For the spring harvest, the water temperature is 60°C. The leaves will be set free in a zhong or teapot.
Traditional preparation Zhong 10cl: take 4g of tea, infuse 1′. 25 cl teapot: take 7g of tea, brew for 2′. Generally three to four infusions, depending on quality.
In preparation for the West Maximum 50cl teapot: take 7gr tea, infuse for 5′. Two infusions depending on quality.
For a one-year-old green tea, the water will be at 70°C.
The older the tea (maximum two years), the hotter the water and the longer the infusion time. This brings out the taste, but the aromas disappear and the infusion becomes astringent. The benefits disappear over time, so it’s best to drink green teas throughout the year.
Before it was a beverage, tea was a dietary supplement mixed into soups and dishes. An imperial tribute in the 10th century, like salt and other commodities, tea was exchanged for horses with the Mongols, whose diet was essentially meat-based.
From the TANG dynasty (618-907) onwards, tea became a national beverage, highly prized by nobles and the Imperial Court. Precious objects appear, as well as a technique known as “tea art”. During this period, tea was also associated with Buddhism (the Chan school), which is still used today in Japan for the “tea ceremony”, where powdered green tea is beaten.
The most important treatise on tea is Lu Yu ‘s (photo) 758 Chajing, (The Tea Classic) in three volumes and ten sections. It describes in great detail the cultivation, harvesting, preparation, water (appropriate sources), objects to use, how to drink and so on.
Tea arrived in Europe thanks to the Indo-Dutch company, around 1602. In 1640, Dutch physician Nicolas Tulpius published a medicinal treatise on tea, probably inspired by the tales of sailors from the Orient. By 1655, the drink was already widespread in Parisian high society.
Two French physicians also wrote about tea: Morisset in 1648 and Jonquet in 1657. The tea toured the courts of Europe and was adopted by the Imperial Court of Russia. It first appeared in England around 1661, but it was in 1669 that the first shipment made its official debut with the Compagnie des Indes. Such was the success of tea in England that it became an economic force, provoking a “tea war” with the Middle Kingdom.
The enormous financial stakes involved meant that special ships had to be built to bring the precious tea harvests to Europe and America as quickly as possible. Originating in China, tea is now the most widely drunk beverage in the world after water.
In China, there are as many varieties of tea as there are producers, from 8,000 to 9,000 depending on the source. Chinese teas are classified into six families: – Yellow tea – The white – Green tea – Wulong tea (Oolong) – Red tea, called black by Westerners – Black tea
Each family develops into a sub-family of varieties. The equivalent of grands crus are called Grands Jardins, which can be found in every family. In general, these Grands Jardins come from small-scale productions, some of which were reserved for the Imperial Court and are still used today by the government.
Red teas are so called by the Chinese because of the color of the infusion (it’s our black tea). Wulong is fermented between 15% and 60%, and those fermented at 15% are known as “blue-green”. They are tasted in Gong Fu Cha. White and yellow teas are rarer and more subtle, prepared with care.
Other teas, such as Pu Er, are in great demand today; they can be kept and improve for many years, as can Sheng Cha, whose fermentation has not been stopped. Pu Er Sheng Cha are the origin of tea and Chinese pharmacopoeia, imperial tributes traded by the Court to the Mongols in exchange for horses. Caravans traded from Tibet to the Persian Gulf along the famous Tea Routes.
Like our wines and spirits, tea is a knowledge, a culture. All the teas we present are teas whose origins we know exactly. As well as terroirs, picking times, processing, transport and storage. Two trips a year are devoted solely to our tea supplies. Our catalog therefore presents our teas with their picking times.
Lyne Wang is attached to her Chinese origins and the crafts of her country. So she opened Terre de Chine, a boutique specializing in genuine, high-quality Chinese tea, with a varied selection to suit everyone’s tastes.
The choice of genuine tea for a unique tasting experience
Tea is much more than a drink, it’s a true art of living. Green tea, with its high theine content, is best enjoyed in the morning, while black, red or wulong teas are best enjoyed during the day. Daily consumption is the best way to take full advantage of tea’s virtues. Since 1997, Lyne Wang has been selecting the finest teas from China for a unique taste experience. She brings together the six Chinese tea families in her Parisian boutique Terre de Chine.
Privileged contact with Chinese tea producers
For over 20 years, Lyne Wang has been traveling regularly to China to maintain a close relationship with the families of independent producers. This also enables him to keep an eye on production, so that he can always offer quality tea in his Terre de Chine boutique. Teas that come exclusively from the annual harvest, in limited quantities to guarantee freshness. Optimum storage time is two years, to enjoy all their flavours. With the exception of Pu Er Sheng Cha teas, which improve with age.
A wide choice to delight every palate
Each of the six tea families is made up of numerous varieties of tea, with different flavours. Lyne Wang’s first piece of advice is to taste different teas, excluding yellow and white teas, which are more specific, to discover the taste of real tea and identify your own preferences. On the Terre de Chine online store, teas are categorized by families and varieties, by province of production and by taste preferences, among others. In her Paris boutique, Lyne Wang takes the time to get to know her customers, to understand their daily habits and to offer them the most appropriate quality tea.
Terre de Chine has already supplied renowned establishments such as the Ritz, Crillon and Cheval Blanc. and seduced Anne-Sophie Pic’s palate. The boutique aims to offer its Chinese teas in other hotels and palaces.”
Les incontournables, article from January 31, 2022
“Purists may prefer to take refuge in authentic tea houses, such as Terre de Chine in Paris. Opened fifteen years ago by Mrs Wang, with the modest aim of “making people understand what tea is really all about”, the store is so uncluttered that it could be mistaken for a medicinal counter. But the welcome is warm, wise and generous. The teas are natural (neither flavored nor blended), sold by weight and selected directly, season after season, from small producers all over China. Here, you’ll discover delicate fragrances, unknown “terroirs”, precious vintages and infinitely gentle, precise gestures. Car “to smell tastes, you have to respect the preparations” , says MmeWang. You’ll leave with a few grams of wulong or Yunnan red tea and instructions on how to use it. infuse according to the rules of the art and closer perhaps, in this way, to the spirit of tea.” ARTICLE by Camille Labro, Le Magazine du Monde.
Master of himself and his emotions, the tea lover is also master of his time. He doesn’t drink tea standing up, like a wine lover, but seated in his living room or crouched on a tatami mat.
As Gilles Brochard beautifully writes Gilles Brocharda devotee of the inner journeys provoked by tea, “tasting tea is already leavingto conquer elsewhere”. Unlike wine, tea does not lead to intoxication, but provides a blend of excitement and relaxation. Like wine, however, the world of tea requires years of initiation, tasting, reading, travel and encounters.
For Lyne Wangfounder of Terre de Chinerue Quincampoix, Paris, “it’s impossible to talk about speak tea in general. In China alone, where tea was first discovered over 4,000 years ago, there are an infinite number of terroirs, climates and tea bushes, and of the thousands of farmers who cultivate them, none produces exactly the same tea…”. While grapes are harvested only once a year, the tea plant, which is an evergreen flowering tree, gives at least three harvests a year: spring, summer and autumn! Each harvest,” explains Lyne Wang, “takes place over several pluckings, and each yields a different leaf: a tea from the first plucking will therefore not have the same taste as a tea from the second, third or fourth plucking…”.
Born in Shanghai in 1966, Lyne Wang’s passion for Chinese teas began in 1995. Today, many Chinese students and businessmen come to see it. visitin Paris to rediscover the finest original teas that, in their own country, they had lost the habit of drinking drink In China, most people drink tea without thinking about it. ask questions, they travel little and know little about their country. For example, a Shanghai resident will drink teas from his province, without go tosee elsewhere, thousands of kilometers from home, in the poor, underdeveloped countryside or in the mountains where exceptional teas are grown.” Every year, Lyne Wang travels to China’s most remote provinces to meet farmers, some of them very poor, who have never used a single pesticide. “They’ve been making their teas the same way for thousands of years! Cultivated at an altitude of 2,500 metres, their century-old tea bushes are sometimes several metres high, and their leaves are consumed like medicines.”
In her fabulous boutique in the Marais, Lyne Wang has selected only fifteen growers who cultivate the six traditional Chinese tea families: white, green, red, black, wulong and yellow. The golden rule for choose your tea? “Insist on appellation, provenance and date! Otherwise, don’t-youThere is no quality control in China. The most mediocre teas are scented with jasmine or rose to hide their flaws.” A must-taste is his April 2013 white tea called Yin Zhen (“silver needles”) from Fujian province in southern China. This is a spring tea, from the first plucking, with a subtle orchid flavor, that should be serve in a white cup to appreciate its pale color.
For Lyne Wang, good teas smoked over a wood fire are very rare: “Most teas for export are smoked over charcoal. A true smoked tea should be fine, without heaviness or bitterness.” If you like this type of tea, be sure to try his Zheng ShanXiao Zhongfrom a 200-year-old tree rooted on rocks. After fermentation, its very fine leaves were smoked over a wood-burning stove. The smoky taste is in the mouth, not in the nose, delicate and still persistent after the tenth infusion! But to reach the Everest of China’s great teas, you have to go to visit to Pu’er, a village over 3,000 years old, surrounded by six mountains climate climate and terroir. “Pu’er is to Chinese teas what great Bordeaux is to French wine,” assures Lyne Wang, “except that, since 1970, China has been exporting an ‘accelerated’ pu’er with an unpleasant earthy, musty taste. It takes forty days of fermentation to make a real pu’er. If you want to speed up the process, it will only take ten days, by adding water and heating, hence the musty taste…” Her pu’er Sheng Cha 2009 comes from a 500-year-old wild tea plant, 10 metres high: “The plantation is a forest, so it’s impossible to put pesticides!” This noble tea, traditionally compressed in the form of a wafer, can be kept for twenty years. In the cup, we admire its amber color, its nose of tobacco and a pure, fruity mouthfeel.
Extract from an article byEmmanuel Tresmontant, Le Monde newspaper, August 3, 2013.
For spring harvests, heat filtered water to 95°C, with the leaves loose in a zhong cup or porcelain teapot.
In traditional preparation : Zhong 10cl take 4g, 10-second infusion. 25cl teapot take 7g, 30-second infusion. Generally six to seven infusions doses, depending on quality.
In preparation for the West: -Maximum 50cl teapot: take 7g, brew for 2 minutes. Make two or three infusions with the same dose.
Blue-green wulong teas 15% fermented The leaves are rolled and opened freely in a clay teapot. For the final autumn harvest, the water temperature will be 95°C.
In traditional preparation : -15cl teapot take 7g, one rinse, infusion 30”. Generally five to eight infusions, depending on quality.
In preparation for the West: -Maximum 50cl teapot: take 7g,infusion 2′. Make two or three infusions
Aromas and tastes differ according to terroir, with the Tie Guan Yin from mainland China being very floral, and those from Taiwan more pronounced towards “buttery”.
Since 2008, we’ve been working with a single grower in the Lin Cang district, whose terroir lies between 2000 and 2600 meters above sea level, on the same plot for the March harvest.
After being picked from the side for bricks or wafers using a PU ER pick, the leaves are infused freely in a clay teapot with water at 95° degrees.
Traditional preparation – 25cl teapot: Take 7g of tea, rinse twice, infuse for 30 seconds Generally eight infusions or more, depending on quality and the same data.
Sheng Cha teas are the only teas that can be aged, naturally improving over time, becoming more subtle, the aromas developing and the tastes becoming more refined. Connoisseurs build up a cellar of vintage Pu Er Sheng Cha, and of course they need a suitable place to store them.
Using a Pu Er pick, remove a piece of tea from the side for the bricks or wafers. The leaves are freely infused in a clay teapot, with the water at 95°C.
In traditional preparation: -25cl teapot: take 7g of tea, rinse twice, infuse for 30 seconds Usually seven or eight infusions, depending on quality.
In preparation for the West: -Teapot 50 cl maximum, 7g of tea, two rinses, 2 minutes infusion depending on taste. Usually three or four infusions, depending on quality.
Shu Cha, whose ageing has been accelerated, does not improve and is already brown in color. They are distinguished by more pronounced aromas and tastes, some of them even earthy.