A selection from my media collection:
Teance Presents: The Renaissance of Tea, from Teance: the new tea tradition.
Produced and directed by F. Lit Yu
Music by Wang Guo Wei
Original Chinese art by Chitfu Yu
Featuring James Norwood Pratt
Running time 49 min.; color ; DVD format ; 2005
Barcode: 854918001099
The Teance website says that this is the “first ever DVD on China and Taiwan teas”. I bought it at Teance: the new tea tradition in Berkeley, California because it was the first ever DVD that I have seen on tea and I want to learn as much as I can about tea.
The forty-nine minute video presents the following chapters: Introduction, History, The Gaiwan, Fundamentals, Accoutrements, Ritual of Tea, Tea Categories, White Peony, Silver Needle, Sencha, Dragon Well, Tikuanyin, Baochong, Keemun, Pu-erh, Tea is Meditative, Tea Production, Tea in America. It has "additional feature" sections of Chitfu Yu on Chinese Art, About Teance and About Wang Guowei.
I find this video extremely useful for quite a few reasons. The fact that these are moving images goes a long way towards explaining how to perform the acts involved in using a gaiwan, which is a small lidded cup used in China for the brewing and serving of tea. It may also be used for the direct drinking of teas that do not become bitter with prolonged steeping, such as white teas. There is also coverage of how to use the small, clay Yixing teapots. This type of instruction is not easy to come by except by direct demonstration from someone knowledgeable.
To explain further, gaiwans and Yixing teapots may be used to serve tea in the “gong-fu” style of Chinese tea culture as this video demonstrates. Gong-fu tea service is not as well known or as ritualized as the Japanese whisked matcha tea ceremony associated with matcha tea. It is also meant to serve a wide range of teas, not just one type as in the matcha tea ceremony. Gong-fu tea service is much easier to learn and use and is therefore more “accessible” and relevant to the average tea enthusiast. Although I have found websites that show the steps of gong-fu tea service graphically, it is much more useful to see the moving images in this DVD.
There are utensils involved in Chinese tea culture that are unfamiliar to tea servers who follow other tea traditions. This video explains what these utensils are and how they are properly used.
There is footage of the steps involved in the production of tea from the fields to the finished product. This information is useful in its own right for its educational value. It is also useful to those who want to know how to harvest and prepare tea from their own Camellia sinensis plants but it only gives the information in a general way so it is not an “how-to” on tea production.
The chapters on the different categories of tea and on the specific named teas help illuminate the viewer as to what the categories “white”, “green”, “oolong” and “black” mean and how their brewing temperatures, times and repeated steepings vary. This chapter is followed by descriptions of some representative premium teas from the different tea categories.
Lastly, one of the missions of Teance, as evidenced in this video, is clearly to inform its audience of the general history of tea as well as the value of tea in our daily lives, including its meditative and health value. When you enter the physical premises of Teance, as I do almost weekly, it is evident how serious they are about presenting high-quality, natural, premium teas, properly made, in small amounts, with intense multi-sensory awareness of the experience. It is possible to experience some of this atmosphere by watching this video as I do, again and again. I highly recommend this video to anyone who wants to learn more about Chinese tea culture, the gong-fu tea tradition or the “new tea tradition” of the folks at Teance.
Online Resources:
Teance Presents: The Renaissance of Tea, 49 min., DVD, 2005.
The back cover of the DVD case reads:
From Teance, an importer of fine teas, comes this comprehensive introduction to premium tea:
What defines tea and what are the different types worldwide?
How do white, green, oolong, red and black teas differ?
How is each type of tea properly prepared?
What equipment is needed?
Featuring James Norwood Pratt, author of New Tea Lover’s Treasury.
Filmed on location in China, Taiwan and the U.S.
Interviews with tea authorities and growers.
On-site look at how tea is processed from plant form to beverage.
Extensive instructional section on the correct procedures and nuances of tea-making.
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