Do Pekoe Buds Really Make Black Tea Taste Better?

Recently I have been considering whether pekoe buds make black tea taste better. To the best of my knowledge the black teas that are graded the highest have a high content of pekoe buds. Pekoe buds are those golden leaves you see blended amongst the assortment of black leaves in black tea. In early spring when young buds are sprouting, they have white fuzz that grows on the leaf before it is fully matured. When black tea is made this fuzz turns golden in the oxidation process. These spring buds are considered to be the best tasting, highest quality tea and teas that have an abundance of buds fetch higher prices than those with less. This idea seems to be a western creation. The Chinese do not drink such tea. The black tea that is drunk in china does not have these buds and is called red tea because of the color of its brew. Now this may seem crazy, but I get the feeling that the Chinese know way more about tea than any of us.

The best black tea I have ever had was void of pekoe buds, because the cultivar that this tea was made from does not produce pekoe buds. On the other hand, one of the foulest tasting black teas I have ever had was only pekoe buds. These teas were Hong Yu, and Yunnan Gold. Both were extremely fresh and expensive. The reason why the Yunnan gold tasted so bad is because it tasted like blue cheese. In another word, it tasted like ferment. The Hong Yu on the other hand was clean and fresh with a whole list of tasting notes.

My theory is this: Pekoe buds, while being oxidized with the other leaves, over ferment creating, off flavors. The hairs on the pekoe buds are oxidizing and actually fermenting at a much faster rate than the leaf itself. The flavors present in these teas are similar to pu-ehr and not pleasant. If I wanted to taste cheese then I would go to a cheese shop. If you do not taste cheese in Yunnan, there could be many reasons. First off, as the tea ages it gets stale and loses its character, in this case it is actually a good thing. Secondly, the amount of pekoe buds varies from tea to tea. The one I am referring to is all buds. The reason I think that pekoe buds are preferred by westerners is because most teas are not drunk fresh and most black teas get milk added. The golden hairs on the buds go stale very fast, making all tea made with buds difficult to keep fresh. The hairs are small and fluffy and are exposed to oxygen much easier than tea leaves without hairs.

Another interesting observation is the coloration in the tea. There are some buds that are a darker color gold and some that have a dusty yellowish white look. This shows the unevenness of the oxidation process.

I was so thrown back by the flavor of this Yunnan gold that it has me wondering about all the teas made this way. Now that I noticed the flavor of those buds, I can taste it in any Yunnan that has golden buds. The less pekoe buds the less cheese-like flavor I get in the cup. I am scouting out some golden teas to taste, especially from other places besides Yunnan, so that I can do some more thorough research about this. I will post the results as I find them

-Silas

New Cultivar Taiwan No. 18

To most of the tea world, Taiwan is known for it's wonderful Paochongs and Bai Hao Oolongs and for good reasons. Focus on these styles of tea has brought the world some of the best and most interesting teas. While most of the tea produced in Taiwan has been Oolong, The Tea Research and Extension Station located in the hills surrounding Sun Moon Lake has also focused on the development and production of black tea. Producing 11 of the 20 new cultivars since 1969 suited for black tea, a peak was reached with the development of cultivar number 18. Released officially in 1999 this tea is basically unknown outside of Taiwan. Crossing an assam strain from Burma and a local wild tea strain, the Research and Extension station has created one of the most truly unique and quality black teas in the world.

One of the things that makes this tea unique is the fact that it is a cross between an Assam strain and a Taiwan wild strain. The Taiwan wild variety of tea is most similar to the China plant but classified as a separate variety from the two main varieties, Assam and China plants, because it is really a different plant. Number 18 is a strong bush with fairly thick leathery leaves and a purplish shine. It is of much lower yield than the other cultivars created in Taiwan for black tea and has large buds but no pekoe growths. The survival rate is 87.6%, it has strong heat resistance and has a fairly strong resistance to disease, making this cultivar ideal to grow.

Of course, none of this would matter if the taste was not there. This tea is known for its mint and cinnamon qualities and these flavors were certainly present when we cupped it. Not only are those flavors present but we also got rose, molasses, honey and lemon verbena as well. This time when we cupped this tea, we initially did not share tasting notes. Ben C. brought this back from Taiwan and made all of us taste the tea separately and without telling us what it tasted like. Jaime initially got cinnamon and mint, when he and Ben and Hong cupped it. Hong added rose to the notes and then they decided to test the palates of Ben K, Judson and I. Ben, after a long day of espresso shot tasting and barista-ing, still came through with the same tasting notes. That is how powerful and defined this tea is.

Originally when we cupped this tea, from a different batch/producer/farm that was sent from Taiwan, we were not that impressed. It is fairly generic with much more subtle notes and some off flavors. When Ben C. asked the Taiwan Research and Extension Station about this, they said that this was because of the inferior processing of the batch we had received. This just goes to show how important processing is in bringing out the flavor of the cultivar and the end result of the tea.

This is another in the line of many great steps towards the development of quality tea in Taiwan. The Taiwan Research and Extension station plans to further the development of both black tea and wild tea cultivars in the future. It takes them about 21 years to develop a cultivar to the point where it can be used in commercial production and from what I can see, this is time well spent. In the past, the black tea that Taiwan has produced was low quality and exported, and since 1999 one of the goals has been to promote it locally. Promotion for high quality exports of Taiwan no. 18 or Hong Yu (Red Jade) are also on the way.