; I will go order!

And as for matcha, it *is* very bitter. You're supposed to drink it in tandem with a sweet. Though it's easy to make it too strong--if it's not too strong, then the bitterness can be appealing rather than horrible (...but only if you're into it, so YMMV, of course).

[ann-leckie.livejournal.com]

Ah, so maybe I should try again! I'll re-research the preparation and give it another go. With something sweet to go with it!

[c-maxx.livejournal.com]

Thank you, now I know why my green tea is always bitter.

I once doubled the amount, trying to put some color into some good home country Chinese jasmine tea, and spent the next four hours zooming around in the stratosphere...

Many a pitfall in that tea business!

[ann-leckie.livejournal.com]

Indeed!

Getting the water to temp probably wouldn't be too bad, as long as you had a kitchen thermometer. My kettle heats to green tea temp really quickly, and it might be worth it to do some experiments--if you use a kettle, what temp is it when you first hear that "starting to boil" sound? And so on. Then you wouldn't have to temp it every time. Though you'd have to pay close attention to the kettle.

Mmmm Jasmine tea.

[qian.livejournal.com]

Ti Kuan Yin (sometimes called Goddess of Mercy, or, for reasons I don’t grasp, Iron Goddess of Mercy)

When I read this I was like, "'Cos Ti is iron and Kuan Yin is the Goddess of Mercy ma." But I don't know why the tea should be called ti or indeed Kuan Yin!

JING Tea is very nice. A danger to the wallet -- but nice. They do these great tea explorers where you can try various kinds of the varieties you mention (a green & white tea explorer, a pu er one, etc).

I also really dislike lapsang souchong (my friends and I call it "temple tea" -- because it tastes like a temple smells, smoke and incense), but I love hojicha. *_*

[ann-leckie.livejournal.com]

Ah! I recognized the "Kuan Yin" of course, but not the "Ti." But then, why that name, as you say? Wiki suggests there are two origin stories, one about a temple with an iron statue of the goddess, and one featuring a rock called "Kuan Yin." Hmm.

And ooooh, thanks for the link!

[barbarienne.livejournal.com]

I'm a fan of tea sacs (the long paper envelopes you fill with your own loose leaf tea). I'll also brew loose leaf tea directly in the pot and filter it as I pour it into the mug. I'm always amazed by

(a) how big those leaves are compared to the stuff in commercial tea bags, and

(b) how large they swell up to.

You're making me want to get some pu erh because my general preference is for black tea, followed by oolong, followed by green, with white trailing far in the distance. Clearly I like my tea aged. I like a few herbals (which as you note aren't technically tea), mostly ones with nuts so when I add milk and sugar they taste like cookies.

Oddly, I hate iced tea. Whether cold-brewed or made from good hot tea, it's all universally icky to my palate. Meanwhile, if my hot tea cools off to room temperature, I'm still okay with finishing it.

My current favorite is Organic Monk's Blend from Capital Teas. My go-to "I don't want to make decisions, I just want a dependably tasty cup of tea" is Harney & Sons Paris.

I see that Palais de Thés sells the expensive pu erh cakes (and less expensive non-cake variety).

[ann-leckie.livejournal.com]

I really like pu erh a lot. I like the Harney & Sons stuff I've tried (I particularly like their blackcurrant which is nice and blackcurranty) and have been eyeing Paris. I might have to get some!

I go through phases. For a while I was in oolong phase. RIght now I'm mostly in a green phase. White tea--yeah, it's generally a bit too...subtle for me. But it does play nicely in some blends.

[carl-allery.livejournal.com]

Having gone off dairy, I've started to ring the changes in the teas I consume through the day. I usually start with Lady Grey (I don't mind Earl Grey, but Lady works best first thing) and then alternate PG Tips (i.e. English breakfast) and Twinings' Chai. Lapsong Souchong only works for me occasionally and I really have to be in the mood. I had a nice cuup of Russion Caravan in a café the other day though and you've just prompted me to go and dig out the Fortnum and Mason's Russian Caravan I picked up a while ago.

I've enjoyed the jasmine tea I've had in restaurants, but generally I've not been enthused about the green or white tea I've tried at home. And I'm generally wary about what's added into fruity teas so they're just something for when I really need to ring the changes.

Tea - it's important. :)

[ann-leckie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I haven't had Russian Caravan in ages. Haven't even seen any around. I shouldn't buy any until I've dug out from under the pile of tea I've already got, though...

I actually start out with one coffee, for maximum caffeine kick. And then I switch to tea. But at this point, I've got forty bazillion kinds of tea to choose from, so I more or less grab something and then have that.

What to drink this morning. Hmm...

It took me a while to get used to green tea. Also having the kettle that would heat water to different temps really made a difference there. White, eh, mostly a bit too subtle for me.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

I use fill-your-own tea bags. They are very handy. (I'm presently on my second pot of Margaret's Hope Darjeeling, which is perfect for mornings, especially mornings when I feel as though I'm coming down with a cold.)

The tea, and all the social business about tea, is one of the things I enjoy an awful lot about the books. *g*

[ann-leckie.livejournal.com]

:D

Those fill your own tea bags are handy! I have some that I've used while traveling, but I forgot I had them!

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

Yes yes, enough about normal good-tasting teas! I want to know where to get my hands on (or at least read a description of, i.e. durian, natto, etc.) the Orsian non-tea!

[ann-leckie.livejournal.com]

Hah! I have been pondering this myself! I'm not sure there's anything at Adagio that would make something "thick and sweet" or really would even approach "almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea." I'm currently playing with the idea of doing something based on rooibos (disadvantage--I really don't like rooibos at all) or perhaps mate, which does have caffeine, and theoretically could be made thick and sweet and be really not like tea, but once again, Adagio doesn't really offer anything to blend it with that seems appropriate. So I am pondering.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

I AM pondering what you're pondering!