Tea AMA: Meet Zach Mangan of Tea Wing

Shincha, the first spring picked tea from Japan, is arguably my favorite. The anticipation and the excitement of tasting the subtleties of the new season is as good as it gets for me.

Tea culture in Japan has changed quite a bit and it continues to change. Cha no Yu, or Tea Ceremony, flourished during the 15th ad 16th century under the guidance of Murate Jukou and Sen No Rikyu. It grew out of Zen principles and became fashionable at all levels of society. Several schools of tea splintered and still exist today. The major three are: Urasenke, Omoto-senke, and Mushakouji-senke. While originally wildly popular, now days, Tea Ceremony is still practiced but primarily by the older generations. Outside of Kyoto and other tea specific regions, interest is even less. In terms of tea production, Japan continues to grow and modernize it’s industry. Again, most producers are older, but unlike tea ceremony, growing/producing tea is attracting younger people these days. That is a positive sign suggesting that tea alive and well in Japan.

We already and have a will continue to do so in greater detail. You can see some candid shots of some producers we work with in Fukuoka here: http://goo.gl/vqLhhE

I love the Kyoto Journal #71, “Tea”: http://www.kyotojournal.org/kjback/kjback71.html

Tea, like all facets of culture differ greatly from country to country, and in a country as vast as china, from province to province. I can tell you that what Japan and China share are regionally special teas that are unique and can be made nowhere else (for example: Wuyi Rock oolongs in China, Uji gyokuro in Japan). They also share a passion for hospitality. Wherever you may travel in China or Japan you will no doubt meet people who are proud to showcase their country, culture and their tea.

Good question: I have been working with Japanese tea since 2008 and have indeed noticed some changes. Initially after the disaster, Shizuoka lost almost 2 seasons of tea due to fear of contamination. No one was buying it. This was very hard on the industry. There is still anxiety about the safety of the product from customers in the west. We receive inquiries about radiation levels in tea almost weekly. We are happy to say that Japan tests it’s tea frequently, and even then the areas closest to Fukushima (Shizuoka for example) have, since 2012, consistently tested negative for cesium and other byproducts of the melt down. We are proud to stand with farmers in Japan and support their agriculture industry post Tsunami. That being said we are also committed to the safety of our customers and the quality of our tea. If we ever felt either was compromised, we would not purchase that specific tea.

It takes a while. We take a buying trip every spring to meet with our current producers and meet new ones. Sometimes you know immediately that something is special and is a must for us to carry. Other times we can visit several farms and not find something we want to carry. Tea is special because it is combination of earth and human hand. The season, weather and soil shape the tea as much as the processing does. So each year is different. Needless to say, we drink hundreds of samples a year. Good thing we like tea…

The best way we can think of is to have them taste it. High quality tea, made well, speaks volumes. The reason I do this is because I remember tasting my first high quality tea and thinking “I’ve never had an experience like this”. That was and still is a powerful feeling. Of course, education about the labor involved in producing high quality teas also helps to understand the sticker shock. And often explaining cost per serving is surprising. 12 servings of a $40.00 tin of matcha comes out to $3.33. A vente green tea latte at Starbucks is $3.50 (but the 360 calories are free I guess)

starbucks burn

I always loved drinking tea starting from when I was a kid. I used to make tea when I got home from school when it was -15 degrees in Minnesota. So maybe it was just a protective measure to stay warm…I am naturally drawn to healthy natural things; culture; story telling; and life long pursuits. Tea ticked the boxes on all of those things.

I was working at a tea shop in NYC when I met a tourist from Japan. We began talking about tea and I had a sample of high quality tea which I shared with him. We drank it together and he commented on how it tasted so similar (and delicious) to the tea from the region of Japan he was from. Turned out he lived 40 minutes from the place where this tea came from. I told him I’d be coming to Japan for a music festival later that year and he offered to take me to the farm. We went. I fell in love with the farm and the tea. That Japanese tourist is now my business partner and that first farm accounts for about 60% of the tea we sell.

I shy away from speaking about absolutes when it comes to health and tea. Tea is undoubtedly healthy and studies continue to confirm this. The what, how, and why of it is still not completely understood. Green tea is the most widely researched of the varieties but white, black, oolong and pu-erh all have their own unique properties. My personal approach is drink what you like to drink knowing that the tea plant itself, however it is processed, is good for you. Also be wary of too many promises from tea companies in terms of the health benefits of tea.

nice over view here: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02854/Nine-Green-Teas.html